4

the generous, perhaps the innocent, Barmecides; yet he could listen to the complaint of a poor widow who had been pillaged by his troops, and who dared, in a passage of the Koran, to threaten the inattentive despot with the judgment of God and posterity. His court was adorned with luxury and science; but in a reign of three and twenty years Harun repeatedly visited his provinces from Khorasan to Egypt; nine times he performed the pilgrimage of Mecca; eight times he invaded the territories of the Romans to enforce the stipulated payment of tribute; and as often as they declined the payment they were taught to feel that a month of depredation was more costly than a year of submission.

6

10

9

"But when Irene was deposed and banished, her successor, Nicephorus, resolved to obliterate this badge of servitude and disgrace. The epistle of the emperor to the Caliph was pointed with an allusion to the game of chess, which had already spread from Persia to Greece. The queen (he spoke of Irene) considered you as a rook and herself as a pawn. That pusillanimous "1 female submitted to pay a tribute, the double of which she ought to have exacted from the barbarians. Restore, therefore, the fruits of your injustice, or abide the determination of the sword.' At these words the ambassadors cast a bundle of swords before the foot of the throne.

"The Caliph smiled at the menace, and drawing his scimitar, he cut asunder the feeble arms of the Greeks, without turning the edge, or endangering the temper, of the blade. He then dictated an epistle of tremendous brevity: In the name of the most merciful God, Harun al Rashid, Commander of the Faithful, to Nicephorus, the Roman dog. I have read thy letter, O thou son of an unbelieving mother. Thou shalt not hear,

It was written in charac

thou shalt behold my reply.' ters of blood and fire on the plain of Phrygia. The progress of desolation, both by sea and land, compelled the emperor Nicephorus to retract his haughty defiance. In the new treaty the ruins of Heraclea were left for ever as a lesson and a trophy, and the coin of the tribute was marked with the image and superscription of Harun and his three sons.'

or

1 Moslem, same as Mussulman, or Mohammedan. Mohammed, Mahomet, founded a new religion and a powerful empire in Western Asia. He died A.D. 632.

2 Caliph, chief ruler of the Mohammedans, now termed Sultan.

3 Vizier, a caliph's or sultan's prime minister.

4 Barmecides, a family of high rank at Bagdad," extirpated " or utterly destroyed by Harun.

5 Koran, the sacred book of the Mohammedans, corresponding to our Bible.

6 Mecca, a city of Arabia; the birthplace of Mahomet. Every Moslem is expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his lifetime. But this may be done by proxy.

7 Romans. The capital of the Roman empire at this time was Constantinople, founded in the fourth century by the Roman emperor, Constantine the Great. The "territories of the Romans" invaded by Harun were those in Asia Minor.

8 Irene, Empress of the Romans. To insure her power she deprived her own son of sight. Her subjects revolted and placed Nicephorus on the throne.

9 Obliterate, &c., blot out, or destroy this token of submission and shame.

10 Rook and pawn, names of two pieces on a chessboard: a "rook" is worth five "pawns."

11 Pusillanimous, of a cowardly spirit; opposite of magnanimous. (Lat. pusillus, cowardly; animus, mind.)

THE BATTLE OF FLODDEN.

[Whilst Henry VIII. was at war with France, James IV. of Scotland attacked England. He crossed the Border with the finest army ever raised in Scotland, but his progress was quickly arrested by the English, under the Earl of Surrey. The two armies joined battle at Flodden, in Northumberland, A.D. 1513. Here the Scotch suffered a defeat as disastrous as that of the English at Bannockburn. The king himself was killed, and nearly every family of rank in Scotland had at least one slain, so that the Field of Flodden is the saddest and bloodiest in the annals of Scotland.]

NEXT morn the Baron1 climbed the tower
To view afar the Scottish power,

Encamped on Flodden edge :

The white pavilions 2 made a show,
Like remnants of the winter snow,
Along the dusky ridge.

Long Marmion looked :—at length his eye
Unusual movement might descry

Amid the shifting lines:

The Scottish host drawn out appears,
For, flashing on the hedge of spears,

The eastern sunbeam shines.

Their front now deepening, now extending;
Their flank inclining, wheeling, bending,
Now drawing back, and now descending,
The skilful Marmion well could know,
They watched the motions of some foe,
Who traversed on the plain below.

Even so it was:-from Flodden ridge
The Scots beheld the English host
Leave Barmore-wood, their evening post,
And heedful watched them as they crossed
The Till by Twisel Bridge.

High sight it is, and haughty, while

They dive into the deep defile :
Beneath the caverned cliff they fall,
Beneath the castle's airy wall.

By rock, by oak, by hawthorn tree,
Troop after troop are disappearing;
Troop after troop their banners rearing
Upon the eastern bank you see.

Still pouring down the rocky den,
Where flows the sullen Till,
And rising from the dim-wood glen,
Standards on standards, men on men
In slow succession still,

And sweeping o'er the Gothic arch,
And pressing on, in ceaseless march,

To gain the opposing hill.

That morn, to many a trumpet clang,
Twisel! thy rock's deep echo rang
And many a chief of birth and rank,
Saint Helen! at thy fountain drank.
Thy hawthorn glade, which now we see
In spring-tide bloom so lavishly,
Had then from many an axe its doom,
To give the marching columns room.

And why stands Scotland idly now,
Dark Flodden! on thy airy brow,
Since England gains the pass the while,
And struggles through the deep defile?
What checks the fiery soul of James?
Why sits that champion of the dames 3
Inactive on his steed,

3

And sees, between him and his land,
Between him and Tweed's southern strand,
His host Lord Surrey lead?

4

What 'vails the vain knight-errand's brand ? 5
O Douglas, for thy leading wand!
Fierce Randolph, for thy speed!

O for one hour of Wallace wight,
Or well-skilled Bruce, to rule the fight,
"St. Andrew and our right!"

7

8

And cry,
Another sight had seen that morn,
From Fate's dark book a leaf been torn,
And Flodden had been Bannock-bourne !
The precious hour has passed in vain,
And England's host has gained the plain;
Wheeling their march, and circling still,
Around the base of Flodden-hill.

Ere yet the bands met Marmion's eye,
Fitz-Eustace shouted loud and high,

"Hark! hark! my lord, an English drum! And see ascending squadrons come

Between Tweed's river and the hill,

Foot, horse, and cannon:-hap what hap,9
My basnet 10 to a prentice cap,

Lord Surrey's o'er the Till!

Yet more! yet more-how fair arrayed
They file from out the hawthorn shade,
And sweep so gallant by!

With all their banners bravely spread,
And all their armour flashing high,
Saint George might waken from the dead,
To see fair England's standard fly."

“Stint in thy prate," quoth Blount; "thou’dst best, And listen to our lord's behest."

With kindling brow Lord Marmion said,
"This instant be our band arrayed;
The river must be quickly crossed,
That we may join Lord Surrey's host.
If fight King James-as well I trust,
That fight he will, and fight he must-
The Lady Clare 11 behind our lines
Shall tarry, while the battle joins."

Blount and Fitz-Eustace rested still
With Lady Clare upon the hill;
On which (for far the day was spent)
The western sunbeams now were bent.
The cry they heard, its meaning knew,
Could plain their distant comrades view;
Sadly to Blount did Eustace say,

*