Ringojate, beffardi superbi, Il veleno che'l labbro vi tinse : In quell' Uno che tutti vi vinse I suoi figli l' Italia mostrò. Quel tremendo gigante di guerra La grand' alma che il mondo abbagliò. La sua possa fra gli urti nemici Fu tra' venti saldissima balza ; Come cedro sui rovi s'innalza, Ei s'ergeva sul volgo dei re. Di sua mano nel libro de' fati, Ei segnava la pace e la guerra ; Si rialzaron dall' imo lor fondo, Ombre nere di nordica notte, Cosi dice, la face scotendo, La foriera del giorno di pace, Arme, grida Sabaudia guerriera,' Saran rotte le vostre catene, O fratelli che in seppi languite; O fratelli che in giogo soffrite, Calcherete quel giogo col piè. Inspirato mio genio, deh tuona, Chè profeta l' Eterno t' ha fatto : Di che l'ANNO DEL SACRO RISCATTO Per l'Italia giá l' ali spiegò. .... Ma se pigra l' Italia dormisse, Se ponesse nell' opra ritardo Qui la voce dell' esule bardo Nel sospiro gemendo spirò! [We shall be happy to receive from any of our correspondents, a spirited translation of the above Ode, for our ensuing Number.-Ed.] BERTHA DE VERE. [We have the gratification of being enabled to give the following portion of an unpublished work which will, probably, at no distant day, excite more than ordinary interest.] "Just before we left India," said General Neville,-"that is, about a month or six weeks before-my poor unhappy son Charles was married to a young lady whom he loved, as every man should love the woman he marries. Poor fellow! what a happy creature he was on his wedding-day! And his wife was as happy-for if ever two hearts were moulded into one, by the perfect union of thoughts, feelings, and desires, by a mutual and entire surrender of every wish that could dream of separate felicity, they were the hearts of Charles Neville and Bertha de Vere. Nor do I yield to a father's weakness, when I say, she was worthy of the man whose affections she had gained. In truth, they were worthy of each other, and to my thinking, who knew them both, I cannot say more in praise of either. They had been brought up together from childhood, almost; for Bertha was the daughter of a dear and gallant friend, who died in my arms upon the field of battle, and whose last moments I cheered by the promise of protecting his orphan child. He was only a lieutenant when he fell; but, had he lived, and received fair play at head quarters, he would have been a general long before I scrambled up to a majority. He had a head to conceive and a hand to execute, those grand and daring things, which men of inferior qualities listen to with dismay, when proposed, and wonder at as miracles, when done. Why the very exploit which cost him his life, was one that would have cost the country a pension for his daughter, and a monument for himself in Westminster abbey, if those rewards and honours were always the consequence of earning them. But Lieutenant de Vere could only earn them-so, his glory died with him-and I am afraid there is a great deal more of such fleeting, perishable glory, than of that which lives in epitaphs, or keeps a man company in his grave. But I am wandering from my subject, though I can never either speak or think of Bertha de Vere, without paying a tribute to the memory of her noble father, whom I loved with a soldier's and a brother's fondness. "Well, they were married-and I verily believe I was the happiest of the three; for I had nothing else to think of but a happiness which I thought would last out the remainder of my life; while they, I dare say, sometimes tormented themselves, poor souls, with anticipating troubles that might perhaps disturb theirs, before they died. Ah! they little expected, however, what was to happen so soon. Good God! the morning we embarked on board the Flora, I remember the conversation which took place between me, and Charles, and Bertha, about the delightful prospects that would open upon us all, in England, which Bertha had never seen, and which Charles had left too young to recollect. And now, where are they, and what am I? She-buried beneath the waves! he-the inmate of a mad-house! and I, like some ancient rampart, mouldering to quicker decaybecause the new buttresses which supported me, have been wrenched away by a sudden tempest!" The veteran's eyes filled with tears, as he drew this melancholy picture of his own situation, and the faltering voice which preceded and accompanied those tears, summoned kindred drops into the eyes of all who heard him. His own struggle was short, for he brushed off the weakness with his hand, and gulped down his rising emotions with the glass of wine that stood before him. "I feared," said he, with a voice recovered from its tremulous agitationbut with an effort which showed the agitation was not wholly subdued, for there was a biting of the nether lip, and a forced smile upon the countenance"I feared I should make a fool of myself, and I have done so. Well!" he continued, gathering himself up, and throwing a resolute energy into his manner, "we had been about nine weeks at sea, when one morning early, the people of the Flora saw a vessel ahead, standing towards us. Being somewhat suspicious in her appearance, we stood on. At ten o'clock she fired a weather-gun, and tacked to northward and eastward after us. Finding her coming up very fast, at one o'clock the Flora put about, and stood towards her. She then hauled down her ensign, and hoisted a black flag, with a broad yellow stripe in the middle, and three black stars upon it. When she came within pistol-shot, she fired her long Tom, loaded with grape and canister, without once hailing us. Shortly afterwards she fired a musket with blank cartridge, and we now discovered her to be an armed brig, full of men. She passed under the stern of the Flora, ordered her to heave to, and prepared to fire, if the captain did not go on board with his papers. He had no alternative; but the moment he and his boat's crew stepped on the deck of the pirate ship, they were made prisoners. Resistance, it seemed, was out of the question, for the buccaneer was better armed and better manned, than the Flora; yet, I think if we had been on land, I would have talked to him after a different fashion. But the captain was to do as he liked in his own ship, and I respected his authority there too much, to think of doing what I would not have suffered him to do to me, ashore-tell him how I thought he should act. "The pirate said he must have rope, canvass, provisions, and money; and when the captain of the Flora, whose name was Macdonald, ventured to remonstrate, he was jeeringly answered, that he should be paid for every thing by an order upon his (the buccaneer's) government, who were d-d good paymasters.' A boat was then lowered from the brig, into which the captain, and about twenty men, got, and came on board the Flora. I never beheld such ferocious-looking ruffians; their appearance was scarcely human; and their leader was more fiend-like in aspect than any of his followers. He spoke Spanish, but with an English accent; and I am sure he was an Englishman, though he pretended not to understand me when I addressed him in that language. Each man had a brace of pistols and a long knife stuck in his belt, besides a cutlass which hung by his side. The first thing they did, when they came on board, was to lash me and my son down to the ring-bolts, where we were guarded by two sentinels armed as I have described. "Before we were thus boarded, I had prevailed upon Bertha to remain with her female attendant, concealed, as well as we were able to conceal them, in the cabin below; and conjured them, on no account, to show themselves. We were thus more masters of our feelings and situation, while we believed she was safe. The pirate, by decoying, or rather by commanding, on board his own ship, Captain Macdonald, and a part of the crew, who were there kept in a state of confinement, had less to do in overawing the rest, on board the Flora, all of whom were ordered below decks, and a guard placed over them. Then began the work of plunder, and the vessel was ransacked fore and aft. My blood boiled to witness the havoc they made, and their wanton destruction of every thing which they did not care to carry off as spoil. The deck was strewed with cargo, broken cases, casks, bottles, and papers; the tarpaulins were cut, the hatches stove in, charts, sextants, quadrants, compasses, except the one in the binnacle, smashed to pieces; books and letters destroyed, and the hammocks and bedding reduced to shreds. The mate of the Flora was compelled, with the muzzle of a pistol held to his head, to point out where the different goods were stowed. "Several hours had been thus consumed in these lawless depredations, when our ears were assailed with the piercing and repeated shrieks of women. The desperadoes had entered the cabin where Bertha was concealed. Whether they discovered, or whether her own fears betrayed, her, or what indignities might have caused those agonizing screams, I could never learn. All I remembered was (for the whole series of appalling circumstances seemed to occupy but a minute's space), that my son, maddened by the sound, with a giant's strength which the frenzy of his feelings lent him, wrenched his righthand from the confinement that held it, and snatched a pistol from the girdle of one of the men who stood over him. At the same moment, I saw another of the ruffians step on the deck with Bertha in his grasp, who was insensible, pale, and dishevelled. He fell dead on the instant, from a bullet sent through his brain by Charles! A dozen pistols, in as many furious hands, were turned upon him, with horrid imprecations, and oaths of sanguinary vengeance. Then I saw no more; for a darkness came over my sight, and I believed my son was slain. But I was roused from this state to witness fresh, if not greater horrors: to behold him alive, indeedbut a MANIAC!" The agitation of General Neville was here so great, that Sir Everton entreated him to spare himself the further recital. He waved his hand, and continued. "I can go through with it," said he, "though I am ashamed to confess neither what I felt then, nor what the remembrance of the scene makes me feel now. I have looked upon a field of battle after the conflict was over; and I have beheld the work of carnage, where my horse's fetlocks have dripped with the blood of the dying and the deadbut, by the eternal God! I never witnessed a spectacle so revolting-my spirit never so sunk within me, as on that occasion! When men meet men in the strife of death, the cause and the peril are ennobling, and the impulses they inspire are generous and heroic; but when fiends, in the shape of men, slaughter the defenceless and the unresisting-when human butchers hold the knife at the throats of their helpless victims, the heart sickens at the savage crime, and the mind recoils from the cowardly criminal. What I am about to tell, was what I afterwards learned, partly from the faithful domestic who was in the room just now, and partly from the exulting malice of the ruffians themselves. "It seems that Charles, in the same moment that he shot the villain who had dragged his beloved Bertha on deck, uttered some wild exclamation which disclosed that she was his wife; and before a trigger could be pulled of the many weapons turned upon him to avenge the death of a comrade, their leader rushed forward, and commanded them to desist. What!' he cried, kill him? No, my brave fellows, spare his life. It would be merciful to take it; for you hear, he asks us to do so; and when have we ever done the thing we knew to be a mercy? I'll teach you a lesson in vengeance that shall delight you all, and damn him to lengthened torments.' So saying, he stooped, and raised in his arms the still senseless form of Bertha, which was lying stretched at his feet. This is his wife! he continued; and he loves her, as you see! And he would give worlds to clasp her again to his bosom! and he would give more than worlds if he had it, to stay my hand, as thus I divorce them-for ever!" "Gracious heaven!" interrupted Aston, dissolving the spell of horror that seemed to hold them all in breathless silence," is it possible the demon shed her blood before the eyes of her doting and distracted husband?" "With one heave of his sinewy arms," continued General Neville, in a low voice, as if almost fearing to hear himself," he flung her on the waves, and ɛhe sunk!" The image thus presented to the minds of those who had listened to this terrible narration, was too dreadful to permit of their stifling the emotions it produced. The general himself was apparently the least moved, so far as related to any visible indication of what might be passing within. He sat erect, calm, and collected, with his eyes raised, looking like one whose thoughts were occupied with a grievous subject; not confounded by it. But dismay and sadness sat upon the countenances of the resumed the general, after a pause, "burst from the gang, when this diabolical act was perpetrated; and one among them, in hellish mockery, proposed that the bleeding carcass of their dead comrade should keep the lady company." The next moment, his body was cast overboard amid jests and scoffs, and brutal laughter. But their malice had done its worst; and this last blow fell unnoticed upon the wounded spirit it was intended to insult. For, when Charles, held back by the wretches who had him in their grasp, saw his heart's dearest treasure, his beloved, his idolized wife, hurled upon the waters like a despised thing of nought, one wild and frantic scream, which rose in terrible strength above the mingled cry of savage exultation, that rolled in hoarse volleys from the throats of the buccaneers, was all he uttered. That scream recalled me to consciousness; and, as I thought at the moment, to the knowledge of my son's death; for he was lying pale and motionless, on the deck before me. In vain I implored to be liberated, that I might get to him: my entreaties were answered with derision, and my useless efforts to release myself, were threatened with the fate of Bertha, if I did not instantly desist. I do not think their threats would have availed, however, had I not just then seen Charles move his hands, clenching them with a convulsive contraction of the fingers; and the hope that he still lived, made my own life precious to me. At length he opened his eyes; but before he could speak, or I address one word to him, they removed, or rather dragged him to another part of the ship, where he was lashed with ropes to a gun-carriage, while they continued their work of plunder and destruction. I did not then know what had befallen poor Bertha ; and a thousand unnecessary fears took possession of me lest they should do, what, in truth, they had already done, destroy her. "The weather, meanwhile, had become squally, with heavy rain, and the night was setting in. We lay exposed upon the deck, and were drenched with wet, benumbed with cold, and faint with hunger; for we had now been nearly twelve hours without food, and denied even a drink of water. The pirates were still overhauling every thing on board, expecting, it seemed, to discover more specie than they had yet found. At length, the captain returned to his own vessel; and, in about half an hour afterwards, I was ordered to attend him. His men unbound me, and I was conducted into his cabin, where I found Macdonald, the captain of the Flora. The cabin was nearly darkened, there being only sufficient light to distinguish the buccaneer brandishing a long knife in his right hand. He supposed I might know of more money on board the Flora than Captain Macdonald had confessed to; he asked me where it was concealed, and threatened me with instant death if I did not make the disclosure. I assured him I knew of no treasure, and was simple enough to confirm my assurance by a voluntary declaration of my honour as to the truth of what I said. 'Put your honour aside,' said the pirate, scratch it out of your vocabulary, as I have done out of mine-and let your fears make you tell truth; remember, money can't call you back to life when you are once dead. This is my trade; I am inured to blood; so expect no mercy, if you deceive me; for money I will have, or burn and scattle the vessel, and cut the throat of every man on board. "I repeated my assurances, that I was ignorant of any money being concealed. Is that your answer?' said he. I replied, it was. And yours?' he added, addressing Captain Macdonald, who made the same reply. Then prepare!' he exclaimed; and making a signal to his men, two of them came on each side of myself and Captain Macdonald, and held loaded pistols to our heads. Again he asked us if we would confess; when Captain Macdonald, in a cool, firm voice, observed, that if there were money on board, why should he risk his life to save it, when the loss would fall neither upon himself nor his owners, as the vessel was amply insured? Whether he was convinced by this obvious truth, or whether, devil as he was, he lacked enough of the fiend to slake his thirst for blood in that of two men situated as we were, I know not. But after remaining silent for several minutes, he ordered his myrmidons to retire, and then said, he would spare our lives, though,' he added, 'I have sworn to the contrary, and meant to scuttle the Go ship, leaving none to tell tales. your boat's crew are released, and are now alongside in the launch: you'll have made a prosperous voyage by the time you get to England.' Captain Macdonald, as he was leaving the cabin, very innocently reminded the buccaneer of the order he had promised him on his own government for the things he had taken. True,' said he, with a ferocious grin, and flourishing his long knife; shall I write it in your heart's blood?' The captain did not waste any more time in such dangerous parley, and we walked forward between two files of armed men, who struck us with their cutlasses for attempting to look about. "And thus, by a miracle almost," observed Sir Everton, " you escaped from the fangs of this tiger?" 66 Yes," answered the general. "Soon after we returned on board the Flora, the pirates held on their course, and we saw no more of them. Then I hastened to my wretched son,” he continued, in a faltering voice, "and found him in a most pitiable condition. The rain had fallen upon him in torrents, and the spray of the sea had washed over him. They had bound his legs and arms so tightly, too, with cords, that his limbs were swollen, and the blood was almost starting from his fingers' ends. I spoke to him. Alas! I soon discovered the extent of his misery. He made me no answer, nor did a single word pass his lips for eleven days. During the whole of that time he could be said to breathe only; for scarcely any other sign was there about him that he lived. He seemed alike unconscious of every object that met his sight, and of every sound that reached his ears. He might have passed for the marble figure of a man, but that he breathed, and moved and sometimes slept. Food was placed before him in vain; he neither ate nor drank. But you might conduct him whithersoever you pleased, even as a child in leading-strings. On the morning of the twelfth day. he awoke after several hours of profound sleep, and stretching out his hand to take hold of mine, he drew me close to him, and whispered in my ear, I have seen her! -she is not dead! But hush !—you must not tell-she will come to me again at night-and every night, when it is dark. She looked so beautiful, and |