diers to battle; and many of our tenderest airs were composed by the adherents of the exiled Stuarts: these are associated with pity for misfortune, and 'pity melts the mind to love.' WarSongs are more assimilated to the ancient Ode: they aim at the sublime. Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled' is of this class; but the following, by the same author, is probably less known:

SCENE-A Field of Battle-Time of the Day, Evening-the wounded and dying of the victorious Army are supposed to join in the following

SONG OF DEATH.

Farewell thou fair day, thou green earth, and ye skies, Now gay with the broad setting sun!

Farewell loves and friendships, ye dear, tender ties, Our race of existence is run!

Thou grim king of terrors, thou life's gloomy foe,
Go, frighten the coward and slave;

Go, teach them to tremble, fell tyrant! but know,
No terrors hast thou to the brave!

Thou strik'st the poor peasant-he sinks in the dark,
Nor saves e'en the wreck of a name;

Thou strik'st the young hero-a glorious mark!
He falls in the blaze of his fame!

In the field of proud honour-our swords in our hands,
Our king and our country to save-

While victory shines on life's last ebbing sands—
O, who would not die with the brave!

Campbell's Battle of Hohenlinden" is a spirited Song of the same class.

On Linden when the sun was low,
All bloodless lay th' untrodden snow;
And dark as winter was the flow

Of Iser rolling rapidly:

But Linden saw another sight,

When the drum beat, at dead of night,
Commanding fires of death to light

The darkness of her scenery.

By torch and trumpet fast arrayed,
Each horseman drew his battle blade;
And furious every charger neighed,

To join the dreadful revelry.

Then shook the hills, with thunder riven;
Then rush'd the steed, to battle driven;
And, louder than the bolts of heaven,

Far flash'd the red artillery.

But redder yet that light shall grow,
On Linden's hills of stained snow;
And bloodier yet the torrent flow
Of Iser rolling rapidly.

The combat deepens, on ye brave,
Who rush to glory or the grave!
Wave, Munich, all thy banners wave!

And charge with all thy chivalry!

Few, few shall part, where many meet!
The snow shall be their winding sheet;
And every turf beneath their feet

Shall be a soldier's sepulchre.

260

CHAPTER XVI.

OF LYRIC POETRY-continued.

In the preceding Chapter we have treated at large of the Ode and the Song which, in this country, are the only species of poetry that are combined with instrumental Music. Other small poems, however, are usually included under the denomination of Lyric: some of which are considered as varieties of Song; and others are seldom, if ever, meant to be sung.

A Ballad is a rhyming record of some adventure or transaction, which is amusing or interesting to the populace, and written in easy and uniform verse, so as it may be sung by those who have little acquaintance with Music. Ballads are sung in the streets and at fairs, by itinerant minstrels, or they amuse the rustics during their sociable and sedentary occupations. They are so many amusing or interesting tales told in verse, and in a chant that is sufficiently agreeable to the ear. · Chevy Chase' and The Babes of the Wood' are specimens of our ancient Ballads. Goldsmith's 'Edwin and Angelina,' is a Ballad of

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modern date; but of such we have few. In old English the words Ballad and Song were synonymous; but, as early as the time of Shakspeare, they were sufficiently distinguished. In the latter the sweetness of the music became more attended to, and in the former the interest rested more on the humourous or the tragic effect of the tale. Ballads were, at one time, the only vehicles of popular satire; and with this view they are occasionally still employed to raise a spirit of party among the multitude. Let me, said Fletcher of Saltoun, have the making of the Ballads of a nation, and I shall care very little who made its religion.

The French have divided their Lyric Poetry into several species, some of which we, of this country, have endeavoured to imitate, while of others we have merely imported the names without adopting their distinctions. Of these the Sonnet is best known. It has occupied the pen of many of our most distinguished poets; but, when the rules of its composition have been strictly observed, it has seldom added to their fame.

The laws of the French Sonnet are rigid and unalterable. It is composed of fourteen verses, of equal lengths, usually Alexandrines; but sometimes of ten, of eight, or even of seven syllables.

Those of twelve syllables, however, are accounted the most harmonious. These fourteen verses are divided into two quatrains, and one stanza of six lines.

The rhymes of the two quatrains (both masculine and feminine) must be similar, and must also follow in the same order: so that, in the terminations of the first eight lines, there are only two sounds which strike the ear.

In composing the concluding (six-lined) stanza, the two first verses must form a rhyme; and the other four must have their terminations so disposed as not to imitate the order of the first quatrains. Further, there must be a pause in the construction of this latter stanza which will have the effect of separating it into two parts of three verses each, which are called Tercets.

Such are the Rules of Boileau, which he feigns to have been announced by Apollo: Rules that experience has demonstrated to be incompatible with the genius of the English tongue; which is intolerant to rhymes that occur at irregular distances.

The French Sonnet, as well as its English imitations, is, doubtless, in its origin, of Italian growth. It was only in a language of vowels and liquids that the Improvisitori could speak in Rhyme, without premeditation (as their name im