The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1805-10-29

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$ The way was long, the wind was cold,
The Miuilrel was infirm and old;
His wiihered cheek, aud trefies gray,
Seemed to have known better day;
The harp, his iole remaining Joy,
Was carried by an orphan boy.
The latf Of all the Bards was he,
Who flung Of Border chivslry;
Fer, wcll-a-day their date was fed,
His tuneful brethren all were dead;
And he, neglected and opprefled,
Wiihed to be with them, and at refl.
No more, on prancing palGrey borne,
He carollsd, light as lark at morn
No longer, courted and careGed,
High placed in hall, welcome sue9,
He poured, to lord and lady gay,
The unprecedented lay;
Old times were changed, old manners gene,
Attranser filed the Stuarts' throne
The bigots of the iron time
Had called his harmless art crime.
wandering harper, formed and poor,
He begged his bread from door to door;
And tuned, to pleafe pesiant's ear,
The harp, King hal loved TO hear p 4.
After defcribng his introduction to the preience of
the Duchefs, and his offer entertain her with hi,
mule, the description proceeds.
The humble boon was foon Obtained;
The aged Min0rel audience gained.
But, when he reached the room of ffatc,
Where fhe, with all her ladies, fate,
Perchance he wiihej his boon denied;
For, when to tune his harp he tried,
His trembling hand had .oa the eale,
Which marks feeurity to peafe;
And fcenes, long pat, Of Joy aud pain,
Came wiidering Ger his aged brain
Amid the Rrings his fingers ftrayed,
And an uncertain waIbliug made
And oft he fhook his huary head.
But when he caught the n,eafure wild,
The old man RATED his face and lmiied
And lightened up his faded eye,
With all poets ertasy
In varying cadence, foft or ftrong,
He fwePt the founding chords along
The preient fcene, the future lot,
His tolls, his wants. all forgot;
Cold difhdenoe, and ages froit,
In the full tide of song were loa
Each blank, in faithful memory void,
The poets glowing thought iupplied;
And while his harp refponlive rung,
Twas thus the Latest MNsrREL flung p. c, s..
We add, chiefly on account of their brevitv. tbe
following lines, which immediately iucceed the def
cr1ption OF the funeral rites of the Engh champion
sThe harp's wild notes, though huhed the foup.
The mimic march of death proong
Now feems t far, and now near
Now meets, and now eludes the ear
Now feems iome mountains fide to fweep,
Now family dies in valley deep;
Seems now if the Minftrel's wall,
Now the fad requiem loads the gale;
Lait Ger the warriors elolng grave
Rung the full choir in choral fave D. ls5.l56.
The cioie of the whole poem is as follows:
Huihed is the harp--the lIinltrel gone.
And did ne wander forth alone /?
Alone, III Indulgence and age,
To lingcr out his pilgrimage
Eo--clofe beneath proud Newark's tower.
Aroie the Minifrel's lowly bover.
A frmple hut; but there was feen
The little garden hedged with green,
The cheerful hearth, and lattice clean
There iheltered wanderers, by the blaze,
Oft heard the tale of other days;
For much he loved to ope his door,
And give the aid he begged before
So pahed the winters day--but flill
When fummer imiled on rweet Bowhill,
And July's eve, with balmy breath,
Waved the blue-belis on Newark heath
And houriihed, broad, Blackandro's oak,
The aged EIarper's fosi awoke
Then would he fling achievements high,
And clrcumRance OF Chivalry,
Till the rapt traveller would nav,
Forgetlul of the coiing day;
And Yarrow, as he rolled along
Bore burden to the MIinlireps ionq' y. 1854
Beides theTe, which are altogether detached from
the lyric efufions of the Minftre soe of tb ,o IN,
terefing paages Of the poem are thofe In which he
drops TIE bnnefs of his tory to moralife, and apply
to his Gtuation the images and reflections !, has
iuggelted. After concluding one canto with an ac-
count of the warlke array winch was prepared for
the reception of the Englfh INVADERS he opens the
fueeeeding one with the following beautiful verfe,
Sweet Teviot on thy Gver tide,
The glazing bale-fres blaze no more
No longer (teelcad warriors ride
Along thy wild and widowed fhore;
Wherever thou wind'ft by dale or hill,
AL, all is peaceful, all is ail,
As filthy waves, ffee time wa, born,
Since frf they rolled their way to Tweed,
Had only heard the fhepherd's reed,
Nor ftarted at the bugle-horn.
Unlike the tide of human time,
Which, though it change in ceafelefs flow,
Retains each grief, retains each crime,
It's earlisft courfe was doomed to know;
And, darker as i, downward bears,
Is itsined with par and Preient tears,
Low as that tide has ebbed with me,
1t Gill reflects to memory'seye
The hour my brave, my only boy,
Eel! by the lde ofgrcat Dundee.
Why, when the volleyiug mufitet played
Againt the bloody Highland blade,
Why was not beiide him laid
Enough--he died the death Of fame;
Enough-he died with eonuuerino C,ra,r,e'