"In my antique-pictured parlor, ever pleased to entertain,
He sung the songs of Italy, and grand ballads of old Spain,
While Eugenia mutely listened: with a calm, reserved surprise,
The gay stranger soon discovered he found favor in her eyes.

"How many young and beautiful, and e'en wise beyond their

years,

Deep sow the seeds of future woe that are watered oft with tears; The flame, once kindled in the heart, so intensely fierce may

burn,

Till, self-consumed, all hopes have fled, that may never more re

turn.

"Some may

away,

think love's first impressions, as a dream, may pass

But, like noxious weeds, they strengthen, taking deeper root each

day.

Lady, little did I reckon of the havoc he had made,—

That my future he'd embittered, and my heart in ruins laid.

"One morning, when the gentle dews on the face of nature fell, And all was wrapt in deep repose, loudly rang the gateway bell; The porter answered to the call, and the bolts were soon withdrawn,

While Eugenia could be seen coming tripping o'er the lawn.

"Mettled horses were in waiting, and away the carriage sped;

As dark guilt will flee from vengeance, so the guilty couple fled :

Busy scandal, ever meddling, gave it out that they were seen, Driven by some hired postilion, on their way to Gretna Green.

"Some said, more truthfully, methinks,—she and her worthless

lover,

In their clandestine, anxious flight, passed o'er the Straits of

Dover;

But whether they left England's shores, and now live across the

sea,

From that day to the present time is a mystery to me.

"While pointing to the glorious scroll of a long time-honored

line,

Debased I feel that meaner blood should so mingled be with

mine;

There's a stain on my escutcheon, a foul blot upon my name;
My family pride is humbled, and I bow my head in shame.

“Oh! mankind are cold and cynic, and are deaf to Pity's call;
Gilded knaves will Virtue ruin, and loud chuckle at her fall;
At my feet bright hopes lay withered, and I felt my honor stung,
While I listened to the rumors widely spread by Slander's

tongue.

"Of all I loved on earth bereft, to my destiny I bow,

And wander through life's wilderness a poor, wretched mortal

now;

Amid all my boasted riches, with a bosom racked and torn,

How often have I even wished that I never had been born.

"No joys to me the world presents, and its giddy ways I shun; The sun of life is sinking down, and my race is nearly run. Could I but see Eugenia, as alone for her I live,

And as I hope to be forgiven, all the past I would forgive.

"If my darling child be living, though her face I ne'er may see, Yet to know that she were happy, would be happiness to me; Whatever be the present lot that God may have assigned her, Oh! were I worth a thousand worlds, I'd give them all to find her."

"Behold her now!" she simply said, while her azure eyes were

raised,

And, with a wild and awful look, on her good old sire she gazed; Her golden tresses back were flung, some accents strange were

muttered,

Then, with her arms around his neck, these dying words she uttered:

"Oh, my dear, my injured father! say, oh, say that I'm forgiven! And bestow a father's blessing ere my spirit leave for heaven."

66

Eugenia! oh, my daughter! for all thou art forgiven ?"

And while the father blessed his child, her spirit passed to

heaven.

BALLADS OF MEXICO.

The Departure.

CORTEZ, suspecting that Velasquez, the Governor, would deprive him of his commission as Captain-General of the expedition, leaves St. Jago clandestinely, at midnight, November 18th, 1518. He lands at Trinidad, and erects his standard of "black velvet, embroidered with gold, and emblazoned with a red cross, amidst flames of blue and white, with this motto in Latin beneath: Friends, let us follow the Cross; and under this sign, if we have faith, we shall conquer." He receives re-enforcements at Trinidad and Havana. At Cape St. Antonio, the appointed place of rendezvous, he harangues his soldiers upon the greatness and importance of the enterprisc. Celebration of Mass: dancing of the Indian allies: final departure for the coast of Yucatan, February 18th, 1519.

[T was midnight in the tropics; the islands were asleep,

and starry was mirrored in

It was midnight in the tropics, when Cortez and his crew
To friends in St. Jago bade a quick and last adieu.

Ho! the anchors they are weighed, the sails spread to the breeze; Now soon the little squadron will plough the Indian seas: "Brave cavaliers and comrades!" the chief was heard to say, "Valiant will Velasquez be if he our course can stay!"

At
gray break of early dawn, that streaks the eastern sky,
And awakes to busy life all that hushed in slumber lie,
Soon spread in St. Jago the spirit-stirring tale,

That Cortez and his faithful band already had set sail.

There was bustling in the streets, there was running to the shore;
On wings of wind the tidings flew all sunny Cuba o'er;
Since pious benedictions were showered on every head,
Could glory fail to follow where Spanish valor led?

Amid strains of martial airs and the sounds of merry song,
The little navy speeds its way the island-coast along:
What heed the fearless mariners, though winds and billows rave!
The good San Pedro will protect the gallant and the brave.

The manly Cortez walks the deck; he dreams of conquests vast, And o'er him streams his pennon from the gently-bending mast: His thoughts are of the future, not of those he leaves behind; Ambition's airy visions flit across his ardent mind.

The motley troops soon land again; no braver e'er were seen; And soon a tented camp appears upon the flowery green: Banners now are flaunting gayly, while loud from shore to shore The cannon and the falconets their deafening thunders roar.

With blooming flowers deck beauty, ring the bells of Trinidad;
Drink the wines of Andalusia, let each saddened heart be glad!
From Havana and Matanzas, all ye daring spirits, come!
Oh! hear ye not the bugle and the rolling of the drum ?

There are marches and parades, and reviews and active drills; There is music in the valleys, there are echoes on the hills; The peasants leave the plough for the buckler and the spear, And rally round the standard of the gallant cavalier.