206 SONNET : TO THE WEED. 



whom Merino looks upon as his real enemies are the Josephines or 

 French party. Never will he suffer them to come into power he 

 hates them with all the concentrated malignity of a demon. 



When, in 1828, he was sent for by the government to Madrid, he 

 soon perceived the influence which Migriano, Hermosilla, Burgos, 

 and several other Josephines possessed at court. He saw, also, that 

 the only journal that was published at Madrid, was under the exclu- 

 sive direction of Carnero -, this exasperated him to the last degree. 

 " How/' he exclaimed in a fury, " are we still governed by the men 

 who have so persecuted me. Never will I submit to these associates 

 of the usurper they have more than once sought my head, and now 

 I will embrue my hands in the blood that shall flow from theirs." 



Has this period then arrived for Merino ? Are these the motives 

 which have driven him to arms ? There is, after all, nothing so im- 

 propable in the supposition when it is recollected that, in 1823, at the 

 entry of the Duke d'Angouleme into Spain, Merino refused to ac- 

 knowledge the Regency of Urgel, and that he loudly deprecated the 

 intervention of France in favour of Ferdinand ; and reduced to the 

 alternative either of opposing the army of the duke, or making his sub- 

 mission to the Regency, he preferred to remain neuter, to abandon the 

 Two Castiles, and to pass into Estramadura, where he remained in a 

 state of inaction ; in fact, no sooner had the French crossed the Py- 

 renees than he ceased all hostility against the liberal party. 



Various have been the means devised by the Spanish government 

 to get rid of Merino, but in vain. They once hired a band of assas- 

 sins to dispatch him, but he discovered the plot. When brought 

 before him, and expecting instant death ; he sternly bade them begone 

 and tell their employers how nearly they had become his victims. 

 Such is Merino ! 



SONNET: TO THE WEED. 



INVITING herb, whose fragrant influence sheds 

 A soothing balm o'er many a restless hour, 

 Whether thy perfumed breath upcurling spreads 

 Over unquiet brains with magic power, 

 Omnipotent o'er trouble which consumes ; 

 Or thou dost cheer the student's lonely nights, 

 And heaven to him revealest through thy fumes ;- 

 Or with mild grace thy envied presence lights 

 A ray of joy and hope in humbler homes, 

 Strewing life's flinty path with soft delights ; 

 Accept the tribute which thy votary pays, 

 A tribute all unequal to thy claim ; 

 Thou art the phoenix of our modern days 

 Expiring, thou dost triumph most in flame. 



