"FROM EARLIEST CHILDHOOD ALL TOO WELL AWARE OF THE UNCERTAIN NATURE OF OUR JOYS,-(L. E. L.) MUSIC MOVES US, AND WE KNOW NOT WHY ;-(L. E. LANDON) And there inhabited in love and peace, Albeit I have lived to see their bonds We fled in the dark night. At length the moon The life-blood came like tears; and then I prayed Upon the rock, and loathe the vale beneath? [From the "Sketches from History."-The "Solemn League and Covenant" was an instrument directed against the introduction of Popery and Prelacy into Scotland, ratified by the Scotch Parliament, July 15, 1644. Its adherents, after the Restoration, maintained its principles against the government of Charles II.-which sought to restore to Scotland its Episcopal Church -and for twenty years suffered the severest persecution. Though their principles were wholly opposed to the great cause of religious toleration, yet, by their gallant resistance to the arbitrary measures of the Stuarts, they indirectly favoured its advance, and contributed in no unimportant degree to the Revolution of 1688. Their sufferings and their heroism have been the theme of many able pens. "These people," says Lord Macaulay, "in defiance of the law, persisted in meeting to worship God after their own fashion. Driven from the towns, they assembled on heaths and mountains. Attacked by the civil power, they, without scruple, repelled force by force. At every conventicle they mustered in arms. They repeatedly broke out into open rebellion. They were easily defeated, and mercilessly punished; but neither defeat nor punishment could subdue their spirit. Hunted down like wild beasts, tortured till their bones were beaten flat, imprisoned by hundreds, hanged by scores, exposed at one time to the license of soldiers from England, abandoned at another time to the mercy of troops of marauders from the Highlands, they still stood at bay in a mood so savage that the boldest and mightiest oppressor could not but dread the audacity of their despair."] WE FEEL THE TEARS, BUT CANNOT TRACE THEIR SOURCE."-LANDON. IT IS DELICIOUS TO ENJOY, YET KNOW NO AFTER-CONSEQUENCE WILL BE TO WEEP."-L. E. LANDON. "I DO BELIEVE THE TALE. I FEEL ITS TRUTH IN MY VAIN ASPIRATIONS, IN THE DREAMS-(L. E. LANDON) 66 WHO SAY THAT THIS WORLD LABOURS WITH A CURSE,-(LANDON) THE VIOLET. THE VIOLET. IOLETS!-deep blue violets!* There are no flowers grow in the vale, I do remember how sweet a breath [From "The Improvisatrice, and Other Poems."] THAT IT IS FALLEN FROM ITS FIRST ESTATE?"-L. E. LANDON. 255 THAT ARE REVEALINGS OF ANOTHER WORLD, MORE PURE, MORE PERFECT THAN OUR WEARY ONE."-LANDON. "" THERE ARE SOME TEARS WE WOULD NOT WISH to dry,—(landor) Walter Savage Landor. [OWING to certain defects of character and temperament, the fame of Walter Savage Landor will never be in proportion to his genius. He thought deeply, reasoned closely; had a powerful imagination, and a singular insight into the weaker part of our human nature; wrote a nervous and classical style, remarkable for happy turns of expression, and brightened by imagery always as graceful as it was appropriate. Yet his moody egotism, which continually committed him to the assertion of the most offensive crotchets, and his absolute want of faith in man's loftier aims and aspirations, have irretrievably marred his best works, limited his popularity, and crippled his influence. He was born at Ipsley Court, Warwickshire, on the 30th of January 1775; educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Oxford; in 1808, joined the Spaniards in their resistance to the French; took up his residence at Florence in 1815; returned to England, and settled at Bath; and closed his long, active, and somewhat stormy career, on the 17th of September 1864. "Count The We enumerate his principal works: " Gebir," an epic poem; "WE HURRY TO THE RIVER WE MUST CROSS, AND SWIFTER DOWNWARD EVERY FOOTSTEP WENDS;-WALTER S. LANDOR) HAPPY WHO REACH IT ERE THEY COUNT THE LOSS OF HALF THEIR FACULTIES AND HALF THeir friends."-LANDOR. W THE SPIRIT OF FREEDOM. E are what suns, and winds, and waters make us; Then becomes worse; what loveliest, most deformed. AND SOME THAT STRAY BEFORE THEY DROP AND DIE."-LANDOR. "ALAS, HOW SOON THE HOURS ARE OVER COUNTED AS OUT TO PLAY THE LOVER!"-LANDOR. Image the MEMORY, AS THE EYE ITSELF,-(walter S. LANDOR) The heart is hardest in the softest climes: What lifts thee up? What shakes thee? 'Tis the Of God. Awake, ye nations! spring to life! Fresh with His image-Man. Thou recreant slave O thou degenerate Albion! with what shame And prompt and keen to pierce the wounded side! Amid her slime, before she germinate What thunder burst upon mine ear? some isle A pestilence, a pyre, awoke thy song, When, on the Chian coast, one javelin's throw SEES NEAR THINGS INDISTINCTLY, FAR THINGS WELL."-LANDOR. "AND HOW MUCH NARROWER IS THE STAGE ALLOTTED US TO PLAY THE SAGE!"-LANDOR. "THE FLAME OF ANGER, BRIGHT AND BRIEF, SHARPENS THE BARB OF LOVE."-WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. From where thy tombstone, where thy cradle stood, Scattered it into air......and Greece was free...... All that Olympian Jove e'er smiled upon: The Marathonian columns never told Or other walls whose war-belt e'er inclosed BECOMES THE GLOOMIEST."-WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. "YOUTH IS THE VIRGIN NURSE OF TENDER HOPE, AND LIFTS HER UP AND SHOWS A FAR-OFF SCENE."-LANDOR. |