50 And new-born baby died; But things like that, you know, must be IX. "They say it was a shocking sight After the field was won; For many thousand bodies here Lay rotting in the sun; But things like that, you know, must be X. 55 Great praise the Duke of Marlboro' won, "Why 'twas a very wicked thing!" Said little Wilhelmine. "Nay nay my little girl," quoth he, 60 "It was a famous victory. XI. "And every body praised the Duke 66 But what good came of it at last?" 65"Why that I cannot tell," said he, MY DAYS AMONG THE DEAD ARE PAST (Written at Keswick, 1818) I. My days among the Dead are past; Around me I behold, Where'er these casual eyes are cast, The mighty minds of old; 5 My never-failing friends are they, With whom I converse day by day. 10 II. With them I take delight in weal, And while I understand and feel My cheeks have often been bedew'd III. My thoughts are with the Dead; with them 15 Their virtues love, their faults condemn, Partake their hopes and fears, And from their lessons seek and find IV. 20 My hopes are with the Dead; anon Through all Futurity: Yet leaving here a name, I trust, That will not perish with the dust. Joseph Blanco White 1775-1841 SONNET TO NIGHT (First published 1828) Mysterious Night! when our first parent knew Thee by report Divine, and heard thy name, Did he not tremble for this goodly frame, This glorious canopy of light and blue? 5 But through a curtain of translucent dew, Bathed in the hues of the great setting flame, Hesperus with the Host of Heaven came, And lo! creation broadened to man's view. Who could have guessed such darkness lay concealed 10 Within thy beams, O Sun! or who divined Whilst bud, and flower, and insect stood revealed, Thou to such countless worlds hadst made us blind? Why should we, then, shun death with anxious strife, If Light conceals so much, wherefore not Life? Sir Walter Scott 1771-1832 HAROLD'S SONG TO ROSABELLE (From Lay of the Last Minstrel) CANTO VI.-XXIII. (1805) "O listen, listen, ladies gay! No haughty feat of arms I tell; Soft is the note, and sad the lay, That mourns the lovely Rosabelle. 66 5 Moor, moor the barge, ye gallant crew! And, gentle ladye, deign to stay! 10 Rest thee in Castle Ravensheuch, Nor tempt the stormy firth to-day. 66 The blackening wave is edged with white; Whose screams forbode that wreck is nigh. "Last night the gifted Seer did view A wet shrowd swathed round ladye gay; 15 Then stay thee, Fair, in Ravensheuch: Why cross the gloomy firth to-day?" 20 ""Tis not because Lord Lindesay's heir Sits lonely in her castle-hall. ""Tis not because the ring they ride, 25 O'er Roslin all that dreary night, A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam; It glared on Roslin's castled rock, 30 It ruddied all the copse-wood glen; Seem'd all on fire that chapel proud, Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffin'd lie, 35 Each Baron, for a sable shroud, Sheathed in his iron panoply. 40 Seem'd all on fire within, around, Deep sacristy and altar's pale; And glimmer'd all the dead men's mail. Blazed battlement and pinnet high, Blazed every rose-carved buttress fair- 45 There are twenty of Roslin's barons bold 50 But the sea holds lovely Rosabelle! And each St. Clair was buried there, With candle, with book, and with knell; BALLAD ALICE BRAND (From The Lady of the Lake, 1810) CANTO IV. XII. Merry it is in the good greenwood, When the mavis and merle are singing, cry, And the hunter's horn is ringing. 5 "O Alice Brand, my native land Is lost for love of you; And we must hold by wood and wold, |