"I see him as now, for a moment, Away from his jailers he broke; And stood at the foot of the scaffold, And linger'd, and fain would have spoke. 'Ho,drummer! quick! silence yon Capet,' Says Santerre, 'with a beat of your drum.' Lustily then did I tap it, And the son of Saint Louis was dumb.

PART II.

"The glorious days of September Saw many aristocrats fall; 'Twas then that our pikes drunk the blood In the beautiful breast of Lamballe. Pardi, 'twas a beautiful lady! I seldom have looked on her like; And I drumm'd for a gallant procession, That marched with her head on a pike.

"Let's show the pale head to the Queen, We said--she'll remember it well. She looked from the bars of her prison, And shriek'd as she saw it, and fell. We set up a shout at her screaming, We laugh'd at the fright she had shown At the sight of the head of her minion; How she'd tremble to part with her own.

"We had taken the head of King Capet, We called for the blood of his wife; Undaunted she came to the scaffold, And bared her fair neck to the knife. As she felt the foul fingers that touch'd her, She shrunk, but she deigned not to speak: She look'd with a royal disdain, And died with a blush on her cheek!

"'Twas thus that our country was saved; So told us the safety committee! But psha! I've the heart of a soldier, All gentleness, mercy, and pity. I loathed to assist at such deeds, And my drum beat its loudest of tunes As we offered to justice offended The blood of the bloody tribunes.

"Away with such foul recollections! No more of the axe and the block; I saw the last fight of the sections, As they fell 'neath our guns at Saint Rock. Young BONAPARTE led us that day; When he sought the Italian frontier, I follow'd my gallant young captain, I follow'd him many a long year.

"We came to an army in rags, Our general was but a boy When we first saw the Austrian flags Flaunt proud in the fields of Savoy. In the glorious year ninety-six, We march'd to the banks of the Po; I carried my drum and my sticks, And we laid the proud Austrian low.

"In triumph we enter'd Milan, We seized on the Mantuan keys; The troops of the Emperor ran, And the Pope he tell down on his knees.-- Pierre's comrades here call'd a fresh bottle, And clubbing together their wealth, They drank to the Army of Italy, And General Bonaparte's health.

The drummer now bared his old breast, And show'd us a plenty of scars, Rude presents that Fortune had made him, In fifty victorious wars. "This came when I follow'd bold Kleber-- 'Twas shot by a Mameluke gun; And this from an Austrian sabre, When the field of Marengo was won.

"My forehead has many deep furrows, But this is the deepest of all: A Brunswicker made it at Jena, Beside the fair river of Saal. This cross, 'twas the Emperor gave it; (God bless him!) it covers a blow; I had it at Austerlitz fight, As I beat on my drum in the snow.

"'Twas thus that we conquer'd and fought; But wherefore continue the story? There's never a baby in France But has heard of our chief and our glory,-- But has heard of our chief and our fame, His sorrows and triumphs can tell, How bravely Napoleon conquer'd, How bravely and sadly he fell.

"It makes my old heart to beat higher, To think of the deeds that I saw; I follow'd bold Ney through the fire, And charged at the side of Murat." And so did old Peter continue His story of twenty brave years; His audience follow'd with comments-- Rude comments of curses and tears.

He told how the Prussians in vain Had died in defence of their land; His audience laugh'd at the story, And vow'd that their captain was grand! He had fought the red English, he said, In many a battle of Spain; They cursed the red English, and prayed To meet them and fight them again.

He told them how Russia was lost, Had winter not driven them back; And his company cursed the quick frost, And doubly they cursed the Cossack. He told how the stranger arrived; They wept at the tale of disgrace: And they long'd but for one battle more, The stain of their shame to efface!

"Our country their hordes overrun, We fled to the fields of Champagne, And fought them, though twenty to one, And beat them again and again! Our warrior was conquer'd at last; They bade him his crown to resign; To fate and his country he yielded The rights of himself and his line.

"He came, and among us he stood, Around him we press'd in a throng: We could not regard him for weeping, Who had led us and loved us so long. 'I have led you for twenty long years,' Napoleon said, ere he went 'Wherever was honor I found you, And with you, my sons, am content!

"'Though Europe against me was arm'd, Your chiefs and my people are true; I still might have struggled with fortune, And baffled all Europe with you.

"'But France would have suffer'd the while, 'Tis best that I suffer alone; I go to my place of exile, To write of the deeds we have done.

"'Be true to the king that they give you, We may not embrace ere we part; But, General, reach me your hand, And press me, I pray, to your heart.'

"He called for our battle standard; One kiss to the eagle he gave. 'Dear eagle!' he said, 'may this kiss Long sound in the hearts of the brave!' 'Twas thus that Napoleon left us; Our people were weeping and mute, As he pass'd through the lines of his guard, And our drums beat the notes of salute.

. . . . .

"I look'd when the drumming was o'er, I look'd, but our hero was gone; We were destined to see him once more, When we fought on the Mount of St. John. The Emperor rode through our files; 'Twas June, and a fair Sunday morn; The lines of our warriors for miles Stretch'd wide through the Waterloo corn.

"In thousands we stood on the plain, The red-coats were crowning the height; 'Go scatter yon English,' he said; 'We'll sup, lads, at Brussels tonight.' We answered his voice with a shout; Our eagles were bright in the sun; Our drums and our cannon spoke out, And the thundering battle begun.

"One charge to another succeeds, Like waves that a hurricane bears; All day do our galloping steeds Dash fierce on the enemy's squares. At noon we began the fell onset: We charged up the Englishman's hill; And madly we charged it at sunset--