Rebel host, the South. ern or Confederata Army.

45 All day long the free flag tossed

Over the heads of the rebel host;*
Ever its torn folds rose and fell
On the loyal winds, that loved it well

; And through the hill-gaps sunset light 50 Shone over it th a warm good-night

Barbara Fritchie's work is o'er,
And the rebel rides on his raid * no more.
Honour to her! and let a tear

Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall’s bier !* 55 Over Barbara Fritchie's grave,

Flag of Freedom and Union, wave !
Peace, and order, and beauty draw
Round thy symbol * of light and law;

And ever the stars above look down
60 On thy stars below, in Frederick town!

Raid, invasion, expedition.

Bier, a carriage or frame of wood, for bearing the dead to the grave.

Symbol, emblem, sign.

and is remarkable for its beautiful flowers

leaves.

*

THE STAR AND THE WATER-LILY.-0. W. Holmes. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES (1809- ) was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. He is a doctor of medicine, and a professor at Harvard College. Among his chief works may be mentioned The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. THE Sun stepped* down from his golden throne, The sun stepped, &c.,

And lay in the silent sea, And the Lily * had folded her satin leaves, Lily, a water-lily is a

water plant like a lily, For a sleepy thing was she ; 5 What is the Lily dreaming of ? Why crisp the waters blue ?

and large floating See, see, she is lifting her varnished lid !

Her white leaves are glistening * through i Glistening, shining. The Rose is cooling his burning cheek

In the lap of the breathless tide ;
The Lily hath sisters fresh and fair,

That would lie by the Rose's side;
He would love her better than all the rest,

And he would be fond and true ; 15 But the Lily unfolded her weary lids

And looked at the sky so blue. Remember, remember, thou silly one, How fast will thy summer glide, *

Glide, pass by And wilt thou wither a virgin pale,

Or flourish a blooming bride ?

IO

20

Ruffle, to make rough add stormy.

“Oh, the Rose is old, and thorny, and cold,

And he lives on earth,” said she;
“But the Star is fair, and he lives in the air,

And he shall my bridegroom be.”
But what if the stormy cloud should come, 25

And ruffle * the silver sea ?
Would he turn his eye from the distant sky,

To smile on a thing like thee?
Oh no, fair Lily, he will not send
One ray from his far-off throne;

30 The winds shall blow and the waves shall flow,

And thou wilt be left alone.
There is not a leaf on the mountain top,

Nor a drop of evening dew,
Nor a golden sand on the sparkling shore, 35

Nor a pearl in the waters blue,
That he has not cheered with his fickle * smile,

And warmed with his faithless beam-
And will he be true to a pallid * flower,
That floats on the quiet stream ?

40 Alas, for the Lily ! she would not heed, *

But turned to the skies afar,
And bared her breast to the trembling ray

That shot from the rising Star ;
The cloud came over the darkened sky, 45

And over the waters wide ;
She looked in vain through the beating rain,

And sank in the stormy tide.

Fickle, inconstant,
changeable.
Pallid, pale, white.

Heed, pay attention,

THE PARTING OF MARMION AND DOUGLAS.-Scott.

" *

*

my hand.”

*

*

*

“Though something I might plain," * he said, Beneath, &c., written

by the king, and hav. “Of cold respect to stranger guest,

ing his seal affixed to 15 Sent hither by your king's behest,

it. While in Tantallon's * towers I stayed,

Douglas, Archibald

Douglas, Earl of Part we in friendship from your land,

Augus, was remark. And, noble earl, receive *

able for his strength

of body an mind. But Douglas round him drew his cloak,

Clara, an English 20 Folded his arms, and thus he spoke :

heiress, whose hand

Marmion had sought “My manors, halls, and bowers, shall still

in marriage, but had Be open, at my sovereign's will,

heen

unsuccessful. To each one whom he lists,* howe'er

He had tried to ruin Unmeet * to be the owner's peer :

her lover, De Wilton,

but had failed in this 25 My castles are my king's alone,

also. From turret* to foundation * stone ;

Palfrey, a small

horse for a lady. The hand of Douglas is his own,

His prey is flown, De And never shall in friendly grasp

Wilton, who, in the The hand of such as Marmion clasp.".

disguise of a pilgrim from the Holy Land,

had guided Lord Mar30 Burned Marmion's swarthy * cheek like fire,

mion in Scotland, had

left the castle at dayAnd shook his very frame for ire,*

break. And_6 This to me!” he said

Adieu, farewell. “ An 'twere not for thy hoary * beard,

Plain, complain.

Behest, command. Such hand as Marmion's had not spared Tantallon, the castle 35 To cleave * the Douglas' head !

of Douglas on the

coast of East Lothian. And, first, I tell thee, haughty * peer,

Receive, accept.
He who does England's message here,

He lists, he pleases

or chooses. Although the meanest * in her state,

Unmeet, unworthy. May well, proud Angus, be thy maté!

Peer, an equal.

Turret, a tower on a 40 And, Douglas, more I tell thee here,

building. Even in thy pitch of pride,

Foundation, baseHere in thy hold, thy vassals * near,

ment.

Swarthy, tawny,dark. (Nay, never look upon your lord,

Ire, wrath. And lay your hands upon your sword),-- Hoary, white or grey 45 I tell thee thou'rt defied !

with age.

Cleave, to split.
And if thou saidst I am not peer

Haughty, proud.
To any lord in Scotland here,

Meanest, poorest,

lowliest. Lowland or Highland, far or near,

Vassal, one who holds Lord Angus, thou hast lied !”.

lands from, and pays 50 On the earl's cheek the flush of rage

homage to a superior. O’ercame the ashen hue* of age. [then, Ashen hue, pale in

Defied, dared.
Fierce he broke forth :“And darest thou, colour,
To beard the lion in his den,

Unscathed, unharmed.

Vardler, a watchman, The Douglas in his hall ?

Portcullis, a sliding 55 And hop'st thou hence unscathed * to go ?

door of cross timbers

pointed with iron, No! by Saint Bride of Bothwell, no !

hung over a gateway Up drawbridge, grooms !--what, warder,* ho ! so as to be let dowa Let the portcullis * fall."

*

*

*

Rovels, spurs.

60

Lord Marmion turned,well was his need,
And dashed the rowels * in his steed,
Like arrow through the archway sprung-
The ponderous * gate behind him rung:
To pass there was such scanty room,
The bars, descending, razed * his plume!

Ponderous, heavy.

Razed, levelled.

*

THE CLOUD.-Shelley. PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (1792–1822) was an English poet of great genius, and a man of very pure life and loving nature ; but it was not till after his death that he received the high place which he now holds among the poets. Chief works : The Cenci, and odes to The Cloud, and The Skylark.

I BRING fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,

From the seas and the streams;
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid

In their noon-day dreams;
From my wings are shaken the dews that 5

waken

The sweet buds every one, Mother's breast, the When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, * earth's surface, which is the parent of all

As she dances * about the sun. plants.

I wield the flail of the lashing * hail,
As she dances, &c., the
And whiten the green plains under ;

IO motion of the earth round the sun. And then again I dissolve * it in rain, Lashing, scourging, And laugh as I pass

in thunder. dashing against. Dissolve, melt.

I sift the snow on the mountains below,

And their great pines groan aghast;
And all the night 'tis my pillow white,

15 While I sleep in the arms of the blast, Sublime, imposing, Sublime on the towers of my skyey bowers, very grand. Fettered, fastened Lightning, my pilot, sits; down.

Iu a cavern under is fettered * the thunder-
By fits, at intervals.
Lured, attracted, en-

It struggles and howls by fits.* ticed.

Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion, Genii, spirits, super- This pilot is guiding me, natural beings. The

believed

Lured * by the love of the Genii * that move every person

In the depths of the purple sea own par. Over the rilis * and the crags * and the hills, ticular genius

25 guardian spirit.

Over the lakes and the plains, Rill

, a small murmur- Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream, ing brook, a streamlet.

The spirit he loves remains ; Crag, a rough, steep And I, all the while, bask * in heaven's blue rock.

smile, Bask, to lie in the sunshine. Whilst he is dissolving in rains.

30

*

20

ancients
that
had his

*

#

or

.

*

*

a

the

The sanguine* sunrise, with his meteor* eyes, Sanguine, blood-red;
And his burning plumes outspread,

it also means being

ardent, hopeful.
Leaps on the back
* of my sailing rack,*

Meteor, flashing, like
When the morning star * shines dead ; a meteor or falling

star. 35 As on the jag of a mountain crag,

Leaps on the back, Which an earthquake * rocks and swings, rises above the back An eagle, alit, one moment may sit,

of the clouds. In the light of its golden wings.

Rack, thin, broken

clouds drifting across And when sunset may breathe, from the lit the sky. sea beneath,

Morning-star, the

planet Venus, when 40 Its ardours * of rest and love,

it rises before the sun, And the crimson pall of eve may fall

and shines in the

morning. From the depth of heaven above,

Barthquake, a With wings folded I rest, on mine airy nest, vulsion or shaking of As still as a brooding dove.

the earth.

Ardour, warmth of 45 That orbed * inaiden, with white fire laden, passion or feeling ; Whom mortals call the moon,

eagerness.

Orbèd, in the form of Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor, an orb or sphere;

circular. By the midnight breezes strewn;

And wherever the beat of her unseen feet, 50

Which only the angels hear,
May have broken the woof * of my tent's thin The woof, the cross

threads woven into roof,

and crossing The stars peep behind her and peer ; warp, which extends And I laugh to see them whirl * and flee,

lengthwise.

Whirl, to turn round Like a swarm of golden bees,

very rapidly. 55 When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent,

Till the calm rivers, lakes, and seas,
Like strips of the skyfallen through me on high,

I bind

sun's Are each paved with the moon and these.

throne, &c., here an

allusion is made to I bind the sun's throne* with a burning zone, the filame-like 60 And the moon's * with a girdle of pearl ; pearance The volcanoes* are dim, and the stars reel and tipped clouds.

And the moon's, &c. swim,

By moonlight,' the When the whirlwinds * my banner unfurl.* edges of the clouds

present a mellow, From cape to cape, with a bridge-like shape,

pearl - like

appearOver a torrent sea,

Volcano, a mountain 65 Sunbeam-proof, I hang like a roof : I

from which smoke, The mountains its columns be.

flame, lava, &c., are

thrown.
The triumphal arch * through which I march
With hurricane,* fire, and snow,

Whirlwind, a violent When the powers of the air are chained to my Unfurl, unfold, chair

The triumphal arche

the rainbow. 70 Is the million-coloured bow;

Hurricane, a temThe sphere-fire * above its soft colours wove,

pest,

The sphere-fire, the While the moist earth was laughing below.

the

of

apsun

*

ance.

a

a

storm.

*

sun.

E