It was a _moral_ end for which they fought;
Else how, when mighty Thrones were put to shame,
Could they, poor Shepherds, have preserved an aim,
A resolution, or enlivening thought?
Nor hath that moral good been _vainly_ sought; 5
For in their magnanimity and fame
Powers have they left, an impulse, and a claim
Which neither can be overturned nor bought.
Sleep, Warriors, sleep! among your hills repose!
We know that ye, beneath the stern control 10
Of awful prudence, keep the unvanquished soul:
And when, impatient of her guilt and woes,
Europe breaks forth; then, Shepherds! shall ye rise
For perfect triumph o'er your Enemies.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] In _The Friend_, December 21, under the title, _On the report of the
submission of the Tyrolese_.--ED.

VI

"THE MARTIAL COURAGE OF A DAY IS VAIN"

Composed 1810?[A]--Published 1815

The martial courage of a day is vain,
An empty noise of death the battle's roar,
If vital hope be wanting to restore,
Or fortitude be wanting to sustain,
Armies or kingdoms. We have heard a strain 5
Of triumph, how the labouring Danube bore
A weight of hostile corses: drenched with gore
Were the wide fields, the hamlets heaped with slain.
Yet see (the mighty tumult overpast)
Austria a Daughter of her Throne hath sold! 10
And her Tyrolean Champion we behold
Murdered, like one ashore by shipwreck cast,
Murdered without relief. Oh! blind as bold,
To think that such assurance can stand fast!

FOOTNOTES:

[A] I retain this Tyrolese sonnet amongst the others belonging to the
same theme; but, as Hofer was shot in 1810, it was probably written in
that year.--ED.

* * * * *

I append to this series of sonnets on the Tyrol and the Tyrolese the
translation of a paper contributed by Alois Brandl, a Tyrolean, to the
_Neue Freie Presse_ of October 22, 1880. Herr Brandl was for some time
in England investigating the traces of a German literary influence on
Coleridge, Wordsworth, and their contemporaries.

"It was in the year 1809; Napoleon was at the height of his career
of victory; and England alone of all his opponents held the
supremacy at sea. For years the English were the only
representatives of freedom in Europe. At last it seemed that two
fortunate allies arose to