CXV.

My daughter! with thy name this song begun

My daughter! with thy name thus much shall end—

I see thee not, I hear thee not, but none

Can be so wrapt in thee; thou art the friend
To whom the shadows of far years extend:
Albeit my brow thou never should'st behold,
My voice shall with thy future visions blend,
And reach into thy heart,—when mine is cold,—
A token and a tone, even from thy father's mould.

CXVI.

To aid thy mind's developement,-to watch
Thy dawn of little joys,-to sit and see
Almost thy very growth,-to view thee catch
Knowledge of objects,-wonders yet to thee!
To hold thee lightly on a gentle knee,

And print on thy soft cheek a parent's kiss,-
This, it should seem, was not reserved for me;
Yet this
was in my nature: -as it is,

I know not what is there, yet something like to this.

CXVII.

Yet, though dull hate as duty should be taught,
I know that thou wilt love me; though my name
Should be shut from thee, as a spell still fraught
With desolation,—and a broken claim :

Though the grave closed between us, 't were the same,

I know that thou wilt love me; though to drain

My blood from out thy being were an aim,

And an attainment,-all would be in vain,

Still thou would'st love me, still that more than life retain.

VOL. I.

13

t

CXVIII.

The child of love,-though born in bitterness,
And nurtured in convulsion. Of thy sire
These were the elements,-and thine no less.
As yet such are around thee,-but thy fire
Shall be more temper'd, and thy hope far higher.
Sweet be thy cradled slumbers! O'er the sea,
And from the mountains where I now respire,
Fain would I waft such blessing upon thee,

As, with a sigh, I deem thou might'st have been to me!

NOTES TO CANTO III.

Note 1, page 159, stanza xvIII.

In « pride of place» here last the eagle flew, etc.

Pride of place is a term of falconry, and means the highest pitch of flight. See Macbeth, etc.

An eagle towering in his pride of place

Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd.»

Note 2, page 160, stanza xx.

Such as Harmodius drew on Athens' tyrant lord.

See the famous song on Harmodius and Aristogiton.-The best English translation is in Bland's Anthology, by Mr Denman. <<With myrtle my sword will I wreathe,» etc.

Note 3, page 160, stanza XXI.

And all went merry as a marriage-bell; etc.

On the night previous to the action, it is said that a ball was given

at Brussels.

Notes 4-5, page 162, stanza xxvI.

And Evan's, Donald's fame rings in each clansman's ears.

Sir Evan Cameron, and his descendant Donald, the gentle Lochiel of the « forty-five.»

Note 6, page 162, stanza XXVII.

And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves, etc.

The wood of Soignies is supposed to be a remnant of the «< forest of Ardennes," famous in Boiardo's Orlando, and immortal in Shakspeare's As you like it.» It is also celebrated in Tacitus as being the spot of successful defence by the Germans against the Roman encroachments. I have ventured to adopt the name connected with nobler associations than those of mere slaughter.

Note 7, page 163, stanza xxx.

I turn'd from all she brought to those she could not bring.

My guide from Mont St Jean over the field seemed intelligent and accurate. The place where Major Howard fell was not far from two tall and solitary trees (there was a third cut down, or shivered in the battle), which stand a few yards from each other at a pathway's side.-Beneath these he died and was buried. The body has since been removed to England. A small hollow for the present marks where it lay, but will probably soon be effaced; the plough has been upon it, and the grain is.

After pointing out the different spots where Picton and other gallant men had perished, the guide said, «here Major Howard lay; I was near him when wounded. I told him my relationship, and he seemed then still more anxious to point out the particular spot and circumstances. The place is one of the most marked in the field from the peculiarity of the two trees above-mentioned.

I went on horseback twice over the field, comparing it with my recollection of similar scenes. As a plain, Waterloo seems marked out for the scene of some great action, though this may be mere imagination : I have viewed with attention those of Platea, Troy, Mantinea, Leuctra, Charonea, and Marathon; and the field around Mont St Jean and Hougoumont appears to want little but a better cause, and that undefinable but impressive halo which the lapse of ages throws around a celebrated spot, to vie in interest with any or all of these, except perhaps the last-mentioned.

Note 8, page 164, stanza xxxiv.

Like to the apples on the Dead Sea's shore, etc.

The (fabled) apples on the brink of the lake Asphaltes were said to be fair without, and within ashes.- Vide Tacitus, Histor. 1. 5. 7.

Note 9, page 167, stanza XLI.

For sceptred cynics earth were far too wide a den.

The great error of Napoleon, « if we have writ our annals true, " was a continued obtrusion on mankind of his want of all community of feeling for or with them; perhaps more offensive to human vanity than the active cruelty of more trembling and suspicious tyranny.

Such were his speeches to public assemblies as well as individuals; and the single expression which he is said to have used on returning to Paris, after the Russian winter had destroyed his army, rubbing his hands over a fire, «This is pleasanter than Moscow," would probably alienate more favour from his cause than the destruction and reverses which led to the remark.

Note 10, page 169, stanza XLVIII.

What want these outlaws conquerors should have?

"What wants that knave

That a king should have?»

was King James's question on meeting Johnny Armstrong and his followers in full accoutrements.-See the Ballad.

Note 11, page 172, song, stanza 1.

The castled crag of Drachenfels.

The castle of Drachenfels stands on the highest summit of « the Seven Mountains," over the Rhine banks; it is in ruins, and connected with some singular traditions : it is the first in view on the road from Bonn, but on the opposite side of the river; on this bank, nearly facing it, are the remains of another, called the Jew's castle, and a large cross, commemorative of the murder of a chief by his brother: the number of castles and cities along the course of the Rhine on both sides is very great, and their situations remarkably beautiful.