The boatman plied1 the oar, the boat The boatman paused, "Methought I heard "'Twas but the howling wind of night," Lord William made reply. "Haste, haste! ply swift and strong the oar ! "I heard a child's distressful scream," 66 Nay, hasten on-the night is dark, "O God! Lord William, dost thou know "How horrible it is to sink To stretch the powerless arms in vain! The shriek again was heard; it came And near them they beheld a child; A little crag, and all around The boatman plied the oar, the boat 1 Plied, employed with diligence and force. The moonbeam shone upon the child, And showed how pale his face. 66 Now reach thine hand!" the boatman cried, The child stretched forth his little hands Then William shrieked; the hand he touched He felt young Edmund in his arms A heavier weight than lead. The boat sunk down, the murderer sunk He rose, he screamed, no human ear BISHOP HATTO.' The summer and autumn had been so wet Every day the starving poor They crowded around bishop Hatto's door, At last bishop Hatto appointed a day " 1 Hatto. According to tradition, Hatto, Archbishop of Mayence on the Rhine, during a great famine which happened in the 10th century, assembled the poor in a barn, and burnt them to death, saying, "They are like mice, only good to devour corn. Soon after, an army of mice came against the archbishop; and to escape the plague, he removed to a tower on the Rhine,—since called the Mouse Tower,-whither thousands of mice followed and devoured him. From the ballad here given, however, it will be seen that Southey makes rats, and not mice, the instruments of God's judg ment. He bade them to his great barn repair, Rejoiced the tidings good to hear, The poor folks flocked from far and near, Then, when he saw it could hold no more, 66 I' faith 'tis an excellent bonfire !" quoth he, "And the country is greatly obliged to me, For ridding it, in these times forlorn, Of rats that only consume the corn." So then to his palace returnèd he, In the morning as he entered the hall, As he looked, there came a man from his farm, Another came running presently, "I'll go to my tower in the Rhine,” replied he, Bishop Hatto fearfully hastened away, And he crost the Rhine without delay, And reached his tower in the island, and barred He laid him down and closed his eyes But soon a scream made him arise, He started, and saw two eyes of flame On his pillow, from whence the screaming came. He listened and looked,-it was only the cat ; For they have swum over the river so deep, To the holes and the windows in the wall. Down on his knees the bishop fell, And faster and faster his beads did he tell, The saw of their teeth without he could hear. And in at the windows, and in at the door, They have whetted their teeth against the stones, THOMAS CAMPBELL. (1777-1844.) BORN at Glasgow, and educated at the university of his native city. After leaving the university he resided for some time in Edinburgh, where he published his first work (The Pleasures of Hope). The profits which he derived from the sale of this poem enabled him to visit the Continent in the year 1800. He reached Bavaria (then the seat of war), and from a safe distance had a view of the battle of Hohenlinden. Soon after his return from the Continent he settled in London and commenced the pursuit of literature as a profession. In 1806 a pension of £200 a year was bestowed upon him by the Fox ministry. Campbell died at Boulogne in 1844, and his body was brought to England and interred in Westminster Abbey. His chief works are, The Pleasures of Hope; Gertrude of Wyoming; The Battle of the Baltic; Hohenlinden; Lord Ullin's Daughter, etc. THE SOLDIER'S DREAM. Our bugles sang truce'-for the night-cloud had lowered, When reposing that night on my pallet3 of straw, And thrice ere the morning I dreamt it again. In life's morning march, when my bosom was young; I heard my own mountain-goats bleating aloft, And knew the sweet strain that the corn-reapers sung. Then pledged we the wine-cup, and fondly I swore And my wife sobbed aloud in her fullness of heart. 1 Sang truce, sounded for a short peace, or rest from battle. 2 Sentinel stars, watchful stars. 3 Pallet, a small bed. Wolf-scaring faggot, a lighted faggot to frighten away the wolves. 5 Pledged the wine-cup, drank to the health of one another. |