( 489 ) 



SPECIMENS OF FRENCH POETRY. 



SONG. 



GENIUS of France ! If still thy wing 



O'er Gallia's lands auspicious soar, 

 Peace to a wearied nation bring, 



And let the war-note sound no more. 

 The boist'rous passions of the soul 

 Keep thou beneath a stern control, 



And calm tranquillity restore ; 

 Repel the surge of civil strife, 

 Stop the sad waste of human life, 



And banish discord from thy shore. * 



Let not the great despise the low, 



The sufferer be more opprest ; 

 Bid monarchs spare their subjects woe, 



Nor deeper wound the bleeding breast ; 

 Cast down the gibbet, dry the tears 

 Of orphans, and in future years 



Thy guardian bounty will be blest ; 

 So that amid the dreams of night 

 No horrors fill us with affright, 



Nor wake us from a tranquil rest. 



VICTOR HUGO. 



HYMN. 



AROUND the tombs of them that fell 



Their country's rights to save, 

 The songs of crowds admiring swell 



To eulogise the brave. 

 The patriot's fame will never die j 



The land for which he bled 

 Shall cradle it eternally, 



And venerate the dead. 



CHORUS. 



Glory to thee, immortal France ! 



Hail ! those who fell for her ! 

 And welcome all that now advance 



To seek a patriot's sepulchre. 



The morning beams of Phoebus shine 



Upon the lofty dome 

 That stands above the sacred shrine 



Where heroes found a tomb. 

 Far o'er the city's turrets high 



That glitt'ring dome appears ; 

 Saint Genevieve unto the sky 



Her tow'ring summit rears. 



