Grant that the deed, if ever done,
Was chivalrous, and bold;
A loftier and a nobler one
Our history can unfold:
Nor shall our heroine, meekly calm,
To Rome's proud hero yield the palm.
The RUSSELL* stood beside her lord
When evil tongues were rife;
And perjury, with voice abhorr'd,
Assail'd his fame and life :-
She stood there in the darkest hour
Of Tyranny's and Faction's power.
No stern oracular behest
Her gentle courage gave;
No plaudits, utter'd or suppress'd,
Could she expect or crave;
Duty alone her Delphic shrine,
The only praise she sought-divine.
She sate at Guilt's tribunal bar
In virtue's noblest guise:
Like a sweet brightly shining star
In night's unclouded skies:
Still in that scene of hopeless strife,
Southampton's daughter, Russell's wife!
Fearless in love, in goodness great,
She rose her lord to aid;
And well might he intrust his fate
To one so undismayed,
Asking with fond and grateful pride
No help but that her love supplied.
Her's was no briefly daring mood,
Spent on one fearful deed!
The gentle courage of the good
More lasting worth can plead;
And hers made bright in after years
The mother's toils, the widow's tears.
Lord Russell.-May I have somebody to write to help my memory? Mr. Attorney General.-Yes, a servant.
Lord Chief Justice.-Any of your servants shall assist you in writing any thing you please for you.
Lord Russell.-My WIFE is here, my lord, to do it.
Woman of meek yet fearless soul !
Thy memory aye shall live;
Nor soon shall history's varied scroll
A name more glorious give :-
What English heart but feels its claim
Far, far beyond the Roman's fame?
A RETROSPECT OF THE LAST DAY.
In custom'd glory bright, that morn the Sun
Rose, visiting the earth with light, and heat,
And joy; and seem'd as full of youth, and strong
To mount the steep of heaven as when the stars
Of morning sung to his first dawn, and night
Fled from his face. The spacious sky received
Him blushing as a bride, when on her looks
The bridegroom; and spread out beneath his eye,
Earth smiled. Up to his warm embrace the Dews
That all night long had wept his absence, flew;
The herbs and flowers their fragrant stores unlock'd,
And gave the wanton breeze that, newly woke,
Revelled in sweets, and from its wings shook health.
A thousand grateful smells; the joyous woods
Dried in his beams their locks, wet with the drops
Of night; and all the sons of music sung
Their matin song from arboured tower, the thrush
Concerting with the lark that hymn'd on high.
On the green hill the flocks, and in the vale
The herds rejoiced; and light of heart, the hind
Eyed amorously the milk-maid as she pass'd,
Not heedless though she looked another way.
No sign was there of change. All nature moved
In wonted harmony. Men, as they met,
In morning salutation, praised the day,
And talked of common things. The husbandman
Prepared the soil, and silver-tongued Hope
Promised another harvest. In the streets,
Each wishing to make profit of his neighbour,
Merchants assembling spoke of trying times,
Of bankruptcies, and markets glutted fnll;
Or, crowding to the beach, where to their ear,
The oath of foreign accent, and the noise
Uncouth of trade's rough sons, made music sweet,
Elate with certain gain,-beheld the bark,
Expected long, enriched with other climes,
Into the harbour safely steer; or saw
Parting with many a weeping farewell sad,
And blessing uttered rude, and sacred pledge,
The rich-laden carack, bound to distant shore,
And hopefully talked of her coming back
With richer fraughts; or sitting at the desk,
In calculation deep and intricate
Of loss and profit balancing, relieved,
At intervals, the irksome task, with thoughts
Of future ease, retired in villa snug.
With subtle look, amid his parchments sat
The lawyer, weaving his sophistries for court
To meet at mid-day. On his weary couch,
Fat Luxury sick of the night's debauch,
Lay groaning, fretful at th' obtrusive beam,
That through his lattice peep'd derisively.
The restless miser had begun again
To count his heaps. Before her toilet stood
The fair, and, as with guileful skill she deck'd
Her loveliness, thought of the coming ball,
New lovers, or the sweeter nuptial night;
And evil men of desperate, lawless life,
By oath of deep damnation leagued to ill;
Remorselessly, fled from the face of day,
Against the innocent their counsel held,
Plotting unpardonable deeds of blood,
And villanies of fearful magnitude.
Despots secured behind a thousand bolts,
The workmanship of fear, forged chains for man;
Senates were meeting, statesmen loudly talked
Of national resources, war and peace,
And sagely balanced empires soon to end;
And faction's jaded minions, by the page
Paid for abuse and oft repeated lies,
In daily prints, the thoroughfare of news,
For party schemes made interest, under cloak
Of liberty, and right, and public weal.
In holy conclave, bishops spoke of tithes,
And of the awful wickedness of men ;
Intoxicate, with sceptres, diadems,
And universal rule and panting hard
For fame, heroes were leading on the brave
To battle. Men in science deeply read,
And academic theory, foretold
Improvements vast; and learned sceptics proved
That each should with eternity endure-
Concluding madly that there was no God.
No sign of change appeared: to every man
That day seemed as the past. From noontide path
The sun looked gloriously on earth, and all
Her scenes of giddy folly smiled secure :
When suddenly, alas fair Earth! the sun
Was wrapped in darkness, and his beams returned
Up to the throne of God, and over all
The earth came night-moonless and starless nigh!
Nature stood still. The seas and rivers stood;
And all the winds; and every living thing.
The cataract, that like a giant wroth,
Rushed down impetuously, as seized, at once,
By sudden frost with all his hoary locks,
Stood still, and beasts of every kind stood still.
A deep and dreadful silence reigned alone!
Hope died in every breast, and on all men
Came fear and trembling. None to his neighbour spoke. Husband thought not of wife, nor of her child
The mother, nor friend of friend, nor foe of foe.
In horrible suspense all mortals stood;
And as they stood and listen'd, chariots were heard
Rolling in heaven. Revealed in flaming fire,
The angel of God appeared in stature vast,
Blazing, and lifting up his hand on high,
By him that lives for ever, swore, that " Time
Should be no more!" Throughout, creation heard
And sighed---All rivers, lakes, and seas, and woods,
Desponding waste and cultivated vale,
Wild cave, and ancient hill, and every rock,
Sighed. Earth arrested in her wonted path,
As ox, struck by the lifted axe, when nought
Was feared, in all her entrails deeply groaned.
An universal crash was heard, as if
The ribs of nature broke, and all her dark
Foundations failed: and deadly paleness sat
On every face of man; and every heart
Grew chill, and every knee his fellow smote.
None spoke, none stirr'd, none wept: for horror held
All motionless, and fetter'd every tongue.
Again, on all the nations silence fell:
And in the heavens robed in excessive light,
That drove the thick of darkness far aside,
And walked with penetration keen, through all
The abodes of men, another angel stood,
And blew the trump of God: Awake, ye dead!
Be changed, ye living, and put on the garb
Of immortality! Awake! arise!
The God of Judgment comes!
The day that many thought should never come,
That all the wicked wished should never come,
Day greatly feared, and yet too little feared
By him who feared it most ;-
Day of eternal gain for worldly loss;
Day of eternal loss for worldly gain;
Great day of terror, vengeance, woe, despair;
Revealer of all secrets, thoughts, desires;
Rein-trying, heart-investigating day,
That stood between Eternity and Time,
Reviewed all past, determined all to come,
And bound all destinies for evermore!
have sown, so shall ye reap
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