Ay; but ere I go, perchance for ever, lady, Unto the land, whose dismal tales of battles, Where thousands strew'd the earth, have christen'd it The Frenchman's grave; I'd speak of such a theme As chimes with this sad hour, more fitly than Its name gives promise. There's a love, which born In early days, lives on through silent years, Nor ever shines, but in the hour of sorrow, When it shows brightest: like the trembling light Of a pale sunbeam, breaking o'er the face Of the wild waters in their hour of warfare. Thus much forgive; and trust, in such an hour, I had not said e'en this, but for the hope That when the voice of victory is heard From the fair Tuscan valleys, in its swell Should mournful dirges mingle for the dead, And I be one of those who are at rest, You may chance recollect this word, and say, That day, upon the bloody field, there fell One who had loved thee long, and loved thee well. A MONK'S CURSE. Hear me, thou hard of heart: They who go forth to battle, are led on With sprightly trumpets and shrill clam'rous clarions! The drum doth roll its double notes along, Echoing the horses' tramp; and the sweet fife Runs through the yielding air in dulcet measure, That makes the heart leap in its case of steel; Thou--shalt be knell'd unto thy death by bells, Pond'rous and brazen-tongued, whose sullen toll Shall cleave thine aching brain, and on thy soul Fall with a leaden weight: the muffled drum Shall mutter round thy path like distant thunder: 'Stead of the war-cry, and wild battle roar,-- That swells upon the tide of victory, And seems unto the conqueror's eager ear Triumphant harmony of glorious discords: There shall be voices cry, Foul shame on thee; And the infuriate populace shall clamour To heaven for lightnings on thy rebel head. * * * * * THE COSMOPOLITE. SUPERSTITIONS, FABLES, &c. RELATIVE TO ANIMALS. (_For the Mirror_.) A superstition prevails both in England and Scotland (Qu. Are Wales and Ireland excepted?) that _Goats_ are never to be seen for twenty-four hours together, owing to their paying Satan a visit once during that period, to have their beards combed; indeed, since the classical representations of Pan and the satyrs, from whose semi-brutal figures we derive our own superstitious idea of the form of the evil one, goats, rams, and pongos have shared with serpents and cats the obloquy of being in a manner his animal symbols. The offensive smell of this animal is thus accounted for by the natives of South Guinea:-- Having requested a female deity to allow them to use an aromatic ointment which she used, the enraged goddess rubbed them with one of a very different description, and the smell of this has been ever since retained by the descendants of the presumptuous offenders.