Will they fight?  I believe it.  Alas, ’tis ephemeral folly,
  Vain and ephemeral folly, of course, compared with pictures,
  Statues, and antique gems,—­indeed:  and yet indeed too,
  Yet methought, in broad day did I dream,—­tell it not in St. James’s,
  Whisper it not in thy courts, O Christ Church!—­yet did I, waking,
  Dream of a cadence that sings, Si tombent nos jeunes heros, la
  Terre en produit de nouveaux contre vous tous prets a se battre;
  Dreamt of great indignations and angers transcendental,
  Dreamt of a sword at my side and a battle-horse underneath me.

  IV.—­CLAUDE TO EUSTACE.

  Now supposing the French or the Neapolitan soldier
  Should by some evil chance come exploring the Maison Serny,
  (Where the family English are all to assemble for safety,)
  Am I prepared to lay down my life for the British female? 
  Really, who knows?  One has bowed and talked, till, little by little,
  All the natural heat has escaped of the chivalrous spirit. 
  Oh, one conformed, of course; but one doesn’t die for good manners,
  Stab or shoot, or be shot, by way of a graceful attention. 
  No, if it should be at all, it should be on the barricades there;
  Should I incarnadine ever this inky pacifical finger,
  Sooner far should it be for this vapor of Italy’s freedom,
  Sooner far by the side of the damned and dirty plebeians.

  Ah, for a child in the street I could strike; for the full-blown lady—­
  Somehow, Eustace, alas, I have not felt the vocation. 
  Yet these people of course will expect, as of course, my protection,
  Vernon in radiant arms stand forth for the lovely Georgina,
  And to appear, I suppose, were but common civility.  Yes, and
  Truly I do not desire they should either be killed or offended.

  Oh, and of course you will say, “When the time comes, you will be ready.” 
  Ah, but before it comes, am I to presume it will be so? 
  What I cannot feel now, am I to suppose that I shall feel? 
  Am I not free to attend for the ripe and indubious instinct? 
  Am I forbidden to wait for the clear and lawful perception? 
  Is it the calling of man to surrender his knowledge and insight,
  For the mere venture of what may, perhaps, be the virtuous action? 
  Must we, walking o’er earth, discerning a little, and hoping
  Some plain visible task shall yet for our hands be assigned us,—­
  Must we abandon the future for fear of omitting the present,
  Quit our own fireside hopes at the alien call of a neighbor,
  To the mere possible shadow of Deity offer the victim? 
  And is all this, my friend, but a weak and ignoble repining,
  Wholly unworthy the head or the heart of Your Own Correspondent?

  V.—­CLAUDE TO EUSTACE.