'p ' ARMS AND THE MAN A METRICAL ADDRESS, RECITED ON THE ONE HUNDRETH ANNIVERSARY (OCTOBER 19th, 1881,) OP THE SORREppF LOp COpALLIS AT YORKTOWN ON INVITATION OF JOINT COMMITTEE OF BOTn HOUSES OF CONGRESS, BY JAMES BARRON HOPE. OF NORFOLK, VIRGINIA. NORFOLK, VA : Landmark Publishing Company, 1882. 0\ <\<\ V 1 19727 : ,-: -© to CORRESPONDENCE, Washington, D. C., December 16, 1880. Sik : — On the 19th of October, 1881, Congress will celebrate the Centennial Anniversary of the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, and will lay the corner-stone of a monument to be erected to mark the spot cf this decisive tattle. It is especially desired that some gifted son of Virginia should pronounce a poem on that occa- sion, and we would respectfully invite you to perform that service, assuring you that we shall feel under great obligations to you for a favorable reply. We have the honor to be Eespectfully your obedient servants, GEO. B. LOEING, ~) Committee FEANCIS KEENAN, JNO. GOODE, E. H. EOLLINS, and H. B. ANTHONY, Poem. James Barron Hope, Esq., Norfolk, Va. c on Oration J No. 59 Feeemason Steeet, ) Nokfolk, Va., December 17, 1880. J Gentlemen : — I have the Lor or to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 16th of December, 1880, and with no little trepidation and distrust of my humble powers, I beg leave to say that I will endeavcr to the best cf my ability to discharge the high trust it has been ycur pleasure to confer upon Your very obedient servant, JAMES BAEEON HOPE. To Mon s. Loring, Ktrnan, Gocde, Rollins and Anthony, Com- mittee of the House and Senate. b CORRESPONDENCE. Yobktown Centennial Commission, ) Washington, D. C, October 31, 1881.) Deae Sis : — I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy of a resolution adopted by the Yorktown Congressional Commission at a meeting held on the 25th instant. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, JNO. S. TUCKER, Secretary. Captain James Barron Hope. Yobktown Centennial Commission, ) Washtngtown, D. C, October 25, 1881.]" At a meeting of the Joint Congressional Commission, charged with the conduct of the Yorktown Centennial, held this day at the Capitol in Washington, it was voted, "That this Commission tender its thanks to Captain James Barron Hope for the very eloquent and appropriate Centennial Poem, delivered by him in response to its invitation at Yorktown on the 19th of October, 1881. "That Captain Hope be requested to furnish a copy of his Poem to the Secretary of the Commission, in order that it may be trans- mitted to Congress and published with the report of. the Com- mission. JOHN W. JOHNSTON, C/iairman. Attest : JOHN S. TUCKER, Secretary. 59 Freemason Steeet, ) Nokfolk, Va., November 10, 1881.) Deae See : — In compliance with the request of the Committee I forward to-day the MS. of my Poem, and in so doing beg you to re- turn my thanks to the Committee for the kind manner in which they have been pleased to recognize the poor services of Your friend and servant, JAMES BARRON HOPE. Captain John S. Tucker, Secretary to the Centennial Committee. Senate Chamber, Washington, D. C. PREFACE. In submitting this performance to the public, I beg leave to remind those who may do me the honor to read it, that, it is called "A Metrical Address ;" and to say to them that this title \vas deliberately adopted, in order to suggest the theory under which it was constructed. In few words, it was composed to he spoken, and for immediate effect, before a great assembly of the people, as well as the illustrious company of fereign (•■nests and native dignitaries who adorned the occa- sion. The task was executed under circumstances ol no little delicacy, and if the public will he good enough to hear these tacts in mind, the " Yorktown Centen- nial Ode," as it has been called, may, perhaps, be better understood, and less liable to the animadver- sions of the injudicious critic" than it would without a word ot explanation from the reader's \ obedient servant, THE AUTHOR, Norfolk, Va., November Wth, i ARMS AND THE MAN. A METRICAL ADDEESS, RECITED ON THE ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS AT YOEKTOWN ON INVITATION OF A JOINT COMMITTEE OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS. PROLOGUE. Full-burnished through the long-revolving years The ploughshare of a Century to-day Runs peaceful furrows where a crop of Spears Once stood in War's array. And we, like those who on the Trojan plain See hoary secrets wrenched from upturned sods ;- Who, in their fancy, hear resound again The battle-cry of Gods ; — We now, — this splendid scene before us spread Where Freedom's full hexameter began — Restore our Epic, which the Nations read As far its thunders ran. 10 , PROLOGUE. Here visions throng on People and on Bard, Ranks all a-glitter in battalions massed And closed around as like a plum-ed guard, They lead us down the Past. I see great Shapes in vague confusion march Like giant shadows, moving vast and slow, Beneath some torch-lit temple's mighty arch Where long processions go. I see these Shapes before me, all unfold, But ne'er can fix them on the lofty wall, IsTor tell them, save as she of En-dor told "What she beheld to Saul. THE DEAD STATESMAN. I see his Shape who should have led these ranks- Garfield I see whose presence had evoked The stormy rapture of a Nation's thanks — His chariot stands unyoked ! PROLOGUE. 11 Unyoked and empty, and the Charioteer To Fame's expanded arms has headlong rushed Ending the glories of a grand career, While all the world stood hushed. The thunder of his wheels is done, but he Sustained by patience, fortitude, and grace — A Christian Hero — from the struggle free — lias won the Christian's race ! His wheel-tracks stop not in the Valley cold But upward lead, and on, and up, and higher, Till Hope can realize and Faith behold His chariot mount in fire ! Therefore, my Countrymen, lift up your hearts ! Therefore, my Countrymen, be not cast down ! He lives with those who well have done their parts, And God bestowed his crown ! 12 PKOLOGUE. And yet another form to-day I miss ; — Grigsby the scholar, good, and pure, and wise, "Who now, perchance, from scenes of perfect bliss Looks down with tender eyes. Where his great friend, through lite, great Win- throp stands, Winthrop, whose gift, in life's departing hours, Went to the dying Old Virginian's hands Who died amid those flowers.* Prayers change to blooms, the ancient Rabbins taught ; So his, then, seemed to blossom forth and glow, As if his supplicating soul had brought Sandalphon down below. ♦Hugh Blair Grigsby, L.L.D., Clianceilorof William and Mary Col lego, and President of the Virginia Historical Society, Scholar and Historian, died ou the day on which he received a gift of flowers from his life-long friend, Mr. Winthrop. and these literally gladdened the dying eyes of the noble gentleman whose loss will long be deplored by all who knew him. whether they live in Virginia or Massachusetts. THE COLONIES. • 13 But, happily, that Winthrop stood to-day, The patriot, scholar, orator, and sage, To tell the meaning of this grand array And vindicate an Age. That Era's life, and meaning his to teach, To him the parchments, but the shell to me, His voice the voice of billows on the beach Wherein we heard the sea. My voice the voice of some sequestered stream Which only boasts, as on its waters glide, That, here and there, it shows a broken gleam Of pictures on its tide. II. THE COLONIES. The fountain of our story spreads no clouds Of mist above it rich in varied glows, None paint us Gods and Goddesses in crowds Where some Scamander flows. 14 THE COLONIES. The tale of Jamestown, which I need not gild, With that of Plymouth, by the World is seen, But none, in visions, fancifully build Olympus in between. At Jamestown stood the Saxon's home and graves, There Britain's spray broke on the native rock, There rose the English tide with crested waves And overwhelming; shock. ' Virginia thence, stirred by a grand unrest, Swept o'er the waters, scaled the mountain's crag, Hewed out a more than Roman roadway West And planted there her flag. Tier fortune was forewritten even then — That fortune in the coming years to be " Mother of States and unpolluted men," And nurse of Liberty. THE COLONIES. 15 Then 'twas our coast all bore Virginia's name ; Xext North Virginia took its separate place, And grew by slow degrees in wealth and fame And Freedom's special grace. THE NEW ENGLAND GROUP. At Plymouth Rock a handful of brave sou*ls, Full-armed in faith, erected home and shrine, And flourished where the wild Atlantic rolls Its pyramids of brine. There rose a manly race austere and strong, On whom no lessons of their day were lost, Earnest as some conventicle's deep song, And keen as their own frost. But that shrewd frost became a friend to those Who fronted there the Ice-King's bitter storm, For see we not that underneath the snows The growing wheat keeps warm ? 16 THE COLONIES. Soft ease and silken opulence they spurned ; From sands of silver, and from emerald boughs With golden ingots laden full, they turned Like Pilgrims under vows. For them no tropic seas, no slumbrous calms, No rich abundance generously unrolled : In place of Cromwell's proffered flow'rs and palms They chose the long-drawn cold. The more it blew, the more they faced the gale ; The more it snowed, the more they would not freeze ; And when crops failed on sterile hill and vale — They went to reap the seas ! Far North, through wild and stormy brine they ran, With hands a-cold plucked Winter by the locks ! Masterful mastered great Leviathan And drove the foam as flocks ! THE COLONIES. 17 Next in their order came the Middle Group, Perchance less hardy, but as brave they grew, — Grew straight and tall with not a bend, or stoop — Heart-timber through and through ! Midway between the ardent heat and cold They spread abroad, and by a homely spell, The iron of their axes changed to gold As fast the forests fell ! Doing the things they found to do, we see That thus they drew a mighty empire's charts, And, working for the present, took in fee The future for their marts ! And there unchallenged may the boast be made, Although they do not hold his sacred dust, That Penn, the Founder, never once betrayed The simple Indian's trust. 18 THE COLONIES. To them the genius which linked Silver Lakes With the blue Ocean and the outer World, And the fair banner, which their commerce shakes, Wise Clinton's hand unfurled. THE SOUTHERN COLONIES. Then sweeping down below Virginia's Capes, From Chesapeake to where Savannah flows, We find the settlers laughing 'mid their grapes And ignorant of snows. The fragrant uppowock, and golden corn Spread far a-field by river and lagoon, And all the months poured out from Plenty's Horn Were opulent as June. Yet, they had tragedies all dark and fell ! Lone Roanoke Island rises on the view, And this Peninsula its tale could tell Of Opecancanough ! THE COLONIES. 19 But, when the Ocean thunders on the shore Its waves, though broken, overflow the beach; So here our Fathers on and onward bore "With English laws and speech. Kind skies above them, underfoot rich soils; Silence and Savage at their presence fled ; This Giant's Causeway, sacred through their toils, Resounded at their tread. With ardent hearts, and ever-open hands, Candid and honest, brave and proud they grew, Their lives and habits colored by fair lands As skies give waters hue. The race in semi-Feudal State appears — ■ Their knightly figures glow in tender mist, "With ghostly pennons flung from ghostly spears And ghostly hawks on wrist. 20 THE COLONIES. By enterprise and high adventure stirred, From rude lunette and sentry-guarded croft They hawked at Empire, and, as on they spurred. Fate's falcon soared aloft ! Fate's falcon soared aloft full strong and free, With blood on talons, plumage, beak, and breast ! Her shadow like a storm-shade on thesea Far-sailing down the West ! Swift hoofs clang out behind that Falcon's flights — Hoofs shod with Golden Horse Shoes catch the eye ! And as they ring, we see the Forest-Knights — The Cavaliers ride by ! THE OLD DOMINION. ' Midway between the orange and the snows As some fair planet rounds up from the sea, Eldest of all, the Central Power arose In vague immensity. THE OAKS AND THE TEMPEST. 21 She stretched from Seas in sun to Lakes in Shade O'erstepped swift Rio JEscondido's stream — Her bounds expressed, as by the Tudor made, An Alexander's dream. And liberal Stuart granted broad and free Bound'ries which still the annalist may boast — Limits which ran "throughout from sea to sea," And far along the coast ! A mighty shaft through Raleigh's fingers slipped, Smith shot it, and— a Continent awoke ! For that great arrow with an acorn tipped, Planted an English Oak ! in. THE OAKS AND THE TEMPEST. Oaks multiplied apace, and o'er the seas Big rumors went in many a winding ring; And stories fabulous on every breeze Swept to a distant King. 22 THE OAKS AND THE TEMPEST. Full many a tale of wild romance, and myth, Tn large hyperbole the Kew World told, And down from days of Ealeigh ani of Smith The Colonies meant gold. Not from Banchoonan's mines came forth the ore, But from the waters, and the woods, and fields, Paid for in blood, but bringing more and more The wealth that labor yields. Then, seeing this, that King bc}*ond the sea, TheJ^.5 divinum filling all his soul, Bethought him that he held these lands in fee And absolute control. When this high claim in action was displayed, With one accord the young Plantations spoke, And told him, English-like, they were not made To plough with such a yoke. THE OAKS AND THE TEMPEST. 23 Tims met, not his to falter, or to flag, A sudden fury seized the Royal breast — Promethius bound upon a Scythian crag His policy expressed. And, so, he ordered in those stormy hours His adamantine chains for one and all, [Powers Brute "Force" and soulless "Strength" the only On which he chose to call. Great men withstood him many a weary day ; In Press and Parliament lull well they strove But all in vain, for he was bound to play A travesty on Jove ! Then flamed the crater ! And the flame took wing ; Furious and far the lava blazed around, Until at last, on this same spot that King His Herculanenm found ! 24 THE EMBATTLED COLONIES. Breed's Hill became Vesuvius, and its stream Rushed forth through years, a God-directed tide To light two Worlds and realize the dream For which brave Warren died. IV. THE EMBATTLED COLONIES. Before this though the present hour recedes, As from the beach a billow backward rolls, And the great past, rich in heroic deeds Illuminates our souls ! Stern Massachusetts Bay uplifts her form, Boston the tale of Lexington repeats, With breast unarm ored she confronts the storm— aSTew England England meets. I see the Middle Group by Fortune made The bloody Flanders of the Northern Coast, And, in a varying play of light and shade, Plost thundering fall on host. THE EMBATTLED COLONIES. 25 T see the Carolinas, Georgia, mowed By War the Reaper, and grim Ruin stalk O'er wasted fields : — but Guilford paved the way That led to this same York. Here, too, Virginia in the vision comes — ■ Full-bent to crown the battle's closing arch, Her pulses trumpets and her heartthrobs drums. To animate her march. As Pocahontas, in a by-gone time, Leaped forth the wrath of Powhatan to brave, Virginia came, and here she stood sublime To perish, or to save. I see her interposing now her frame Between her sisters and the alien bands, And taking both of Freedom and of Fame Full seisin with her hands. 26 WELCOME TO FRANCE. V. WELCOME TO FRANCE. But, in that fiery zone She uprjseth not alone, Over all the bloody fields Glitter Amazonian shields ; While through the mists of years Another form appears, And as I bow my head Already yon have said : — 'Tis France ! Welcome to France ! From sea to sea, With heart and hand ! Welcome to all within the land — Thrice welcome let her be ! And to France The Union here to-day (lives the right of this array. WELCOME TO FRANCE. 27 And folds her to her breast As the friend that she loves host. Yes to France. The proud Ruler of the West Bows her sun-illumined crest, Grave and slow, In a passion of fond memories of One hundred years ago ! France's colors wave again High above this tented plain, Stream and flaunt, and blaze and shine, O'er the banner-painted brine, Float and flow ! And the brazen trumpets blow While upon her serried lines, Full the light of Freedom shines In a broad, effulgent glow. And here this day I see The fairest dream that ever yet Was dreamt by History ! ZQ WELCOME TO FRANCE. As in cadence, and in time, To the martial throb and rhyme Of her bugles and her drums Forth a stately vision comes- Comes majestically slow — Comes a fair and stately vision of One hundred years ae;o ! Welcome to France ! From sea to sea, With heart and hand ! Welcome to all within the land ! Thrice welcome let her be ! Of Freedom's Guild made free ! Welcome ! Thrice Welcome ! Welcome let her be ! And as in days of old Walter Raleigh did unfold THE ALLIES AT YORKTOWN. His gay cloak, with all its hems Wrought in braided gold and gems, That his Queen might passing tread On the sumptuous cloth outspread, And step on the shining fold Or fair samnite rich in gold So for France — Splendid, grand, majestic France ! — May Fortune down her mantle throw To mend the way that she may go ! May Glory leap before to reap — Up to the shoulders turned her sleeves — And Fame behind follow to bind Unnumbered honors in unnumbered sheaves ! And may that mantle forever be Under thy footfall, oh France the Free ! Forever and forever ! VI. THE ALLIES AT YORKTOWN. And here France came one hundred years ago ! Red, russet, purple glowed upon the trees, 30 THE ALLIES AT YORKTOWN. And sunset glories deepened in their glow Along the painted sea9. A wealth of color blazed on land and wave, Topas, and gold, and crimson met the eye — October hailed the ships which came to save With banners in the sky. DeBarras swept down from the .Northern coast, DeGrasse, foam-driving, came with favoring breeze, And here surprised the proud, marauding host Like spectres of the seas. Then was no time for such a boastful strain As Campbell sang o'er Baltic's bloody tide, Nor did Britannia dominate the main In customary pride. THE RAVAGES OF WAR. 31 France closed this river, and France ruled yon sea, Held all our waters in triumphant state, Her sails foretelling what was soon to he Like Ministers of Fate. And when the Union chants her proudest Lay DeGrasse is often on her tuneful lips, And his achievement challenges to-day Some Homer of the ships. So, when this spot its monument shall crown His name upon its base two Worlds shall see, With a fair wind his story shall sail down Through Ages yet to be. VII. THE RAVAGES OF WAR. This on the water : on the land a scene Whose Epic scope is far beyond my power, For on this spot a People's fate hath been Decided in an hour. 32 THE RAVAGES OF WAR. Long was the conflict waged through weary years, Counted from when the sturdy formers fell : Hopes crucified, red trenches, bitter tears. Made Man another hell"! See pallid women girt in woe and weeds ! See little children gaunt for lack of food ! Behold the catalogue of War's black deeds Where evil stands for good ! See slaughtered cattle, never more to roam, Rot in the fields, while chimneys tall and bare Tell in dumb pathos how some quiet home Lit up the midnight air ! See that burnt crop, yon chokcd-up sylvan well, This yeoman slain yecorven in the sun ! My God ! shreds of a woman's dress to tell Why murder there was done ! THE LINES AROUND YORKTOWN. 33 Such tilings as these gave edge to all the blows Our fathers struck on this historic sod, Feet, hands, and faces turned toward their foes — Their valiant hearts to God. VIII. THE LINES AROUND YORKTOWN. Troops late by Williamsburg's brave palace walls, With trump and drum had marched down Glo'ster street, And some with throb of oars, and loud sea-calls Had landed from the fleet. And well our leader had befooled his foes — Left them like archers blundering in the dark To draw against the empty space their bows While here was their true mark. Brave Lincoln on the right with kindling eye Smiles 'mid the cares of grave command immersed. 34 THE LINES AROUND YORKTOWN. To see dramatic retribution nigli And Charleston's fate reversed ! The Light Troops stood upon the curved right flank, New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay were there, Connecticut marched with them, rank on rank. And gallant Delaware. There, too, Virginia's sturdy yeomen stood, Led on by Nelson of the open hand, As thick and stubborn as a living wood In some enchanted land. Next came the steady Continental Line, Rhode Island, and New Jersey, breast to breast, Ready to tread the hot and smoking wine From War's red clusters pressed. New Y®rk and Pennsylvania on these plains Closed boldly in on the embattled town, THE FRENCH IN THE TRENCHES. Nor feared they threatened penalties and pains Of Parliament, or Crown. And Maryland, the gay and gallant came, As always ready for the battle's brunt ; And here again Virginia faced the flame Along the deadly front. IX. THE FRENCH IN THE TRENCHES. And as the allied hosts advance All the left wing is given to France, Is given to France and — Fame ! Yes, these together always ride The Dioscouroi of the tide Where War plays out the game ! And that broad front 'tis her's to hold With hand of iron, heart of gold And helmet plumed with flame. Across the river* broad she sends DeChoisy and Lauzun where ends 36 NELSON AND THE GUNNERS. The leaguer far and wide, While Weedon seconds as he may The gallant Frenchmen in array Upon the Gloucester side. As waves hurled on a stranded keel Make all the oaken timbers reel With many a pond'rous blow, So day by day, and night by night The French like billows foaming white Thunder against the foe. X. NELSON AND THE GUNNERS, O'er town, and works, and waves amain Far fell grim Ruin's furious rain, O'er parapet and mast, And riding on the thunder-swell Far flew the shot, far flew the shell Eed Havoc on the blast ! Then as the flashing cannon sowed THE BELEAGUERED TOWN. M7 Their iron crop brave kelson rode, His bridle bit all foam, Up to the gunners, and said he : "Batter yon mansion down for me" — "Basement, and walls, and dome!" And better to sharpen those gunners' wits, "Five guineas," he cried, "for each shot that hits!" — That mansion was his home I XL THE BELEAGUERED TOWN. Behind the town the sun sinks down Gilding the vane upon the spire, While many a wall reels to its fall Beneath the fell artillery fire. As sinks that sun mortar and gun Like living things leap grim and hot, And far and wide across the tide Spray-furrows show the flying shot. THE BELEAGUERED TOWN. White smoke in clouds yon earthwork shrouds Where, steeped in battle to the lips, The French amain pour fiery rain On town, and walls, and English ships. That deadly sleet smites lines and fleet, As closes in the Autumn night, And Aboville from head to heel Thrills with the battles' wild delight. At every flash oak timbers crash — A sudden glare yon frigate dyes ! Then flames up-gush, and roar, and rush, From deck to where her pennon flies ! Those flames on high crimson the sky And paint their signals overhead, And every fold of smoke is rolled And woven in Plutonian red. THE BELEAGUERED TOWN. 39 All radiant now taffril and prow, And hull, and cordage, beams and spars, Thus lit she sails on fiery gales To purple seas where float the stars. Ages ago just such a glow Woke Agamemnon's house to joy, Its red and gold to Argos told The long-expected fate of Troy. So, on these heights that flame delights The Allies thundering at the wall, Forewrit they see the land set free And Albion's short-lived Ilium fall ! Then as the Lilies turn to red Dipped in the battles' wine Another picture is outspread "Where still the figures shine — The picture of a deadly fray Worthy the pencil of Vernet ! 40 STORMING THE REDOUBTS. XII. STORMING THE REDOUBTS. On the night air there floating comes, hoarse, war- like, low and deep, A sound as tho' the dreaming drums were talking in their sleep. "Fall in! Fall in !" The stormers form, in silence, stern and grim, Each heart full-beating out the time to Freedom's battle hymn. — "Charge ! en Avant /" — The word goes forth and forth the stormers go, Each column like a mighty shaft shot from a mighty bow. And tumult rose upon the night like sound of roaring seas, Mars drank of the Horn of Ulphus and he drained it to the lees ! STORMING THE REDOUBTS. 41 Now by fair Freedom's splendid dreams ! it was a gallant sight To see the blows against the foes well struck that Autumn night ! Gimat, and Fish, and Hamilton, and Laurens pressed the foe, And Olney — brave Rhode Islander ! — was there, alas ! laid low. Viominil, and Nballies, and Daraas, stout and brave, Broke o'er the English right redoubt a steel-enerested wave. St. Simon from his sick couch rose wooed by the battles charms And like a knight of old romance went to the shock of arms. G 42 STORMING THE REDOUBTS. [But they who bore the muskets, who went charging thro' the flame, Deserve far more than ever will be given them by Fame — Then let us pour libations out ! — full freely let them flow For the men who bore the muskets here a century ago !] And, then, the columns won the works, and then uprose the cheers That have lasted us and ours for a good one hun- dred years ! And there were those amid the French filled with a rapture stern And long the cry resounded : "Live the Regiment of Auverne !" STORMING THE REDOUBTS. 43 Long live the Gallic Army and long live splendid France The Power that gives to History the beauty ot Romance ! Upon our right commanded one dearer by far than all, The hero who first came to us and came without a call ; Whose name with that of his leader's all histories entwine, The one as is the mighty oak, the other as the vine ; The one the staff the other the great banner on its lance — Now, need I name the dearest name of all the names of France ? 44 STORMING THE REDOUBTS. Oh, Marquis brave ! Upon this shaft, deep-cut thy cherished name Twin Old Mortalities shall find — fond Gratitude and Fame ! THE TWO LEADERS. Two chieftains watch the battle's tide and listen as it rolls And only Heaven above can tell the tumult of their souls ! Cornwallis saw the British power struck down by one fell blow, A Gallic spearhead on the lance that laid the Lion low. But the Father of his Country saw the future all unrolled Independence blazed before him written down in text of gold, STORMING THE REDOUBTS. 45 Like the Hebrew, on the mountain, looking forward then he saw The Promised Land of Freedom blooming under Freedom's law ; Saw a great Republic spurring in the lists where Nations ride The peer of any Power in her majesty and pride ; Saw that »young Republic gazing through her hel- mets gilded bars Toward the West all luminous with th' light of comiuu' stars : From Atlantic to Pacific saw her banners all un- furled Heard sonorous trumpets blowing bless-ecl Peace with all the World ! 46 THE BEGINNING OF THE END. Roused from this glorious vision, with succcess within his reach, In few and simple words he made this long-resound- ing speech : "The work is done, and well done:" thus spake he on this sod, In accents calm and measured as the accents of a God. » God said I ? Yes, his image rises on the raptured sight Like Baldur, the fair and blameless, the Goth's God of the Light ! XIII. ' THE BEGINNING OF THE END. As some spent gladiator, struck by Death Whose reeling vision scarce a foe defines, For one last effort gathers all his breath, England draws in her lines. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 47 Her blood-rod flag floats out full fair, but flows O'er crumbling bastions, in fictitious state : , Who stands a siege Cornwall is full well knows, Plays at a game with Fate. Siege means surrender at the bitter end, From Ilium downward such the sword-made rule. With few exceptions, few indeed amend This law in any school ! The student who for these has ever sought 'Mid his exceptions Csesar counts as one, Besieger and besieged he. victor, fought Under a Gallic sun. For Vircinget'rex failed, but at the wall : He strove and failed gilded by Glory's rays So that true soldiership describes that Gaul In terms of honest praise. 4X THE BEGINNING OF THE END. But there was not a Julius in the lines Round which our Chief the fatal leaguer drew, The noble Earl, though valiant, never shines 'Mid War's majestic few. By hopes and fears in agonies long tossed — [Clinton hard fixed in method's rigid groove] The British Leader saw the game was lost ; — But, still, it had one move ! Could he attain yon spreading Gloucester shore Could he and liis cross York's majestic tide; He, then, might laugh to hear the cannon roar And far for safety ride. Bold was the plan ! and generous Light Horse Lee Gives it full measure of unstinted praise ; But Providence declared this should not lie In its own wondrous ways. THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 4!) Loud roared the storm ! The rattling thunders rang ! Against the blast his rowers could not row ! White waves like hoary-headed Homers sang Hexameters of woe ! Then came the time to end the mighty Play, To drop the curtain and to quench the lamps, And soon the story took itsjocund way Through all the Allied camps. "Measure for measure" then was righteous law, The cup of Lincoln bowed Corn wallis pressed, And as he drank the wondering Nations saw A sunrise — in the West ! Death fell upon the Royal cause that clay, The King stood like Swift's oak with blighted crest, Headpiece and Crown both cleft he drooped away : Hicjacet — tells the rest ! 50 THE SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS. And patriots stood where traitors late were jeered, Transformed from rebels into freemen bold, What seemed Membrino's helmet now appeared A real casque of gold ! XIV. THE SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS. Next came the closing scene : but shall I paint The scarlet column, sullen, slow, and faint, Which marched, with "colors cased" to yonder field Where Britain threw down corselet, sword, and shield ? Shall I depict the anguish of the brave Who envied comrades sleeping in the grave ? Shall I exult o'er inoffensive dust Of valiant men whose swords have turned to rust ? Shall I, like Menelaus by the coast, O'er dead Ajaces make unmanly boast ? Shall I, in chains of an ignoble Verse, THE SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS. 5J Degrade dead Hectors, and their pangs rehearse ? — Kay ! such is not the mood this People feels, Their chariots drag no foemen by the heels ! Let Ajax slumber by the sounding sea From the fell passion of his madness free ! Let Hector's ashes unmolested sleep — But not to-day shall any Priam weep ! OUR .ANCIENT ALLIES. Superb in white and red, and white and gold, And white and violet, the French unfold Their blazoned banners on the Autumn air, While cymbols clash and brazen trumpets blare : Steeds fret and foam, and spurs with scabbards clank As far they form, in many a shining rank. Dux-Ponts is there, as hilt to sword blade true, And Guvion rises smiling on the view ; And the brave Swede, as yet untouched by Fate, Rides 'raid his comrades with a mien elate ; And Duportail — and scores of others glance Upon the scene and all arc worthy France ! And for those Frenchmen and their splendid bands, f>2 THE SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS. The very Centuries shall clap their hands, While at their head, as all their banners flow, And all their drums roll out, and trumpets blow, Rides first and foremost splendid Rochambeau ! And well he rides, worthy an Epic rhyme — Full well he rides in attitude sublime — Fair Freedom's Champion in the lists of Time. THE CONTINENTALS. In hunting shirts, or faded blue and buff, And many clad in simple, rustic stuff, Their ensigns torn but held by Freedom's hand, In long-drawn lines the Continentals stand. To them precision if not martial grace; Each heart triumphant but composed each face ; Well-taught in military arts by brave Steuben, With port of soldiers, majesty of men, All Fathers of their Country like a wall The} 7 stand at rest to see the curtain fall. Well-taught were they by one who learned War' trade From Fredrick whom not Ruin's self dismayed; — THE SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS. 53 Well-taught by one who never lost the heat Caught on an anvil where all Europe beat ; — Beat in a storm of blows, with might and main, But on that Prussian anvil beat in vain ! And to the gallant race of Steuben's name That long has held close intercourse with Fame, This great Republic bows its loft crest, And folds his kinsmen to her ample breast : At fray, or festival, on march or halt, Von Steuben always far above the salt ! "the marquis." The Brave young Marquis, second but to one For whom he felt the reverence of a son, Rides at the head of his division proud — A ray of Glory painted on the cloud ! Mad Anthony is there, and Knox — but why Great names like battle flags attempt to fly ? Who sings of skies lit up by Jove and Mars Thinks net to chant a catalogue of stars ! I bow me low, and bowing low I pass 54 THE SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS. Unnumbered heroes in unnumbered mass, While at their head in grave, and sober state, Rides one whom Time has found completely great Master of Fortune aud the match of Fate ! * * # * * * . * Then Tilghman mounted on these Plains of York Swift sped away as speeds the homing hawk, And soon 'twas his to wake that watchman's cry That woke all Nations and shall never die ! THE ANCIENT ENEMIES. Brave was the foeman ! well he held his ground ! But here defeat at kindred hands he found ! The shafts rained on him in a righteous cause ( Jame from the quiver of Old England's laws ! He fought in vain; and on this spot went down The jus divinum, and the kingly crown. But for those scenes Time long has made, amends, The ancient enemies are present friends ; Two swords, in Massachusetts, rich in dust, And, bettor still, the peacefulness of rust, THE SURRENDER OP LORD CORNWALLIS. 55 t Told the whole story in its double parts To one who lives in two great nations' hearts ; And late above Old England's roar and din Slow-tolling bells spoke sympathy of kin : Victoria's wreath blooms on the sleeping breast Of him just gone to his reward and rest, And firm and fast between two mighty Powers New treaties live in those undying flowers. THE SPLENDID THREE. Turned back my gaze, on Spain's romantic shore I see Gaul bending by the grave of Moore, And later, when the page of Fame I scan I see brave France at deadly Inkerman, While on red Balaklava's field I hear Gallia's applause swell Albion's ringing cheer. England and France, as Allies, side by side Fought on the Pielio's melancholy tide, And there, brave Tattnall, ere the fight was done, Stirred English hearts as far as shone the sun, Or tides and billows in their courses run. 56 THE SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLD3. That day, 'mid the dark Pieho's slaughter He said : "Blood is thicker than water !" And your true man though "brayed in a mortar" At feast, or at fray Will still feel it and say As he said : "Blood is thicker than water !" And full homely is the saying but this story always starts An answer from ten thousand times ten thousand kindred hearts. Then let us pray that as the sun shines ever on the sea Fair Peace forevermore may smile upon the Splendid Three ! May happy France see purple grapes n-glow on all her hills, And England breast-deep in her corn laugh back the laugh of rills ! THE WAR HORSE DRAWS THE PLOUGH. 57 May this fair land to which all roads lead as the roads of Rome Led to th' eternal city's gates still offer Man a home— A home of peace and plenty, and of freedom and of ease, With all before him where to choose between the shining seas ! May the war-cries of the Captains yield to happy reapers shouts, And the clover whiten bastions and the olive shade redoubts ! XV. THE WAR HORSE DRAWS THE PLOUGH. At last our Fathers saw the Treaty sealed, Victory unhelmed her broad, majestic brow, The Sword became a Sickle in the field, The war horse drew the plough. 58 THE WAR HORSE DRAW THE PLOUGH. There is a time when men shape for their Land Its institutions 'mid some tempests' roar, Just as the waves that thunder on the strand Shape out and round the shore. Then comes a day when institutions turn And carve the men, or cast them into moulds One Era trembles while volcanoes burn, Another A?e beholds The hardened lava changed to hills and leas, With blooming- glebes and orchards intermixed, Vineyards which look abroad o'er purple seas, And deep foundations fixed. So, when fell Chaos like a baleful Fate What we had won seemed bent to snatch away Sound thinkers rose who fashioned out the State As potters fashion clay. HEROES AND STATESMEN. 59 XVI. HEROES AND STATESMEN. Of their great names I may record but few : He who beholds the Ocean white with sails And copies each confuses all the view, He paints too much — and fails. His picture shows no high, emphatic light, Its shadows in full mass refuse to fall, And as its broken details meet the light Men turn it to the wall. Of those great names but few may pass my lips, For he who speaks of Salamis then sees Not men who there commanded Grecian ships — But grand Themistocles ! Vet some I mark, and there discreetly take x To grace my Verse through duty and design As one notes barks that leave the broadest wake Upon the stormy Brine. 60 HEROES AND STATESMAN. These rise before me ; and there Mason stands The Constitution-maker firm and bold, Like Bernal Diaz, planting with kind hands Fair trees to blaze in gold. Amid the lofty group sedate I see, [stores, Great Franklin muse where Truth had locked her Holding within his steady hand the key That opened many doors. And Trumbull, strong as hammered steel of old, Stands boldly out in clear and high relief, — A blade unbending worth a hilt of gold, — He never failed his Chief ! Then Robert Morris glides into my Verse Turning the very stones at need to bread — Filling the young Republic's slender purse When Credit's self seemed dead. HEROES AND STATESMEN. 61 Tylers I see — sprung from the sturdy Wat — A strong armed rebel of an ancient date, With Falkland-Carys come, to draw the lot Cast in the helm of Fate. And Marshall in his ermine white as snow, Wise, learned, and profound Fame loves to draw, His noble function on the Bench to show That Reason is the Law. His sword unbuckled and his brows unbent, The gallant Hamilton again appears, And in fair Freedom's mighty Parliament He marches with the Peers ! Henry is there beneath his civic crown ; He speaks in words that thunder as they flow, And as he speaks his thunder-tones bring down An avalanche below ! 62 HEROES AND STATESMEN. Nor does John Adams in the picture lag, He was as bold, as resolute, and free, As is the eagle on a misty crag Above a stormy sea. And 'mid his fellows in those days of need, Impassioned Jefferson burns like a sun, [Creed The New World's Prophet of the New World's Prophet and Priest in one ! These two together stood in our great past, When Independence flamed across the land — < hi Independence day these two at last Departed hand in hand. And they are taken by a patriot's mind As kindred types of our great Saxon stock, And that same thinker hopes some day to find Both statues in one block. * *This fine idea is borrowed from one of the addresses of Mr. Winthrop, the Orator of the occasion. HEROES AND STATESMEN. 63 But, here I number splendid names too fast, Heroes and Sages throng behind this group, And thick they come as came in Homer's past A Goddess and her troop ; — And as that troop, 'mid frays and fell alarms, Swept, all a-glittcr, on their mission bent, And bore from Vulcan the resplendent arms To great Achilles sent, So came the names that light my pious Song- Came bearing Union forged in high debates— A sun-illuminated Shield, and strong, To guard these mighty States. The Shield sent to the son of Pelius glowed With hammered wonders, all without a flaw ;- The Shield of Union in its splendor showed The Compromise of Law. 64 PATER PATRIAE. And as the Epic lifts a form sublime For all the Ages on its plinth of gold, So does our Story, challenging all time, Its crowning Shape uphold ! XVII. PATER PATRIAE. Achilles came from Homer's Jove-like brain, Pavilioned 'mid his ships where Thetis trod ; But he whose image dominates this plain Came from the hand of God ? Yet, of his life, which shall all time adorn I dare not sing : to try the theme would be To drink as 'twere that Scandinavian Horn Whose tip was in the Sea. I bow my head and go upon my ways, Who tells that story can but gild the gold — Could I pile Alps on Apennines of praise The tale would not be told. PATER PATRIAE. 65 Not his the blade which lyric fables say Cleft Pyrenees from ridge to nether bed, But his the sword which cleared the Sacred Way For Freedom's feet to tread. Not Caesar's genius nor Napoleon's skill Gave him proud mast'ry o'er the trembling earth ; But great in honesty, and sense, and will — He was the "man of worth." He knew not North, nor South,'nor West, nor East Childless himself Father of States he stood, Strong and sagacious as a Knight turned Priest, And vowed to deeds of s:ood. Compared with all Earth's heroes I may say He was, with even half his virtues hid, Greater in what his hand refrained than they, Were great in" what they did. 66 THE FLAG OF THE REPUBLIC. And thus his image dominates all time, Uplifted like the everlasting dome Which rises in a miracle suhlime Above eternal Rome. On Rome's once blooming plain where'er we stray That dome majestic rises on the view, Its Cross a-glow with every wandering ray That shines along the Blue. So his vast image shadows all the lands, So holds forever Man's adoring eye, And o'er the Union which he left it stands Our Cross against the sky ! xvin. THE FLAG OF THE REPUBLIC- My harp soon ceases ; but I here allege Its strings are in my heart and tremble there : My Song's last strain shall be a claim and pledge- A claim, a pledge, a prayer ! THE FLAG OF THE REPUBLIC. 67 I stand, as stood, in storied days of old, Vasco Balboa staring o'er bright seas When fair Pacific's tide of limpid gold Surged up against his knees. For haughty Spain, her banner in his hand. He claimed a New World, sea, and plain, and crag — I claim the Future's Ocean for this land And here I plant her flag ! Float out, oh flag from Freedom's burnished .lance ! Float out, oh flag, in Red, and White, and Blue ! The Union's colors and the hues of France Commingled on the view ! Float out, oh flag, and all thy splendors wake Float out, oh flag, above our Hero's bed ! Float "out, oh flag, and let thy blazon take New glories from the dead ! 68 THE FLAG OF THE REPUBLIC. Float out, oh flag, o'er Freedom's noblest types- ! Float out, oh flag, all free of blot or stain ! Float out, oh flag, the "Roses" in thy stripes Forever blent again ! Float out, oh flag, and float in every clime ! Float out, oh flag, and blaze on every- sea ! Float out, oh flag, and float as long as Time And Space themselves shall be ! Float out, oh flag, o'er Freedom's onward march ! Float out, oh flag, in Freedom's starry sheen ! Float out, oh flag, above the Union's arch "Where "Washington is seen ! Float out, oh flag, above a smiling Land ! Float out, oh flag, above a peaceful sod ! Float out, oh flag, thy staff within the hand Beneficent of God ! THE SOUTH IN THE UNION. 69 XIX. THE SOUTH IN THE UNION. An ancient Chronicle has told That, in the famous clays of old, In Antioch under ground The self-same lance was found — Unbitten by corrosive rust — The lance the Roman soldier thrust In Christ's bare side upon the Tree ; And that it brought A mighty spell To those who fought The Infidel And mighty victory. And so this day To you I say — Speaking for millions of true Southern men — In words that have no undertow — I say, and say agen : Come weal, or woe, Should this Republic ever fight, 70 THE SOUTH IN THE UNION. By land, or sea, For present law, or ancient right The South will be As was that lance, Albeit not found Hid under ground But in the forefront of the first advance ! 'Twill fly a pennon fair As ever kissed the air, On it, for every glance, Shall blaze majestic France Blent with our Hero's name In everlasting flame, And written, fair in gold, This legend on its fold : Gives us back the ties of Yorktown ! Perish all the modern bates ! Let us stand together, brothers, In defiance of the Fates ; FOR THE SAFETY OF THE UNION IS THE SAFETY OF THE STATES ! A WORD OF EXPLANATION. 71 A WORD OF EXPLANATION. It was the Author's intention to have added a set of elaborate notes to the text of his "Centennial Ode ;" but these unfortunately have been misplaced. Without the necessary leisure for their restoration, he decided to fill up this volume, to the modest size, originally intended, by the addition of the Poems which follow. This is the result of necessity, not design, and no one can lament it more than the writer, who (by the fact above referred to) has had his entire scheme of publication seriously disconcerted. Norfolk, December 10, 1882. nn r^ ±KJ 1. D r\ 10 THE CHARGE AT BALAKLAYA. Nolan halted where the squadrons, Stood impatient of delay, Out he drew his brief dispatches, Which their leader quickly snatches, At a glance their meaning catches ; They are ordered to the fray'! All that morning they had waited — As their frowning faces showed, Horses stamping, riders fretting, And their teeth together setting ; Not a single sword-blade wetting As the battle ebbed and flowed. Now the fevered spell is broken, Every man feels twice as large, Every heart is fierce ly leaping, As a lion roused from sleeping, For they know they will be sweeping In a moment to the charge. 76 THE CHARGE AT BALAKLAVA. Brightly gleam six hundred sabres, And the brazen trumpets ring ; Steeds are gathered, spurs are driven. And the heavens widely riven With a mad shout upward given, Scaring vultures on the wing. Stern its meaning ; was not Gallia Looking down on Albion's sons ? In each mind this thought implanted, Undismayed and all undaunted, By the battle-fiends enchanted, They ride down upon the guns. Onward ! On ! the chargers trample ; Quicker falls each iron heel ! And the headlong pace grows faster ; Noble steed and noble master, Rushing on to red disaster, Where the heavy cannons peal. THE CHARGE AT BALAKLAVA. 77 In the van rides Captain Nolan ; Soldier stout he was and brave ! And his shining sabre flashes, As upon the foe he dashes : , God ! his face turns white as ashes, He has ridden to his grrave ! Down he fell, prone from his saddle, Without motion, without breath, Never more a trump to waken — He the very first one taken, From the bough so sorely shaken, In the vintage-time of Death. In a moment, in a twinkling, He was gathered to his rest ; In the time for which he'd waited — With his gallant heart elated — Down went Nolan, decorated With a death wound on his breast. 78 THE CHARGE AT BALAKLAVA. Comrades still are onward charging, He is lying on the sod : Onward still their steeds are rushing Where the shot and shell are crushing ; From his corpse the blood is gushing, And his soul is with his God. As they spur on, what strange visions Flit across each rider's brain ! Thoughts of maiden fair, of mothers, Friends and sisters, wives and brothers, Blent with images of others, Whom they ne'er shall see again. Onward still the squadrons thunder — Knightly hearts were their's and brave, Men and horses without number All the furrowed ground encumber — Falling fast to their last slumber — Bloody slumber ! bloody grave ! THE CHARGE AT BALAKLAVA. 79 Of that charge at Balaklava — In its chivalry sublime — Vivid, grand, historic pages Shall descend to future ages ; Poets, painters, hoary sages Shall record it for all time ; Telling how those English horsemen Rode the Russian gunners down ; How with ranks all torn and shattered ; How with helmets hacked and battered ; How with sword arms blood-bespattered They won honor and renown. 'Twas "not war," but it was splendid As a dream of old romance ; Thinking which their Gallic neighbors Thrilled to watch them at their labors, Hewing red graves with their sabres In that wonderful advance. 80 THE CHARGE AT BALAKLAVA. Down went many a gallant soldier ; Down went many a stout dragoon ; Lying grim, and stark, and gory, On the crimson field of glory, Leaving us a noble story And their white-cliffed home a boon. Full of hopes and aspirations Were their hearts at dawn of day ; Now, with forms all rent and broken, Bearing each some frightful token Of a scene ne'er to be spoken, In their silent sleep they lay. Here a noble charger stiffens, There his rider grasps the hilt Of his sabre lying bloody By his side, upon the muddy, Trampled ground, which darkly ruddy Shows the blood that he has spilt. THE CHARGE AT BALAKLAVA. 81 And to-night the moon shall shudder As she looks down on the moor, Where the dead of hostile races Slumber, slaughtered in their places ; All their rigid ghastly faces Spattered hideously with £ore. And the sleepers ! ah, the sleepers Make a Westminster that day ; 'Mid the seething battle's lava ! And each man who fell shall have a Pro ad inscription — Balaklava, Which shall never fade away. 11 MEMORISE SACRUM. ALEXANDER GALT, THE SCULPTOR Alas ! he's cold ! Cold as the marble which his fingers wrought — Cold, but not dead ; for each embodied thought Of his, which he from the Ideal brought To live in stone, Assures him immortality of fame. Gait is not dead ! Only too soon We saw him climb Up to his pedestal, where equal Time And coming generations, in the noon Of his full reputation, yet shall stand To pay just homage to his noble name. Our Poet of the Quarries only sleeps, MEMORISE SACRUM. 83 He cleft his pathway up the future's steeps, And now rests from his labors. Hence 'tis I say ; For him there is no death, Only the stopping of the pulse and breath — But simple breath is not the all in all ; Man hath it but in common with the brutes — Life is in action, and in brave pursuits ! By what we dream, and, having dreamt, dare do, We hold our places in the world's large view, And still have part in the affairs of men When the long sleep is on us. He dreamt and made his dreams perpetual things Fit for the rugged cells of penitential saints, Or sumptuous halls of Kings, And showed himself a Poet in the Art : He chiselled Lyrics with a touch so fine, With such a tender beauty of their own, That rarest songs broke out from every line And Verse was audible in voiceless stone ! 84 MEMORISE SACRUM. His Psyche,* soft in beaut}?- and in grace, "Waits for her lover in the Western breeze, And a swift smile irradiates her face, As though she heard him whisper in the trees. His passion-stricken Sappho seems alive — Before her none can ever feel alone, For on her face emotions so do strive That we forget she is but pallid stone : — And all her tragedy of love and woe Is told us in the chilly marble's snow.f Bacchante, with her vine-crowned hair, Leaps to the cymbal-measured dance With such a passion in her air — Upon her brow — upon her lips — As thrills you to the finger-tips, Aud fascinates your glance. *His Psyche and the Bacchante are, we believe in the possession of the heirs of the late Historian and Antiquary, the Hon. Hugh Blair Grigsby, late Chan- cellor of William and Mary College. tThis beautiful work ornaments the mansion of the Hon. John B. White- head, of Norfolk, Va. MEMORISE SACRUM. 85 These are, as 'twere, three of his Songs in stone — The first full of the tenderness of love, Speaking of moon-rise, and the low wind's call : The second of love's tragedy and fall ; The third of shrill, mad laughter, and the tone Of festal music, on whose rise and fall Swift-footed dancers follow. Nobler than these sweet lyric dreams, Dreamt out beside Italia's streams, He'd worked some Epic studies out, in part — To leave them incomplete his chiefest pain When the low pulses of his failing heart Admonished him of death. Aye ! he had soared upon a lofty wing, Wet with the purple and encrimsoned rain Of dreams, whose clouds had floated o'er his brain Until it ached with glories. If you would see his Epic studies, go — Go with the student from his dim arcade — 86 MEM0RL2E SACRUM. Halt where the Statesman standeth in the hall, And mark how careless voices hush and fall, And all light talk to sudden pause is brought In presence of the noble type of thought — Embodied Independence! which he wrought From stone of far Carrara. View his Columbus : Hero grand and meek, Scarred 'mid the battle's Jong-protracted brnnt- Palos and Salvador stamped on his front, With not a line about it poor or weak — A second Atlas, bearing on his brow A New World, just discovered. Go see Virginia's wise, majestic face With some faint shadow of her coming woe Writ on the broad, expansive, virgin snow Ofjier imperial forehead, just as though Some disembodied Prophet-hand of eld The Sculptor's chisel in its touch had held, JHls statue of Tnonias Jefferson, at the University of Virginia. MEMORISE SACRUM. 87 Foreshadowing her coming crown of thorns — Her crown and her great glory !§ These of the many ; hut they are enough — Enough to show that I have rightly said The marble's snow bids back from him decay, He sleepeth long; but sleeps not with the dead Who die, and are forgotten ere the clay Heaped over them hath hardened in the sun. Thus much of Gait the Artist : Of the man Fain would I speak, but in sad sooth lean xTe'er find the words wherein to tell How he was loved, or yet how well He did deserve it. All things of beauty were to him delight — The sunset's clouds — the turret rent apart — The stars which glitter in the noon of night — Spoke in one voice unto his mind and heart, §This noble bust, still in the clay, perished, I believe, at the evacuation of Richmond. 88 MEMOKLE SACRUM. His love of Nature made his love of Art, And had his span Ot life been longer He had surely done|| Such noble things that he Like to a soaring eagle would have been At last — lost in the sun ! II There are in Norfolk three beautiful works from the hand of the sculptor, who threw down his chisel and left his Florentine studio to hurry to Virginia when the late war broke out. Two of these, a Flora and a figure of Hope, both beautiful, are in the possession of his brother, William R. Gait, and the third, a Sappho, as already stated, ornaments the mansion of Mr. Whitehead. THE POET-PRIEST RYAN.