Of second Attila ! till free as air, We burst the chains with which she was enthrall'd, LXVII. Second Attila. Such deeds were not achiev'd at trivial rate; Stern were the times, when England, forc'd to choose "Twixt slavery, and still remaining great; What British heart a moment could refuse, To lend his strenuous effort to unloose, The spell which bound the world?—and it was done ! The statesman, who the threatening rocks could shun, The spell dissolved. Pitt. LXVIII. Why, Raymond, now thou rhym'st at such a rate, That we should deem not one, but all the nine 1 Neque enim quies gentium sine armis, neque arma sine stipendiis, neque stipendia sine tributis.—Tacitus. A witty lady. Had leagu'd to make thee so profoundly prate, A humble bardling once, that tongue of thine But now " God save the mark" -it finds a line For plots, and plans, and politics. I'll prove You'll soon with Metternich be hand and glove. LXIX. A mother's face in a daughter's smile. Thou'rt witty, Alice-pray resume thy smile, Like other gossips, I too must beguile The lingering hours to drive afar the spleen. Sweet Bonn. Amidst the joyous maidens of sweet Bonn. Yet still, while high the sun, the day serene, LXX. I said Cologne had fallen; so all must fall- Who knows, the very zone we frigid call, Her very water-spare a rough-shod rhyme— At once a cordial, unction, perfume, scent, Must bring her Hanse-ship, faith, a good round rent. LXXI. Were we to judge of piety below, By splendid altar, or emblazon'd shrine, We'd say, Colonia, such her Papal show, Of all that's good and virtuous bore the sign: But here's no place to preach of things divine. Still would we turn with no irreverent eyes, 1 To yonder temple, rising o'er the Rhine; In which entomb'd, that learned Scotus 1 lies, Who 'gainst Aquinas launch'd his subtleties. 13In the church of the ci-devant Minorites at Cologne, is the tomb of the celebrated Duns Scotus, who died in that city in 1380. He was remarkable for his theological learning and acuteness, and obtained at Paris the name of the Subtle Doctor. He combated with great power the doctrines of Thomas Aquinas (the disciple of the famous Albertus Magnus), Eau de Cologne. Duns Scotus. LXXII. ern Star. The North- Perhaps some grandsire of the Son of song, And wake delight in many a treasur'd page; Or make an Ellen love,-or despot rage. Long may that able head, and hallowing hand, age; LXXIII. Amid the change from fight and fray and feud, who had contributed so much to the establishment of the philosophy of Aristotle, in opposition to several divines, and even the influence of the Roman Pontiff. We also know, that, from his great logical powers, Duns Scotus was selected by the Archbishop of Cologne for hunting down or con'verting from their peculiar wild doctrines, those Sisters of the Free Spirit, who were called by the appellations of Beggards and Beguines, and who had become very numerous in various cities of the Rhine, especially Cologne. See Meek's Philosophical and Theological Sects, pages 142–154. Those arts which sweeten life were not unwoo'd. Was it not here, and in his richest rhyme, (Which above all doth soften and sublime) That Petrarch1 breath'd his most impassioned praise 1 "C'etait sur les rives du Rhin où Petrarque ressentait un feu si ardent, attisè par la Beauté des Dames et des Jeunes Demoiselles de Cologne, lorsq'un jour il les vit, pendant la celebration d'une fete nationale." Voyage du Rhin, par J. Lendroy, page 429. This most distinguished poet, and amiable man, was born at Arezzo in July 1304, and died at Arqua, near Padua, in July 1374. He was, like Dante, exiled from his native city, and tortured, by his unfortunate passion for Laura, wife of Huges de Sade, of Avignon, whom he first saw in the church of that city in April 1327. He endeavoured, by travelling, during a considerable part of his life, to change the current of his mind. Then it was that he visited the cities on the banks of the Rhine, Germany, France and Spain. Sismondi observes, that "The prodigious labours of Petrarch to promote the study of ancient literature, are perhaps his noblest title to glory; but that his celebrity at the present day depends more on his beautiful Italian lyrical poems than on his Latin compositions." The same author, in his Literature of the South of Europe, says (vol. iii. page 425), “Never did passion burn more purely than Petrarch's for Laura, he never having expressed a single hope offensive to the chastity of a heart pledged to another. To Petrarch is due the high honour of having softened and ornamented his own language, and suited it to the expression of every feeling of the human soul. 2 Ubia, the name given to Cologne by the Romans, as already noticed. Petrarch. |
