THE Prophecy of Merlin AND O T H E R P O E M S.

BY JOHN READE. MONTREAL: Published by Dawson Brothers. —— 1870. Entered according to Act of Parliament, in the year 1870, by John Reade, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. MONTREAL: PRINTED BY THE MONTREAL PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO.

CONTENTS.

{1}

POEMS.

{2}

{3}

THE PROPHECY OF MERLIN.

{29}

DEVENISH.

I.

II.

III.

{30}

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

{31}

KINGS OF MEN.

{32}

VASHTI.

“After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti.”—Book of Esther ii. I.

I.

[A] Vashti means “Beautiful Woman;” Esther means “A Star.”

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

XII.

{38}

SHAKSPERE. April 23rd, 1864.

I.

II.

III.

{39}

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

{40}

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

{41}

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

{42}

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

{43}

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

{44}

XXIV.

XXV.

{45}

SPRING.

I.

II.

III.

{46}

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

{47}

VIII.

{48}

IN MEMORIAM.

I.

II.

{49}

III.

IV.

V.

{50}

VI.

VII.

VIII.

{51}

IX.

X.

XI.

{52}

XII.

XIII.

[Postscript.]

XIV.

{53}

XV.

XVI.

{54}

WINTER.

{55}

PER NOCTEM PLURIMA VOLVENS.

I.

II.

{56}

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

{58}

VIII.

{59}

BALAAM.

{69}

GOOD NIGHT.

I.

{70}

II.

III.

{72}

WINTER SUNSHINE.

CHRISTUS SALVATOR.

I.

II.

Christmas, 1864.

{74}

DEW. “Who hath begotten the drops of dew?”—Job xxxviii, 28.

I.

II.

III.

{75}

IV.

V.

VI.

{76}

THALATTA! THALATTA!

I.

II.

{77}

III.

{78}

RIZPAH. (2 Samuel xxi. 10.)

{81}

NATALIE.

I.

II.

{82}

III.

IV.

V.

{83}

VI.

{84}

THE FENIAN RAID. June, 1866.

I.

II.

{85}

III.

IV.

Humanum est errare, Divinum condonare.

[B] St. Matthew’s Gospel v. 22.

{87}

SING ME THE SONGS I LOVE.

IN MEMORIAM.

April 7th, 1868.

{92}

KILLYNOOGAN.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

{93}

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

{94}

X.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

{95}

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

{96}

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

{97}

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

HASTINGS. October 14th, 1066.

I.

II.

{100}

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

{102}

VIII.

October, 1866.

{103}

THE NAUGHTY BOY. (From H. C. Andersen’s Tales.)

{106}

ROSA.

March, 1857.

{108}

JUBAL. (Book of Genesis iv. 21.)

{119}

APOLLO DROPT A SEED OF SONG.

I.

II.

III.

{120}

VOX DEI.

{121}

THE OLD WAR-HORSE.

I.

II.

{122}

III.

IV.

V.

{123}

VI.

VII.

VIII.

{124}

IX.

X.

{125}

ELOISE.

I.

II.

III.

{126}

WHEN THE SPRING-TIME COMES.

I.

{127}

II.

III.

IV.

HOPE.

{131}

DOMINION DAY. July, 1st, 1867.

I.

II.

{132}

III.

IV.

1.

2.

3.

{134}

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

{136}

V.

VI.

VII.

1.

2.

3.

{138}

4.

5.

VIII.

1.

{139}

2.

3.

4.

IX.

1.

{140}

2.

3.

X.

1.

2.

{141}

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

{143}

IN MY HEART.

I.

II.

{144}

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

{146}

SISERA. Judges v., 28-30.

{148}

COLUMBA SIBYLLA.

{149}

SUMMER IS DEAD.

I.

II.

{150}

III.

IV.

{151}

ON A DEAD FIELD-FLOWER.

May, 1857.

{154}

LINES Written on the Departure of the Prince of Wales from Portland, October, 1860. (Set to Music by F. Barnby, Esq., and sung at a Concert given in honour of the Prince, in Montreal, November 9th, 1860.)

I.

II.

{156}

III.

{157}

ODE ON THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF WALES. March 10th, 1863.

I.

II.

III.

{159}

IV.

{160}

TO A SNOWBIRD.

I.

II.

{161}

THE CLOUDS ARE BLUSHING.

May, 1859.

{163}

UNSPOKEN.

{166}

JEPHTHAH. Judges xi.

I.

II.

{167}

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

May, 1858.

{169}

DE PROFUNDIS.

{172}

LOCHLEVEN.

“We passed Lochleven, and saw the Castle on the Lake from which poor Queen Mary escaped.”—The Queen’s Journal.

I.

II.

{174}

UNUS ABEST.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

THE PRODIGAL’S RETURN. (St. Luke’s Gospel, xv. 17-32.)

I.

II.

III.

{177}

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

Ballyshannon, 1855.

{178}

IT IS THE QUIET HOUR.

ESSAYS IN TRANSLATION.

{180}

{181}

HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE.

THE PARTING. (Homer’s Iliad vi. 369-503.)

{189}

THE LAMENT OF ANDROMACHE FOR HECTOR. (Homer’s Iliad xxii. 437-515.)

{194}

THE BEACON LIGHT ANNOUNCING THE FALL OF TROY AT ARGOS. (From the Agamemnon of Æschylus, v. 255.)

Chorus and Clytemnestra.

{198}

PRIAM AND HELEN. (Iliad iii. 161.)

{205}

SONG OF THE TROJAN CAPTIVE. (Euripidis Hecuba, 905.)

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

{208}

BELLEROPHON. (Iliad vi. 152-195.)

{211}

HORACE. (Book i. Ode xi.)

{212}

ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. (From Virgil—Georgic IV. 457-527.)

ADRIAN’S ADDRESS TO HIS SOUL. (From Catullus.)

The same rendered into English:

VERSION I.

{218}

VERSION II.

VERSION III.

{219}

PYRAMUS AND THISBE. (From Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.”)

{225}

THE WITHERED LEAF. (From the French of A. V. Arnault.) “De ta tige détachée.”

ANDRÉ CHÉNIER’S DEATH-SONG.

André Chénier, for having dared to write against the excesses of his countrymen, was summoned before the Revolutional Tribunal, condemned and executed, in the year 1794. The first eight stanzas (in the translation) he composed in prison, after his condemnation; the two last he wrote at the foot of the scaffold, while waiting to be dragged to execution. He had just finished the line, “Le sommeil du tombeau pressera ma paupière,” when his turn came, and his words had their fulfillment. In the translation, the spirit, not the letter, has been regarded.

{229}

THE LAKE. (From Lamartine.)

I.

II.

III.

{230}

IV.

V.

1.

2.

{231}

3.

4.

VI.

VII.

{232}

VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

THE WANDERING JEW. (From Beranger.)

I.

II.

III.

{235}

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

FINIS.