And I felt troubled-and would fain Closing o'er one we sought to save, And yet my glance, too much opprest, 365 Had almost need of such a rest. XIV. It might be months, or years, or days, And clear them of their dreary mote; 370 At last men came to set me free, I ask'd not why, and reck'd not where, I learn'd to love despair. 375 And thus when they appear'd at last, With spiders I had friendship made, 358 Recent chain, i.e., the chain which had recently bound me. 879. As as is. Had power to kill-yet, strange to tell! In quiet we had learn'd to dwellMy very chains and I grew friends, 390 So much a long communion tends To make us what we are:-even I Regain'd my freedom with a sigh. SECTION VII. SCOTT'S FIELD OF WATERLOO. SIR WALTER SCOTT's "Field of Waterloo " is one of the best modern productions of that class to which the battle-scenes of the Iliad belong. The descriptive power of the poet is of the highest order, his language is rich and at times majestic, his verse varied and sonorous, his sentiments manly and patriotic. But the peculiar charm of the poem lies in the historic truth and the fresh interest of the events treated of. The Battle of Waterloo was not a fictitious contest between giants or gods, nor of remote date. It was a recent event, upon which the fate of Europe depended; it was the last deadly struggle between England and her implacable enemy; the victory was long contested and dearly bought by torrents of the noblest blood. It is for these reasons that this poem will ever be read by Englishmen not only with the purely æsthetic pleasure, which a beautiful poem naturally produces, but with a pleasure mingled with emotion, satisfaction, and pride I. FAIR Brussels, thou art far behind, Peal'd over orchard and canal, 5 With voice prolong'd and measured fall, Thy wood, dark Soignies, holds us now, 10 With birch and darksome oak between, Stems planted close by stems defy 15 For access seeks in vain ; And the brown tapestry of leaves, Strew'd on the blighted ground, receives No opening glade dawns on our way, 25 Unvarying through the unvaried shade Until in distance lost. II. A brighter, livelier scene succeeds; 30 The peasant at his labour blithe, 35 Plies the hook'd staff and shorten'd scythe :- Placed close within destruction's scope, Full little was that rustic's hope Their ripening to have seen! And, lo, a hamlet and its fane :— For yonder rude ungraceful shrine, 40 And disproportion'd spire, are thine, Immortal WATERLOO ! 18. Nor sun, nor air, nor rain.-Nornor instead of neither-nor is confined to poetry. See Craik on Shakspere, Julius Cæsar, 227. 20. Glancing to the ray.-See Milton's Paradise Lost, I. 537. 31. "The reaper in Flanders carries in his left hand a stick with an iron hook, with which he collects as much grain as he can cut, at one sweep, with a short scythe, which he holds in his right hand.”—W. SCOTT. 34. Full little.-Full expresses plenty, and stands in strange combination with little, which implies scarcity. We should hardly say greatly small. 35. To have seen.-The Infin. Perfect for the Present. See Paradise Lost, I. 40, Note. 36. Fane, from the Latin fanum, is used for temple or church. 39. Shrine.-A part often stands poetically for the whole; thus, shrine for church. III. Fear not the heat, though full and high 50 And sinks so gently on the dale, That not the folds of Beauty's veil Brief space from thence the ground again 55 Ascending slowly from the plain Forms an opposing screen, Which, with its crest of upland ground, The soften'd vale between 60 Slopes smooth and fair for courser's tread; Nor wood, nor tree, nor bush, are there, 65 Her course to intercept or scare, Nor fosse, nor fence are found, 62. It is not very clear why the palfrey should be snow-white. 64. It is a question whether several Substantives, joined by nor, should have the Predicate in the Singular or in the Plural. Breen (Modern English Literature, p. 19) requires the Singular; but the language should not be scanted by such narrow rules Either number has good authorities and good reasons in its favour. 65. Of the two verbs, intercept and scare, only the former can properly be applied to course. This grammatical irregularity is called a Zeugma. |