English

The congressmen came out to see Bull Run,
The congressmen who like free shows and spectacles.
They brought their wives and carriages along,
They brought their speeches and their picnic-lunch,
Their black constituent-hats and their devotion:
Some even brought a little whiskey, too,
(A little whiskey is a comforting thing
For congressmen in the sun, in the heat of the sun.)
The bearded congressmen with orator's mouths,
The fine, clean-shaved, Websterian congressmen,
Come out to see the gladiator's show

JOHN BROWN'S SPEECH

I have, may it please the Court, a few words to say.
In the first place I deny everything but what I have all along admitted: of a design on my part to free slaves. . . .

Omnipotent and steadfast God,
Who, in Thy mercy, hath
Upheaved in me Jehovah's rod
And his chastising wrath,

For fifty-nine unsparing years
Thy Grace hath worked apart
To mould a man of iron tears
With a bullet for a heart.

Yet, since this body may be weak
With all it has to bear,
Once more, before Thy thunders speak,
Almighty, hear my prayer.

I saw Thee when Thou did display
The black man and his lord
To bid me free the one, and slay
The other with the sword.

Hang it all, Robert Browning,
there can be but the one " Sordello. "
But Sordello, and my Sordello?
Lo Sordels si fo di Mantovana.
So-shu churned in the sea.
Seal sports in the spray-whited circles of cliff-wash,
Sleek head, daughter of Lir,
eyes of Picasso
Under black fur-hood, lithe daughter of Ocean;
And the wave runs in the beach-groove:
" Eleanor, helenaus and heleptolis! "
And poor old Homer blind, blind, as a bat,
Ear, ear for the sea-surge, murmur of old men's voices:

When the lion was young,
In the pride of his might,
Then 't was sport for the strong
To embrace him in fight;
To go forth, with a pine
For a spear, 'gainst the mammoth,
Or strike through the ravine
At the foaming behemoth;

PART III

Scene I

A Castle in the Apennines, surrounded by a wild but smiling country. Chorus of Peasants singing before the Gates .

CHORUS

1

The wars are over,
The spring is come;
The bride and her lover
Have sought their home:
They are happy, we rejoice;

SCENE III

St. Peter's — The Interior of the Church — The Pope at the Altar — Priests, etc. crowding in confusion, and Citizens flying for refuge, pursued by Soldiery . Enter C ÆSAR .

A Spanish Soldier . Down with them, comrades! sieze upon those lamps!
Cleave yon bald-pated shaveling to the chine!
His rosary's of gold!
Lutheran Soldier . Revenge! revenge!
Plunder hereafter, but for vengeance now —
Yonder stands Anti-Christ!

SCENE II

The City. — Combats between the Besiegers and Besieged in the streets. Inhabitants flying in confusion . Enter C ÆSAR .

Caes. I cannot find my hero; he is mix'd
With the heroic crowd that now pursue
The fugitives, or battle with the desperate.
What have we here? A cardinal or two
That do not seem in love with martyrdom.
How the old red-shanks scamper! Could they doff
Their hose as they have doff'd their hats, 't would be

PART II

Scene I

Before the Walls of Rome. — The assault: the army in motion, with ladders to scale the walls; B OURBON , with a white scarf over his armour, foremost .

Chorus of Spirits in the air.

1

'T is the morn, but dim and dark.
Whither flies the silent lark?
Whither shrinks the clouded sun?
Is the day indeed begun?
Nature's eye is melancholy
O'er the city high and holy:

SCENE II

A Camp before the Walls of Rome.

A RNOLD and C ÆSAR .

Caes. You are well enter'd now.
Arn. Ay; but my path
Has been o'er carcasses: mine eyes are full
Of blood.
Caes. Then wipe them, and see clearly Why!
Thou art a conqueror; the chosen knight
And free companion of the gallant Bourbon,
Late constable of France: and now to be
Lord of the city which hath been earth's lord