Of heirs of glory there who fell,

Nor shrunk when honour bid them die.

To the plains of Quebec with the orders I flew,
He begg'd for a moment's delay;

He cried, O forbear-let me victory hear,
And then thy commands I'll obey.

With a darksome thick film I encompass'd his eyes.
And bore him away in an urn;

Lest the fondness he bore for his own native shore,
Should tempt him again to return.

[From the "Castle in the Air to the Little Corner of the World."]
In the region of clouds, where the whirlwinds arise,
My castle of fancy was built;

The turrets reflected the blue of the skies,
And the windows with sun-beams were gilt.

The rainbow sometimes, in its beautiful state,
Enamell'd the mansions around;

And the figures that fancy in clouds can create,
Supplied me with gardens and ground.

I had grottos and fountains and orange-tree groves ;
I had all that enchantment has told :

I had sweet shady walks for the gods and their loves,
I had mountains of carol and gold.

But a storm that I felt not had risen and roll'd,
While wrapp'
o'd in a slumber I lay ;

And when I look'd out in the morning, behold!
My castle was carried away.

It pass'd over rivers, valleys, and groves,

The world it was all in my view ;

I thought of my friends, of their fates and their loves,
And often, full often of you.

At length it came over a beautiful scene,
That Nature in silence had made;

And Bunker's-Hill-but name it not-
Ah! Bunker's-Hill, [7] that fatal spot.

And then,

Again:

Vinegar-Hill, yet name it not;
Vinegar-Hill, that fatal spot. [8]

The place it was small-but was sweetly serene,
And chequered with sunshine and shade.

I gaz'd and I envied with painful good will,
And grew tired of my seat in the air;
When all of a sudden my castle stood still,
As if some attraction was there.

Like a lark from the sky, it came fluttering down,
And plac'd me exactly in view;

When who should I meet in this charming retreat,
This corner of calmness-but you.

Delighted to find you in honour and ease,
I felt no more sorrow nor pain;

And the wind coming fair, I ascended the breeze,
And went back with my castle again.

[7] The particulars of this remarkable contest are written in the subsequent notes.

[8] This was a place where the Insurgents had made their head-quarters for some time, and were not dislodged, but by the result of a hard-fought battle, according to the account of the English themselves, as is shown by a letter from Gen. Lake to Castlereagh, of the 22d of June, 1798.

"Sir-I have the honour to acquaint you, that the enemy's camp upon Vinegar-Hill, was attacked this morning, at seven o'clock, and carried in about an hour and a half. The relative importance of this very strong position, with our operations against Wexford, made it necessary to combine our attacks, so as to ensure success. A column under Gene

Some causes too in former days,
Have by the law of arms been try'd;
As wanton Helen's[9]crim. con. case,
That swell'd Scamander's clotted tide.

rals Johnston and Eustace, was drawn from Ross, and began the attack upon the town of Enness, situate upon the right bank of the Slaney, close under Vinegar-Hill, upon the right, and rather upon the rear of it." [Here follows a list of British officers who fell in the action.]

[9] Helen, the most celebrated beauty of her age, sprang from one of the eggs which Leda, the wife of Tyndarus, brought forth, after her amour with Jupiter metamorphosed into a swan. Her beauty was so admired, even in infancy, that Theseus, with his friend Pirithous, carried her away before she had attained her tenth year, and concealed her at Amphidnæ; but her brothers, Castor and Pollux, recovered her, and she returned unpolluted to Sparta. This violence offered to her virtue augmented her fame, and her hand was eagerly solicited by many of the young Princes of Greece. At length all the suitors agreed by oath to abide by the uninfluenced choice which Helen herself should make; and also to unite in order to defend her, if any attempt was made to force her from her husband. Helen then fixed upon Menelaus, and married him. Hermione was the early fruit of this union. After this, Paris, son of Priam, came to Lacedæmon, on pretence of sacrificing to Apollo. He was kindly received by Menelaus, but shamefully in his absence in Crete, corrupted the fidelity of his wife, Helen, and persuaded her to follow him to Troy. At his return, Menelaus, highly sensible of the injury, assembled the Grecian Princes, and reminded them of their solemn promises. They resolved to make war against the Trojans, but previously sent Ambassadors to Priam, to demand the restoration of Helen; but received no satisfactory answer. Soon after their return, their combined forces assembled, and sailed for the coast of Asia. Authors have differed much with respect to her conduct while at Troy. After the death of Paris, she married Deiphobus, whom she betrayed in order to ingratiate herself with Me

The Latins fir'd by martial law;

And Trojans stopp'd each other's breath ;[10]

nelaus. She returned to Sparta with Menelaus, who pardoned all her errors. Some assert that she had willingly followed Paris, and that she warmly supported the cause of the Trojans; while others believe that she secretly favoured the cause of the Greeks, always sighed after her husband, and cursed the day in which she had proved faithless to his bed. Homer represents her as in the last instance. After she had been some years at Sparta, Menelaus died, and she was driven from Peloponnessus by Megapenthes and Nicostratus, the illegitimate sons of her husband. She returned to Rhodes, where Polyxo, a native of Argos, who reigned over the country, caused her to be tied to a tree and strangled. Herodotus mentions a tradition, that Paris, on his return from Sparta, was driven on the coast of Egypt, where Helen was detained by Proteus, king of the country, in consequence of his ingratitude to Menelaus. Helen was honoured after death as a goddess; and the Spartans built her a temple at Therapne, which had power of giving beauty to all the deformed women that entered it. Homer, Apollod. Herodot, &c.

[10] Although it is not acccording to our plan to dwell upon subjects so universally known and read as that which the Eneid comprises, in giving an account of the settlement of Eneas in Latium, where he and the cidevant inhabitants of Troy went after the destruction of that ill-fated city: Virgil, after many vicissitudes, in the seventh Book, brings his hero to Latium, his destined port, on the banks of the golden Tyber, where he concludes a treaty with the king of the country; which is soon broken by the interference of Juno, who stimulates Turnus to war. The auxiliaries of the enemy are enumerated, which is the contents of one of the sections of our Chapter of Catalogues; and in the eighth book Æneas is assisted by Evander, and receives a shield, wrought by Vulcan, and presented by Venus, on which is pictured the future glories and triumphs of the Romans. It forms a section (which it is hoped will be thought a beautiful one) in our Chapter of Shields. In the ninth book is given the account

Till they well nigh had burst the maw

Insatiable of death.

of tremendous battles between the rival nations, resulting in (as mentioned) the "well nigh bursting the maw insatiable of death;" and what is more pleasingly interesting to the reader-the Episode of the immortal friendship and valour of Nisus and Euryalus; in which theme the author, for the only time in his whole work, forgets, and is for the moment, Virgil, the Mantuan Swain,' "instead of the poet-i. e. the only time he speaks of himself: Camoens did so once, in words which, it is thought, will be bedewed by the tears of ages.

The Poet's account of the Nocturnal Enterprise of
Nisus and Euryalus.

Mnestheus and brave Serestus walk the round,
Commission'd by their absent prince to share
The common danger, and divide the care;
The soldiers draw their lots, and as they fall,
By turns relieve each other on the wall.
Nigh where the foes their utmost guards advanc'd,
To watch the gate, was warlike Nisus chanc'd ;
His father Hyrtacus, of noble blood,

His mother was a huntress of the wood:

And sent him to the wars. Well could he bear
His lance in fight, and dart the flying spear:
But better skill'd unerring shafts to send.
Beside him stood Euryalus his friend,
Euryalus, than whom the Trojan host
No fairer face nor sweeter air could boast;
Scarce had the down to shade his cheeks begun,
One was their care, and their delight was one;
One common hazard in the war they shar'd,
And now were both by choice upon the guard,

Then Nisus thus: "Or do the gods inspire
This warmth, or make we gods of our desire?
A generous ardour boils within my breast;
Eager of action--enemy to rest;
This urges me to fight, and fires my mind
To leave a memorable name behind;