On the field of Killiecrankie, When that stubborn fight was done! And the evening star was shining Stretched upon the cumbered plain, As he told us where to seek him, Pealed the joyful note of triumph, And the clansmen's clamorous cheer; Shot, and steel, and scorching flame, In the glory of his manhood Passed the spirit of the Græme! THE JACOBITE ON TOWER HILL GEORGE WALTER THORNBURY THE Revolution was hardly accomplished when the men who were friendly to James or were disappointed in William and Mary, began plotting for the restoration of the Stuart line. In 1696, a conspiracy was formed to assassinate the king. The plot was betrayed, however, and the leaders arrested and executed. He tripp'd up the steps with a bow and a smile, A rose at his button-hole that afternoon · 'Twas the tenth of the month, and the month it was June. Then shrugging his shoulders he look'd at the man With the mask and the axe, and a murmuring ran Through the crowd, who, below, were all pushing to see The gaoler kneel down, and receiving his fee. He look'd at the mob, as they roar'd, with a stare, "I'm happy to give but a moment's delight To the flower of my country agog for a sight.” Then he look'd at the block, and with scented cravat Dusted room for his neck, gaily doffing his hat, Kiss'd his hand to a lady, bent low to the crowd, Then smiling, turn'd round to the headsman and bow'd. "God save King James!" he cried bravely and shrill, And the cry reach'd the houses at foot of the hill, "My friend with the axe, à votre service," he said; And ran his white thumb long the edge of the blade. When the multitude hiss'd he stood firm as a rock; Then kneeling, laid down his gay head on the block; He kiss'd a white rose, in a moment 'twas red With the life of the bravest of any that bled. THE AGE OF QUEEN ANNE ALEXANDER POPE (From "The Rape of the Lock," Canto III) QUEEN ANNE, who succeeded to the throne on the death of Mary's husband (1702), was a woman of feeble intellect. She had so little will of her own that she never came into conflict with her subjects. The affairs of state were managed for her by certain favorites, of whom Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, was chief. Close by those meads, for ever crown'd with flowers, Where Thames with pride surveys his rising towers, There stands a structure of majestic frame, Which from the neighbouring Hampton takes its name. Here Britain's statesmen oft the fall foredoom Of foreign tyrants and of nymphs at home; Here thou, great ANNA! whom three realms obey, To taste awhile the pleasures of a court; Snuff, or the fan, supply each pause of chat, AFTER BLENHEIM ROBERT SOUTHEY LOUIS XIV., king of France, had given refuge to James II. and, after the death of the exiled king, recognized his son Prince James as heir to the English crown. Louis was the most powerful monarch in Europe, and his championship of the Jacobite cause was a serious menace to the peace of England. Marlborough undertook to oppose the grand monarque in his continental ambitions and so joined the foes of France in the war of the Spanish succession (1704-1713). The allied armies won a great victory at Blenheim on the upper Danube and the prestige of France waned from that day. In the end Louis was obliged to abandon the Stuarts and to acknowledge a Protestant prince, George of Hanover, as successor to Queen Anne. It was a summer evening, Old Kaspar's work was done, And by him sported on the green She saw her brother Peterkin Roll something large and round In playing there had found; He came to ask what he had found That was so large and smooth and round. Old Kaspar took it from the boy Who stood expectant by; And then the old man shook his head And with a natural sigh "'Tis some poor fellow's skull,” said he, "I find them in the garden, For there's many here about; And often when I go to plough The ploughshare turns them out. For many thousand men," said he, "Were slain in that great victory." "Now tell us what 'twas all about," "It was the English," Kaspar cried, "My father lived at Blenheim then, They burnt his dwelling to the ground, And he was forced to fly : So with his wife and child he fled, Nor had he where to rest his head. "With fire and sword the country round Was wasted far and wide, And many a childing mother then And new-born baby died: |