POETRY AND ELOQUENCE 167 



A moment, •while the trumpets blow, 

 He sees his brood about thy knee; 

 The next, like fire, he meets the foe. 

 And strikes him dead for tliine and thee." 



The chief value of all patriotic songs and poems, 

 like Mrs. Howe's " Battle Hymn of the Republic," 

 or Mr. Stedman's John Brown poem, or Randall's 

 " Maryland," or Burns's " Bannnockburn," or Whit- 

 man's " Beat ! Beat ! Drums," is their impassioned 

 eloquence. Patriotism, war, wrong, slavery, these 

 are the inspirers of eloquence. 



Of course no sharp line can be drawn between 

 eloquence and poetry ; they run together, they blend 

 in all first-class poems ; yet there is a wide difierence 

 between the two, and it is probably in the direction 

 I have indicated. Power and mastery in either field 

 are the most precious of human gifts. 



