1827.] A Day at the Camp of St. Omer, 321 



(to the amount of near twenty thousand), and march off the field together, 

 towards St. Omer which they enter with bands playing, and colours fly- 

 ing, at the head of each regiment, and thus closes, perhaps, one of the 

 most effective exhibitions of its kind that was ever seen. 



It will be observed that, though the King of France was present during 

 the whole of the above scene, accompanied by the Dauphin, the Prince of 

 Orange, and several of the highest officers of the state, we have not been 

 tempted to pay any more than a passing attention to them. They served 

 very well as accessories, to add to the illusion of the scene, by representing 

 the general and his staff, moving hither and thither, according to the dif- 

 ferent changes in the movements of the troops. But as mere individuals, 

 the king and his suite shared but a very small proportion of the interest 

 excited by the general scene. The day was half over before the great body 

 of spectators on the hill, seemed to recollect that there were any such per- 

 sonages present; and, when their attention was called to the fact, by see- 

 ing the body of horsemen pass along the great public road to gain an opposite 

 height, not one in fifty left their own favourable position to follow the 

 cavalcade. 



There must be a real and absorbing interest attached to that scene, in 

 which kings and princes take an active part, and yet pass but as secon- 

 dary objects of attention and curiosity, even in the eyes of the idlest spec- 

 tators. 











. 



; 



THE BIRTH OF CERVANTES : 



A SPANISH LEGEND. 



GALLANT lords, and ladies gentle, 



Finest of the superfine 

 - If you love the sentimental, 



List ye all a tale of mine : 

 It is not of English misses, 



Waltzing till their brains are boiling, 

 Till the blood within them hisses, 



Down the burning ball-room broiling j 



Till the sudden peep of morning 



Glancing through the steaming air, 

 Gives the waltzing maidens warning 



That their beauty wants repair ; 

 That the loveliest rouge alive 



On the loveliest cheek grows mellow, 

 Letting certain tints survive, 



Hinting that the fair one's yellow. 



But my tale's a tale of love, 



As love ought to be, half frantic, 

 As my hearer soon shall prove, 



If he knows the true romantic : 

 Not a thing of country toasts, 



Romping, red-cheeked, blue-eyed charmers; 

 Melting fruits of Britain's coasts ; 



Passion's soothers-care's disarmers !- 



