xviii
INTRODUCTORY.
O could I see one moment, scan again
The bright parade, the soldiers' glittering train,
Watch every movement, mark with rapture's eye,
Each marshalled squadron as its ranks pass by,
And if at speed the mimic field they scour,
To join the rushing ranks, and shout the charge once more!
The bright parade, the soldiers' glittering train,
Watch every movement, mark with rapture's eye,
Each marshalled squadron as its ranks pass by,
And if at speed the mimic field they scour,
To join the rushing ranks, and shout the charge once more!
Spirit of memory, gentler pictures bring,
And teach my Muse of social joys to sing:
Of winter evenings, long from close of day,
With comrades passed in converse grave and gay,
While tales of daring, wear the lengthened night,
Of border warfare, or of Indian fight:
Teach me to sing the glad and social dance,
Where waltzers whirl and bright eyes witching glance,
While friends in cities mourn our hapless lot,
As banished exiles here, sad, desolate, forgot.
And teach my Muse of social joys to sing:
Of winter evenings, long from close of day,
With comrades passed in converse grave and gay,
While tales of daring, wear the lengthened night,
Of border warfare, or of Indian fight:
Teach me to sing the glad and social dance,
Where waltzers whirl and bright eyes witching glance,
While friends in cities mourn our hapless lot,
As banished exiles here, sad, desolate, forgot.
After five years' active service on the plains, during which time he was exposed to many dangers and hard ships, his health began to fail him, and he was oblige« to ask a furlough. His native air, however, and the quietude of home-life failed to restore to him his fading health; and hoping to find abroad what he could not in this country, he visited Europe, explored Greece, where were laid the scenes of his favorite poets, and also travelled in Malta and Syria, returning through Italy and France But all to no purpose; and, with feebler steps and a more wasted frame than when he bade farewell to home and friends, he came back only to die. His death took place
