For laurels from the hand of Death-1 And generous GORDON,* 'mid the strife, XXII. Forgive, brave Dead, the imperfect lay! Till time shall cease to run; Who fought with Wellington! XXIII. Farewell, sad Field! whose blighted face 1 The Poet's friend, Colonel Sir William De Lancey, married the beautiful daughter of Sir James Hall, Bart., in April 1815, and received his mortal wound on the 18th of June. See Captain B. Hall's affecting narrative in the first series of his ** Fragments of Voyages and Travels," vol. ii. p. 369. 2 Colonel Miller, of the Guards-son to Sir William Miller, Lord Glenlee. When mortally wounded in the attack on the Bois de Bossa, he desired to see the colors of the regiment once more ere he died. They were waved over his head, and the expiring officer declared himself satisfied. 3" Colonel Cameron, of Fassiefern, so often distinguished in Lord Wellington's despatches from Spain, fell in the action at Quatre Bras (16th June, 1815), while leading the 92d or Gordon Highlanders, to charge a body of cavalry, supported by infantry."-Paul's Letters, p. 91. 4 Colonel the Honorable Sir Alexander Gordon, brother to the Earl of Aberdeen, who has erected a pillar on the spot where he fell by the side of the Duke of Wellington. "Beyond these points the fight extended not,Small theatre for such a tragedy! Its breath scarce more, from eastern Popelot The marksman's fatal post was made, And Blenheim's name be new; CONCLUSION. STERN tide of human Time! that know'st not rest, sport, And for the prison-ship of guilt and gloom, The fisher-skiff, and barge that bears a court, Still wafting onward all to one dark silent port;— Stern tide of Time! through what mysterious Such fearful strife as that where we have striven, Succeeding ages ne'er again shall know, [flow! Until the awful term when Thou shalt cease to To where the groves of Hongomont on high Rear in the west their venerable head, And cover with their shade the countless dead. "But wouldst thou tread this celebrated ground, SOUTHEY. Mr. Southey adds, in a note on these verses :-" So important a battle, perhaps, was never before fought within so small an extent of ground. I computed the distance between Hougomont and Popelot at three miles; in a straight line it might probably not exceed two and a half. Our guide was very much displeased at the name which the battle had obtained in England, Why call it the battle of Waterloo ?' he said; Call it Hougomont, call it La Haye Sainte, call it Popelǝtany thing but Waterloo.'"-Pilgrimage to Waterloo. Well hast thou stood, my Country !—the brave fight [ill; Hast well maintain'd through good report and In thy just cause and in thy native might, And in Heaven's grace and justice constant still; Whether the banded prowess, strength, and skill Of half the world against thee stood array'd, Or when, with better views and freer will, Beside thee Europe's noblest drew the blade, Each emulous in arms the Ocean Queen to aid. Well art thou now repaid-though slowly rose, And struggled long with mists thy blaze of fame, While like the dawn that in the orient glows On the broad wave its earlier lustre came;1 Then eastern Egypt saw the growing flame, And Maida's myrtles gleam'd beneath its ray, Where first the soldier, stung with generous shame, Rivall'd the heroes of the wat'ry way, [away. And wash'd in foemen's gore unjust reproach 1 MS.-"On the broad ocean first its lustre came.' "" 2 In the Life of Sir W. Scott, vol. v., pp. 99–104, the reader will find a curious record of minute alterations on this poem, suggested, while it was proceeding through the press, by the printer and the bookseller, with the author's good-natured replies, sometimes adopting, sometimes rejecting what was proposed. 3 The Field of Waterloo' was published before the end of October, in 8vo; the profits of the first edition being the author's contribution to the fund raised for the relief of the widows and children of the soldiers slain in the battle. This piece appears to have disappointed those most disposed to sympathize with the author's views and feelings. The descent is indeed heavy from his Bannockburn to his Waterloo: the presence, or all but visible reality of what his dreams cherished, seems to have overawed his imagination, and tamed it into a weak pomposity of movement. The burst of pure native enthusiasm upon the Scottish heroes that fell around the Duke of Wellington's person, bears, however, the broadest marks of The Mighty Minstrel :' -Saw gallant Miller's fading eye Die like the offspring of Lochiel,' &c. and this is far from being the only redeeming passage. There Now, Island Empress, wave thy crest on high, And bid the banner of thy Patron flow, Gallant Saint George, the flower of Chivalry, For thou hast faced, like him, a dragon foe, And rescued innocence from overthrow, And trampled down, like him, tyrannic might, And to the gazing world may'st proudly show The chosen emblem of thy sainted Knight, Who quell'd devouring pride, and vindicated right. Yet 'mid the confidence of just renown, Renown dear-bought, but dearest thus acquired, Write, Britain, write the moral lesson down: "Tis not alone the heart with valor fired, The discipline so dreaded and admired, In many a field of bloody conquest known; -Such may by fame be lured, by gold be hired'Tis constancy in the good cause alone, Best justifies the meed thy valiant sons have won. END OF THE FIELD OF WATERLOO.3 is one, indeed, in which he illustrates what he then thought Buonaparte's poorness of spirit in adversity, which always struck me as pre-eminently characteristic of Scott's manner of interweaving, both in prose and verse, the moral energies with analogous natural description, and combining thought with imagery — 'Or is thy soul like mountain tide, That swell'd by winter storm and shower, A torrent fierce and wide; By which these wrecks were made !' "The poem was the first upon a subject likely to be suffi ciently hackneyed; and, having the advantage of coming out in a small cheap form-(prudently imitated from Murray's innovation with the tales of Byron, which was the deathblow to the system of verse in quarto)-it attained rapidly a measure of circulation above what had been reached either by Rokeby or the Lord of the Isles."-LOCKHART-Life of Scott, vol. v. pp. 106-107 APPENDIX. "On! On!" was still his stern exclaim.-P. 505. The characteristic obstinacy of Napoleon was never more fully displayed than in what we may be permitted to hope will prove the last of his fields. He would listen to no advice, and allow of no obstacles. An eye-witness has given the following account of his demeanor towards the end of the action: It was near seven o'clock; Bonaparte, who till then had remained upon the ridge of the hill whence he could best behold what passed, contemplated with a stern countenance, the scene of this horrible slaughter. The more that obstacles seemed to multiply, the more his obstinacy seemed to increase. He became indignant at these unforeseen difficulties; and, far from fearing to push to extremities an army whose confidence in him was boundless, he ceased not to pour down fresh troops, and to give orders to march forwardto charge with the bayonet-to carry by storm. repeatedly informed, from different points, that the day went against him, and that the troops seemed to be disordered; to which he only replied,- En-avant! En-avant!' He was "One general sent to inform the Emperor that he was in a position which he could not maintain, because it was com manded by a battery, and requested to know, at the same time, in what way he should protect his division from the murderous fire of the English artillery. 'Let him storm the battery,' replied Bonaparte, and turned his back on the aidede-camp who brought the message."-Relation de la Battaille de Mont-St-Jean. Par un Témoin Oculaire. Paris, 1815, 8vo p. 51. NOTE D. The fate their leader shunn'd to share.-P. 505. It has been reported that Bonaparte charged at the head of his guards, at the last period of this dreadful conflict. This, however, is not accurate. He came down indeed to a hollow part of the high road, leading to Charleroi, within less than a quarter of a mile of the farm of La Haye Sainte, one of the points most fiercely disputed. Here he harangued the guards, and informed them that his preceding operations had destroyed the British infantry and cavalry, and that they had only to support the fire of the artillery, which they were to attack with the bayonet. This exhortation was received with shouts of Vive l'Empereur, which were heard over all our line, and led to an idea that Napoleon was charging in person. But the guards were led on by Ney; nor did Bonaparte approach nearer the scene of action than the spot already mentioned, which the rising banks on each side rendered secure from all such balls as did not come in a straight line. He witnessed the earlier part of the battle from places yet more remote, particularly from an observatory which had been placed there by the King of the Netherlands, some weeks before, for the purpose of surveying the country. It is not meant to infer from these particulars that Napoleon showed, on that memorable occasion, the least deficiency in personal courage; on the contrary, he evinced the greatest composure and presence of mind during the whole action. But it is no less true that report has erred in ascribing to him any desperate efforts of valor for recovery of the battle; and it is remarkable, that during the whole carnage, none of his suite were either killed or wounded, whereas scarcely one of the Duke of Wellington's personal attendants escaped unhurt. NOTE E. England shall tell the fight!-P. 505. In riding up to a regiment which was hard pressed, the Duke called to the men, "Soldiers, we must never be beat,-what will they say in England ?" It is needless to say how this appeal was answered. NOTE F. As plies the smith his clanging trade.-P. 506. A private soldier of the 95th regiment compared the sound which took place immediately upon the British cavalry mingling with those of the enemy, to "a thousand tinkers at work mending pots and kettles." NOTE G. The British shock of levell'd steel.-P. 506. No persuasion or authority could prevail upon the French troops to stand the shock of the bayonet. The Imperial Guards, in particular, hardly stood till the British were within thirty yards of them, although the French author, already quoted, has put into their mouths the magnanimous sentiment, "The Guards never yield-they die." The same author has covered the plateau, or eminence, of St. Jean, which formed the British position, with redoubts and retrenchments which never had an existence. As the narrative, which is in many respects curious, was written by an eye-witness, he was probably deceived by the appearance of a road and ditch which run along part of the hill. It may be also mentioned, in criticising this work, that the writer mentions the Chateau of Hougomont to have been carried by the French, although it was resolutely and successfully defended during the whole action. The enemy, indeed, possessed themselves of the wood by which it is surrounded, and at length set fire to the house itself; but the British (a detachment of the Guards, under the command of Colonel Macdonnell, and afterwards of Colonel Home) made good the garden, and thus preserved, by their desperate resistance, the post which covered the return of the Duke of Wellington's right flank. 1 The mistakes concerning this observatory have been mutual. The English supposed it was erected for the use of Bonaparte: and a French writer affirms it was constructed by the Duke of Wellington. Harold the Dauntless: A POEM,' IN SIX CANTOS. "Upon another occasion," says Sir Walter, "I sent up another of these trifles, which, like schoolboys' kites, served to show how the wind of popular taste was setting. The manner was supposed to be that of a rude minstrel, or Scald, in opposition to 'The Bridal of Triermain,' which was designed to belong rather to the Italian school. This new fugitive piece was called 'Harold the Dauntless;' and I am still astonished at my having committed the gross error of selecting the very name which Lord Byron had made so famous. It encountered rather an odd fate. My ingenious friend, Mr. James Hogg, had published, about the same time, a work called the 'Poetic Mirror,' containing imitations of the principal living poets. There was in it a very good imitation of my own style, which bore such a resemblance to ‘Harold the Dauntless,' that there was no discovering the original from the imitation; and I believe that many who took the trouble of thinking upon the subject, were rather of opinion that my ingenious friend was the true, and not the fictitious Simon Pure."-INTRODUCTION TO THE LORD OF THE ISLES. 1830.2 Harold the Dauntless. INTRODUCTION. THERE is a mood of mind, we all have known 1 Published by Constable and Co., January, 1817, in 12mo. 7s. 6d. 2" Within less than a month, the Black Dwarf and Old Mortality were followed by Harold the Dauntless, by the author of the Bridal of Triermain.' This poem had been, it appears, begun several years back; nay, part of it had been actually printed before the appearance of Childe Harold, though that circumstance had escaped the author's remembrance when he penned, in 1830, his Introduction to the Lord of the Isles; for he there says, I am still astonished at my having committed the gross error of selecting the very name which Lord Byron had made so famous.' The volume was published by Messrs. Constable, and had, in those booksellers' phrase, 'con The jolly sportsman knows such drearihood, Of such, in summer's drought, the anglers plain, Ennui !-or, as our mothers call'd thee, Spleen! siderable success.' It has never, however, been placed on a level with Triermain; and, though it contains many vigorous pictures, and splendid verses, and here and there some happy humor, the confusion and harsh transitions of the fable, and the dim rudeness of character and manners, seem sufficient to account for this inferiority in public favor. It is not surprising that the author should have redoubled his aversion to the notion of any more serious performances in verse. He had seized on an instrument of wider compass, and which, handled with whatever rapidity, seemed to reveal at every touch treasures that had hitherto slept unconsciously within him. He had thrown off his fetters, and might well go forth rejoicing in the native elasticity of his strength."-Life of Scott, vol. v. p. 181. The turning-lathe for framing gimcrack nice; The amateur's blotch'd pallet thou mayst claim, Retort and air-pump, threatening frogs and mice (Murders disguised by philosophic name), And much of trifling grave and much of buxom game. Then of the books, to catch thy drowsy glance Compiled, what bard the catalogue may quote! Plays, poems, novels, never read but once ;But not of such the tale fair Edgeworth wrote, That bears thy name, and is thine antidote; And not of such the strain my Thomson sung, Delicious dreams inspiring by his note, What time to Indolence his harp he strung;O might my lay be rank'd that happier list among !1 Each hath his refuge whom thy cares assail. While antique shapes of knight and giant grim, Damsel and dwarf, in long procession gleam, And the Romancer's tale becomes the Reader's dream. 'Tis thus my malady I well may bear, And find, to cheat the time, a powerful spell Of Genii, Talisman, and broad-wing'd Roc, Though taste may blush and frown, and sober reason mock. Oft at such season, too, will rhymes unsought They well may serve to while an hour away, Nor does the volume ask for more renown, Than Ennui's yawning smile, what time she drops it down. 1 The dry humor, and sort of half Spenserian cast of these, as well as all the other introductory stanzas in the poem, we think excellent, and scarcely outdone by any thing of the kind we know of; and there are few parts, taken separately, that Harold the Dauntless. CANTO FIRST. I. LIST to the valorous deeds that were done Count Witikind came of a regal strain, II. On Erin's shores was his outrage known, More frequent he sail'd, for he won the most. If a sail but gleam'd white 'gainst the welkin blue, III. He liked the wealth of fair England so well, have not something attractive to the lover of natural poetry ; while any one page will show how extremely like it is to the manner of Scott."-Blackwood's Magazine, 1817. |