"Regardless of the fweeping Whirlwind'sfway, "That, hufh'd in grim repofe, expects his evening-prey. II. 3. * "Fill high the sparkling bowl, "The rich repast prepare, "Reft of a crown, he yet may share the feast: "Clofe by the regal chair "Fell thirft and famine fcowl "A baleful smile upon their baffled gueft. * Richard the Second, as we are told by Archbishop Scroop and the confederate Lords in their manifefto, by Thomas of Walfingham, and all the older writers, was ftarved to death. The ftory of his affaffination by Sir Piers of Exon, is of much later date. + Ruinous civil wars of York and Lancaster. H 2 " Long "Long years of havock urge their deftin'd course, "And through the kindred fquadrons mow their way. "Yetow'rs of Julius*, London's lafting fhame, "With many a foul and midnight murder fed, "Revere his confort's faith, his father's fame, "And fpare the meek ufurper's § holy head. "Above, below, the rofe of fnow ||, "Twin'd with her blushing foe, we spread ! Henry the Sixth, George Duke of Clarence, Edward the Fifth, Richard Duke of York, &c. believed to be murdered fecretly in the Tower of London. The oldest part of that structure is vulgarly attributed to Julius Cæfar. + Margaret of Anjou, a woman of heroic spirit, who struggled hard to fave her husband and her crown. Henry the Fifth. Henry the Sixth, very near being canonized. The line of Lancafter had no right of inheritance to the crown. The white and red roses, devices of York and Lancaster. «The "The briftled boar in infant gore "Wallows beneath the thorny shade. "Now, Brothers, bending o'er th' accurfed loom, Stamp we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom. III. I. "Edward, lo! to fudden fate "(Weave we the woof. The thread is fpun.) "Half of thy heart we confecrate. "(The web is wove. The work is done.)" Stay, oh ftay! nor thus forlorn Leave me unblefs'd, unpity'd, here to mourn: *The filver boar was the badge of Richard the Third; whence he was usually known in his own time by the name of the Boar. + Eleanor of Caftile died a few years after the conqueft of Wales. The heroic proof she gave of her affection for her lord is well known. The monuments of his regret and forrow for the lofs of her, are still to be feen at Northampton, Gaddington, Waltham, and other places. H 3 • In In yon bright track, that fires the western skies, They melt, they vanish from my eyes. But oh! what folemn fcenes on Snowdon's height Defcending flow their glitt'ring fkirts unroll? Vifions of glory! fpare my aching fight, Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my foul! No more our long-loft Arthur* we bewail. All-hail, ye genuine Kings, Britannia's iffue, hail! III. 2. • Girt with many a Baron bold Sublime their starry fronts they rear; * It was the common belief of the Welsh nation, that King Arthur was still alive in Fairy-land, and fhould return again to reign Over Britain, Both Merlin and Talieffin had prophefied, that the Welsh fhould regain their fovereignty over this island; which feemed to be accomplished in the house of Tudor. • And And gorgeous Dames, and Statesmen old. In bearded majefty, appear. In the midft a form divine! 'Her eye proclaims her of the Briton-line; Her lion-port*, her awe-commanding face, • Attemper'd sweet to virgin-grace. What strings fmyphonious tremble in the air! • What strains of vocal tranfport round her play! Hear from the grave, great Talieffin, hear; < They breathe a foul to animate thy clay. • Bright Rapture calls, and foaring, as the fings, Waves in the eye of Heaven her many-co lour'd wings. * Speed, relating an audience given by Queen Elizabeth to Paul Dzialinfki, ambassador of Poland, fays' And thus fhe, lion-like rifing, ⚫ daunted the malapert orator no less with her stately port and majestical deporture, than with the tartneffe of her princelie checkes.' + Talieffin, chief of the Bards, flourished in the fixth century. His works are still preserved, and his memory held in high veneration among his countrymen. |