Shining Weapons, Weekly Marched, From This Lone Valley, To A Central Spot Where, In Assemblage With The Flower And Choice Of The Surrounding District, They Might Learn The Rudiments Of War; Ten Hardy, Strong, And Valiant; But Young Oswald, Like A Chief And Yet A Modest Comrade, Led Them Forth From Their Shy Solitude, To Face The World, With A Gay Confidence And Seemly Pride; Measuring The Soil Beneath Their Happy Feet Like Youths Released From Labour, And Yet Bound To Most Laborious Service, Though To Them A Festival Of Unencumbered Ease; The Inner Spirit Keeping Holiday, Like Vernal Ground To Sabbath Sunshine Left. Oft Have I Marked Him, At Some Leisure Hour, Stretched On The Grass, Or Seated In The Shade, Among His Fellows, While An Ample Map Before Their Eyes Lay Carefully Outspread, From Which The Gallant Teacher Would Discourse, Now Pointing This Way, And Now That. 'Here Flows,' Thus Would He Say, 'The Rhine, That Famous Stream! 'Eastward, The Danube Toward This Inland Sea, 'A Mightier River, Winds From Realm To Realm; 'And, Like A Serpent, Shows His Glittering Back 'Bespotted With Innumerable Isles: 'Here Reigns The Russian, There The Turk; Observe 'His Capital City!' Thence, Along A Tract Of Livelier Interest To His Hopes And Fears, His Finger Moved, Distinguishing The Spots Where Wide-Spread Conflict Then Most Fiercely Raged; Nor Left Unstigmatized Those Fatal Fields On Which The Sons Of Mighty Germany Were Taught A Base Submission. 'Here Behold 'A Nobler Race, The Switzers, And Their Land, 'Vales Deeper Far Than These Of Ours, Huge Woods, 'And Mountains White With Everlasting Snow!' And, Surely, He, That Spake With Kindling Brow, Was A True Patriot, Hopeful As The Best Of That Young Peasantry, Who, In Our Days, Have Fought And Perished For Helvetia'S Rights Ah, Not In Vain! Or Those Who, In Old Time, For Work Of Happier Issue, To The Side Of Tell Came Trooping From A Thousand Huts, When He Had Risen Alone! No Braver Youth Descended From Judean Heights, To March With Righteous Joshua; Nor Appeared In Arms When Grove Was Felled, And Altar Was Cast Down, And Gideon Blew The Trumpet, Soul-Inflamed, And Strong In Hatred Of Idolatry." The Pastor, Even As If By These Last Words Raised From His Seat Within The Chosen Shade, Moved Toward The Grave; Instinctively His Steps We Followed; And My Voice With Joy Exclaimed: "Power To The Oppressors Of The World Is Given, A Might Of Which They Dream Not. Oh! The Curse, To Be The Awakener Of Divinest Thoughts, Father And Founder Of Exalted Deeds; And, To Whole Nations Bound In Servile Straits, The Liberal Donor Of Capacities More Than Heroic! This To Be, Nor Yet Have Sense Of One Connatural Wish, Nor Yet Deserve The Least Return Of Human Thanks; Winning No Recompense But Deadly Hate With Pity Mixed, Astonishment With Scorn!" When This Involuntary Strain Had Ceased, The Pastor Said: "So Providence Is Served; The Forked Weapon Of The Skies Can Send Illumination Into Deep, Dark Holds, Which The Mild Sunbeam Hath Not Power To Pierce. Ye Thrones That Have Defied Remorse, And Cast Pity Away, Soon Shall Ye Quake With 'Fear'! For, Not Unconscious Of The Mighty Debt Which To Outrageous Wrong The Sufferer Owes, Europe, Through All Her Habitable Bounds, Is Thirsting For 'Their' Overthrow, Who Yet Survive, As Pagan Temples Stood Of Yore, By Horror Of Their Impious Rites, Preserved; Are Still Permitted To Extend Their Pride, Like Cedars On The Top Of Lebanon Darkening The Sun. But Less Impatient Thoughts, And Love 'All Hoping And Expecting All,' This Hallowed Grave Demands, Where Rests In Peace A Humble Champion Of The Better Cause, A Peasant-Youth, So Call Him, For He Asked No Higher Name; In Whom Our Country Showed, As In A Favourite Son, Most Beautiful. In Spite Of Vice, And Misery, And Disease, Spread With The Spreading Of Her Wealthy Arts, England, The Ancient And The Free, Appeared In Him To Stand Before My Swimming Eyes, Unconquerably Virtuous And Secure. No More Of This, Lest I Offend His Dust: Short Was His Life, And A Brief Tale Remains. One Day A Summer'S Day Of Annual Pomp And Solemn Chase From Morn To Sultry Noon His Steps Had Followed, Fleetest Of The Fleet, The Red-Deer Driven Along Its Native Heights With Cry Of Hound And Horn; And, From That Toil Returned With Sinews Weakened And Relaxed, This Generous Youth, Too Negligent Of Self, Plunged 'Mid A Gay And Busy Throng Convened To Wash The Fleeces Of His Father'S Flock Into The Chilling Flood. Convulsions Dire Seized Him, That Self-Same Night; And Through The Space Of Twelve Ensuing Days His Frame Was Wrenched, Till Nature Rested From Her Work In Death. To Him, Thus Snatched Away, His Comrades Paid A Soldier'S Honours. At His Funeral Hour Bright Was The Sun, The Sky A Cloudless Blue A Golden Lustre Slept Upon The Hills; And If By Chance A Stranger, Wandering There, From Some Commanding Eminence Had Looked Down On This Spot, Well Pleased Would He Have Seen A Glittering Spectacle; But Every Face Was Pallid: Seldom Hath That Eye Been Moist With Tears, That Wept Not Then; Nor Were The Few, Who From Their Dwellings Came Not Forth To Join In This Sad Service, Less Disturbed Than We. They Started At The Tributary Peal Of Instantaneous Thunder, Which Announced, Through The Still Air, The Closing Of The Grave; And Distant Mountains Echoed With A Sound Of Lamentation, Never Heard Before!" The Pastor Ceased. My Venerable Friend Victoriously Upraised His Clear Bright Eye; And, When That Eulogy Was Ended, Stood Enrapt, As If His Inward Sense Perceived The Prolongation Of Some Still Response, Sent By The Ancient Soul Of This Wide Land, The Spirit Of Its Mountains And Its Seas, Its Cities, Temples, Fields, Its Awful Power, Its Rights And Virtues By That Deity Descending, And Supporting His Pure Heart With Patriotic Confidence And Joy. And, At The Last Of Those Memorial Words, The Pining Solitary Turned Aside; Whether Through Manly Instinct To Conceal Tender Emotions Spreading From The Heart To His Worn Cheek; Or With Uneasy Shame For Those Cold Humours Of Habitual Spleen That, Fondly Seeking In Dispraise Of Man Solace And Self-Excuse, Had Sometimes Urged To Self-Abuse A Not Ineloquent Tongue. Right Toward The Sacred Edifice His Steps Had Been Directed; And We Saw Him Now Intent Upon A Monumental Stone, Whose Uncouth Form Was Grafted On The Wall, Or Rather Seemed To Have Grown Into The Side Of The Rude Pile; As Oft-Times Trunks Of Trees, Where Nature Works In Wild And Craggy Spots, Are Seen Incorporate With The Living Rock To Endure For Aye. The Vicar, Taking Note Of His Employment, With A Courteous Smile Exclaimed "The Sagest Antiquarian'S Eye That Task Would Foil;" Then, Letting Fall His Voice While He Advanced, Thus Spake: "Tradition Tells That, In Eliza'S Golden Days, A Knight Came On A War-Horse Sumptuously Attired, And Fixed His Home In This Sequestered Vale. 'Tis Left Untold If Here He First Drew Breath, Or As A Stranger Reached This Deep Recess, Unknowing And Unknown. A Pleasing Thought I Sometimes Entertain, That Haply Bound To Scotland'S Court In Service Of His Queen, Or Sent On Mission To Some Northern Chief Of England'S Realm, This Vale He Might Have Seen With Transient Observation; And Thence Caught An Image Fair, Which, Brightening In His Soul When Joy Of War And Pride Of Chivalry Languished Beneath Accumulated Years, Had Power To Draw Him From The World, Resolved To Make That Paradise His Chosen Home To Which His Peaceful Fancy Oft Had Turned. Vague Thoughts Are These; But, If Belief May Rest Upon Unwritten Story Fondly Traced From Sire To Son, In This Obscure Retreat The Knight Arrived, With Spear And Shield, And Borne Upon A Charger Gorgeously Bedecked With Broidered Housings. And The Lofty Steed His Sole Companion, And His Faithful Friend, Whom He, In Gratitude, Let Loose To Range In Fertile Pastures Was Beheld With Eyes Of Admiration And Delightful Awe, By Those Untravelled Dalesmen. With Less Pride, Yet Free From Touch Of Envious Discontent, They Saw A Mansion At His Bidding Rise, Like A Bright Star, Amid The Lowly Band Of Their Rude Homesteads. Here The Warrior Dwelt; And, In That Mansion Children Of His Own, Or Kindred, Gathered Round Him. As A Tree That Falls And Disappears, The House Is Gone; And, Through Improvidence Or Want Of Love For Ancient Worth And Honourable Things, The Spear And Shield Are Vanished, Which The Knight Hung In His Rustic Hall. One Ivied Arch Myself Have Seen, A Gateway, Last Remains Of That Foundation In Domestic Care Raised By His Hands. And Now No Trace Is Left Of The Mild-Hearted Champion, Save This Stone, Faithless Memorial! And His Family Name Borne By Yon Clustering Cottages, That Sprang From Out The Ruins Of His Stately Lodge: These, And The Name And Title At Full Length, 'Sir Alfred Irthing', With Appropriate Words Accompanied, Still Extant, In A Wreath Or Posy, Girding Round The Several Fronts Of Three Clear-Sounding And Harmonious Bells, That In The Steeple Hang, His Pious Gift." "So Fails, So Languishes, Grows Dim, And Dies," The Grey-Haired Wanderer Pensively Exclaimed, "All That This World Is Proud Of. From Their Spheres The Stars Of Human Glory Are Cast Down; Perish The Roses And The Flowers Of Kings, Princes, And Emperors, And The Crowns And Palms Of All The Mighty, Withered And Consumed! Nor Is Power Given To Lowliest Innocence Long To Protect Her Own. The Man Himself Departs; And Soon Is Spent The Line Of Those Who, In The Bodily Image, In The Mind, In Heart Or Soul, In Station Or Pursuit, Did Most Resemble Him. Degrees And Ranks, Fraternities And Orders Heaping High New Wealth Upon The Burthen Of The Old, And Placing Trust In Privilege Confirmed And Re-Confirmed Are Scoffed At With A Smile Of Greedy Foretaste, From The Secret Stand Of Desolation, Aimed: To Slow Decline These Yield, And These To Sudden Overthrow: Their Virtue, Service, Happiness, And State Expire; And Nature'S Pleasant Robe Of Green, Humanity'S Appointed Shroud, Enwraps Their Monuments And Their Memory. The Vast Frame Of Social Nature Changes Evermore Her Organs And Her Members, With Decay Restless, And Restless Generation, Powers And Functions Dying And Produced At Need, And By This Law The Mighty Whole Subsists: With An Ascent And Progress In The Main; Yet, Oh! How Disproportioned To The Hopes And Expectations Of Self-Flattering Minds! The Courteous Knight, Whose Bones Are Here Interred, Lived In An Age Conspicuous As Our Own For Strife And Ferment In The Minds Of Men; Whence Alteration In The Forms Of Things, Various And Vast. A Memorable Age! Which Did To Him Assign A Pensive Lot To Linger 'Mid The Last Of Those Bright Clouds That, On The Steady Breeze Of Honour, Sailed In Long Procession Calm And Beautiful. He Who Had Seen His Own Bright Order Fade, And Its Devotion Gradually Decline, (While War, Relinquishing The Lance And Shield, Her Temper Changed, And Bowed To Other Laws) Had Also Witnessed, In His Morn Of Life, That Violent Commotion, Which O'Erthrew, In Town And City And Sequestered Glen, Altar, And Cross, And Church Of Solemn Roof, And Old Religious House Pile After Pile; And Shook Their Tenants Out Into The Fields, Like Wild Beasts Without Home! Their Hour Was Come; But Why No Softening Thought Of Gratitude, No Just Remembrance, Scruple, Or Wise Doubt? Benevolence Is Mild; Nor Borrows Help, Save At Worst Need, From Bold Impetuous Force, Fitliest Allied To Anger And Revenge. But Human-Kind Rejoices In The Might Of Mutability; And Airy Hopes, Dancing Around Her, Hinder And Disturb Those Meditations Of The Soul That Feed The Retrospective Virtues. Festive Songs Break From The Maddened Nations At The Sight Of Sudden Overthrow; And Cold Neglect Is The Sure Consequence Of Slow Decay. Even," Said The Wanderer, "As That Courteous Knight, Bound By His Vow To Labour For Redress Of All Who Suffer Wrong, And To Enact By Sword And Lance The Law Of Gentleness, (If I May Venture Of Myself To Speak, Trusting That Not Incongruously I Blend Low Things With Lofty) I Too Shall Be Doomed To Outlive The Kindly Use And Fair Esteem Of The Poor Calling Which My Youth Embraced With No Unworthy Prospect. But Enough; Thoughts Crowd Upon Me And 'Twere Seemlier Now To Stop, And Yield Our Gracious Teacher Thanks For The Pathetic Records Which His Voice Hath Here Delivered; Words Of Heartfelt Truth, Tending To Patience When Affliction Strikes; To Hope And Love; To Confident Repose In God; And Reverence For The Dust Of Man."