His hand in chastising, by mercy is guided; To inflict on his creatures an endless pain." He said, and they both in an instant are found Where the virtuous dwell in Elysian ground; No longer environed with hell's gloomy shades, Here a light both immortal and pure pervades. Henry sees the fair scene, and swift at the sight, He feels his soul thrilled with an unknown delight. "Those heroes," said Louis, "whom in heav'n you find, When on earth, like yourself, have illumined mankind. The heart neither trouble nor passion here They, my son, were, as you are, of virtue a lover, knows, King Charlemagne and Clovis, on a throne there of gold, But, true sons of the church, they cherished their mother; With hearts simple and docile, the truth they respected, Like my own was their worship, by you, why rejected?" In saying these words, intermingled with sighs, Before them the palace of destiny lies; To the sacred ramparts they now take their. way, Where a hundred brass gates their wide portals display. From this terrible palace, with wing swift and light, Time forwards and backwards makes his ceaseless flight; O'er the lilies of France their guardianship And hence is poured forth on the world of hold. The bitterest foes, who in contest delighted, mankind The good and the evil we everywhere find. Like a cedar arises and wise counsels brings. held sway; forded. Here is Liberty seen in her slavery grand, And the tears from his people his hand wiped And a prisoner made with an unperceived away. D'Amboise is beside him for fidelity proved, Who loved only France, and by France was beloved : hand, With a yoke that she feels not, and that nothing can break. Without tyranny God can a true subject make, His master's firm friend, and though high in With his sovereign laws, more firm to unite, command, By blood or by rapine ne'er sullied his hand. Blessed days, blessed manners, what memo ries ye bring! The people all happy, all glorious the king! From these sacred regions its power some day Shall depart, and your heart shall its influence obey; O'er the prince and the State still their rule is the same. Richelieu, Mazarin, names of deathless renown, But this precious time God has placed in his For a seat near the throne leave the altar and In politics skilful, and Fortune their friend, To absolute power their footsteps will tend. Richelieu grand, sublime, who his foe will not spare, You cannot defer neither hasten the hour; But distant the time, alas, far off those days When God shall account you a child of his grace! By what frailties to shame will you yet be mis- Mazarin skilful, subtle, and his friendship a led! snare. Through what treacherous paths will your err- By art one escapes as he yields to the storm," ing feet tread! The other stands up and opposes his form, In short, while assiduous their talents to urge, But what is that crowd through these vast re- They are useful to kings, to the people a scourge. gions presses, Which enters, retires, and yet never ceases? The portraits of mortals yet unborn of God. O thou, with less power and less plans for suc cess, Who in worth art the first, if in rank thou art less, Thou Colbert, whose prudence its knowledge employs, Whence France by thy labors abundance enjoys, Outraged by a populace, blinded and weak, While thy only revenge was their welfare to seek, Like the hero of old, God's confidant named, All the different changes since first they drew Who, the Israelites fed, even while they blasbreath, phemed. Two mortals who proudly are placed near the In his life truly great, in his death greater still. throne. At their feet in subjection a nation is placed, With the purple of Rome they are both of them graced. With guards and with soldiers they both are surrounded. Happy era of Louis those fortunate days, In France the fine arts must acknowledge thy And all future ages thy honor proclaim. Henry takes them for kings. "You must not There the muse strung the lyre defiant of death, be confounded; They are such," said Louis; "though they have not the name, On the canvas was life, in the marble was breath. Here from all nations assemble the wise;" They measure the earth, and interpret the skies. The secrets the darkness of night had concealed Are by science dispelled, and all nature revealed. Presumptuous error at their sight is dissolved, And doubts they once held into truths are resolved. "Thou Harmony, too, maid descended from This precious deposit, the best of my race. heaven, Born to a throne, teach him himself to scan, Who to Greece and to Italy their polish hast And feel though a monarch he still is a man. given, Of the State in confusion, the fond hope and pride, Do thou, prudent Fleury, his infant years guide. In your guardian care let him hold the first Thy ravishing voice comes from every part, And everywhere laurels to deck your brows A nation of heroes these climes shall supply; What young prince is that, so majestic in In whose noble features no pride can be seen? Death without stopping has closed his account, Heaven made him to spring from your own Great God! must this being so few moments stand, A flower so frail and the work of thy hand? What good might have followed this virtuous soul ! How happy for France to have felt his control! Abundance and peace would have spoken his praise, And the sum of his blessings been the sum of his days. He his people had loved. O day pregnant with fears! Beloved by his subjects, love let him return, And know that for them, not himself, he was born. France, under him, thy first greatness resume, May the arts which already begin to decline waves; From the Nile and the Buxine and India's shores, Commerce invites thee and spreads out her stores. Maintain order and peace, nor to conquest as- Arbibrator of kings, that is all you require; I behold now this young prince in splendor ap In the midst of a storm and thunderbolts hurled, Of Frenchmen how many will pour out their The standard of France to the winds is unfurled. & tears; When they see in the tomb united as one, The husband and wife, the mother and son." From the roots of this tree thus cut down to the ground,14 Surviving the wreck yet one frail shoot is found; Before it the warrior soldiers of Spain O my father, what spectacle now meets my "All things," replied Louis, "have their fall and their rise. God's secret ways we are called to adore; The children of Louis having passed off the The race of the powerful Charles is no more. stage, A monarch have left but an infant in age. Spain on her knees seeks a king at our hand, on the earth. The number of Catholics is 50,000,000; if the twentieth part are of the elect, that is saying a great deal. Then there are 947,500,000 men doomed to the endless pains of "Moderate," observed Louis, "the transports hell. As the buman race is renewed about you feel, An event so unlooked for may danger conceal. How long must political intrigue prevail, In the mean time Aurora, the star of the morn, every twenty years, taking one time with another, the times of the greatest population with the least, counting only 6,000 years from the creation, there are already 300 times 947.000,000 of damned. Moreover the Jewish nation having been a hundred times less than the Catholic, that augments the number of the damned prodigiously. Well might Henry IV. shed tears." To inflict on his creatures, etc. In this passage we may understand venial sins and purgatory. The ancients admitted of one, as may be seen in Virgil. 6 Here Louis the Twelfth. Louis XII. is the only king who had the surname of Father of the people. 7 La Tremonille, etc. Among the great men of that name, Guy de Tremonille is here intended, surnamed the Valiant. He carried the royal standard, and refused the sword of constable under Charles VI. Clisson was constable under Charles VI. Montmorenci, etc. It would require a volume to state all the services rendered to the State by that house. Gaston de Foix, Duke of Nemours, nephew of Louis XII., was killed at the famous battle of On awaking, the prince feels pervading his Ravenna, in Italy. A force yet unknown and a heavenly flame. On Sinai's mountain held converse with God, As the light of his features they could not endure. (Concluded.) NOTES TO CANTO VII. Whether or not we admit the theory of Sir Isaac Newton, it is certain that the celestial bodies in their periodical approaches or distances appear to attract and repel each other. And still of Zoroaster, etc. In Persia the Guebres have a separate religion, which they pretend to be the religion founded by Zoroaster, and which appears less silly than other superstitions, since they worship the sun as an image of the Creator. * While leaguers invoke, etc. The parricide James Clement was eulogized in Rome from the pulpit, when the funeral oration of Henry III. ought to have been delivered. His portrait was placed on the altar with the Eucharist. The Cardinal de Retz says, on the day of the barricades in the minority of Louis XIV., he saw a citizen wear a gorget on which was an engraving of the monk, with these words, Saint James Clement. That numerous race, etc. It is reckoned there are more than 950,000,000 of inhabitants Gueslin, constable, saved France under Charles V., conquered Castile, placed Henry of Transtamaro on the throne of Peter the Cruel, and was constable of France and Castile. 8 The virtuous Bayard and you brave Amazon, etc. Bayard, surnamed the Chevalier, without fear and without reproach. He was killed in 1523, in the retreat from Rebec. Joan of Arc, known as the Maid of Orleans, served at an inn. She was born in the village of Domremi. Possessing a strength of body and boldness above her sex, she was employed by the Count of Dunois to restore the affairs of Charles VII. She was captured in a sortie at Compiegne in 1430, carried to Rouen and condemned by an ecclesiastical court equally ignorant and barbarous as a witch, and burnt by the English, who ought to have honored her courage. By art one escapes, etc. Cardinal Mazarin was obliged to leave the kingdom in 1651, in spite of the queen-regent, whom he ruled; but Cardinal Richelieu always sustained himself in spite of his enemies, and even of the king, who was disgusted with him. 10 At the foot, etc. This refers to Louis XIV. 11 How from all nations, etc. The Academy of Sciences, whose transactions are esteemed throughout all nations. 12 Amidst a thousand of fires, etc. Louis of Bourbon generally called the great Conde, and Henry, Viscount of Turenne, have been esteemed the greatest captains of their age. Both gained great victories and acquired glory even in their defeats. The genius of the Prince of Conde, it is said, was more fit for the day of battle and that of Turenne for the campaign. At least it is certain that Turenne had the advantage of Conde at Gien, Etampes, Paris, Arras and the battle of Dunes; still one would Of the State in confusion, the fond hope and pride, Do thou, prudent Fleury, his infant years guide. They measure the earth, and interpret the skies. Death without stopping has closed his account, Heaven made him to spring from your own Great God! must this being so few moments stand, A flower so frail and the work of thy hand? What good might have followed this virtuous soul! How happy for France to have felt his control! Abundance and peace would have spoken his praise, In your guardian care let him hold the first place, Born to a throne, teach him himself to scan, France, under him, thy first greatness resume, May the arts which already begin to decline And the sum of his blessings been the sum of A chief or a soldier or a citizen free, his days. He his people had loved. O day pregnant with fears! 1 He is not a king, but knows what one should be. In the midst of a storm and thunderbolts hurled, Of Frenchmen how many will pour out their The standard of France to the winds is unfurled. tears; When they see in the tomb united as one, The husband and wife, the mother and son." From the roots of this tree thus cut down to the ground,14 Surviving the wreck yet one frail shoot is found; Before it the warrior soldiers of Spain "All things," replied Louis, "have their fall God's secret ways we are called to adore; The children of Louis having passed off the The race of the powerful Charles is no more. stage, A monarch have left but an infant in age. Spain on her knees seeks a king at our hand, |