NATIONAL LYRICS.

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VOL. VI.-28

NATIONAL LYRICS.

THE THEMES OF SONG.

"Of truth, of grandeur, beauty, love, and hope,
And melancholy fear subdued by faith."

WORDSWORTH.

WHERE shall the minstrel find a theme?

-Where'er, for freedom shed,

Brave blood hath dyed some ancient stream,
Amidst the mountains, red.

Where'er a rock, a fount, a grove,
Bears record to the faith
Of love-deep, holy, fervent love,
Victor o'er fear and death.

Where'er a chieftain's crested brow
Too soon hath been struck down,
Or a bright virgin head laid low,
Wearing its youth's first crown.

Where'er a spire points up to heaven,
Through storm and summer air,
Telling, that all around have striven
Man's heart, and hope, and prayer.

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Where'er a blessed home hath been,

That now is home no more: A place of ivy, darkly green, Where laughter's light is o'er.

Where'er, by some forsaken grave,
Some nameless greensward heap,
A bird may sing, a wild-flower wave,
A star its vigil keep.

Or where a yearning heart of old,
A dream of shepherd men,

With forms of more than earthly mould

Hath peopled grot or glen.

There may the bard's high themes be found

We die, we pass away;

But faith, love, pity-these are bound

To earth without decay.

The heart that burns, the cheek that glows,

The tear from hidden springs,

The thorn and glory of the rose-
These are undying things.

Wave after wave of mighty stream
To the deep sea hath gone:

Yet not the less, like youth's bright dream,

The exhaustless flood rolls on.

RHINE SONG.

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RHINE SONG OF THE GERMAN SOLDIERS AFTER VICTORY.

TO THE AIR OF "AM RHEIN, AM RHEIN." '

"I wish you could have heard Sir Walter Scott describe a glorious sight, which had been witnessed by a friend of his !—the crossing of the Rhine, at Ehrenbreitstein, by the German army of Liberators on their victorious return from France. At the first gleam of the river,' he said, they all burst forth into the national chant, Am Rhein! Am Rhein ! They were two days passing over; and the rocks and the castle were ringing to the song the whole time-for each band renewed it while crossing; and even the Cossacks, with the clash and the clang, and the roll of their stormy war-music, catching the enthusiasm of the scene, swelled forth the chorus, ‘Am Rhein ! Am Rhein !"—Manuscript Letter.

SINGLE VOICE.

It is the Rhine! our mountain vineyards laving, I see the bright flood shine, I see the bright flood shine!

Sing on the march, with every banner wavingSing, brothers, 't is the Rhine! Sing, brothers, 't is the Rhine!

CHORUS.

The Rhine! the Rhine! our own imperial river! Be glory on thy track, be glory on thy track! We left thy shores, to die or to deliver

We bear thee freedom back, we bear thee freedom back!