185 A thousand hearts beat happily; and when Music arose with its voluptuous swell, Soft eyes look'd love to eyes which spake again, And all went merry as a marriage-bell;
But hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell!
8. Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, near Brussels, 2. Napoleon was then a prisoner at St. Helena. had occurred only the year before, on June 18, 3. France. Byron, like other liberals, saw the
1815. The battlefield, where almost fifty thousand defeat of the Napoleonic tyranny as a victory for
English, Prussian, and French soldiers were killed tyrannical kings and the forces of reaction
in a single day, quickly became a gruesome tourist throughout Europe.
attraction. 4. Await the test (proof) of experience.
9. 'Pride of place,' is a term of falconry, and 5. In 514 B.C.E. Harmodius and Aristogeiton, hid- means the highest pitch of flight [Byron's note, ing their daggers in myrtle (symbol of love), killed
which continues by referring to the use of the term Hipparchus, tyrant of Athens.
in Shakespeare's Macbeth 2.4]. The eagle was the 6. A famous ball, given by the duchess of Rich-
symbol of Napoleon. mond on the eve of the battle of Quatre Bras,
1. The Grand Alliance formed in opposition to which opened the conflict at Waterloo. Napoleon.
.
62 4 / GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON . ?-?'
22
190 Did ye not hear it??No; 'twas but the wind,
Or the car rattling o'er the stony street;
On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;
No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing Hours with flying feet?
195 But, hark!?that heavy sound breaks in once more,
As if the clouds its echo would repeat;
And nearer, clearer, deadlier than before!
Arm! Arm! and out?it is?the cannon's opening roar!
23
Within a windowed niche of that high hall
200 Sate Brunswick's fated chieftain;7 he did hear
That sound the first amidst the festival,
And caught its tone with Death's prophetic ear;
And when they smiled because he deem'd it near,
His heart more truly knew that peal too well
205 Which stretch'd his father on a bloody bier, And roused the vengeance blood alone could quell:
He rush'd into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell.
24
Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro,
And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress,
210 And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago
Blush'd at the praise of their own loveliness;
And there were sudden partings, such as press
The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs
Which ne'er might be repeated; who could guess
215 If ever more should meet those mutual eyes, Since upon nights so sweet such awful morn could rise?
25
And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed,
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car,
Went pouring forward in impetuous speed,
220 And swiftly forming in the ranks of war;
And the deep thunder peal on peal afar;
