XLVIII.

TO A YOUNG LADY.

MICKLE.

SAY, gentle lady of the bower,
For thou, though young, art wise,

And known to thee is every flower
Beneath our milder skies:

Say, which the plant of modest dye,

And lovely mien combined,

That fittest to the pensive eye
Displays the virtuous mind.

I sought the groves where innocence

Methought might long reside;

But April's blossoms banished thence,

Gave summer, Flora's pride.

VOL. I.

I sought the garden's boasted haunt,

But on the gay parterre

Carnations glow, and tulips flaunt,

No humble floweret there.

The flower you seek, the nymph replies, :

Has bowed the languid head;

For on its bloom the blazing skies
Their sultry rage have shed.

'Tis now the downward withering day

Of winter's dull presage,

That seeks not where the Dog-star's ray,

Has shed his fiercest rage.

Yet search yon shade, obscure forlorn,
Where rude the bramble grows;

There, shaded by the humble thorn,
The lingering primrose blows.

L

XLIX.

THE MEXICAN PROPHECY.

JOHN SCOTT.

FROM Cholula's hostile plain,

Left her treacherous legions slain,

Left her temples all in flame,

Cortes' conquering army came.

High on Chalco's stormy steep
Shone their phalanx broad and deep;

High the Hispanian banner raised,

Bore the cross in gold emblazed.

Line 1st, Cholula was a large city, not far distant from Mexico. The inhabitants were in league with the Mexicans, and after professing friendship for the Spaniards, endeavoured to surprise and destroy them.

Line 8th, The device on Cortes's standard was the sign of the cross,Vide De Solis.

10

Thick the gleaming spears appeared,
Loud the neighing steeds were heard;
Flashed the muskets lightnings round,
Rolled their thunders o'er the ground,

Echoed from a thousand caves,

Down to Tenustitan's waves;

Spacious lake, that far below

Bade its lucid level flow:

There the ever-sunny shore

Groves of palm and coco bore;

Maize-fields rich, savannas green,

Stretched around, with towns between.

Tacubà, Tezeùco fair,

Reared their shining roofs in air;

Mexico's imperial pride

Glittered 'midst the glassy tide,

Bright with gold, with silver bright,

Dazzling, charming all the sight.

Line 6th, Tenustitan, otherwise Tenuchtitlan, the ancient name of the lake of Mexico.

Line 18th, The Spanish historians assert, that the walls and houses of the Indian cities were composed of a peculiar kind

From their post the war-worn band

Raptured viewed the happy land:

"Haste to victory, haste to ease,

"Mark the spot that gives us these!"

On the exulting heroes strode,

Shunned the smooth insidious road,
Shunned the rock's impending shade,
Shunned the expecting ambuscade.

Deep within a gloomy wood

Montezume's magicians stood:

Tlcàtlepùca's horrid form,

God of famine, plague, and storm,

of glittering stone or plaster, which at a distance resembled

silver,

Line 8th, The Indians had blocked up the usual road to Mexico, and opened another broader, and smooth at the en trance, but which led among rocks and precipices, where they had placed parties in ambush. Cortes discovered the stratagem, and ordered his troops to remove the obstructions. Being asked by the Mexican ambassadors the reason of this pro ́cedure, he replied, that the Spaniards always chose to encounter difficulties,