"Let the wine flow in thy marble halls! Forget that thou art not free!" So doth the Syren sing, while sparkling waves And Roman tombs, the echoes of thy shore THE FALL OF D'ASSAS. A BALLAD OF FRANCE. The Chevalier D'Assas, called the French Decius, fell nobly whilst reconnoitering a wood, near Closterkamp, by night. He had left his regiment, that of Auvergne, at a short distance, and was suddenly surrounded by an ambuscade of the enemy, who threatened him with instant death if he made the least sign of their vicinity. With their bayonets at his breast, he raised his voice, and, calling aloud "A moi, Auvergne! ces sont les ennemis!" fell, pierced with mortal blows. ALONE through gloomy forest-shades A soldier went by night; No moonbeam pierced the dusky glades, THE FALL OF D'ASSAS. Yet on his vigil's midnight round The youth all cheerly pass'd; Where were his thoughts that lonely hour? Wandering from battles lost and won, -Hush! hark!-did stealing steps go by, Came not faint whispers near? Hark, yet again!-and from his hand -Oh! single 'midst a hostile band, "Silence!" in under-tones they cry- -Still, at the bayonet's point he stood, 337 "Let the wine flow in thy marble halls! Forget that thou art not free!" So doth the Syren sing, while sparkling waves And Roman tombs, the echoes of thy shore THE FALL OF D'ASSAS. A BALLAD OF FRANCE. The Chevalier D'Assas, called the French Decius, fell nobly whilst reconnoitering a wood, near Closterkamp, by night. He had left his regiment, that of Auvergne, at a short distance, and was suddenly surrounded by an ambuscade of the enemy, who threatened him with instant death if he made the least sign of their vicinity. With their bayonets at his breast, he raised his voice, and, calling aloud “A moi, Auvergne! ces sont les ennemis!" fell, pierced with mortal blows. ALONE through gloomy forest-shades A soldier went by night; No moonbeam pierced the dusky glades, THE FALL OF D'ASSAS. Yet on his vigil's midnight round The youth all cheerly pass'd; Uncheck'd by aught of boding sound That mutter'd in the blast. Where were his thoughts that lonely hour? His father's hall, his mother's bower, Wandering from battles lost and won, -Hush! hark!-did stealing steps go by, Came not faint whispers near? Hark, yet again!-and from his hand -Oh! single 'midst a hostile band, "Silence!" in under-tones they cry- -Still, at the bayonet's point he stood, 337 The stir, the tramp, the bugle-call- THE BURIAL OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, AT CAEN IN NORMANDY-1087. "At the day appointed for the king's interment, Prince Henry, his third son, the Norman prelates, and a multitude of clergy and people, assembled in the Church of St. Stephen, which the Conqueror had founded. The mass had been performed, the corpse was placed on the bier, and the Bishop of Evreux had pronounced the panegyric on the deceased, when a voice from the crowd exclaimed, He whom you have praised was a robber. The very land on which you stand is mine. By violence he took it from my father; and, in the name of God, I forbid you to bury him in it.' The speaker was Asceline Fitz Arthur, who had often, but fruitlessly, sought reparation from the justice of William. After some debate, the prelates called him to them, paid him sixty shillings for the grave, and promised that he should receive the full value of his land. The ceremony was then continued, and the body of the king deposited in a coffin of stone." LOWLY upon his bier LINGARD, vol. ii. The royal conqueror lay; Baron and chief stood near, Silent in war-array. Down the long minster's aisle Crowds mutely gazing stream'd, Altar and tomb the while Through mists of incense gleam'd. P. 98. |