In dust low the traitor has knelt to the ground, 1 Pibroch, the music of the bagpipes. 2 Cairn, a heap of stones employed to Campbell. mark where a chieftain or other great personage lies buried. THE TREASURES OF THE DEEP. What hid'st thou in thy treasure caves and cells, We ask not such from thee. Yet more, thy depths have more! What wealth untold, Sweep o'er thy spoils, thou wild and wrathful main! Yet more, thy depths have more! Thy waves have rolled Sand hath filled up the palaces of old, Sea-weed o'ergrown the halls of revelry. Yet more thy billows and thy depths have more! 90 HOW DOUGLAS LEARNED THE ART OF WAR. Give back the lost and lovely! Those for whom To thee the love of woman hath gone down ; Mrs Hemans. 1 Unrecked of, unthought of. 2 Argosies, a term frequently applied to ships, from Argo, the name of the vessel in which Jason sailed to Colchis for the golden fleece. HOW DOUGLAS LEARNED THE ART OF WAR. Beneath a mountain's brow, the most remote Who was the wonder of our wandering swains.1 Did they report him; the cold earth his bed, For he had been a soldier in his youth; HOW DOUGLAS LEARNED THE ART OF WAR. Pleased with my admiration, and the fire 91 His speech struck from me, the old man would shake To help my fancy, in the smooth green turf, Of war's vast art was to this hermit known. Returning homewards by Messina's 5 port, And happy, in my mind, was he that died; Or on some nameless stream's untrodden banks, 1 Swains, peasants. 2 The bold Godfredo. The most distinguished leader in the first crusade was Godfrey of Boulogne. He took Jerusalem from the Home. Grecian origin, and consisted of a compact body of men fifty abreast and sixteen deep, who placed their shields close together and in this form charged the enemy. Turks in 1999, after five weeks of 4 Saracen (lit. eastern people), a name hard fighting. 3 The square, crescent, and phalanx are forms in which armies are arranged when drawn up for battle. The phalanx was of applied in the Middle Ages to the followers of Mohammed. 5 Messina, a town of Sicily, on the strait of the same name. 6 Orisons, prayers. 92 TUBAL CAIN. TUBAL CAIN1 Old Tubal Cain was a man of might 2 In the days when earth was young; And he lifted high his brawny hand Till the sparks rushed out in scarlet showers, To Tubal Cain came many a one, As he wrought by his roaring fire, And each one prayed for a strong steel blade And he made them weapons sharp and strong, And gave him gifts of pearls and gold, But a sudden change came o'er his heart, And Tubal Cain was filled with pain For the evil he had done; He saw that men, with rage and hate, Made war upon their kind, That the land was red with the blood they shed, And he said: 'Alas that ever I made, Or that skill of mine should plan, The spear and the sword for men whose joy And for many a day old Tubal Cain Sat brooding o'er his woe ; And his hand forbore to smite the ore, And his furnace smouldered low. But he rose at last with a cheerful face, And bared his strong right arm for work, And he sang 'Hurrah for my handiwork!' 'Not alone for the blade was the bright steel made ;' And he fashioned the first Plough-share. And men, taught wisdom from the past, In friendship joined their hands; Hung the sword in the hall, the spear on the wall, And sang: Hurrah for Tubal Cain ! 'But while oppression lifts its head, Or a tyrant would be lord,. Though we thank him chiefly for the plough, 1 Tubal Cain is called 'a whetter or sharpener of every instrument in brass and iron.' See Gen. iv. 22. Charles Mackay. 2 A man of might, a powerful man. TO A MOUSE, ON TURNING HER UP IN HER NEST WITH THE PLOUGH, Wee, sleekit,1 cowering, timorous beastie ! Oh, what a panic's in thy breastie ! Wi' bickering brattle: 3 I wad be laith 4 to rin and chase thee, Wi' murdering pattle.5 |