6. Oh! may we aye, whate'er betide, Sing welcome to the blessed day That gave our Saviour birth! INDS, domestics; rustics of low | for country; a neighborhood. degree. 3 AYE, always; forever. • WRE'-KIN, the old Anglo-Saxon LVIIL-THE TRUCE OF GOD. FREDET. 1. Another excellent institution that owed its existtence to the middle ages, and for which humanity was also indebted to the happy influence of religion, was the sacred compact usually termed the Truce of God. From the ninth to the eleventh century, the feudal system, however beautiful in many of its principles, had been a constant source of contentions and wars. Each petty chieftain arrogated to himself an almost unlimited use of force and violence to avenge his wrongs, and pursue his rights, whether real or pretended. As, moreover, vassals were obliged to espouse the quarrels of their immediate lords, rapine, bloodshed, and their attendant miseries were to be seen everywhere; nor could the most pacific citizens depend on one moment of perfect security, either for their properties or their lives. 2. Religion, by her divine and universally revered authority, was alone capable of raising an efficacious barrier against this torrent of evils. Experience having already shown the impossibility of stemming it at once, prudent measures were taken gradually to diminish its violence. Several bishops ordered, under penalty of excommunication, that, every week, during the four days consecrated to the memory of our Saviour's passion, death, burial, and resurrection, viz., from the afternoon of Wednesday till the morning of the following Monday, whatever might be the cause of strife and quarrel, all private hostilities should cease. 3. Shortly after, the same prohibition was extended to the whole time of Advent and Lent, including several weeks both after Christmas and after Easter-Sunday. This beneficial institution, which originated in France towards the year 1040, was adopted in England, Spain, etc., and was confirmed by several popes and councils; nor must it be thought that it remained a dead letter: its success, on the contrary, was so remarkable, that the pious age in which the experiment was made, hesitated not to attribute it to the interposition of Heaven. 4. Thus, by the exertions of ecclesiastical authority, the horrors and calamities of feudal war began to be considerably lessened and abridged. Its ravages wero restrained to three days in the week and to certain seasons of the year; during the intervals of peace, there was leisure for passion to cool, for the mind to sicken at a languishing warfare, and for social habits to become more and more deeply rooted. A considerable number of days and weeks afforded security to all, and all, being now shielded by the religious sanction of this sacred compact, could travel abroad, or attend to their domestic affairs, without danger of molestation. 5. Such was the splendid victory which the religion of Christ won over the natural fierceness of the ancient tribes of the north; a victory whose completion was also due to her influence, when the Crusades obliged those restless warriors to turn against the invading hordes of the Saracens and Turks, those weapons which they had hitherto used against their fellowchristians. 1. I saw him on the battle-eve, When, like a king, he bore him,— The warrior, and the warrior's deeds- No daunting thoughts came o'er him; 2. He looked on ocean,-its broad breast Was covered with his fleet; On earth-and saw from east to west, While rock, and glen, and cave, and coast, He heard the imperial echoes ring,- He, who with heaven contended, 4. He stood;-fleet, army, treasure, -gone,— Alone, and in despair! But wave and wind swept ruthless on, For they were monarchs there; And Xerxes, in a single bark, Where late his thousand ships were dark, Must all their fury dare: What a revenge-a trophy, this For thee, immortal Salamis ! 1 GREAVES, armor for the legs. MEEDS, reward, recompense. LX-THE AMERICAN PATRIOT'S SONG. ANONYMOUS. 1. Hark! hear ye the sounds that the winds on their pinions Exultingly roll from the shore to the sea, With a voice that resounds through her boundless dominions? "Tis Columbia calls on her sons to be free! 2. Behold on yon summits, where heaven has throned her, How she starts from her proud inaccessible seat, With nature's impregnable ramparts around her, And the cataract's thunder and foam at her feet! 3. In the breeze of her mountains her loose locks are shaken, While the soul-stirring notes of her warrior-song From the rock to the valley re-echo, "Awaken, "Awaken ye hearts that have slumbered too long!" 4. Yes, despots! too long did your tyranny held us, In a vassalage vile, ere its weakness was known; Till we learned that the links of the chain that con trolled us Were forged by the fears of its captives alone. 5. That spell is destroyed, and no longer availing, Despised as detested-pause well ere ye dare To cope with a people whose spirit and feeling Are roused by remembrance and steeled by despair. |