Let earth look on us, while we show
Which of the two are better men.

We'll try the rivalry of Arts,

Of Science, Learning, Freedom, Fame — We'll try who first shall light the world

With Charity's divinest flame

Who best shall elevate the poor,

And teach the wealthy to be true: We want no rivalry of arms,

We want no boasts of Waterloo.

RETRACTION AND REPENTANCE

FOR HAVING CALLED LOUIS PHILIPPE AN HONEST MAN.

OCTOBER, 1847.

YES: I was wrong, and very wrong,
In the eulogium of my lay,—

So I indite another song,

To clear my conscience while I
may.
A year ago I thought him wise,—

I thought him virtuous of intent;
But time has purified my eyes,
And I repent me - I repent!

I thought and call'd him honest man,
Unsway'd by dirty love of pelf:
Too great to crave — too wise to plan
A mean advantage for himself.

I thought his high sagacious mind

A star to guide the nations sent;
But I was hasty — I was blind,
And I repent me - I repent!

I thought he loved his native land,

And wish'd its ancient feuds to cease;

I thought his firm and temperate hand
A sacred guarantee of peace;
That he desired all earth to dwell

In friendship, freedom, and content;
But I was wrong—I see it well,
And I repent me - I repent!

I knew not that his fingers itch'd

For ducats tempting, but defiled;
That he could bear to be enrich'd
Upon the ruin of a child:

That lust of power had drain'd his mind
Of virtues, once its ornament, -
Of justice, honor, love of kind;

I never thought him lost to shame,
Or that in lewd unmanly plot,
He could conspire to blast the fame

And life of one that harm'd him not; That, to destroy a helpless girl,

He'd pander, bully, circumvent; I could not think him such a churl; And I repent me - I repent!

I did not think that pelf or power
Could make him play so foul a part;
That he could barter, for a dower,

A nation's weal-a sovereign's heart. That he could peril France and SpainAll Europe sooner than relent;

But I was bias'd, it is plain,

And I repent me I repent:

RETRACTION AND REPENTANCE.

Nor I alone:

a murmur flies

O'er Europe and men's bosoms glow
Indignant, as before their eyes

Is play'd this melodrame of woe.
Frenchmen that loved him, clench their hands,
And wait a time, now imminent,

To show to France and all the lands,
That they repent- that they repent!

249

THE VISION OF DANTON.

The Hôtel de Ville and the Place de Grève are celebrated as having been the scene of most of the present and preceding revolutions. The pavement of the Grève has been stained with the blood of the victims of all the revolutions, and with that of criminals executed by the hand of justice, till within the last few years. This fabulous dream of Danton, in the chambers of this historical mansion, the very Palace of Revolution, was written in October, 1847, in anticipation of the Revolution which broke out in February, 1848; and which was confidently predicted to the author at that time by two of the greatest writers in France, and each of whom has played a part in the drama that succeeded.

WEARY of strife renewed from day to day,
Th' inveterate war of parties brought to bay,
With clash of hatreds jarring on his sense,
And poison'd darts of hostile eloquence,
With all the excitement of the brain and heart,
That forms the life of men, who play their part
In mighty dramas, -Danton lay at rest,
His face to Heaven, his hands upon his breast,
And said within himself, —‘It must not be -
Surely this grief shall end, and France be free.'

He closed his eyes, and saw a vision pass
Clear as a show in a magician's glass;
He saw a figure massive like his own

Headless, and quivering, from a scaffold thrown;