"And let the song with solemn harping join'd, The song began; "How bright her early morn! "And Gaul's young heir her bridal bed ascends. "See, round her bed, light floating on the air, The little Loves their purple wings display; "Far with the Loves each blissful omen speeds, "And struggling factions shake her native throne. "No more a goddess in the swimming dance "Mayst thou, O queen, thy lovely form display; "A nation stern and stubborn to command, "And now convuls'd with Faction's fiercest rage, "Domestic bliss, that dear, that sovereign joy, "No more by moon shine to the nuptial bower "Her Francis comes, by Love's soft fetters led; "For other spouse now wakes her midnight hour, "Enrag'd, and reeking from the harlot's bed. "Ah! draw the veil," shrill trembles thro' the air! The veil was drawn, but darker scenes arose, Another nuptial couch the Fates prepare, The baleful teeming source of deeper woes. The bridal torch her evil angel wav'd, Far from the couch offended Prudence fled Of deepest crimes deceitful Faction rav'd, And rous'd her trembling from the fatal bed. The hinds are seen in arms, and glittering spears Instead of crooks the Grampian shepherds wield; Fanatic rage the plowman's visage wears, And red with slaughter lies the harvest fields. From Borthwick field, deserted and forlorn, Again the vision shifts the fatal scene, And, unsuspecting, on a sister queen When wisdom baffled owns th' attempt in vain, Heaven oft delights to set the virtuous free: Some friend appears, and breaks affliction's chain, But ah! no generous friend appears for thee. A prison's ghastly walls and grated cells Deform'd the airy scenery as it past; No female eye her sickly bed to tend! "Ah! cease to tell it in the female ear; "A woman's stern command! a proffer'd friend! "O generous passion, peace, for bear, forbear! "And could, O Tudor, could thy breast retain "No softening thoughts of what thy woes had been, "When thou, the heir of England's crown, in vain, "Didst sue the mercy of a tyrant queen? "And could no pang from tender memory wake, "And feel those woes that once had been thine own; "No pleading tear to drop for Mary's sake, "For Mary's sake, the heir of England's throne? "Alas! no pleading pang thy memory knew, "Dry'd were the tears which for thyself had flow'd; "Dark politics alone engaged thy view; "With female jealousy thy bosom glow'd. "And say, did Wisdom own thy stern command? "The babe that prattled on his nurse's knee, "When first thy woful captive hours began, "Ere heaven, oh hapless Mary! set thee free, "That babe to battle march'd in arms a man." A nawful pause ensues- -With speaking eyes, And hands half raised the guardian wood nymphs wait While slow and sad the airy scenes arise, Stain'd with the last deep woes of Mary's fate. With dreary black hung round the hall appears, The clouded moon her dreary glimpses shed, And Mary's maids, a mournful train, pass by; Languid they walk, and listless hang the head, And silent tears pace down from every eye. Serene and nobly mild appears the queen, She smiles on heaven, and bows the injur'd head; The ax is lifted From the dreadful scene, The guardian turn'd, and all the picture fled. It fled the wood nymphs o'er the distant lawn, The sovereign dame her awful eye-balls roll'd, "The depths of ages to my sight unfold," She cries," and Mary's meed my breast has fir❜d. "On Tudor's throne her sons shall ever reign, 66 Age after age shall see their flag unfurl'd "With sovereign pride, where ever roars the main, "Stream to the wind, and awe the trembling world. "Nor in their Britain shall they reign alone, "Age after age through lengthening time shall see, "Her branching race on Europe's every throne, "And Goths and Vandals bend to them the knee. "But Tudor as a fruitless gourd shall die; "I see her death scene- On the lonely floor, "Dreary she sits, cold grief has glass'd her eye, "And anguish gnaws her till she breathes no more. But hark!-loud howling thro' the midnight gloom, Oh! save, ye generous few, your Mary's tomb, "And see where Time with brightened face serene, "Points to yon far, but glorious opening sky; "See Truth walk forth, majestic, awful queen, "And Party's blackening mists before her fly. "Falsehood unmask'd, withdraws her ugly train, "And Mary's virtues all illustrious shine"Yes, thou hast friends- --the goodlike and humane "Of latest ages, injur'd queen, are thine." The milky splendors of the dawning ray Now thro' the groves a trembling radiance shed, With sprightly note the woodlark hail'd the day, And with the moonshine all the vision fled. FINIS |