The Oxford intelligencer., 1860-12-05

E, why hast fhou raised


Did Memphis, Thebes, and Babylon
Spring up and crumble back to dust,
To bear no Inspiration on,
Save memories oftheir sin and lust 2
Were Athens and eternal Rome
Born, but to mock the opening mind,
And does their memory only come
To pass and leave no tIaee behind.
True they have reigned and passed away,
Amid the groans and tears of man;
And mingling with their neither clay,
Kiss the low source whence they began.
Their crumbling thrones and temples, now
Stand in solitary waste,
And hypoerites and sinners bow
To him, whose name they have disgraeed.
But are they gone down in the gloom,
Though once the pride of other daysi
And win no halo DER their tomb,
Gather their suns departing raysl
Why are they fallen! Thou hadst given
Riches, and favor, and wealth, and fame.
Why hast thou left them! Is not Heaven
Still mindful OF their glorious named
They are departed, but the great
Hover in spirit DER them there;
But thou, inexorable Fate
Hast left them to their black despair.
Their names and glory thou hast kept,
Safe from the tumult dark and wild;
And led to where thy heroes slept
Thy lonely, melancholy child
Thy hand ha pointed to the place
Where Pompey fell, and Caesar bled:
And taught his infant hand to trace
The wreath of glory round their head.
Thy hand has led thy humble son
To proud Augusta's court and tomb;
And Diocletian's mighty throne,
And stern Aurelans hapless doom.
Thy hand has led his infant feet
To conquer'ng Frederic's silent grave,
In hopes amid its shades to meet
The spirit af the loved and brave.
Yes, with the all-victorious Mede,
He thought to mediate awhile;
And gather, with the fiery Swede,
The trophies of his Northern isle.
ToSt. Helena's rocky shore,
The tale of vnlor led thy child;
And mingled with the cannons roar,
The sound of tempests still more Wild.
Thou, too, hast told of liberty
.An- r a 4
And called the Father of the free
Thine own immortal Washington.
Thy upward path to glory showed
The names of those who followed thee,
And on their heads hast thou bestowed
The crown of immortality.
Thy cheering voice encouraged him
The plaudts of world to seek;
And shine, through future ages din,
A shining light upon the peak.
His eye was fixed upon the GOAL
His bosom heavcd with warm desire;
And from the altar of his soul,
Flashed the bright sparks of heavenly fire.
His aim was honor-not the light,
And passing shadow of u name,
That sooIshould vanish in the nigLt
OF dark oblivion and shame.
A name which coming ages bless,
And crown with honors half divine,-
A balm for sorrow and distress,
Allured him to thy awful shrine.
lie bowed, and worshppcd at thy feet,
Arose; and labored for the prize,
And spurned resistance or defeat,
While il was ct before his eyes.
His aim was high, yet higher still
The hope that nervcd him still to tread,
That path of those, whose honors I'LL
The mausoleum of the dead.
That hope, his guardian angel, spread
The books to other mort.ls sealed,
And from their golden pages read
The secrets of the Fates revealed.
In dreams at night that angel brought
Him to the futures Paradise;
And he the bright Elysian caught,
And dwelt in rapture in the skies.
He dwclt in safe security,
y Within that happy, bright, retreat,
And wondered far below to see
Earth's mighty heroes at his feet.
Years, centuries, and ages wept
Around that happy home of his,
And still those scenes their beauty kept,
And his own heart retained its bliss.
Joy tuned again her sportive Tyre,
And poured forth her nelodiouS. strain,
And spirits, warmed with hidden lire,
Gave back the welcome notes again.
And now, DER bright eternity,
Life's fadelcss sunshine shot its beam;
wnen Fate, in angry jealousy,
Awakened hint was all dream
Life, with its storm cloud of defeat,
And dark obscurity and pain,
And these, stern parent, must meet
In deadly battle once again.
For still forever thus thy hand
Has held me back in grief to shed
My tear-drops in foreign land,
And muse on things forever tied.
But thou no more from me shalt hear
Complaints of thy neglect and scorn,
But shall wait for thee, and bear
The fate, to which thy son was born.
Armitage, Mss, Nov, 1s60.
CoMlNG SouTH.-The number of yo'
nen who have left Quebec during the
ew days, for the Southern States, accord
o the Chronicle, is positively astonishi
nd surpasses BY far the number of tn