Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1883-01-11

Charge Chester, Charge on Stanly, on y
How often is the above quoted as
ft last words Of dying soldier? but
at the time they were uttered, it may
be reasonably supposed from what
preceded them, that Marmion was
about as conscious of their meaning
as was Napoleon Bonaparte of his
famous battle-cry the last time it
passed his lips. Compare them with
the last words Of D'Argentine at the
battle of Bannockburn, who, having
fought till the close Of the battle with
the greatest valor. falls endeavoring
to cover the flight of his sovereign
and calmly and earnestly as man.
who, although he knows his end is
near, is conscious of having fulfilled
his duty, addresses Bruce:
''Lord Earl, the day Is thine
Ny Sovervign's charge and adverse fate,
Have made our ineeting all too late;
Yet this may Argentine,
As boon from ancient romr,de. crave
A Christians mass, a soldiers grave"
Neither Shakespeare nor Dickens
ever pictured a more vivid scene than
is described in the opening stanzas of
Rokeby, where Oswald's torturing
conscience, whether he is awake or
sleeping, terrifies him with the prob;-
bic consequences Of his prelne,litated
crime; or the one which follows be-
tween him and Bertram, where by
Indirect questions as TO the issne of
the battle, the success of the Cause.
he seeks to draw from his rough
guest the news he is expiring with i'm
patience to know, and BertIa IAN s Quail
ly evasive answers and direct sneers
which finally force him to ask in
plain language. what he wished to
find out indirectly:
The wrath his srt and fear suppress'd,
Nov blaEed at once in Wyclilfe's breast:
And brave, from man so meanly born,
Reused bis hereditary scorn
HMresch hast thou paid thy bloody debi2
Philip OF slortham, lives he yet r.
Then from his seat the soldier sprung,
Aud Wyelife's hand he strongly wrung."
=" Now Oswald wyclifIe, speaks thy heart
Now play'st thou well thy genuine part
WORTHY. but tor thy crAvrn lear,
Lake me to roam a bRcahier.
What 'ck 81 the u of the Cause diviEe.
u Mortham's wealth and lands he ihiueg
: What cArest thou Ter beleagnred York.
IT this good hHad have dene It's work ?
Os what though Fairfax snd hts best
Are reddrHing AaFsiohs swarihy bre1st,
~ Philip Mortham with them lie
Lending his liie-blOOd to the dye2'n-
Or farther on when Wycliffe is rep
resented smothering his wrath, which
reused at every wound inflicted on it
by the outlaw reckless freedom, who
in referring to Cromweii's final success.
puts himself on q footing with his
host in the following cOupIet:
''But. whether false the news, or true
Oswald reck AS light as YOU"
Not then by wyeliae might be shown.
How bis pride startled 1t the tone
In WHICH his compliee, fierce and free,
Asserted quilts equality"
Nor will you anywhere, | think,
find finer illustration Of the end Of
the tropical day, than in Bertram's
comparisons of it with with the prob
able end Of his own wild, reckless
life;
and now my rare Of terror run,
Nine be the eve Of tropie sEnl
No pale gFadations queneh bis raw,
No twilight dews his wrath allay,
With disk, like baifle-larget red,
He Fushes TO his burning bed,
llies the wide wave With bloody light,
Then sinks ~ onee-and all is night