Poetry: Plácido's Last Song

The sentiments which occupied the last hours, and almost the last breath of this condemned man, are now transfused into the English language, and will, we have no doubt, be read with interest by many. The Heraldo, a Madrid paper, in giving an account of his 'execution, styles him "the celebrated poet, Placido;' and adds, "this man was born with great natural genius, and was beloved and appreciated by the most respectable young men of Havana, who united to purchase his release from slavery." After accusing him of wild and ambitious projects, and saying that, in the late conspiracy, he was intended for king, the Heraldo proceeds: - "The poet Placido was was apprehended, and after a long hearing, was conducted to the condemned chapel - He manifested in it a serenity truly admirable. In his solitary intervals, he composed the prayer which we copy below. In passing from his prison to execution, he walked, reciting with a plaintive, yet firm voice, these sorrowful verses; and accoring to persons who write to us, and who were present at his death, tho last stanza was pronounced immediately before lie expired. His last words were, 'Adois, mundo, no hay piedad para mi; soldados, fuego!' Adieu. O world! here is no pity for me. Soldier, fire!"' PLACIDO'S LAST SONG. Being of boundless pity! God of mighty power! To thee my plaint I breathe in agonizing hour. O'er me thine arm omnipotent, O God, extend: From calumny's vile face the veil of justice rend; Nor let the odious brand of infamy remain, With which the world desires my hated brow to stain. O King of Kings! and my forefathers' God attend; For thou alone, my God, my honor can'st defend, All power is thine, who to the shaded sea hast given Fishes and floods; currents of air; to vaulted heaven lts light; frost to the north; warmth to the sunny beams; Life to the teem'mg earth, and motion to the streams. Thou can'st do all things. For the whole creation dies, Or quick revives again, at mandate from the skies. Out of thee all thins, Lord, reduced to nought would be, Engulphed in the abyss of vast eternity: "Yet non-existence e'en thy sovereign will obeys, Since from its empty bosom sprang the human race. Thou know'st Í can't deceive thee, God of clemency! And, since thy wisdom infinite, thy searching eye, Piercing my mortal flesh, my honest soul can see, Which, to thy view, shows the clear air's transparency, Forbid that, while o'er humbled innocence she stands, Accursed calumny should clap her bloody hands. But, should thy sovereign will supremely wise, ordain, That I as victim of unrighteous wrath, be slain, And that with frantic joy malign, my eager foes My cold and mangled corpse to infamy expose, Pronounce the awful word, anti bid them shed my blood! Fully in me thy will accomplish, O my God!