Good Lord! what sudden glare is that that reddens all the sky, As though hell's legions rode the air and tossed their torches high! Up, men! the alarm drum beats to arms! and the solid ground seems riven By the shock of warring thunderbolts in the lurid depth of heaven! O there was clattering of steel, and mustering in array, And shouts and wild huzzas of men, impatient of delay, As came the scouts swift-footed in--"They fly! the foe! they fly! They've fired the powder magazine and blown it to the sky!" III Now morning o'er the frosty hills in autumn splendor came, And touched the rolling mists with gold, and flecked the clouds with flame; And through the brown woods on the hills--those altars of the world-- The blue smoke from the settler's hut and Indian's wigwam curled. Yet never, here, had morning dawned on such a glorious din Of twanging trump, and rattling drum, and clanging culverin, And glittering arms and sabre gleams and serried ranks of men, Who marched with banners high advanced along the river glen. Oh, and royally they bore themselves who knew that o'er the seas Would speed the glorious tidings from the loyal colonies, Of the fall of French dominion with the fall of Fort Duquesne, And the triumph of the English arms from Erie to Champlain. Before high noon they halted; and while they stood at rest, They saw, unfolded gloriously, the "Gateway of the West," There flashed the Allegheny, like a scimetar of gold, And king-like in its majesty, Monongahela rolled. Beyond, the River Beautiful swept down the woody vales, Where Commerce, ere a century passed, should spread her thousand sails; Between the hazy hills they saw Contrecoeur's armed batteaux, And the flying, flashing, feathery oars of the Ottawa's canoes. Then, on from rank to rank of men, a shout of triumph ran, And while the cannon thundered, the leader of the van, The tall Virginian, mounted on the walls that smouldered yet, And shook the English standard out, and named the place Fort Pitt. Again with wild huzzas the hills and river valleys ring, And they swing their loyal caps in air, and shout--"Long live the King! Long life unto King George!" they cry, "and glorious be the reign That adds to English statesmen Pitt, to English arms Duquesne!" FLORUS B. PLIMPTON. Pitt determined to strike a blow at the very centre of French power, and on June 26, 1759, an English fleet of twenty-two ships of the line, with frigates, sloops-of-war, and transports carrying nine thousand regulars, appeared before Quebec. In command of this great expedition was Major-General James Wolfe, who had played so dashing a part in the capture of Louisburg the year before, and was soon to win immortal glory. HOT STUFF [June, 1759]