To love, and to command."

The live-long year fair Mey bemoan'd
Her hopeless pining love:

But when the balmy spring return'd, '
And summer cloth'd the grove;

All round by pleasant Humber *) side
The Saxon banners flew,

And to Sir Elmer's castle gates,

The spearmen came in view.

Fair blush'd the morn, when Mey look'd o'er
The castle walls so sheen;
And lo! the warlike Saxon youth
Were sporting on the green.

There Hengist, Offa's eldest son,
Lean'd on his burnish'd lance,
And all the armed youth around,
Obey'd his manly glance.

His locks, as black as raven's wing
Adown his shoulders flow'd;

His cheeks outvy'd the blush of morn,
His lips like rose - buds 'glow'd.

And soon the lovely form of Mey
Has caught his piercing eyes;
He gives the sign, the bands retire,
While big with love he sighs.

Oh thou, for whom I dar'd the seas;
,,And came with peace or war!

,,Oh, by that cross that veils thy breast,
Relieve thy lover's care!

,For thee I'll quit my father's throne;

With thee the wilds explore;

,, Or with thee share the British crown;

* Flufs in England zwischen den Landschaften' York und Lincoln.

So, blushing through the dews of morn,
Appears the opening rose.

'Twas now the hour of morning pray'r,
When men their sins bewail,
And Elmer heard King Arthur's horn,
Shrill sounding through the dale.

The pearly tears from Mey's bright eyes,
Like April dew-drops' fell,

When with a parting dear embrace,
Her brother bade farewell.

The cross with sparkling diamonds bright,,
That veil'd the snowy breast,
With prayers to Heaven her lily hands
Have fix'd on Elmer's vest.

Now, with five hundred bowmen true,
He's march'd across the plain;.
Till with his gallant yeomandrie,

He join'd King Arthur's train.

Full forty thousand Saxon spears,
Came glittering down the hill,

And with their shouts and clang of arms

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The distant valleys fill.

Old Offa, dress'd in Odin's garb,

Assum'd the hoary god;

And Hengist, like the warlike Thor,
Before the horsemen rode.

With dreadful rage the combat burns,

The captains shout amain; And Elmer's tall victorious spear

Far glances o'er the plain.

To stop its course young Hengist flew,
Like lightning o'er the field;

And from his eyes the well-known cross
On Elmer's vest beheld.

The slighted lover swell'd his breast,

His eyes shot living fire;

And all his martial heat before,

To this was mild desire.

On his imagin'd rival's front,

With whirlwind speed he prest,
"And glancing to the sun, his sword
Resounds on Elmer's crest.

The foe gave way, the princely youth
With heedless rage pursu'd,
Till trembling in his cloven helm
Sir Elmer's javelin stood.

He bow'd his head slow dropt his spear;

O wash my wounds, my sister dear;
"O pull this Saxon dart,

That whizzing from young Hengist's arm
Has almost pierc'd my heart.

hall his vest shall hang;

, And Britons yet unborn,

Shall with the trophies of to-day

Their solemn feasts adorn."

,,All trembling Mey beheld the vest; :,,O Merlin!" loud she cried;

دو

my slaughter'd love

,, Shall have a breathless bride!

Oh Elmer, Elmer, boast no more ,,That low my Hengist lies!

„Oh Hengist, cruel was thine arm!

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My brother bleeds and dies!"

She spake

the roses left her cheeks,

And life's warm spirit fled:

still he lives he smiles again,

With all his grace he moves;

,,I come - I come where bow nor spear

Shall more disturb our loves."

She spake

she dy'd. The Saxon dart

Was drawn from Elmer's side,
And thrice he call'd his sister Mey,

And thrice he groan'd, and dy'd.

Where in the dale a moss - grown cross
O'ershades an aged thorn,

Sir Elmer's and young Hengist's corse
Were by the spearmen borne.

And there all clad in robes of white,
With many a sigh and tear,
The village maids to Hengist's grave
Did Mey's fair body bear.

And there, at dawn and fall of day,
All from the neighbouring groves,
The turtles wail, in widow'd notes,
And sing their hapless loves.

THOMAS

WARTON.

HOMAS WARTON wurde im Jahre 1728 geboren, und in der Schule zu Winchester erzogen. Hierauf setzte er seine Studien zu Oxford fort, wurde hier im Jahre 1750 Master of Arts, und 1767 Bachelor of Divinity. Schon früh gab er Beweise seines dichterischen Talents. 1745 machte 'er five Pastoral Eclogues bekannt' (die handelnden Personen in denselben sind Deutsche Schäfer, welche durch den Krieg gelitten ka

ben); 1747 erschien sein bereits 1745 geschriebenes Gedicht the Pleasures of Melancholy, worauf the Progress of Discontent, a Poem, geschrieben zu Oxford 1746, und Newmarket, a Satire, fol. 1750 folgte. Im Jahre 1749 schrieb er gegen Mason's schöne Elegie, Isis, seinen Triumph of Isis, an elegy. Die Veranlassung dazu war folgende: Um das Jahr 1745 stand die Universität Oxford in dem übeln Ruf, dafs die Grundsätze der Torys, wo nicht gar die der Jakobiten, dort im Umlauf wären; mehrere junge Studierende hatten durch die Äufserung derselben den Freunden des Hauses Hannover einen solchen Anstofs gegeben, dafs von Seiten der Regierung deshalb gerichtliche Nachsuchungen angestellt wurden. Um diese Zeit machte Mason die vorhin angeführte Elegie bekannt, in welcher er, nach Erwähnung der Vorzüge deren jene Alma Mater sonst sich rühmen konnte, über die gegenwärtige Entartung ihrer Söhne klagt und unter andern von ihnen sagt, dafs sie,

madly bold

To Freedom's foes infernal orgies hold.

Unser Dichter nun vertheidigte in seiner Elegie diesen Musensitz gegen jene Angriffe. Im Jahre 1751 erschien seine Ode for Music, performed at the Theatre, July 2, 1751, being the day appointed by the late Lord Crew, Bishop of Durham, for the commemoration of the benefactors of the university, 4to. Hierauf folgte 1753 the Union, or select Scots and English Poems, 12. Nach diesen kleinern dichterischen Arbeiten Warton's erschienen im Jahre 1753 seine Observations on the Faery Queene of Spenser, 8 (vermehrt und verbessert in 2 Vol. 12. 1762). Johnson schenkte unserm Dichter wegen dieser interessanten Schrift seinen vollkommenen Beifall. Kurze Zeit vor der Bekanntmachung dieser Schrift scheint Warton ordinirt und Fellow seines Kollegiums geworden zu seyn. 1756 wurde er Professor der Dichtkunst zu Oxford! Als Johnson seine Zeitschrift the Idler begann, lieferte er ihm Beiträge, und zwar die Aufsätze, welche unter den Nummern 33, 93 und 96 in dieser periodischen Schrift stehen. In demselben Jahre erschien sein Werk: Inscriptionum metricarum Delectus, accedunt notulæ, 4to; ferner a Panegyric on Ale, in der Dodsleyschen Sammlung gedruckt, und the Life and literary Remains of Ralph Bathurst, M. D. 1761 trug er zu einer Sammlung von Gedichten, welche unter dem Titel: Oxford Collection of verses herauskam, folgende bei:

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