And shadows like the wings of death
Were out upon the gale.

2. For he whose spirit woke the dust
Of nations into life,

That o'er the waste and barren earth
Spread flowers and fruitage rife,-
Whose genius, like a sun, illumed
The mighty realms of mind,
Had fled forever from the fame,
Love, friendship of mankind!

8. To wear a wreath in glory wrought,
His spirit swept afar,

Beyond the soaring wings of thought,
The light of moon or star;
To drink immortal waters, free
From every taint of earth,-

To breathe before the shrine of life
The source whence worlds had birth.

4. There was wailing on the early breeze,
And darkness in the sky,

When with sable plume, and cloak, and pall,
A funeral train swept by.
Methought-St. Mary, shield us well!-

That other forms moved there,
Than those of mortal brotherhood,-
The noble, young, and fair.

5. Was it a dream?-how oft in sleep
We ask, "Can this be true ?"
Whilst warm Imagination paints
Her marvels to our view.

Earth's glory seems a tarnish'd crown
To that which we behold,

When dreams enchant our sight with things
Whose meanest garb is gold.

6. Was it a dream?-Methought

The "dauntless Harold" passed me by,-
The proud "Fitz-James" with martial step,
And dark, intrepid eye.

That "Marmion's" haughty crest was there,
A mourner for his sake,

And she, the bold, the beautiful,

Sweet "Lady of the Lake."

7. The "Minstrel" whose last lay was o'er,
Whose broken heart lay low,

And with him glorious "Waverley,"
With glance and step of woe;

And "Stuart's" voice was there, as when
'Mid fate's disastrous war,

He led the bold, ambitious, proud,

And brave "Vich Ian Vohr."

8. Next, marvelling at his sable suit,
The "Dominie" stalk'd past,

With "Bertram," "Julia" by his side,
Whose tears were flowing fast;

"Guy Mannering," too, moved there, o'erpower'd By that afflicting sight;

And "Merrilies," as when she wept

On Ellangowan's height.

9. Solemn and grave "Monkbarns" approach'd,
Amidst that burial line,

And "Ochiltree" leant on his staff,
And mourn'd for "Auld Lang Syne."
Slow march'd the gallant "McIntyre,"
While "Lovel" mused alone,

For once 66

Miss Wardour's" image left
That bosom's faithful throne.

10. With coronach, and arms revers'd,

Forth came "McGregor's" clan,

"Red Dougal's" cry peal'd shrill and wild,-
"Rob Roy's" bold brow look'd wan,
And fair "Diana" kiss'd her cross,
And blessed its sainted ray;

And "Wae is me," the "Bailie" sigh'd,
"That I should see this day !"

11. Next rode, in melancholy guise,
With sombre vest and scarf,
Sir Edward, Laird of Ellieslaw,
The far-renown'd "Black Dwarf !"
Upon his left, in bonnet blue,
And white locks flowing free,
The pious sculptor of the grave,-
Stood "Old Mortality."

12. "Balfour of Burley,"-" Claverhouse,"―
"The Lord of Evandale,"

And stately "Lady Margaret,"
Whose woe might not avail;
Fierce "Bothwell" on his charger black,
As from the conflict won;

And pale "Habakkuk Mucklewrath,"
Who cried "God's will be done!"

13. And like a rose, a young white rose,
That blooms 'mid wildest scene,
Pass'd she-the modest, eloquent,
And virtuous "Jeanie Deane ;"
And "Dumbidikes," that silent laird,
With love too deep to smile,
And "Effie" with her noble friend,
The good "Duke of Argyle."

14. With lofty look and bearing high,
Dark "Ravenswood" advanced

Who on the false "Lord Keeper's" mien
With eye indignant glanced ;-
Whilst graceful as a lonely fawn
'Neath covert close and sure,
Approached the beauty of all hearts,
The "Bride of Lammermoor!"

15. Then "Annot Lyle," the fairy queen
Of light and sun, stepp'd near
The "Knight of Ardenvoir," and he,
The gifted Highland seer;
"Dalgetty,"-"Duncan,"-"Lord Monteith,"-
And "Ranald" met my view,—

The hapless "Children of the Mist,"

And bold "Mac Connel-Dhu."

16. On swept "Bois Guilbert," "Front de Boeuf,""De Tracey's" plume of woe;

And "Coeur de Lion's" crest shone near

The valiant "Ivanhoe."

While, soft as glides a summer cloud,

"Rowena" closer drew,

With beautiful "Rebecca," peerless
Daughter of a Jew!

17. Still onward like the gathering night
Advanced that funeral train,

Like billows when the tempest sweeps
Across the shadowy main.

Where'er the eager gaze might reach
In noble ranks were seen

Dark plume, and glittering mail, and crest,
And woman's beauteous mien.

18. A sound thrill'd thro' that length'ning host;Methought the vault was closed,

Where, in his glory and renown,
Fair Scotia's bard reposed.

A sound thrill'd thro' that length'ning host!—
And from my vision fled :-

But ah! that mournful dream proved true

The immortal SCOTT was dead!

CHARLES SWAIN.

75. MARIUS IN PRISON.

HE peculiar sublimity of the Roman mind does not express

THE

itself, nor is it at all to be sought in their poetry. Poetry, according to the Roman ideal of it, was not an adequate organ for the grander movements of the national mind. Roman sublimity must be looked for in Roman acts and in Roman sayings. Where, again, will you find a more adequate expression of the Roman majesty, than in the saying of Trajan : -Imperatorem oportere stantem mori-that Cæsar ought to die standing; a speech of imperatorial grandeur !

2. Implying that he, who was "the foremost man of all this world,”—and, in regard to all other nations, the representative of his own, should express its characteristic virtue in his farewell act-should die in procinctu—and should meet the last enemy as the first, with a Roman countenance and in a soldier's attitude. If this had an imperatorial-what follows had a consular majesty, and is almost the grandest story upon record.

3. Marius, the man who rose to be seven times consul, was in a dungeon, and a slave was sent in with commission to put him to death. These were the persons,-the two extremities of exalted and forlorn humanity, its vanward and its rearward man, a Roman consul and an abject slave.

4. But their natural relations to each other were, by the caprice of fortune, monstrously inverted: the consul was in chains; the slave was for a moment the arbiter of his fate. By what spells, what magic, did Marius reinstate himself in his natural prerogatives?