v\ 
 
THE SEA, 
 .THE RAILWAY JOURNEY, 
 
 AND OTHER POEMS. 
 
THE SEA, 
 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY, 
 
 AND OTHER POEMS. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE EEV. EDWAKD DALTON, D.D. 
 
 RECTOR OF TRAMORE; 
 
 AUTHOR OP "LECTURES ON THE LIFE OF JOSEPH," 
 
 " THE WATCHFUL PROVIDENCE OF GOD," " THE LITERARY BEAUTIES OF 
 
 THE BIBLE," " BRIEF THOUGHTS ON GOD'S WORD," ETC. ETC. 
 
 S>erontr 
 
 LONDON: 
 DALTON AND LUCY, 28, COCKSPUR STREET, 
 
 BOOKSELLERS TO THE QUEEN AND TO H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 HODGES, SMITH AND CO., 
 
 PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY, DUBLIN. 
 1866. 
 
G. NORMAN, PRINTER. MAIDEN LANE, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON. 
 
TO 
 MY KIND AND REVERED FRIEND 
 
 HENRY DENNY, ESQ., 
 
 IN GRATEFUL BEMEMBRANCE 
 
 OF MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS 
 
 OP 
 
 UNINTERRUPTED FRIENDSHIP, 
 5 fcetucate tfjfg Folume 
 
 WITH 
 MUCH AFFECTION AND SINCERE ESTEEM. 
 
 799 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 IT is not likely that many strangers will peruse 
 this unpretending volume ; and it is not necessary 
 for me to inform my personal friends, who will 
 constitute its principal readers, that I have not 
 given my chief time or best mental vigour to the 
 composition of Poetry. It has been the recreation 
 of my days of sickness or hours of leisure, while 
 the energies of my mind and the prime of my 
 working hours have been consecrated to the more 
 solemn and important labours of the Christian 
 Ministry in a beloved Parish. 
 
 I am conscious of the numerous faults and many 
 blemishes with which the volume abounds, and 
 could have wished for that quiet leisure which 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 would have enabled me to give it tliat condensa- 
 tion and polish it so greatly needs. 
 
 But as I see no prospect of enjoying the amount 
 of leisure requisite for that purpose, I give it to 
 my friends with all its imperfections ; with the 
 humble prayer that some of them may be able to 
 derive pleasure and profit from its pages. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 THE SEA PAGE 
 
 Part I. General .... 5 
 
 Part II. The Lighthouse and Lifeboat . 28 
 
 Part III. The Arctic Sea . . 75 
 
 Part IV. Intermediate . . .105 
 
 Part V. The Tropical Sea . . 119 
 
 Part VI. Conclusion . . .165 
 
 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY . . . 179 
 
 THE HAPPY FAMILY .... 309 
 
 EMBLEMS FEOM NATUBE 
 
 The Sea-Eagle .... 386 
 
 The Sea-Birds . . . . 391 
 
 The Limpet . . . . 392 
 
 The Sea-Depths . . . 393 
 
 The Mountain Pine . . . 394 
 
 The Eugged Hill . . . .395 
 
 The Blackthorn . . 397 
 
 The Falling Blossoms ... 401 
 
 HYMN TO GOD THE FATHEE . . . 407 
 
 HYMN TO GOD THE SON . . . 413 
 
 HYMN TO THE HOLY SPIEIT . . . 417 
 
 THE BIBLE 423 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 BEOKEN CISTERNS .... 430 
 
 THE TEUE CHEISTIAN PASTOE . 447 
 " To DIE is GAIN" . . . .458 
 
 LOVE NOT THE WOELD . . . 460 
 
 THE DYING SAINT TO His RELATIVES . 463 
 
 THE BELIEVEE'S TEIUMPH IN DEATH . 465 
 
 " EEJOICE IN THE LOED ALWAT" . . 469 
 
 THE JOY OF THE LOED OUE STEENGTH . 473 
 
 THE ISTHMIAN GAMES . . . 478 
 
 THE BEEVITY OF LIFE . . . 481 
 
 DEEAMS : 486 
 
 THE DONKEY AND THE EACEHOESE . . 497 
 
 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE . . . 506 
 
 THE STONE OF ZION . . . 509 
 
 LESSONS LEAENED IN THE CHAMBEE OF SICKNESS 513 
 
 SONNET ON THE DEATH OF MY FIEST-BOEN 517 
 
 SONNET ON THE DEATH OF MY SECOND CHILD 518 
 
 GEIEF is SHOET AND JOY is LONG . . 519 
 
 CHEIST MUST E/EIGN .... 525 
 
 JESUS AND THE SlNNEE . . . 527 
 
 YET WILL I TEUST .... 529 
 
 EPITAPH ON FLOEENCE'S DOG . . 534 
 
 THE SEA AND ITS CEEATOE . . . 537 
 
 PEEFECTION . 539 
 

IJw 
 
 PAET I. GENERAL. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Extent and grandeur of the Sea its dangers and delights 
 its terrors and attractions its perils and profits contrasts 
 in its scenery, colours, moods, effects its usefulness and 
 destructiveness a child's plaything, a navy's dread its 
 roughness, its tenderness the submarine telegraph its 
 faithfulness to its trust silence swiftness readiness to 
 serve peasant or prince independence of wind or tide, 
 darkness or storm rocks worn and broken by the sea's 
 power strong castles undermined and overthrowngrains 
 of sand a sufficient barrier obedient to its Maker subser- 
 vient to His will storms scatter useful seeds wrecked St. 
 Paul to bring the Gospel to Melita under Christ the sea 
 bears Missionaries to far distant heathen lands apostrophe 
 to the Sea a type of its Creator its obedience to the voice 
 of Christ its birth its end call to praise its mighty Lord. 
 
PAET L GKENEKA.L. 
 
 i( The Sea is His, and He made it." PSALM xcv. 5. 
 
 HOU wondrous work of God's creative 
 
 skill, 
 Working vast good, and yet stupendous 
 
 ill; 
 
 Man's bounteous friend, and yet his deadly foe, 
 From thy broad bosom milk and poison flow. 
 Thy hands a thousand precious boons disperse, 
 But mingled all with fell and fatal curse ; 
 Thy waves have brought to man's glad heart a 
 store 
 
THE SEA. 
 
 Of treasures countless as the sand upon thy shore ; 
 And wrung from broken heart and throbbing brain, 
 More briny drops than all thy depths contain. 
 Nations thy waves divide, and yet unite, 
 Help them in commerce, hinder them in fight 
 A broad highway in times of gentle peace, 
 A broader rampart when those seasons cease. 
 Warmed by the sun thy bosom yields us rain, 
 And from a thousand rivers drinks it back again 
 How terrible ! yet gentle as the gentlest child ! 
 How peaceful, yet how restless ! calm, yet wild ! 
 Hurtful, yet useful ! who can strike the scales, 
 And say if good or ill, blessing or woe prevails ! 
 Clapping thy thousand hands exulting high, 
 Lifting thy sounding praise above the sky ; 
 Moaning for drowning men a dismal dirge, 
 "With the hoarse murmur of thy beating surge. 
 What contrasts in thy moods and doings meet, 
 The fickle wind with thy false ways can scarce 
 compete. 
 
THE SEA. . y 
 
 Waking wild terror with thy raging storms, 
 Inspiring peace in thy more tranquil forms. 
 Thy tumult scares soft sleep from downy bed, 
 Thy rippling murmur soothes the aching head. 
 The sunset gleams upon thy troubled waves, 
 In foam-white breakers bellowing through thy 
 
 caves, 
 
 Like lions for the prey thy rolling billows roar, 
 And burst in thunder on the sounding shore : 
 The morning sun salutes thy tranquil deeps, 
 As calmly noiseless as a child that sleeps, 
 Smooth as a glassy mirror's polished face, 
 On which nor line nor scar the eye can trace, 
 Thy wrath all gone, and o'er thy placid breast, 
 The soothing slumber of profoundest rest. 
 Childhood can play with thy soft rippling tide, 
 And laughing boyhood on thy bosom ride ; 
 The weary pedlar, footsore pilgrim cools 
 His fevered limbs in thy transiucid pools ; 
 While thousands of the fair, the young, the brave, 
 
10 THE SEA. 
 
 In thy deep depths have found an early grave. 
 
 Thy colour varies with thy moods and ways, 
 
 ISTow dark with gloom, now brilliant with the rays 
 
 The noonday sun pours forth in wealth untold, 
 
 Of lustrous glory as of burnished gold 
 
 On all thy waters then Night's milder Queen, 
 
 Kindles thy surface with her silver sheen. 
 
 At dawn thy breast with purple splendour glows, 
 
 At eve outvies the crimson of the rose 
 
 "White as a wedding robe, thy foaming spray 
 
 Spreads its broad mantle o'er the open bay ; 
 
 "While deep beneath the darkly- frowning height, 
 
 Thy stirless depths are black as ebon night. 
 
 Thy blue reflects the azure of the sky, 
 
 Thy mottled gray the cloud-storm passing by. 
 
 Thy green, as pale as hedge-row's opening spray 
 
 Of softest leaflets in the month of May, 
 
 Grows rich in darkest tints of emerald hue, 
 
 As winter's holly or the churchyard yew. 
 
 Most treacherous sea ! brimful of harlot guile, 
 
THE SEA. 11 
 
 Wooing to ruin with thy sunny smile ; 
 
 The sweetest blandest look thy surface decks, 
 
 Conceals a million graves, and twice ten thousand 
 
 wrecks. 
 
 Base traitor ! nursing in thy guilty breast, 
 The deepest woe for those who trust thee best ; 
 Kissing the beach with soft caressing lips, 
 Crashing the bulwarks of our stoutest ships : 
 Tearing thick ribs of iron-plated barks, 
 Flinging their living freight as food for sharks ; 
 Pounding to shreds the toughest granite wall, 
 While iron-welded piers to fragments fall. 
 Bearing to man the wealth of every clime, 
 Burying thousands in their noblest prime. 
 Like balm from thy soft slumbering bosom flow 
 Soothing serenity and peace, when lo ! 
 Thine airy forces from their dens leap forth, 
 Crushing whole navies in their foaming wrath. 
 Sublime in f ury thy great waters rise 
 In one dark mass to mingle sea and skies ; 
 
12 THE SEA. 
 
 Like crested monsters in a headlong race, 
 Or rolling mountains in a giant chase. 
 Thy deepest depths like seething caldrons boil, 
 In deadly strife the elements embroil, 
 And buried deep beneath thy giant surge 
 A nation's boundless wealth and arms submerge. 
 The proudest fleets can find no sheltering shield, 
 But low before thy surging tempests yield ; 
 And yet thy placid waves will harmless float, 
 In playful pastime childhood's mimic boat ! 
 No human force can curb thy stubborn will, 
 Bind thy fierce arms, or bid thy waves be still, 
 No might of man can stem thy turbid tide, 
 No skill of man thy surging billows guide ; 
 "Wafting vast wealth and woe to every shore, 
 We fear thee, dread thee, yet we love thee more ; 
 Yield to the magic of thy wooing smile, 
 To perish victims of thy matchless guile, 
 Yield to thy sunny but seductive charm, 
 To sink beneath thy sweeping crushing arm : 
 
THE SEA. 13 
 
 Love thee when calm, but dread thy passions wild, 
 Terror of navies, plaything for a child ! 
 In uncouth play thy restless billows leap 
 Eound jutting crag and up the granite steep, 
 "Winding among the boulders of the shore 
 With serpent hissings or with lion roar; 
 Or springing upward to the lofty cliff, 
 And stretching high their foamy hands as if 
 To pluck its scalp of living verdure down, 
 Its pride abase, its frowning height discrown, 
 Then falling back exhausted, shattered, spent, 
 As laughing wildly at their foiled intent, 
 Eepeat the onslaught with a sullen roar 
 That wakes the echoes of the mocking shore. 
 Thy waves charge sometimes like a phrensied herd 
 Of wild white horses sharply pricked and spurred, 
 Bounding and plunging with their foamy manes, 
 Whom no curb checks, no guiding hand restrains. 
 While overhead clouds heaped on clouds of wrath 
 Pour the red lightning in a deluge forth, 
 
14 THE SEA. 
 
 And scatter broadcast with unerring aim 
 Their vengeful bolts in streams of fiery flame. 
 Gleaming and glittering through the troubled air 
 Flashes the lurid light in bursts of fitful glare, 
 Like marshalled hosts with arms of flashing steel, 
 Down western skies the blazing squadrons wheel, 
 Breaks the wild storm and bursts the thunder peal. 
 And as the tempest moderates its force, 
 Thy billows roll less fiercely on their course, 
 Short broken waves with sheets of spouting spray. 
 Borne by the wind in fleecy clouds away. 
 At other times those self-same waters glide, 
 With graceful quietude and placid tide, 
 Long undulating waves without a break, 
 Sweeping for miles, their lengthened journey take, 
 Like sloping hills without a speck of froth, 
 Their anger all appeased and sunk their former 
 
 wrath : 
 
 And yet again thy tranquil waters sleep 
 Profoundly smooth, while on the stirless deep 
 
THE SEA. 15 
 
 Lazy and still the moveless vessels bear 
 Their nerveless sails upon the tepid air. 
 Who can confide or trust thy wayward will, 
 Now filled with bounty, now with crowded ill, 
 Eough as a giant, tender as a child, 
 Lamb-like and docile, but as tigers wild, 
 Soft as a woman's heart or loving breast, 
 Fierce with a legion of foul fiends possessed, 
 Gentle and graceful as a youthful bride, 
 Hard as the rock that girds thy rolling tide. 
 Changeful and wanton, waking or asleep, 
 Thy wiles are dark and desperately deep, 
 Thy billows soothe or buffet with their blows 
 Alike fond trusting friends and hateful foes, 
 In calm repose like sleeping beauties lie, 
 Then wake with stormy brow and flashing eye, 
 Slumber like demons resting for a time 
 To gather strength for deeds of darker crime. 
 In thy still depths the sunk electric wire 
 Carries the burden of its flashing fire, 
 
16 THE SEA. 
 
 A faithful messenger, who never breaks 
 The trust reposed, but ever loyal, takes 
 Its message fairly through the foaming spray, 
 Nothing reveals or drops upon its way, 
 Adds not a syllable, but changing naught, 
 Yields up in full its true and fair report 
 To distant tribes divided far asunder, 
 With lightning's speed without its voice of thunder ; 
 In friendly converse linking land to land, 
 Pouring its flood of news on every foreign strand 
 "With ceaseless interchange of rapid thought, 
 News of rich merchant's cargoes sold or bought, 
 Flashings of playful wit or fiery threats, 
 Treaties by Kings, or gamesters' worthless bets ; 
 Sighings of gentle hearts that glowing yearn 
 With tender longings for a swift return ; 
 Grief's sombre whisperings of waning health, 
 And Law's brief news of legacies of wealth, 
 Police demands on distant ports and shores 
 For strict blockade and search for stolen stores ; 
 
THE SEA. 17 
 
 Tidings that spread wide woe and dread alarm, 
 Bidding fleets float and squadrons quickly arm, 
 Or news of peace that calm the public breast 
 With the glad welcome of returning rest 
 With like rapidity in blazing day 
 Or murky midnight speeding on its way, 
 Threading alike smooth lake or boiling seas, 
 Speaking all languages with equal ease, 
 Fleeter than flaming rockets' airy flight, 
 Or shooting stars' celerity of light, 
 Swifter than carrier-dove or fleetest horse 
 The flying message speeds its lightning course ; 
 In silent swiftness through the water glides 
 Unstopped by current, wind, or stormy tides, 
 Mocking the distance with its ardent flight 
 Far from the reach of man or piercing light : 
 Its force unweakened and its speed unchecked, 
 Where stout-built vessels reel and costly fleets are 
 
 wrecked ; 
 The heaving waves in vain with fury roll 
 
18 THE SEA. 
 
 To stay its progress to the distant goal ; 
 
 From shore to shore its thrilling signals leap 
 
 In swift career beneath the raging deep : 
 
 The quivering lips reveal their varied tale 
 
 Heedless of storms, defiant of the gale. 
 
 While swiftest vessels through the billows glide, 
 
 News flashes swifter through the rolling tide, 
 
 And while their vaunted fleetest transits last 
 
 Ten thousand fleeter messages have passed. 
 
 The words entrusted to the thrilling wire 
 
 By nature's subtle and mysterious fire, 
 
 With prompt rapidity no moment waste, 
 
 But fly with eager and impetuous haste, 
 
 With fiery wings that never droop or stay, 
 
 Or halt or linger with the least delay, 
 
 Urge their swift flight and speed their arrowy way, 
 
 Nor pause to gather renovated strength 
 
 Through all their journey of enormous length ; 
 
 No need of thong or stimulating goad 
 
 To press their vigour on their trembling road, 
 
THE SEA. 19 
 
 Or rouse with sharp and pricking spur of steel 
 The quickened pulses of their throbbing zeal, 
 With breathless eagerness and nervous force, 
 With bounding spring they clear their destined 
 
 course. 
 
 From princely palace or baronial hall, 
 At Monarch's summons or a Senate's call, 
 Prompt to receive and flash the trusted word 
 With mute fidelity unbreathed, unheard ; 
 But still as ready with their whispering nerve 
 All ranks to succour and each grade to serve, 
 As prompt the peasant's mandate to obey, 
 His message carry and his thoughts convey ; 
 To hold the broken roughness of his speech 
 As great a trust to guard from flaw or breach, 
 And bear his wishes on their lightning wings 
 As swift and truly as the polished words of kings. 
 On yonder rocky headland once reposed 
 A keep, of massive masonry composed, 
 With firm foundations deeply out of sight, 
 
20 THE SEA. 
 
 Proudly defiant from its lofty height, 
 Frowning contempt upon the waves that beat 
 In ceaseless din low down beneath its feet. 
 Its glory now is gone, and in its shattered walls, 
 Its nodding turrets and its shapeless halls, 
 Vast chasms tell of some tremendous power 
 Which vanquished rock and battlement and tower : 
 That force, sea ! was thine ; thy hammer hand 
 Swept off the shingle from the basement strand, 
 j$mote like a catapult the solid rock 
 With many a giant stroke and wintry shock ; 
 Advancing and retiring, day by day, 
 Year after year, in ceaseless restless play, 
 Thy tidal waves kept up their ebb and flow, 
 With changeless aim to lay its ramparts low : 
 Scooped out the rock in hollow caverns deep, 
 Fretted and wore and mined the stately steep, 
 Inch after inch, with patient toil ; and then, 
 When women wept hot tears for drowning men, 
 And ships went down before the fiery blast, 
 
THE SEA. 21 
 
 And shores were strewn with splintered spar and 
 
 mast, 
 
 One wintry night with one wild rush of foam, 
 Thy marshalled waves were hurled and driven 
 
 home, 
 
 In force resistless with terrific power, 
 And breached the outworks of that mighty tower. 
 The deep foundations of that castle keep, 
 Were swept far out beneath the hoary deep ; 
 Its shattered curtain, and its tough old wall 
 Crashed like a peal of thunder in their fall ; 
 Its ancient grandeur gone, its blighted form 
 Looms like a spectre through the mocking storm. 
 And yet small grains of sand laid side by side, 
 Stay the wild march of thy tumultuous tide ! 
 Great work of Grod ! thy strength defies the arm 
 Of puny man thy swelling rage to calm, 
 Hush the hoarse murmur of thy wailing dirge, 
 Or stem the onset of thy boiling surge. 
 The hand omnipotent, that made thee first, 
 
22 THE SEA. 
 
 When o'er the world thy foaming waters burst, 
 
 Alone can rule thy fiercely-raging tide, 
 
 Thy thunders hush, thy drifting forces guide ! 
 
 One word of His can bid thy tumult cease, 
 
 And speak thy fury to profoundest peace ; 
 
 However turbulent thy waters roll, 
 
 They move harmonious to His wise control. 
 
 Without His will no seraph spreads his wing, 
 
 No lark with song of glory makes the welkin ring ; 
 
 No tempest stays a recreant prophet's flight, 
 
 Or gulfs a monarch's arms in ruthless night ; 
 
 ]S"o wreck sends up its wild and wailing moan, 
 
 Without its fiat from His burning throne ! 
 
 Thy storms and currents waft to many a shore, 
 
 The plant which never clothed its hills before ; 
 
 The seed of flower, of tree, of useful grain, 
 
 To glad man's eye, his wasting strength sustain; 
 
 With golden harvests recompense his toil, 
 
 With glowing beauty to engrace the soil. 
 
 Thus did thy tempests drive with headlong force 
 
THE SEA. 23 
 
 The great Apostle from his onward course ; 
 Toss him aside on some barbarian land, 
 And wreck his vessel on its cheerless strand. 
 Most precious waif! more rich than freight of 
 
 gold, 
 
 Or store of gems of fabled worth untold ! 
 That living casket through the tempest's strife, 
 Bore to that isle the seed of endless life ; 
 Planted upon its soil sweet Sharon's rose, 
 Each lovely grace that from the Gospel grows ; 
 And, with the banquet of a Saviour's love, 
 Strengthened its sons to mount to worlds above. 
 Still thus beneath the Church's living Head, 
 Thy boundless wastes interminably spread, 
 Waft the good seed throughout the mission-field, 
 Thy strife the fruits of peace and solace yield ; 
 Each storm that rages, and each wave that rolls, 
 Swells the rich harvest of immortal souls. 
 O sea 1 thou sleepest in His mighty hand, 
 Who framed thy cradle of the coral strand, 
 
24 THE SEA. 
 
 Who bade thy waters lave each rocky shore, 
 To do His high behests and do no more. 
 His mandate still commands thy tide to flow, 
 Thus far to swell, and then no further go. 
 He, in thy vast abyss and boundless space, 
 Has mirror'd forth His own abounding grace, 
 Made thee an emblem of the ocean love, 
 That flows so freely from His throne above, 
 Deeper than all thy depths, immensely vast, 
 That knows no change and shall for ever last ; 
 Like thee, His priceless love is brimming o'er, 
 With boundless wealth of gifts for every shore, 
 And scatters broadcast on the wings of time, 
 Ten thousand boons to men of every clime ; 
 Like thee, His bosom can with anger swell, ' 
 And bury sinners in the depths of hell. 
 Jesus, who loves lost man, redeems and saves, 
 Walked when on earth thy rudely rolling waves, 
 With voice majestic, and with outstretched arm, 
 Hushed thy wild tempest to a peaceful calm ! 
 
THE SEA. 25 
 
 And still thy waters in their fury own, 
 The voice that issues from His dazzling throne. 
 In the new Earth, thy wild tumultuous main 
 Shall never heave its throbbing pulse again 
 Thy tempest rage, thy surges beat no more, 
 Thy billows bruise and lash no friendly shore, 
 No separation in that world of peace, 
 No death or sickness, thy rough waves must cease ; 
 Then shall thy destined course be fully run, 
 Thy work for weal or woe completely done ; 
 As was thy birth, thine end shall be sublime, 
 Nobly to perish in the death of Time. 
 In liquid melody roll forth thy waves, 
 Wake up the echoes of thy thousand caves ; 
 Clap loud and louder still thy myriad hands, 
 Beat white with foam thy hundred thousand 
 
 strands ; 
 
 Bid ample clouds of creamy vapour rise 
 In floating columns to the spreading skies, 
 Toss thy rude waves with broad and rolling sweep, 
 
26 THE SEA. 
 
 With flowing swell and loud resounding leap, 
 
 "Up the tal] side of cliff and lofty steep ; 
 
 In circling wreaths to heaven in spiral flight, 
 
 Fling to the sky above each granite height, 
 
 Storm-beaten crag, lone rock and headland grey 
 
 The fitting incense of thy feathery spray ; 
 
 Lift up, lift up thy lion voice on high, 
 
 Raise high and higher yet above the sky 
 
 Thy shout of tribute to the plastic hand, 
 
 That formed thee, guides thee, girds thee with the 
 
 sand; 
 
 In peals of sounding thunder fling abroad 
 The lofty praises of thy Mighty LOED ! 
 
PAET II. 
 THE LIGHTHOUSE AND LIFEBOAT. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Formation of the lighthouse its foundation position 
 structure its value use at night in storms a seraph 
 to warn from danger to guide to safety the look-out 
 at the mast-headfirst promise in Eden the scared sea- 
 fowl firmness of the structure steadiness of the light 
 like a tempted and calumniated saint its faithful warning 
 not always heeded wrecks beneath the lighthouse sinners 
 lost in spite of warnings the sea feels no pity description 
 of a storm a wreck the strongest powerless no sign to 
 mark the spot waves jostle over the dead man's grave 
 the land more pitiful cruelty of the sea to the fairest and 
 noblest dead description of Tramore Bay its dangers 
 the LIFEBOAT INSTITUTE its value its noble deeds the 
 LIFEBOAT its position in Tramore Bay description of 
 Tramore loveliness of its sea and sky shipwreck peril 
 of the crew efforts of the lifeboat baffled suspense of 
 spectators renewed efforts crowned with success shouts 
 of multitude joy praise warm welcome to the rescued 
 Christ the lifeboat from heaven the sinner saved joy 
 of angels welcome by the redeemed. 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE LIGHTHOUSE AND LIFEBOAT. 
 
 " For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which 
 lifteth up the waves thereof. 
 
 " They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the 
 depths : their soul is melted because of trouble. 
 
 " They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, 
 and are at their wit's end. 
 
 " Then they cry unto the LOUD in their trouble, and he 
 bringeth them out of their distresses." PSALM cvii. 25 28. 
 
 some high point that reared its jagged 
 
 crest 
 O'er the tossed surface of the ocean's 
 
 breast, 
 
30 THE SEA. 
 
 "Where waters seethe with never-ending shock, 
 In hideous tumult round the sunken rock ; 
 Compactly welded by the skill of man, 
 Copied in wisdom from the wondrous plan 
 Pound in the tree whose graduated form, 
 Braves the rough onset of the wildest storm ; 
 The LIGHTHOUSE lifts its massive shaft on high, 
 And floods with flame the dark and stormy sky. 
 Bright watch- star streaking with ethereal light, 
 The purple curtains of the closing night. 
 "While underneath the maddened billows pour 
 Their headlong legions with a deafening roar, 
 Fenced by no cliff, unsheltered by a shore, 
 And all around torn breakers rage and swell, 
 Like demons loosened from the depths of hell ; 
 Calm and serene, it sheds its friendly light, 
 Through the thick dangers of the dismal night, 
 And scatters wide, with ever steady beam, 
 The guiding caution of its beacon-gleam, 
 Its blazing watchlight never waxing dim, 
 
THE SEA. 31 
 
 While sleepless guardians watch and faithful 
 
 keepers trim. 
 
 Like some bright seraph from his post on high, 
 Stooping in mercy from his native sky, 
 To guide frail mortals through the angry strife 
 That crowds with ills the storm-swept sea of life, 
 With shining flame a warning light to shed, 
 Through all our journey, round our threatened head; 
 On all our pilgrimage by sea or land, 
 Casting the radiance of his blazing brand, 
 To aid us with its kindly glowing ray, 
 Through hidden rocks to steer our onward way, 
 Point the true path and guide our pilgrim feet 
 To Eden's safe and ever calm retreat. 
 The starry lamp, when brooding tempests lower, 
 Kindles to brightness in its beacon-tower ; 
 Shrouded in mist, and girdled by the storm, 
 Stands the firm fabric of its graceful form ; 
 Battling with darkness and the murky night, 
 Darting around its lance-like shafts of light, 
 
32 THE SEA. 
 
 Burning a pathway through the midnight cloud, 
 
 Eending the curtain of its raven shroud, 
 
 Piercing the shadows of the misty air 
 
 With the mild lustre of its burning glare. 
 
 A night-star cheering with its trembling spark, 
 
 The look-out seaman of the distant bark, 
 
 And gladding all who linx-eyed vigil keep, 
 
 On the drear desert of the rugged deep. 
 
 Bright beacon ! when the storm with threatening 
 
 dirge, 
 
 Drives the tall vessel through the sweeping surge, 
 Splits its stiff sails and snaps the stately mast, 
 With the rude whirlwind of its fiery blast, 
 When monster waves like bolts by giants hurled, 
 Have leaped, and dashed, and roared, and madly 
 
 swerled, 
 
 Lashed the stout bulwarks till their timbers part, 
 And groaning planks with cranching clamour start, 
 And well known nearness to the dreaded shoal, 
 Affrights each heart and sinks each trembling soul ; 
 
THE SEA. 33 
 
 Then through the turgid sea and foggy haze, 
 
 Flashes the brilliance of thy friendly blaze, 
 
 A star of life to many a fainting breast, 
 
 By toil prolonged and fell despair oppressed, 
 
 A ray of hope that rends the cloudy gloom, 
 
 And tells where safety lies, and where thick perils 
 
 loom. 
 
 Like sunbeams breaking through the ebon shroud 
 Of some dark tempest's thunder laden cloud, 
 The glowing lantern lit by mercy's hand, 
 Upheld by shaft successful science planned, 
 Throws its broad ray athwart the weltering deep 
 Where hidden dangers lie, and lurking quicksands 
 
 sleep, 
 
 And with its flaming beam and steady glare, 
 Dispels the mists of fear and grim despair ; 
 As when the promise of the woman's seed, 
 Shone on our parents in their first felt need, 
 Gleamed through the darkness of that wrath -black 
 
 pall, 
 
34 THE SEA. 
 
 Which shadowed Eden at their guilty fall, 
 Shed its pure light of rich and matchless grace 
 O'er the wild ruins of our shipwrecked race, 
 .Rolled like a cloud the dreaded wrath away, 
 And filled man's soul with Hope's eternal ray. 
 The billows bruise and batter day and night, 
 The tall strong pillar that supports the light, 
 All, all in vain, its sturdy granite side 
 Mocks the fierce onslaught of their hissing pride, 
 Scorns like a seraph with its broad calm eye, 
 Their wild mad tumult as they thunder by, 
 TJndimmed its splendour and unquenched its flame, 
 Its silver lustre ever shines the same, 
 Bears its true witness to each perilled bark, 
 And guides it safely through the pitchy dark. 
 Round its firm base the boiling torrents sweep, 
 Up the tall shaft the raging billows leap, 
 Circling above with wild discordant cry, 
 "Wheel the scared seafowl through the troubled sky, 
 And moth-like dazzled by the radiance bright, 
 
THE SEA. 35 
 
 Dash the hard crystal of the lantern light, 
 Then fall, repoise, their strength of wing regain, 
 Dart upward, wheel and charge the light again. 
 While floating slowly through the turbid air, 
 Like frowning heralds of black-robed despair, 
 Marshalled in dense array piled heaps of cloud 
 Spread their dark shadow like a sable shroud ; 
 And overhead and round the circling zone 
 Roll mighty thunders, with a wrathful tone 
 Of solemn grandeur that with threatening call 
 The guilty menace and the vile appall. 
 Through the dun night the faithful meteor gleams, 
 Lights each dark spot with bright and warning 
 
 beams, 
 Heeds not the hoarse winds' harsh and angry 
 
 groan, 
 
 Its bitter menace or its sullen moan, 
 Heeds not the terrors of the stormy rage, 
 With which huge waves their ceaseless warfare 
 
 wage, 
 
36 THE SEA. 
 
 Pales not beneath the blackness of the sky, 
 Nor dreads the red bolt flashing wildly nigh, 
 Laughs at the torrents that with rushing flight 
 Sweep its bright face to dim its glowing light, 
 Then shooting high above its lofty head, 
 Break and descend like bolts of molten lead : 
 Like some firm saint surrounded by his foes, 
 Whose zeal's bright flame with steady rapture 
 
 glows, 
 
 And when vile tongues their deadly warfare wage 
 Hurls back the venom of their hissing rage, 
 Flings the mild lustre of his spotless life 
 O'er the dark waters of their bitter strife, 
 Baffles their efforts to becloud his trust, 
 Dash his rock-founded prospects to the dust, 
 Dim the rich splendour of his saintly fame, 
 Stain the white chasteness of his guiltless name, 
 Rouse his meek soul or lay his patience low, 
 By bullying taunt, rude threat or ruder blow, 
 Or quench the life warmth of his burning zeal, 
 
THE SEA. 37 
 
 With hollow sneer or laughter's mocking peal. 
 
 Smitten and bruised, and lashed, the stately form 
 
 Bears its proud beacon through the beating storm, 
 
 Unshaken, holds its faithful light on high, 
 
 The one lone star in all the ebon sky, 
 
 Its quenchless flame, sole sentry of the deep, 
 
 When night's bright lights have closed their eyes 
 
 in sleep. 
 
 Not always destined to secure the brave 
 From the dread horrors of an ocean grave ! 
 Beneath its light and near its guiding ray, 
 Ships may be lost and seamen cast away, 
 And through the blackness of some winter's dark, 
 Its bright broad eye look down on foundered 
 
 bark; 
 
 Its faithful keepers from their watch-room view 
 The shattered vessel and the drowning crew, 
 And weep hot tears to think their friendly light 
 Serves but to show the soul-distracting sight. 
 Wrecked in the blaze of warning's glowing flame, 
 
38 THE SEA. 
 
 Covered with wrath and filled with lasting shame, 
 So sinners sink beneath the Gospel sound, 
 Where light is ample and where means abound, 
 Make shipwreck of their faith and madly die, 
 While truth shines on them from the opened sky. 
 But what are rescues from impending doom, 
 Or millions buried in a stormy tomb, 
 The lighthouse triumphs, and its proud success 
 When seamen heed it, or its helplessness 
 When seamen heed it not, but rashly spurn 
 The warning fires that in its chambers burn, 
 To thee, O Sea ! thy bosom feels no shame, 
 No pangs remorseful, and no sense of blame, 
 When thousands perish in thy yielding wave, 
 And sink, untimely, to an early grave ; 
 When weird-like death- shrieks with unearthly 
 
 thrill, 
 
 O'er the mad waters echo wild and shrill, 
 And smothered groans and dying moans arise 
 To the dark vault of wrath-beclouded skies. 
 
THE SEA. 39 
 
 No burst of joy when fleets with unrent sail, 
 Shun the sunk rock, or battle through the gale ; 
 Xo thrill of gladness, and no pulse of praise, 
 When freighted vessels thread the rocky maze, 
 Led by the glowing beacon's guiding blaze ; 
 Heaves with no pity, with no anguish throbs 
 A.t tender childhood's sorrow-burdened sobs, 
 The seaboy's broken agonizing prayer, 
 Breathed in brief fragments on the midnight air, 
 The shrill appeal by frenzied women made, 
 For friendly succour or for speedy aid ; 
 "When frantic mothers lock the cherished child, 
 In love's firm clutch, with desperation wild, 
 Bathed in their tears, strained tightly to their 
 
 breast, 
 The dead babes still with love's warm ardour 
 
 pressed ; 
 
 And weeping fathers, with convulsive grasp, - 
 Fond clinging daughters to their bosom clasp ; 
 Gaze where they will above, beneath, around 
 
40 THE SEA. 
 
 With crowded ills, in circling horror bound, 
 Life feebly flutters in the sinking heart, 
 And lips move slow with short and dying start, 
 And arms twine tight, and hands refuse to part ; 
 And comrades, brothers, husbands, lovers, wives, 
 Loath to resign their strong and youthful lives, 
 Sink in wild frenzy to their stormy tomb, 
 Mid darkness, tempest, thunder, hail and gloom. 
 The lighthouse, faithful to its solemn trust, 
 The lone, chief mourner, to their sinking dust, 
 Star of refulgence, shedding o'er their tomb 
 Luminous lustre 'mid sepulchral gloom, 
 "With streaming eye of broad and blazing light, 
 Weeps floods of splendour through the dark long 
 
 night. 
 
 ]STo ; 'mid the yell of madness, and the sigh, 
 That bursts from wretches unprepared to die, 
 Mad shrieks for mercy in sharp anguish made, 
 And long vain cries for succour long delayed ; 
 When hearts of oak that beat in seamen's breasts, 
 
THE SEA. 41 
 
 That dauntless dare thy rude and sternest tests, 
 Sink in despair, abandon hope and life, 
 And yield as vanquished in the lengthened strife ; 
 When strong men stagger as the drunken reel, 
 Thou and the tempest no compunction feel, 
 With louder roar, the bursting thunder peal 
 Shakes the wide vault, while flaming flashes fly, 
 In shafts of vengeance through the ebon sky, 
 Like the fierce splendours of those angry rays, 
 That startled Sinai with their awful blaze ; 
 Wild whirlwinds lash thy waves with broader 
 
 sweep, 
 
 Thy rough tossed breakers still more madly leap ; 
 Winds whistle shriller round the bending mast, 
 And thunders louder crash, and roll with fury 
 
 past; 
 
 The flash shoots swift across the clouded sky, 
 And shows no harbour as it blazes by, 
 But lights new horrors and fresh forms of fear, 
 Dangers unseen before and terrors thick and near. 
 
42 THE SEA. 
 
 Thy angry waves, with louder roar reply, 
 And hurl their challenge to the frowning sky. 
 Thy seething waters and the howling wind, 
 Xo love can tame, no iron fetters bind, 
 But reckless, heartless, obstinately rave, 
 With loud-tongued fury o'er the ghastly grave, 
 Mock, with harsh discord, weeping maiden's sighs, 
 And drown in clamour brave men's dying cries. 
 The strongest athlete has no power to save 
 Himself or others from thy stormy wave, 
 And lifebelt, plank, torn spar or fractured oar, 
 Prolong the struggle, but can do no more. 
 When strong men sink beneath thy choking grasp, 
 And breathe, convulsed their last sad gurgling 
 
 gasp, 
 
 A bubble, with its transitory blot, 
 Marks with its empty form the hallowed spot ; 
 Then bursts, and in a moment disappears, 
 Fleet as a mute's bought sighs or actor's mimic 
 
 tears 
 
THE SEA. 43 
 
 Short mocking emblem of the passing grief, 
 
 The world displays, as hollow and as brief. 
 
 In heedless play, thy green waves roll and leap, 
 
 Where brave men rest, and valiant heroes sleep. 
 
 With sportive levity and frothy foam, 
 
 Thy billows jostle o'er the dead man's home. 
 
 The land, more feeling than thy niggard surf, 
 
 Veils with green grass and daisy-jewelled turf, 
 
 Soft moss and tender herb the sombrous gloom 
 
 Of childhood's, pauper's, and of felon's tomb. 
 
 On earth the cherished spot is marked and known, 
 
 If not by marble and sepulchral stone, 
 
 Vault richly massive in its lofty state, 
 
 Wood cross, or rudely sculptured slab of slate, 
 
 At least by that soft carpet greenly spread, 
 
 Nature denies not to the humblest dead. 
 
 In forest glades, or glens serenely mild, 
 
 'Mid lonely wastes, and oft in deserts wild, 
 
 When weary man yields up his dying breath, 
 
 And sinks to rest beneath the hand of death, 
 
44 THE SEA. 
 
 The grassy hillock, or the daisy mound, 
 Direct the eye to where he may be found, 
 While mournful yew and cypress, where he lies, 
 Lift their tall crests to kiss the weeping skies. 
 But when that cup, the stricken seaman tastes, 
 And finds his grave within thy watery wastes ; 
 Thy surface yields no clue to note the' place, 
 Or aid our quest the hallowed spot to trace, 
 But weeping widows, friends and orphans find 
 No mark, no sign, no ripple left behind ! 
 Where monarchs sleep, and famous princes rest, 
 No mournful symbol decks thy sordid breast. 
 No wrongs to right, no hunger to appease, 
 Why ceaseless rage thy ever-greedy seas ? 
 Why foam thy billows with their angry froth ? 
 Why swallow thousands in their boiling wrath ? 
 Like some huge monster, dumb, and deaf, and 
 
 blind, 
 Whom no appeals can tame, no words of pity 
 
 bind, 
 
THE SEA. 45 
 
 Who knows not, recks not, of the tender life 
 That trembles, quivering, in its whirl of strife, 
 The growing horror and the wild despair 
 Of those thy perils and thy hardships share, 
 Till drenched with spray, and numbed with icy 
 
 cold, 
 From floating spar they loose their lengthened 
 
 hold, 
 
 And sink engulphed in thy remorseless womb 
 Man^s dreary, cheerless, coldest, darkest tomb. 
 And why, oh Sea ! when thou hast roughly slain 
 The fair and brave, thy glory further stain ? 
 Oh ! why relentless in thy foaming rage, 
 With lifeless trunks unholy warfare wage ? 
 The bloody despot wars not with the dead, 
 Nor smites his victim when the life has sped. 
 The sternest warrior scorns to strike his blows 
 On helpless captives, or on prostrate foes ; 
 And maddest foemen, in the hottest strife, 
 Cease dealing blows, when ceases breathing life ; 
 
46 THE SEA. 
 
 But thy rude hands when soul and breath have 
 
 fled, 
 
 War with the corpse, and mangle still the dead. 
 Thy brutal wave no meed of homage pays 
 To tender childhood or to length of days, 
 To soft young girlhood, with its budding charms, 
 Or white-haired heroes far renowned in arms, 
 No honour feels for patriarchal forms, 
 Bronzed by the breeze, and hardened by the 
 
 storms ; 
 
 No gentle pity for the fairest bride, 
 Or babe that sinks beneath thy heartless tide ; 
 But rough and boisterous, with unfeeling hand, 
 Eolls them on pebbly beach or sharp and flinty 
 
 strand ; 
 
 Lovely young females, softest moulds of grace, 
 Hoary old men, the princes of their race, 
 Dashing their mangled limbs and dripping locks 
 As useless sea-drift on the surf-beat rocks. 
 In yon broad bay, whose mouth extending wide 
 
THE SEA. 47 
 
 Lies open to the ocean's storm-swept tide, 
 When gales come sweeping o'er the spreading main, 
 And lift to rolling Alps the watery plain, 
 The hoar Atlantic's billows cease to rest, 
 And rude winds chafe its far expanding breast ; 
 111 fares the bark by raging tempest driven, 
 With furnace quenched or canvas torn and riven, 
 That seeks within its circling limits aught 
 Like tranquil shelter or a friendly port. 
 In the dark crisis of the tempest's hour, 
 Mid the wild chaos of its bursting power, 
 In the weird war of battling winds and waves, 
 When thunders echo from the distant caves, 
 When closing night its wings of darkness spread's, 
 And jagged breakers toss their storm-torn heads, 
 In proud defiance to the loud-tongued sky, 
 And brave its thunder with their hoarse reply, 
 When from the bay's dark line of blackened rock 
 Conies the harsh discord of the beating shock, 
 Like maddened demons roused to rend their chains, 
 
48 THE SEA. 
 
 And burst the fetter which their wrath restrains, 
 Fearful and wild the loud waves lash the shore, 
 "With thundering crash, deep boom or sullen roar ; 
 Savage with fury charge the peaceful land, 
 Chafing and fretting bruise the harmless strand, 
 And rush and rave against its girdling sand ; 
 Then woe, deep woe and doom profound and dark 
 Looms o'er the perilled crew and hapless bark 
 That hemmed within the circle of that bay, 
 Helpless to anchor, sail or steam away, 
 To halt too weak, too impotent to flee 
 That savage headland or more savage sea, 
 Caught by the gale that drives towards the shore 
 And guards the outlet with its fiery roar, 
 Come rolling, pitching, staggering, heaving on, 
 All hope of safety or of succour gone. 
 The old remember and with tears relate 
 Such ghastly records of untimely fate, 
 And tell with artless and pathetic skill 
 Tales of such horror and disastrous ill, 
 
THE SEA. 49 
 
 Such woes depict, such vivid scenes portray 
 That stain the annals of that treacherous bay, 
 That hearts beat wildly, pulses throb with speed, 
 And tears flow freely as the tales proceed, 
 And strong men nerved to ordinary woes, 
 Shake with awed tremor as the horror grows. 
 Strange that such sights of terror should have been 
 Mingled and blended with so fair a scene ! 
 Praise to the men, the noble of the land, 
 Whose love projected and whose wisdom planned 
 The LIFEBOAT INSTITUTE to strive and save 
 By brave men's hands the wrecked and perilled 
 
 brave. 
 
 Praise to the fair whose opened caskets pour 
 Their aiding gold with bounty brimming o'er, 
 To build, equip, and launch these floating Arks, 
 And snatch the drowning from their foundered 
 
 barks, 
 
 Whose glance of sympathy and praises urge 
 The lifeboat heroes through the swelling surge, 
 
50 THE SEA. 
 
 Whose heartfull looks with grateful smiles repay 
 The toil and hazard of the gallant day ! 
 Praise to the men whose well-earned medals rest 
 On many a storm-scarred brave and manly breast, 
 And tell the tale of noble efforts made, 
 Of hard brought succour and triumphant aid ; 
 Trophies more precious than the laurelled bays, 
 The brazen plaudits or the venal praise, 
 That blood-gorged armies to their leaders raise ; 
 Shining more brightly than the flashing gem 
 That crowns with light earth's fairest diadem, 
 Reflecting more the blaze of shining deeds 
 Than jewelled sword or string of priceless beads ; 
 Adornment grander and more splendid far 
 Than pearl-wrought chaplet or the glittering star 
 Proud monarchs grant the titled leave to wear, 
 Or Croesus buys to decorate the fair : 
 Emblems of merit more than wealth or name, 
 Their lustre pales and puts to withering shame 
 The tinsel splendour and the spangled worth 
 
THE SEA. 51 
 
 Of sounding titles and ancestral birth ; 
 Glows as the sun amid the bubble names 
 And empty baubles worthless Fashion claims ! 
 Medals that preach with beams of sterling truth 
 Acts of true greatness to our gallant youth, 
 And telling plain that noble exploits raise 
 In noble breasts the highest tide of praise, 
 Their young souls brace and fortify and steel 
 To dare great deeds with death-defying zeal. 
 In the broad bay my feeble muse essays 
 To laud and picture with her modest lays, 
 The LIFEBOAT earned its meed of lasting praise, 
 And from the whirlpool of old ocean's strife 
 Saved perilled ship and many a precious life. 
 Stationed midway between the rock-girt sides 
 That bound the torrent of its wintry tides, 
 Placed in the centre of the golden sand, 
 That spreads for miles along its inner strand, 
 It waited ready in its well fixed place, 
 Like the strong arm of mercy and of grace, 
 
52 THE SEA. 
 
 To reach forth succour to the foundered bark, 
 And save the drowning in its floating ark. 
 Forgive, Tramore, the vain attempt to trace 
 Thy glowing features and their varied grace, 
 The sunny beauty of thy tranquil form, 
 And ruder grandeur in the raging storm, 
 The striking outline of the circling land, 
 And sunlit glory of the golden strand, 
 The soft white fringe of milky waves that melt 
 And flash like snow between the narrow belt 
 Of yellow level and the liquid blue, 
 The dark bold headlands which enrich the view 
 "With jutting point and scalp of living green, 
 And warning towers that crown the magic scene, 
 The rock-based crag and darkly frowning cliff, 
 The wheeling seafowl and the white-sailed skin 7 , 
 The crystal pools where bloom in fairy bowers, 
 The sea's rich wealth of rainbow-tinted flowers ; 
 The calm repose or stern and solemn roar 
 With which thy billows sleep or rage along the shore, 
 
THE SEA. 53 
 
 Their waving beauty and the rippling gleam 
 With which they glow beneath the moonlight beam, 
 The fiery glance with which the angered tide 
 Flings back the sun's hot glare with flashing pride ; 
 The terraced villas that adorn the town 
 And stately mansions that its summits crown, 
 And rising gracefully and meetly higher, 
 The rock-based Temple with its dazzling spire 
 Of pure white granite, that with silent tongue 
 Seems to repeat the lessons preached and sung 
 With fervour chanted or in wisdom taught 
 Within the precincts of its hallowed court, 
 And pointing skyward mutely seems to say 
 Lift your heart upward through the live-long day, 
 There, and there only lasting life is found, 
 There, and there only, thornless joys abound. 
 For I, through rolling seasons night and day, 
 Have watched the glories of thy matchless bay, 
 With equal zest enjoyed the varied charm 
 Of storm's rough blackness and the soft blue calm, 
 
 E 
 
54 THE SEA. 
 
 The varied scenes and wondrous tints that dye 
 The changing mirror of its glowing sky, 
 The shades of amber, pink and burnished gold 
 Which rise when morn its Eastern gates unfold, 
 And flush the sky as heralds of the sun 
 To tell the world his march has fresh begun, 
 The gay- robed cohorts of the blushing morn, 
 The bright precursors of the smiling dawn, 
 The graver grandeur of the deeper dyes 
 That stain the curtains of its evening skies, 
 The fiery splendours of the Western sun, 
 Kindling to crimson as his race is run, 
 The snowy whiteness of its Summer clouds, 
 Or sombre blackness of the pall that shrouds 
 Its face in Winter, when the howling blast 
 Drives the thick storm-cloud in a fury past ; 
 The feathery lightness and the opal hue 
 Of Spring's soft cloudlets on its melting blue ; 
 The circling fringe that gleams with silver smiles 
 Bound the vast outline of its vapoury isles 
 
THE SEA. 55 
 
 That float suspended in the sapphire arch 
 In fleecy grandeur, and with stately march 
 Grace the rich curtain of its Autumn calms 
 With the grave splendours of their massive charms. 
 Such curtains grace no monarch's palace home 
 As line the circle of thy spreading dome, 
 Flooded with silver beams of liquid light, 
 Or draped in darkness by the shades of night, 
 Clear crystal blue or tempest-pregnant cloud, 
 Bright festal garments or funereal shroud, 
 Their glory endless and their beauty great 
 As kingly robes or pomp of regal state. 
 Yes, I have studied with enraptured sight 
 And spellbound ear and ever fresh delight 
 The scenes and music of thy day and night ; ...' 
 The first fresh beauty of the Summer morn, 
 And Spring's calm eve or rosy blushing dawn, 
 The pale soft green so exquisitely fair 
 "Where golden sunlight meets the clear blue air ; 
 The brilliant splendour when the cloudless night 
 
56 THE SEA. 
 
 Sparkles and glimmers with its globes of light ; 
 Autumn's grey twilight or the sultry glare 
 Of Summer's fierceness on the noontide air, 
 Winter's chill wilderness of leafless gloom, 
 And Spring's soft verdure of returning bloom ; 
 The loud deep bass of "Winter's angry roar, 
 That bursts like thunder on the startled shore, 
 Or rolls with sullen and discordant moan 
 Like drowning seaman's dull and dying groan ; 
 The milder treble of the rippling wave 
 That Spring rolls softly through each vaulted cave, 
 The still small voice of Summer's ebb and flow 
 That in the sparkling sunbeams hotly glow, 
 Whose tranquil waters in their waveless tide 
 Bound crag and rock in liquid softness glide ; 
 The booming grandeur of the Autumn waves 
 That wake the echoes of the sounding caves ; 
 Each wondrous change with richest beauty fraught, 
 By varying breezes on thy surface wrought ; 
 When lightsome zephyrs with their gentle play 
 
THE SEA. 57 
 
 Kiss the glazed mirror of the torpid bay, 
 With softwinged breath and dancing lightness trace 
 Their fairy circles on its placid face, 
 Or Spring showers dot with gently falling rain 
 The crystal clearness of its azure plain, 
 And feathery gleams of glancing shadows fleck 
 Its smiling face with dimpling spot and speck ; 
 "When gusty squalls that blow alternate ways, 
 The bubbling deep to cream-topped hillocks raise, 
 Or winter's torrents from the bursting cloud, 
 Mid rolls of thunder pealing long and loud, 
 And heaven's dark blackness of avenging frown 
 Pour their full volume like a deluge down, 
 And strive to prove the sky can furnish more 
 Than all the waters of the sea's vast store : 
 Seen thy proud waves in all their grand despair 
 The chafing playthings of the angry air, 
 Writhing, but driven with discordful wails 
 By the stern lash of winter's biting gales, 
 Heard the harsh grumble of their humbled tones, 
 
58 THE SEA.. 
 
 Their weird-like shrieks, dull roar and dismal groans; 
 
 Seen them defiant of the frowning sky 
 
 "With blacker threats scowl back their proud reply, 
 
 Tortured but unsubdued have seen them chase 
 
 Each other shoreward in a headlong race, 
 
 As if all eager to escape the wind 
 
 That thundered with its fiery scourge behind, 
 
 And find a shelter of repose and ease 
 
 From the mad fury of the driving breeze. 
 
 And when at length they neared the friendly strand 
 
 And touched the outskirts of the yellow sand, 
 
 Have seen each wave with graceful grandeur die, 
 
 Eear its green wall of liquid crystal high, 
 
 Curve its white crest, and with majestic roar, 
 
 Pour its spent life-foam on the sloping shore : 
 
 Seen the great rain clouds shed their vast supplies 
 
 In streaming floods from saturated skies, 
 
 Seen the dense fog-veil from the far off-main, 
 
 Eoll its thick curtain o'er the watery plain, 
 
 Seen the cloud lifted from the spreading strand, 
 
THE SEA. 59 
 
 Or rent by sunbursts as with angel hand ; 
 Seen the soft glimmer of the full-orbed moon 
 Light the blue waters with the glow of noon ; 
 Heard the soft pulses of the dipping oar 
 Float in sweet music to the distant shore, 
 And the harsh tumult of the howling deep 
 Rouse the loud echoes of the rocky steep. 
 In vain, Tramore, I would thy fame rehearse 
 In the lame measure of my halting verse, 
 My rash encomium and my weakly praise 
 My feeble eulogy and tuneless lays 
 Skim but the surface of thy lovely face, 
 Sketch but the outline of thy wondrous grace, 
 Touch but the meanest of the peerless charms, 
 Seen in thy brooding storms and peaceful calms ; 
 Pain would I lift thy sounding praises higher, 
 Sweep the full chords of grander sweeter lyre, 
 Wake its rich music with a soul of fire, 
 And laud the glories of thy well known bay 
 "With the warm tribute of a nobler lay. 
 
60 THE SEA. 
 
 I well remember one November eve, 
 When mist-dew trembled on each dripping eave, 
 And the brief daylight that the Autumn knows, 
 "Was speeding swiftly to its early close, 
 And the veiled sun was sinking to his rest, 
 Down the dim distance of the murky west, 
 And clouds wind-driven with their ebon shade 
 Speeding the nightfall with their sombre aid, 
 Like the dark curtains of departing day, 
 Shadowed the surface of the seething bay ; 
 While storm-tost waves came rolling foaming in, 
 With ceaseless fury and discordant din ; 
 And leaping billows, with their scudding surf, 
 Topped the tall cliff and swept its crowning turf, 
 Flung their cascade of creamy whiteness high, 
 O'er the bold crag towards the frowning sky ; 
 And bursting breakers hurried madly fast 
 Before the fury of the driving blast, 
 When the whole bay, from strand to either horn, 
 Was roused to madness and with fury torn j 
 
THE SEA. 61 
 
 A luckless sail came looming on the sight, 
 
 Dimly distinguished in the waning light, 
 
 From seaward beating for the open bay, 
 
 And urging slowly her advancing way. 
 
 Eash stranger ! does she seek the storm to shun, 
 
 And madly thus to ten-fold danger run ? 
 
 Does she mistake the place with perils fraught 
 
 For the safe entrance to the sheltered port, 
 
 And deem the rock-strewn bay with frowning sides, 
 
 The river's mouth to calm and placid tides ? 
 
 Seeks she a haven from impending fate, 
 
 By steering straight for ruin's open gate ? 
 
 The battery manned by many a gallant son 
 
 Of Neptune, wakes its minute-booming gun, 
 
 And pours the volley of its echoing roar, 
 
 To warn the stranger from the fatal shore. 
 
 All, all in vain ! the bark comes staggering on, 
 
 Like wounded war-horse with its rider gone ; 
 
 Pitching and lurching, heaving, yawing wide, 
 
 In helpless feebleness from side to side ; 
 
62 THE SEA. 
 
 Now rolling heavily and dipping low, 
 Then groaning, rising sluggishly and slow ; 
 Blast-torn and shivered to a thousand threads, 
 In knotted ribands or in tangled shreds, 
 The sails all useless, while the gallant crew 
 To man the halliards or the canvas clew ' 
 Too spent and weak, or negligent of life, 
 If not yet swept beneath the seething strife, 
 Ueckless or deaf, return no sign or cry, 
 Nor heed the signal as it thunders by. 
 No hand to guide her or attempt to save, 
 Floating like sea-drift on the roaring wave, 
 Swept like a carcase to its ocean grave, 
 Tossed at the mercy of the gale-swept sea 
 Nearer the danger that she ought to flee, 
 The vessel rolls her dipping gunwale deep, 
 While the big billows o'er the bulwarks leap, 
 Torn waves the deck in rushing torrents sweep, 
 And helmless, helpless as the feeblest child, 
 Caught in the turmoil of that tempest wild, 
 
THE SEA. G3 
 
 Fierce winds behind and frightful rocks before, 
 Nears the sure perils of the dreadful shore. 
 Along the strand and down the sloping beach, 
 Far in the distance as the eye can reach, 
 Eight to the outline where the breakers roar, 
 A dense dark mass of human beings pour, 
 While eager groups in many a thronging crowd, 
 Fringe the cliff's summit like a living cloud, 
 Anxious, excited, swaying to and fro, 
 Now mute as death, then loud in cries of woe, 
 Breathlessly earnest for the ill-starred bark, 
 G-ulfed in the breakers in the closing dark. ^ 
 Eumbling and rattling o'er the pebbly strand, 
 Eolling more smoothly on the level sand, 
 Drawn by stout horses, urged by shout and thong 
 The LIFEBOAT car comes thundering along, 
 Eeaches the limit of the surf- white wave, 
 Ships its brave crew prepared to perish or to save, 
 Grates on the pebbles, lifts its buoyant breast, 
 O'er the first billow's proud and boiling crest, 
 
64 THE SEA. 
 
 Then plunging head-first in the milky foam, 
 Like diving sea-fowl in her watery home, 
 Launches full manned upon her proud career, 
 No heart within her daunted by a fear, 
 An ark of refuge bearing through the strife, 
 Help for the helpless, for the hopeless life. 
 Cheered by the groups that top the crowded height, 
 "Warned by the dimness of the fading light, 
 And the dun shadows of the nearing night, 
 Nerved by the hope of saving precious life, 
 And snatching comrades from the tempest's strife, 
 "\^ith lion hearts and souls as brave as true, 
 Bared arms, bent back, and cord-like swelling thew, 
 Proud of their noble task, the gallant crew 
 Labour right lustily to stem the tide, 
 And urge the lifeboat to the seaward side 
 Of that tremendous surf that breaks and boils 
 As if to baffle all their giant toils ; 
 In vain ! the lifeboat spite of straining oar 
 Moves not an inch-length from the quitted shore ; 
 
THE SEA. 05 
 
 "With heartier pull and muscles strung to pain, 
 The brave men strive their object still to gain 
 Once when the lifeboat seemed at length to glide 
 Through the torn cream-surf to the seaward side, 
 Hailed by a loud and universal cry 
 Of joy, that echoed through the murky sky, 
 Then paused, arrested in its onward track 
 Borne by the breakers in their fury back, 
 A groan of agony and dull despair 
 Broke on the ear and died upon the air, 
 Proof that the seamen of the perilled bark 
 Saw the sad failure of the struggling ark. % . 
 
 Yes, in the dimness we could see them clinging 
 To the lost vessel, while the waves were flinging 
 Their white froth madly as they bellowed past 
 O'er the torn staysails of each swaying mast. 
 Ah ! luckless men, whom hard relentless fate, 
 Seems to hold captive in this hopeless state, 
 Death grasps them tightly in his bony fingers, 
 But yet to strike the last blow stays and lingers, 
 
66 THE SEA. 
 
 Lays his hand roughly on their hardy forms, 
 Bronzed by a thousand former wintry storms, 
 Looks them all grim and ghastly in the face, 
 Shakes them severely in his hard embrace, 
 Holds them suspended o'er the roaring strife 
 By the frail thread of slowly ebbing life, 
 Threatens to fling them from their rocking bark 
 As worthless offal to the hungry shark. 
 " One effort more, brave men, one effort more," 
 Shout the loud thousands on the crowded shore, 
 " Try once again, brave men, fast falls the night/ ' 
 Echo the thousands from the crowded height ; 
 And bravely answering, those brave men again 
 Bend to the oar till muscles swell and strain, 
 And bead-drops gather on each swollen vein, 
 And mid the thunders of a ringing cheer, 
 Succeed, advance, the stranded vessel near. 
 Once and again a creamy flash of white 
 Buries the lifeboat from our startled sight, 
 But rolling landward leaves the crew complete, 
 
THE SEA. 67 
 
 No man dismounted from his well-kept seat. 
 Under the bowsprit of the stranded bark, 
 With dashing stroke arrives the saving ark, 
 Swings with swift motion to the leeward side, 
 Where rolls less fiercely the tumultuous tide, 
 Two of its seamen from the rollocks freed, 
 Pause not a moment, but with breathless speed, 
 Hand over hand with hearts of swelling pride, 
 Up the dark gangway of the battered side 
 Clamber and climb, cut clear the tangled knots 
 Which lash the sailors to their chosen spots, 
 Drop them like lightning in the floating ark, 
 And push in triumph from the ruined bark. 
 A few brief moments and the rescued men 
 Tread the firm surface of the land again, 
 And foreign seamen on that welcome shore, 
 By the same lifeboat saved the week before, 
 Strangers in colour, language, creed and clime, 
 But fellow- sufferers in that stormy time, 
 Grip their numbed hands with love's convulsive grasp, 
 
68 THE SEA. 
 
 Fold their damp frames in friendship's fervent clasp, 
 Kiss each cold cheek and bear each weakened form 
 To warm dry shelter from the outer storm. 
 Such wondrous force to knit discordant souls, 
 Between whose birthplace ocean broadly rolls, 
 Whose creeds range wider than the sundered poles, 
 And blend in harmony dissevered hearts 
 Which earth's vast hemisphere most widely parts, 
 Has sympathy in woe and selfsame ill, 
 Or life preserved by brave men's toil and skill ! 
 What shouts of triumph and of heartfelt joy 
 Welcome the heroes from their proud employ, 
 Hail them as saviours of those rescued men, 
 Greet them and cheer them louder yet again, 
 Thank them with plaudits that with gladdened cry 
 Rise mid the tempest dominantly high, 
 Eise in long echoes to the clouded sky, 
 And like a trumpet tell the men who save 
 The perilled seamen from a stormy grave, 
 That honours nobler than a titled name, 
 
THE SEA. 69 
 
 And brighter far than earthly meed of fame, 
 Are due to him who risks his life to give 
 Life to the lost and bid the dying live. 
 No trumpet blast or poet's golden pen, 
 Which lauds the slaughter of ten thousand men, 
 Could sound the praises of the laurels won 
 By him who saves the perilled life of one. 
 The wreck swept in, the lifeboat working out, 
 The groans, the rescue and the ringing shout, 
 The joyous landing on that welcome shore, 
 Ne'er seen or heard of by those men before, 
 The foreign seamen's warm embrace and kiss, 
 Eoused our strung nerves to such a state of bliss, 
 As stamped the scene and deeply graved the 
 
 whole 
 
 "With lasting impress on each gazing soul. 
 A wondrous scene and fraught with more to please 
 Than man's brief rescue from tempestuous seas ! 
 That buoyant lifeboat by true wisdom planned, 
 By mercy launched, by strongarmed valour manned, 
 
70 THE SEA. 
 
 Built for the rescue and equipped to save 
 The helpless seaman from a deep sea grave, 
 Preaches of ONE whose arm of loving might 
 Can save lost man from hell's dark stormy night ; 
 Preaches of HIM whose torn and wounded side 
 Forms a safe shelter from the angry tide 
 Of God's fierce wrath, when sins of crimson dye 
 Appal the conscience and becloud the sky. 
 Ark of Redemption ! Yes, thou Saviour dear, 
 Thy skill has planned and brought salvation near, 
 Thy strong right arm and hand of wondrous love, 
 Stretched from the great white throne in realms 
 
 above, 
 
 Snatches lost wretches as they trembling sink 
 In death's dark whirlpool or on ruin's brink, 
 And bears them safely to that peaceful shore, 
 Where billows break and raging tempests roar, 
 Hot tears are wept and sorrows known NO MOKE. 
 THYSELF OUR LIFEBOAT launched in man's dark 
 
 night, 
 
THE SEA. 71 
 
 From Heaven's bright threshold of unclouded light, 
 By Hell's rude tempests, shattered, torn and riven, 
 Thy life for man's was nobly, freely given ; 
 To one vast wave of untold horror pressed, 
 Eternal billows bruised thy sinless breast, 
 Yet never didst thou swerve or turn aside 
 From the full fury of that angry tide, 
 But faced it all, and with undaunted soul 
 Bade its fierce torrents o'er thy spirit roll ; 
 In the rich fulness of thy matchless grace 
 And saving mercy to our shipwrecked race, 
 Braved the rude vortex of thy Father's wrath 
 When pent up vengeance as a flood broke forth ; 
 Not merely risked thy life, but laid it.down, 
 Thy work of mercy with success to crown, 
 And sank engulfed in that tremendous flood, 
 And dyed it crimson with thy heart's best blood ; 
 Gave thy eweet person to be bruised and slain, 
 Insulted, tortured, racked with grief and pain, 
 Thy sacred body crushed and pierced and torn, 
 
72 
 
 THE SEA. 
 
 Gashed with the thong and crowned with rankling 
 
 thorn, 
 
 That sinking man might grasp thine arm of love, 
 And rise from wrath and death to life and light 
 
 above. 
 
 And now whene'er thy nail-scarred hand of grace, 
 Saves some poor outcast of our shipwrecked race, 
 Thy ransomed Church receive the rescued soul, 
 The lost one found, the leper rendered whole, 
 "With love's warm welcome and embracing arm, 
 Joy's gladdened smile and sympathizing balm, 
 Hail him as brother loved and saint enrolled 
 In God's great household and the Saviour's fold ; 
 Their own hearts filled with thoughts of grateful 
 
 praise, 
 
 That they themselves were once in bygone days 
 Snatched from the horrors of eternal night 
 By the same Lifeboat from the realms of light ! 
 No varied colour, rank, pursuit, or clime, 
 Breaks the sweet firmness of that bond sublime 
 
THE SEA. 73 
 
 * i* 
 
 "Which binds the ransomed with its cord of love 
 In hallowed oneness to their Head above. 
 And angels crowding heaven's resplendent height, 
 Gazing with deep and ever warm delight, 
 "Watch the proud triumphs of redeeming grace, 
 Its deeds of mercy to our ruined race, 
 And oft as Christ with zeal that knows no rest, 
 Bears home the lost one found and safely pressed 
 To the warm shelter of His gladdened breast, 
 "With warmer love and glowing rapture raise 
 
 A louder song and anthem peal of praise, ' 
 
 $i 
 
 And trumpet-tongued with ravished hearts proclaim 
 The growing greatness of the Saviour's fame. 
 A burst of gladness and a sweeter strain 
 Of highwrought praise again and yet again, 
 Breathe from the harpstrings of each golden lyre, 
 Swept by those minstrels of celestial fire, 
 The lofty arch of heaven's star-studded dome 
 Eings with the welcome to his bloodbought home, 
 As some poor child of sorrow and of sin, 
 
74 THE SEA. 
 
 Clings to the Lifeboat and is lifted in. 
 
 Crowned seraphs bending from their thrones of 
 
 light 
 
 Rejoice, while demons tremble at the sight ; 
 Those joy that yet another blood- washed gem 
 Shines in their Grod's all-glorious diadem ; 
 While these with fury like the boiling waves 
 Bobbed of their triumph, curse the hand that saves, 
 Hurl their rude floods of vengeful malice high 
 In fretting uproar to the clouded sky ; 
 Like baffled billows that have lost their prey, 
 By well manned lifeboat proudly snatched away, 
 Hiss forth the venom of their raging foam 
 At sinners rescued from their burning home. 
 The Ark of shelter where the faithful found 
 A place of safety when the world was drowned, 
 And every lifeboat that with buoyant form 
 Eescues the drowning from the raging storm, 
 In type and emblem feebly shadow forth 
 The one great refuge from Jehovah's wrath ! 
 
PAET III. THE AECTIC SEA. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Ice deserts horrors and charms of Polar regions bewilder- 
 ing to the mind efforts of the brain frolics of imagination 
 amid Arctic scenery wild voluptuousness of the fancy 
 its creations fantasies glorious and terrific lovely and 
 appalling profound stillness of the frozen solitudes 
 sudden uproar massive grandeur of ice formations daz- 
 zling beauty in sunlight Franklin proudest mausoleum 
 beneath the grandest dome sleeps till the resurrection 
 Northern lights their variety their splendour beauty 
 of ice formations all hollow and deceitful no warmth 
 no life fit palace for the King of terrors heartless piti- 
 less desolation and terrors gloom and darkness death 
 everywhere dread of the hardiest the British sailor his 
 boyhood training courage hardships shrinking from 
 death in Polar latitudes longing for the rolling sea and free 
 winds hardened and frozen heart of the Northern sea 
 its long winter scant vegetation paucity of life brief 
 light and prolonged gloom formation of icebergs. 
 
ffife 
 
 PAET III. THE AECTIC SEA. 
 
 11 Out of whose womb came the ice ? and the hoary frost of 
 heaven, who hath gendered it ? The waters are hid as with 
 a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen." JOB xxxviii. 
 29, 30. 
 
 By the breath of God frost is given : and the breadth of the 
 waters is straitened." JOB xxxvii. 10. 
 
 He giveth snow like wool : He scattereth the hoar frost like 
 ashes. He casteth forth His ice like morsels : who can stand 
 before His cold ?" PSALM cxlvii. 16, 17. 
 
 MID thy boundless deserts ice-congealed, 
 "What surface charms and glories stand 
 revealed, 
 
 And yet what deadly horrors lie concealed 
 Beneath the splendours of thine Arctic breast, 
 
78 THE SEA. 
 
 Where all things sleep in petrifying rest. 
 "Where icebergs raise their pinnacles on high, 
 With columned shafts and domes that reach the sky, 
 And spread a maze of mystic forms to view 
 In outline sharp athwart the cloudless blue, 
 The mind bewildered, yields its guiding rein, 
 And fervid fancy with her teeming train 
 Of fond conceptions, pressing on the brain 
 Wild guesses what such wondrous things can mean, 
 Fills up the outline of the mimic scene 
 With strange devices and fantastic forms, 
 G-endered of sunlight or of mists and storms, 
 Things more than monstrous, that as spectres gleam, 
 Or glide grotesquely in an endless stream, 
 Through the wild phases of a midnight dream. 
 Thick forests, fringing overhanging heights, 
 Emblazoned banners of a thousand fights, 
 Armies of heroes marshalled for the fray, 
 With helmets flashing in the light of day ; 
 Priestly processions in their robes of white, 
 
THE SEA. 79 
 
 Croziers all gemmed and mitres batbed in light ; 
 Cathedral spires that pierce the distant cloud, 
 And point to Him who can abase the proud ; , 
 Huge castle gates and battlemented towers, 
 And Titan clocks to chime Creation's hours ; 
 Vast cannon placed the planets to defy. 
 And hurl confusion through the starry sky ; 
 Mountains on mountains piled in countless rows, 
 Their summits capped with everlasting snows ; 
 Gigantic monsters of a nameless form, 
 And Babel structures that out-top the storm ; 
 Bright crystal palaces of dazzling sheen, 
 As though within, the sun sat throned as Queen ; 
 Wide valleys strewn and carpeted with flowers, 
 And hill- sides lovely with their jewelled bowers ; 
 Grottoes to tempt us to the hermit's fate, 
 Their lustrous beauty as their silence great. 
 And throned on hills beneath the tranquil sky, 
 Lifting their lofty battlements on high, 
 Fair cities stand with glory all ablaze, 
 
80 THE SEA. 
 
 Reflecting all the rainbow's peerless rays ; 
 With spreading porticoes and spacious halls, 
 And gates of jasper and transparent walls ; 
 Pillars of silver set with precious stones, 
 And god-like figures on their sapphire thrones ; 
 "Wide markets strewn with coronets of gold, 
 And richest velvet tissues all unrolled, 
 Most costly robes and shawls of Tyrian dye, 
 Of every type to please the tutored eye ; 
 As though the fabled wealth of Eastern shrines, 
 And all the riches of Golconda's mines, 
 And all the treasures of ten thousand lands, 
 And ocean's tribute from her coral strands, 
 With lavish hand were in profusion poured, . 
 One vast oblation to Creation's Lord. 
 Winter with chilling breath benumbs thy tide, 
 And spreads its icy carpet far and wide, 
 Freezing thy waves in undulating grace, 
 Like fairy network of resplendent lace ; 
 While isles of frosted silver sweetly rest, 
 
THE SEA. 81 
 
 Like gems of beauty on thy placid breast. 
 Now silence deep, profound and solemn reigns, 
 No sound is heard throughout thy frozen plains ; 
 Beneath, around, and in the starry dome, 
 Silence has fixed her everlasting home ; 
 Our spirits seem to tread some hallowed fane, 
 The sound of softest footfall would profane. 
 Wheto lo ! with startling crash vast falling piles, 
 As though roof, buttress, dome, and cloistered 
 
 Were dashed to ruin by some sudden stroke, 
 As when the lightning blasts the giant oak, 
 Or castles topple from their basement rock, 
 Mined by the earthquake's rude and sturdy shock ; 
 Wake louder echoes than the thunder's roar, 
 Or beat of billows on the iron shore. 
 What varied beauty in the frozen forms, 
 That pass before us in thy calms and storms ! 
 Some by the solid grandeur of their size 
 And massive majesty delight our eyes ; 
 
82 THE SEA. 
 
 Others like white- winged fairies in the dance, 
 With floating robes in graceful troops advance, 
 And by their airy lightness all our souls entrance. 
 Most wondrous scene! as though the promised Rest, 
 The HOLT CITY of the pure and blest 
 Had come from heaven and found its fittest place, 
 Ear from the haunts of man's polluted race : 
 As though the massive gates of Eden's fold 
 Elung wide, revealed the streets of burnished gold, 
 And long broad avenues and vistas bright 
 Eilled with the shining ones who reign in light ; 
 Angels with flashing crowns and golden lyres, 
 And looks that glow with zeal's seraphic fires, 
 Throng in dense crowds the everlasting aisles, 
 With snow-white wings, and sweetly-dazzling 
 
 smiles : 
 
 Bright choristers, whose harps were vocal first 
 When on their ravished sight Creation burst, 
 Whose sweeter chorus like an anthem pealed, 
 Erom airy heights above Judea's field, 
 
THE SEA. 83 
 
 When God Incarnate by His lowly birth, 
 
 Brought dove-like peace and lasting life to earth. 
 
 Do seraphs in their thoughtful moods serene 
 
 Gaze on the beauty of that inagic scene ; 
 
 And from its marvels through the circling hours 
 
 Catch glimpses of their Maker's wondrous powers ? 
 
 Or was it spread beneath its brilliant skies, 
 
 In all its wealth of lovely forms and dyes, 
 
 Ear distant from the ken of mortal eyes, 
 
 That God alone, the great eternal mind, 
 
 In His own work an endless feast might find, 
 
 And shield from sin one spot His skill designed ? 
 
 'Mid virgin whiteness unsurpassed, below 
 
 Soft mantle deep of pure untrodden snow, 
 
 Coffined in crystal, Franklin's body sleeps, 
 
 Where thick-ribbed ice the saintly relic keeps 
 
 Free from corruption and the churchyard worm, 
 
 Of immortality the sacred germ, 
 
 Till the last trumpet's shrill and startling sound 
 
 Loud pealing through that solitude profound, 
 
84i THE SEA. 
 
 "Wakes it as precious seed for glory sown 
 
 In bliss to stand before the great white throne. 
 
 Thrice happy soul that passed that crystal portal, 
 
 To take its rank among the saints immortal, 
 
 Who left on earth a hero's deathless fame, 
 
 A saint's renown, a martyr's nobler name : 
 
 That burst its chrysalis to wing its flight 
 
 To cloudless regions of eternal light, 
 
 And dropped its shell to slumber for a space 
 
 Where it had gained the goal and won its race, 
 
 Embalmed by nature's hand and screened from ill 
 
 With more than Eastern art and matchless skill. 
 
 ~No monarch resting in his marble hall, 
 
 With jewelled drapery and crimson pall, 
 
 No virgin swathed in milk-white robe or shroud, 
 
 In tomb with princely revenues endowed, 
 
 For priests in thousands to perform their rites, 
 
 With smoking altars and with quenchless lights, 
 
 !No pomp of sepulchre the most sublime 
 
 That graced our planet from the birth of time, 
 
THE SEA. 85 
 
 Could equal that august and noble sight, 
 
 "Witnessed by seraphs from their thrones of light, 
 
 When Franklin rested from his toils and pains, 
 
 And left his worn but ever-loved remains, 
 
 To sleep a while within a grander hall 
 
 With richer canopy and purer pall 
 
 Than ever king, or pontiff, queen or maid, 
 
 Had o'er them reared or on their coffin laid. 
 
 That sky could weep no black or scalding tear 
 
 Of grief or pity on that honoured bier, 
 
 For never sheds it dew or balmy rain 
 
 O'er the broad surface of the ice-bound plain ; 
 
 But sent its snowflakes like pure angels down 
 
 With pearl- white wreath his knightly brow to crown. 
 
 And there he sleeps in mausoleum piled 
 
 By God's own hand for His own favoured child, 
 
 Not built by man, or cunningly designed 
 
 By his too feeble though inventive mind ; 
 
 But by the Mind Eternal wisely planned, 
 
 And raised and fashioned by His plastic hand. 
 
86 
 
 THE SEA. 
 
 No chisel shaped its massive forms of grace, 
 No mortal laid them in their fitting place, 
 No painter gave that ample dome its dyes, 
 No builder reared those shafts of Titan size, 
 No arm upheaved those vast colossal blocks, 
 Those countless pyramids of crystal rocks, 
 No handicraft of man the skill supplied 
 That strewed those spreading glories far and wide ; 
 But God's own arm the mystic fabric made, 
 And G-od's own hand the hero in it laid. 
 Amidst the splendours of that palace tomb, 
 "Where death has lost its terror and its gloom, 
 Where spotless angels ceaseless vigil keep, 
 Brave Franklin sleeps his long refreshing sleep, 
 Eeady and joyful at the trumpet's call 
 To burst the ice folds of his stainless pall. 
 Glowing beneath the play of Northern Lights, 
 Thy Polar regions furnish noblest sights 
 Of rarest beauty and resplendent dyes, 
 That dazzle, ravish, and delight our eyes. 
 
THE SEA. 87 
 
 What pen can paint, what glowing tongue proclaim 
 The glories of those cataracts of flame, 
 Those meteor comets in an endless maze, 
 That flash, and fall, and rise, and madly blaze, 
 That glitter, glimmer, rush with sweeping trains, 
 Like thoughts that burn through madmen's reeling 
 
 brains ; 
 
 Luminous, tinctured with a thousand dyes 
 Of form fantastic and portentous size : 
 A dome of living light with grandeur graced, 
 A million lustrous rainbows interlaced, 
 A thousand arches pearled with sparkling dew, 
 And endless shafts of ever-changing hue : 
 Those flaming swords of seraph hosts that gleam, 
 And flit through heaven in one incessant stream, 
 That falling shower of rich metallic dyes 
 Like drops of liquid gold from melting skies : 
 Those ample torrents of descending fire, 
 Those belts of light and coruscations dire, 
 The fiery efflorescence of the sky, 
 
88 THE SEA. 
 
 That with the tints of future glory vie ! 
 A glowing canopy of brilliant flowers, 
 Like blazing gems from vast Elysian bowers, 
 Stars countless with unearthly glories bright ; 
 Fountains outpouring dazzling streams of light ; 
 Seraphs with brimming bounty scattering gems, 
 In jewelled robes and flashing diadems, 
 Angels whose flaming wing and lightning glance, 
 And graceful swiftness all our souls entrance. 
 And yet all these are but the surface smiles, 
 That lure to ruin like the harlot's guiles : 
 Thy spangled dress more hollow, frail, and vain, 
 Than mocking mirage of the desert plain. 
 Thy beauteous glories cheat the ravished sense, 
 Thy seeming warmth of welcome all pretence ; 
 ISFo warmth is thine but coldest shades of death ; 
 Thy bosom heaves with naught but chilling breath. 
 The heavens rain forth their meteor showers, 
 Spread their rich canopy of fiery flowers, 
 Pour their red lightning in broad rivers down, 
 
THE SEA. . 89 
 
 With jewelled splendour all thy mountains crown, 
 But to deceive and light with flashing torch 
 The vestibule of hell and death's relentless porch. 
 No perfume boast thy flowers, their lustrous blaze 
 And warmth of colour but refracted rays ; 
 Their dazzling brightness all a passing show 
 That fades as swiftly as the sunset glow ; 
 And all thy fairy scenes, however bright, 
 Baseless as visions of the dreamy night. 
 Fit palace for that ruthless king of kings, 
 With the broad death-shade of his ebon wings, 
 Who covers all our globe, and rules and reigns, 
 And scatters thick a thousand aches and pains ; 
 Deathless himself, an iron sceptre wields 
 O'er softest couches, as on bloody fields ; 
 With savage zest smites all his subjects down, 
 King, pedant, parson, or the rustic clown ; 
 Whose frozen heart no touch of pity knows, 
 To sweetest babe or fairest maid no favour shows ; 
 Against whose giant stride and sweeping arm 
 
90 THE SEA. 
 
 Avails no innocence, or prayer, or charm ; 
 With stony eye that mocks the warmest breasts, 
 With scythe that never blunts, and hand that 
 
 never rests ; 
 
 Zeal that will never for a day be still 
 To wipe his moistened brow or stay his work of ill, 
 But restless, sleepless, daily, hourly, reaps ; 
 Piles up his helpless victims heaps on heaps ; 
 Claims as his prey a terror-stricken world, 
 While through its fairest realms his venomed shafts 
 
 are hurled. 
 
 Most fitting palace for his awful throne, 
 Whose varied terrors scarce surpass thine own ; 
 Whose dread decrees against the good and great, 
 Unbending attributes of sternest fate, 
 Softened, averted, or avoided, never, 
 But fixed, determined, changeless ever, 
 In clearest type and emblem we can trace 
 Stamped on each feature of thy frozen face, 
 Imaged and graven on thy yawning tomb, 
 
THE SEA. 91 
 
 Roofed with black horrors, floored with blacker 
 
 gloom. 
 
 Bleak desolation all above, around, 
 No hopeful object and no cheering sound, 
 Xo sign of tenderness far off or near 
 To soothe the eye or glad the closing ear ; 
 Gloom reigns at night and terrors haunt the day, 
 All objects frighten and all sounds dismay. 
 Dull heavy booming of thy mournful surges, 
 Moaning most sad and melancholy dirges, 
 As though thy billows slowly rose and fell 
 To sound the drowning seaman's parting knell ; 
 Deep-sunken vaults and cheerless dungeons vast 
 Their frozen depths with horror overcast, 
 Each dark recess and deep sepulchral cave, 
 Murky as midnight, sullen as the grave, 
 Moonlight or starlight shed no feeble ray, 
 Struggling to bless them with the dawn of day ; 
 Poised avalanches, waiting but a breath, 
 O'erhanging clefts, as dark as shades of death ; 
 
92 THE SEA. 
 
 Broad chasms, like the open mouth of hell, 
 Whose pitchy night all rays of hope dispel ; 
 While horrid forms like shapeless spectres loom 
 Down the vast caverns of appalling gloom ; 
 Keen biting winds and marrow-freezing blasts 
 Wield their rude sceptre while the winter lasts ; 
 Grim death rides proudly on the chilly gale, 
 His steed all foaming with the hoar-frost pale, 
 Lurks in deep ambush in the yawning rifts, 
 Moats on the iceberg and the buoyant drifts, 
 Scatters his death-snow with a noiseless tread, 
 White as the winding-sheet to wrap the dead ; 
 Crowds the whole scene with sad and sombre 
 
 gloom, 
 
 Turns the fair vision to a brilliant tomb, 
 Fills it with terrors stoutest hearts dismay, 
 And horrors grouped in terrible array. 
 His shafts fly keenly through the whistling breeze, 
 And all our warmth exhaust, and all our vitals 
 
 freeze. 
 
THE SEA. 
 
 93 
 
 As rash intruders falling thick and fast 
 Beneath the ice-breath of thy piercing blast, 
 Our gallant sailors with their iron frames, 
 Hardened from childhood by athletic games, 
 As infants nursed and rudely lulled to sleep 
 By the rough cradle of the rocking deep ; 
 In boyhood braced to deeds of noble daring, 
 Their fathers' toils and hardy perils sharing, 
 The sturdy vigour of their stalwart forms 
 Eobustly seasoned by a thousand storms, 
 With thews and sinews strong with manly sport, 
 With dauntless hearts of oak that quail at 
 
 nought, 
 
 Sink like a babe beneath thy fatal breath, 
 Fall as dry leaves before the blast of death 
 That sweeps the surface of each icebound wave, 
 And howls a requiem o'er their cheerless grave. 
 Most hapless mortals whose intruding feet 
 Venture, with fatal hardihood, to meet 
 The full fell fury of thy whirlwind storms, 
 
94 THE SEA. 
 
 And ieath in all its worst and darkest forms, 
 
 To find in battling with thy wintry strife 
 
 A savage contrast to their former life ; 
 
 Their feet accustomed on their native shore, 
 
 Destined, alas! to reach and press no more, 
 
 On downy tufts of springy moss to tread, 
 
 In fields with warm elastic verdure spread, 
 
 Now find rough fields and granite-hardened plains, 
 
 Where frost in one eternal winter reigns ; 
 
 In lieu of pastures warm, and fresh, and green, 
 
 Endless wide wastes of blinding white are seen, 
 
 Dazzling the eyeball strained by frozen air, 
 
 AVith untoned sameness and with blasting glare. 
 
 Cold icy pavement, or dead-heavy snow, 
 
 Usurp the place of springing grass below. 
 
 "When sickness fiercely racks their tortured frame, 
 
 Or fever wastes them with its burning flame, 
 
 No downy couch invites the aching limb 
 
 To slumber sweetly, while the soothing hymn 
 
 Murmured in plaintive sympathy and love, 
 
THE SEA. 95 
 
 Like angel warblings from the realms above, 
 Sheds o'er the sleeping spirit calm repose, 
 And healing balsam for its lengthened woes ; 
 No hand of wife or mother gently spreads 
 Smoothed pillow soft beneath their sinking heads, 
 No sister's voice can point them to the skies, 
 No daughter's tender hand can close their sightless 
 
 eyes. 
 
 Death-breathing gusts assail their dying ears 
 With sounds of children's sobs, or mother's falling 
 
 tears, 
 
 While widows' groans and orphans' dismal wails 
 Come floating dirge-like on the icy gales ; 
 Sins of the past, with deep remorse and pain, 
 Steal in long vistas o'er their dying brain. 
 No marvel if the stoutest spirits fail, 
 And bravest seamen at the prospect quail, 
 By such a dismal death they dread to die, 
 And, wrung by terror, raise the anguished cry, 
 " Welcome grim death, in all its wildest forms, 
 
96 THE SEA. 
 
 Engulfed to sink in madly-beating storms, 
 
 In burning bark to stifling death awake, 
 
 The bloody scaffold or the martyr's stake, 
 
 Pining to die in human tigers' fangs 
 
 By coolly-measured wrench and nice- computed 
 
 pangs ; 
 
 To torture keen each fibre sharply strung, 
 Each nerve and muscle to distraction wrung. 
 Yes, any death, or all these deaths combined, 
 With all their pangs increased, and all their pains 
 
 refined, 
 
 Bather than this ; oh I let our dying eyes 
 Gaze on the brightness of some milder skies, 
 Our fevered brow be cooled and softly fanned 
 By gentle breezes, that with angel hand 
 Appear to waft us to that better land ; 
 Our last breath mixed on thee, our ocean home, 
 With the free gales that o'er thy bosom roam. 
 Oh ! let no stern or savage terrors crowd 
 Around our deathbed like an angry cloud 
 
THE SEA. 97 
 
 But well-known sights, and each familiar sound 
 Our spirits cheer, our parting souls surround ; 
 The solemn music of thy grand old voice 
 Our sea-nursed souls and heart's deep chords re- 
 joice, 
 
 Rocked to our last long sleep of peaceful rest 
 By the loved pulses of thy heaving breast." 
 But what are sailors' groans, or mothers' fears, 
 Orphans' laments, or widows' scalding tears 
 To thee, O sea ? Thine Arctic bosom knows 
 No melting mood, no sympathy for woes ; 
 Thy heart relentless as the shades of death, 
 Is cold and icy as thy freezing breath. 
 While thy chill waves in heedless billows foam, 
 The warmly-throbbing breast in distant home 
 Mourns in deep anguish father, husband, child, 
 On whose loved form the heart for years had 
 
 smiled, 
 
 Absent and buried in thy dreary wastes, 
 And doubt's dread slowly-lingering torture tastes 1 
 
98 THE SEA. 
 
 What pangs of sorrow rend that sleepless breast, 
 "What nameless horrors scare away its rest ! 
 Sad mothers weep with hot and fevered eyes, 
 Knowing full well their heart's bestf treasure lies 
 All night exposed to thy benumbing skies, 
 Or sleeps in still and ever dead repose 
 Beneath the covert of thy lasting snows. 
 Thy hardened breast refuses to the dead 
 A verdant mantle for their lowly head ; 
 No waving grass or daisy-hillock grows 
 To mark their resting-place beneath thy snows. 
 Yes, where yon dismal ice-blocked shores appear, 
 While jagged mountains in the distant rear 
 With grandeur lift their snowy peaks on high 
 To chill the star- warmth of that Polar sky, 
 The sun's weak rays just dipping o'er the sea, 
 Whose struggling warmth can scarce be said to be, 
 Call forth faint symptoms of the feeblest life, 
 Plants that wage ever an unequal strife 
 With frost and tempest from their sickly birth 
 
THE SEA. 99 
 
 On the cold bosom of the warmthless earth. 
 Screeching wild sea-birds mix their hoarsest tones 
 With the rough north wind's melancholy moans, 
 While breakers boom with dull and sullen roar, 
 In harshest thunder, on the hardened shore. 
 From time to time, between them all resound, 
 The walrus bellowing like a beaten hound, 
 And, slowly floating through the frosty air, 
 The distant roaring of the Polar bear. 
 But when the summer's brief career is run, 
 And sunk for months thy feebly -burning sun ; 
 When darkness, with its ebon sceptre reigns, 
 With gloom Tartarian o'er thy barren plains ; 
 When, like a pall, the doleful skies are spread 
 With jet-black sombrous curtains overhead ; 
 And through the dismal void no meteors shine, 
 Or round the belted horizontal line 
 No feeble rays in struggling weakness shoot, 
 The animal creation, hushed and mute, 
 Is heard no more, no living sounds affright, 
 
100 THE SEA. 
 
 Or break the stillness of the Arctic night. 
 Around each icy shaft and snowy peak, 
 And crystal column, whistling whirlwinds shriek, 
 Through hollow chasms of the iceberg moan, 
 "With dismal sigh and soul- depressing groan. 
 For three long months that Arctic darkness lasts, 
 For three long months no luminary casts 
 Bright light or sun-warmth on that dreary scene, 
 Or wakes to life one blade or frond of green. 
 The earth's broad belt in death and night 
 
 entombed, 
 
 Sunless, is rarely, if at all, illumed 
 By sudden flashes of the northern lights, 
 Whose brilliant play around the mountain heights 
 Mock, by the flicker of their dying blaze, 
 The moon's faint glow of scant and sickly rays. 
 There, in those death-still Polar solitudes, 
 The glacier's thick-ribbed chilling mass protrudes 
 Farther and farther through the fringe of foam 
 That marks the bounds of ocean's hoary home, 
 
THE SEA. 101 
 
 Till, rent by tides that ceaseless fret and lash 
 Its giant base, the iceberg, with a crash 
 Loud as the avalanche, with hellish hiss, 
 Eolls, plunging headlong to the deep abyss. 
 
PAET IV. INTERMEDIATE. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 The icebergs their vastness grandeur movements 
 strength beauty travels of an iceberg perils of Arctic 
 explorer wonderful escape of exploring vessel a sinner's 
 escape from impending wrath gratitude for deliverance 
 collision of two icebergs destruction of the weaker brief 
 triumph of the stronger its spontaneous and instantaneous 
 disruption gradual melting of icebergs the Gulf stream 
 last stringy streaks of ice wondrous changes produced 
 by cold and heat constant movements of water in vapour 
 or ice incessant round of visitation to South and North 
 everywhere beneficent scattering blessings imparting 
 good to man obeying its merciful Creator fulfilling His 
 benevolent designs. 
 
PAET IV. INTERMEDIATE. 
 
 " He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the 
 earth." PSALM cxxxv. 7. 
 
 HE icebergs loosened from their Northern 
 
 home, 
 Float their huge bulk on rolling seas 
 
 of foam, 
 
 In stately grandeur move like lofty Alps, 
 While snow-white chaplets crown their crystal 
 
 scalps ; 
 
 Their summits fringed with pinnacle and spire, 
 Sky-stretching fingers pointing ever higher ; 
 
106 THE SEA. 
 
 "While round the base unceasing conflicts roar, 
 "Where waves in hostile rage their wildest forces 
 
 pour. 
 
 Through the blue rifts the beating surf resounds, 
 Prom the tall sides the baffled wave rebounds ; 
 With all the fury of its rudest shock, 
 Its charge is child's sport to that crystal rock. 
 A rim of splendour as of liquid gold 
 Adorns the mass in pomp of bulk unrolled, 
 A yellow lambent flame that flits and dies, 
 In wondrous softness round its ample size. 
 And floating like a halo all around, 
 Veiling and hovering o'er the dead white ground, 
 A tinted atmosphere of throbbing air, 
 Dove-colour, azure delicately fair, 
 Of beauty exquisite, a warmth imparts 
 To kindle rapture in the coldest hearts. 
 Spirit of beauty ! where beneath the sky 
 Doth scene more lovely feast the ravished eye P 
 See through the broken icefields slowly steering, 
 
THE SEA. 107 
 
 A second towering moving ice-berg nearing, 
 Stilly and solemn, while its mountain form 
 Threatens wide havoc like a brooding storm. 
 Like giant twins the monstrous bergs draw near, 
 Colossal foes to crash in mid career ; 
 When, fearful sight ! the closing bergs between, 
 Some brave explorer's hapless bark is seen, 
 No breath of wind to fill her flapping sails, 
 Oft torn to shreds by former wintry gales ; 
 Her crew all paralysed with trembling gloom, 
 The bark lies motionless to meet her doom, 
 Crushed like a shell between those closing walls, 
 Sunk by some shattered summit as it falls. 
 In that dread moment of extreme suspense, 
 When man's arm fails for succour or defence, 
 A low-washed berg comes floating into range, 
 Worked into motion by some current strange. 
 The seamen's eagle eyes with lightning glance 
 See in that berg their last remaining chance, 
 To follow in the course it seems to take, 
 
108 THE SEA. 
 
 And push their vessel in its hoary wake. 
 Despair now leaves them with its leaden wings, 
 In every breast a hope of rescue springs ; 
 Gruided by God and nerved by buoyant hope, 
 They plant an anchor on its frosted slope. 
 The two huge icebergs on their axes whirling, 
 Snow from their tops in palsied tremor hurling, 
 Eoaring and grinding through the troubled main, 
 Moment by moment on each other gain ; 
 The passage narrows to some forty feet, 
 The overhanging summits seem to meet. 
 The captain's voice in that dread silence mute, 
 Prom soul-deep feelings painfully acute, 
 Awed by the peril, at the last is heard, 
 Drops from his firm-set lips one thrilling word ; 
 The seamen catch that whisper clear but soft, 
 Swarm up the shrouds to brace the yards aloft, 
 Handle the halliards and the canvas clew, 
 To clear the icewalls as they labour through. 
 Most anxious moment, life and death depend, 
 
THE SEA. 109 
 
 On how that scheme succeeds and what its speedy 
 
 end ! 
 
 That noble berg with spray-besprinkled brow, 
 Tears up the small ice like an iron plough ; 
 The gallant bark, held on by whale-line taut, 
 By her strange tow-horse through the pass is 
 
 brought, 
 
 Plucked from the very jaws of yawning fate, 
 Saved by a Providence as new as great. 
 And when that perilled vessel struggles clear, ' 
 And leaves these icebergs in the distant rear, 
 Her crew, with bended knee and faltering breath, 
 Give thanks for rescue from that awful death. 
 Thus, when the guilty sinner stricken down, 
 Beneath Mount Sinai's all-consuming frown, 
 In terror sees an angry God launch forth 
 The scathing arrows of His burning wrath, 
 And finds no outlet from the circling gloom 
 That storms and threatens with a crushing doom : 
 Flight there is none, resistance all in vain, 
 
110 THE SEA. 
 
 "Who could that mountain's awful weight sustain ? 
 In that dread hour of peril and of need, 
 When help must reach him if at all with speed, 
 Heavenward and Grodsent comes the needed aid, 
 The Mighty Christ on whom our help was laid ; 
 To Him the sinner casts his yearning eyes, 
 As one who brings him succour from the skies, 
 "With nervous death-grip grasps His saving hand ; 
 Emboldened by His voice of sweet command, 
 Fastens the anchor of his trembling soul 
 To his pledged word to make the vilest whole. 
 Great as his peril is, and great his need, 
 And swift the aid required to make his cause suc- 
 ceed, 
 
 His faith has fastened on the chosen Eock, 
 That bears him scathless through the tempest's 
 
 shock, 
 
 Hurls back the fury of temptation's wave, 
 Lifts him high up above the yawning grave ; 
 Quenches the lightnings of the Law's dread fire, 
 
THE SEA. Ill 
 
 Quells the loud clatoour of its vengeful ire ; 
 "With mercy's hand of rescue draws him forth, 
 Safe through the billows of Almighty wrath ; 
 Safe through the closing jaws of death and hell, 
 Safe to that home of rest where " all is well." 
 And after clearing this triumphant way 
 Through foes and perils to the realms of day, 
 Crowning with peace his once distracted breast, 
 Flooding his soul with heaven's unbroken rest, 
 Bids him give thanks in lofty- sounding lays, 
 With rapture sweep the golden harp of praise, 
 And as He bows before His smiling face, 
 Eehearse the riches of His boundless grace, 
 A witness, proving to the hosts above, 
 The brimming fulness of His matchless love. 
 The giant icebergs cheated of their prey, 
 Close like two athletes in a deadly fray ; 
 Both in the crash from base to summit quake, 
 With trembling spasms to the centre shake ; 
 And as their fabrics reel and rudely rock 
 
112 THE SEA. 
 
 Beneath the fury of that earthquake shock, 
 The 4ubt seems which colossal mass shall burst, 
 Crumble to dust and sink to ruin first. 
 But one contains some latent inward cause, 
 Some hollow chasm or some hidden flaws, 
 Which make it splinter like the riven oak, 
 Pierced by the red bolt's devastating stroke ; 
 Walls, turrets, castles, drop and fall asunder, 
 Crashing and tumbling with the roll of thunder, 
 Thunders repeated, and redoubled louder, 
 Lifting their grand voice ever higher, prouder. 
 The startled waves the wild commotion share, 
 Enormous sheaves of foam spring up and burst in 
 
 air, 
 
 Green giant waves in circles roll away, 
 Crested and capped with creamy lines of spray ; 
 Fragments of ice, blocks, shafts, and pillars, leap 
 In all directions from the troubled deep ; 
 Huge masses, like high bulwarks smitten prone, 
 By mines exploded, rent, and overthrown, 
 
THE SEA. 113 
 
 In all the weakness of their prostrate strength, 
 Fill the wide fiel d in all its breadth and length : 
 One lofty steeple swaying to and fro, 
 Stands in the midst a spectacle of woe, 
 Like some thinned regiment who refuse to yield 
 Midst the dread carnage of the battle-field. 
 The berg that triumphed, with majestic pride 
 Eides like a victor on the swelling tide, 
 Compact, unbroken, through the roaring spray, 
 Pursues in stately pomp its onward way. 
 Not long to triumph, though its topmost spire 
 Lit by the sunbeam, glows with golden fire. 
 The vanquished sink in conquest's crimson tide, 
 Loud shouts proclaim their victor's haughty pride, 
 But victors too are mortal and must yield 
 To death the laurels of each purple field. 
 Swift as the lightning, as the thunder loud, 
 The sky unspotted by the smallest cloud, 
 A crash terrific as the trump of doom, 
 Caused by some hidden force in nature's womb, 
 
114 THE SEA. 
 
 One short sharp silvery ringing blow, 
 Strikes through green ice and overhanging snow, 
 Splits to the centre the colossal block, 
 Eolls down a cataract of crystal rock, 
 Shakes off its lofty pinnacles of pride, 
 Strips off the turrets from its haughty side, 
 Gives them up headlong to the greedy wave, 
 As humbled monarchs to the yawning grave. 
 Eobbed of its splendour, shorn of half its bulk, 
 Graceless and rude as storm- dismantled hulk, 
 It southward wends its sluggish dreamy way, 
 Slowly but surely wasting to decay ; 
 Till in the tepid Grulf- stream's swelling surge 
 Its last-left streaks of melting drift-ice merge. 
 The waters disenthralled from icy chains, 
 Like joyous bondmen freed from prison pains, 
 Leap forth and flow with bright and flashing gleam 
 Down the great equatorial rapid stream, 
 "Which rolls with faithful constancy, and hastes 
 To join the torrid ocean's boundless wastes. 
 
THE SEA. 115 
 
 Wonderful movement ! Nature's magic race, 
 In which her forces endless circles trace ; 
 Each varied change with benefits replete, 
 From heat to cold, from cold to glowing heat ! 
 Most wondrous chemistry of startling facts, 
 Eich proofs of skilled design in Nature's acts ! 
 Those self-same elements which cold restrains, 
 And holds fast bound in adamantine chains, 
 In massive blocks, thick-ribbed and doubly-barred, 
 Solid as flint, as brazen anvils hard, 
 Flow softly and in gentle currents run 
 As tepid waves beneath the torrid sun ; 
 Then lifted by its heat in vapour rise 
 To cool the ardour of those burning skies, 
 Assuage the fury of their scorching glare, 
 And bless with dewy balm the stifling air. 
 On the cold currents of the upper sky, 
 Wafted like chariots to the north they fly 
 Back to their homes, and on their restless way, 
 Scatter soft dewdrops of refreshing spray, 
 
116 THE SEA. 
 
 Or from their ample wombs drop gentle rains 
 To fertilise the parched and weary plains. 
 Bountiful circuit ! softening both extremes, 
 Warming the poles and cooling torrid beams ! 
 As icebergs floating to the southern main, 
 As clouds returning to the north again, 
 And there in spotless snow descending down, 
 The rugged peaks with virgin grace to crown, 
 "Waters which southward bathed rich fields of rice, 
 Deck the rude north with fairy forms of ice ; 
 Or once more shoot their pillared shafts on high, 
 And pile their masses upwards to the sky, 
 Then launch and float as icebergs on the main, 
 And in the south melt down to tepid streams again. 
 But in whatever form those waters flow, 
 Gulf-stream or cloud, dew, rain, or falling snow, 
 Iceberg or river, in the south or north, 
 They ever and for ever scatter forth, 
 Obedient to their Maker's gracious plan, 
 Ten thousand blessings on His creature Man. 
 
PAET V. THE TEOPICAL SEA. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Beauty of the Tropic zone sunrise fleecy clouds purple 
 mountains white sailed fishing vessel dark-hulled slaver 
 a floating hell a storm heaven's vengeance omni- 
 science of the great judge angels ready to execute judg- 
 ment terrors of the great day for slave-dealers sufferings 
 of the slaves captured bound driven to distant shores 
 horrors of the middle passage chase by British cruiser 
 living slaves dropped overboard guilt of man-traffic 
 superior advantages of legitimate trade excitement of 
 lawful sport wondrous products of the Tropic seas the 
 Albatross Frigate bird its patience fierceness beauty 
 in flight fishing scene hovers round vessels its presence 
 the harbinger of land the esculent swallow spray rain- 
 bowsthe flying fish their dangers their enemies 
 Bonito sword-fish sperm whale Pristis white shark 
 smaller tropic fish like humming birds and swallows frog- 
 fish sun; fish jelly fishes sword tails molluscs 
 cephalapodae tridacna volutes harps cones pearl- 
 oyster velella nautilus coral reefs harbours contrast 
 between coral and volcanic islands slow formation of the 
 former their permanence, use, and beauty sudden forma- 
 tion of the latter their ugliness, worthlessness, and brief 
 duration contrast between true and false conversion 
 importance of plodding industry value of sustained effort 
 perseverance the diligent Christian the most useful 
 and happy the laborious scholar the ripest the per- 
 severing saint crowned with the noblest and highest 
 triumphs. 
 
PAET V. THE TEOPICAL SEA. 
 
 " They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in 
 great waters ; these see the works of the Lord, and His 
 wonders in the deep." PSALM cvii. 23, 24. 
 
 HEN morning breaks with rush of lus- 
 trous light, 
 
 Flooding with beauty gloriously bright 
 Thy heaving bosom in the Tropic Zone, 
 A glory, great and fresh, and all thine own, 
 Bursts on the sight, and fills with glad surprise 
 The raptured souls of those whose tutored eyes 
 Have revelled most in scenes of foreign skies. 
 A few scant specks of slight and fleecy cloud, 
 Too feebly frail the sun's hot disk to shroud, 
 Their gauze-like shadows o'er thy sleeping blue 
 
120 THE SEA. 
 
 Cast in weak patches wide apart and few. 
 
 Some purple mountain in the distance gleams, 
 
 Its lofty summits tipped with glowing beams, 
 
 Its slopes resplendent in the dazzling blaze, 
 
 Or dimly shrouded in the flickering haze, 
 
 Its noble outline giving to the sight 
 
 A chequered mass of mingled shade and light. 
 
 And oft, like sea-bird's outspread wing of snow, 
 
 Poised o'er the tranquil wave, or moving slow, 
 
 "With pearl-white plumage, o'er the placid scene, 
 
 In quest of prey or pastime, may be seen 
 
 A white-sail' d vessel skimming gently past, 
 
 With red flag fluttering on her tiny mast, 
 
 Her small hull dipping, working slowly on, 
 
 Till the faint breeze has breathed its last and gone. 
 
 And oft, alas, in contrast strangely sad, 
 
 A moving mass of all that's base and bad, 
 
 Like demon phantom from the world of night, 
 
 A floating hell of horrors pains the sight ; 
 
 The dark ship heaves her long and gleaming sides, 
 
y 
 
 THE SEA. 121 
 
 And, like a living monster, swiftly glides, 
 With freight of barter' d souls and tortured slaves, 
 Through the long roll of thy transparent waves, 
 Leaving behind her in her seething wake 
 A long thin line of froth^and foamy flake. 
 Like culprit chased, the guilty vessel flees, 
 All canvas spread to catch the faintest breeze, 
 Alow, aloft, and on each sweeping side, 
 With clouds of sail and crowded wings supplied ; 
 Or if no skilful stretch of spreading sail 
 Bends to the strong and wooes the wanton gale, 
 But hissing steam her ponderous paddles turns, 
 And into creamy yeast the beaten ocean churns ; 
 Or giant screw her sailless bulwarks urge 
 Through the long billows of the sweeping surge, 
 Driving the laden hulk with tapering mast 
 Eight in the teeth of each opposing blast, 
 Her steam-propeller with its throbbing sound 
 Breaks the dread silence reigning all around ; 
 Like beating pulses of a guilty breast, 
 
122 THE SEA. 
 
 Or pangs of pricking conscience ill at rest : 
 
 She races on with furious speed and fast, 
 
 The soft wind whistling round each raking mast, 
 
 Like blue champagne the water rushing past ; 
 
 And if stiff breezes on her quarter rise, 
 
 Leaps like a race-horse spurr'd, and swifter flies, 
 
 Heels to the gale, and lifts her starboard side, 
 
 Till hungry waves, with rude and rushing tide, 
 
 Crested with foam, in hissing frantic sport 
 
 Leaping and spouting through each leeward port, 
 
 Angrily threaten with each rolling leap 
 
 In whelming deluge o'er her decks to sweep, 
 
 Like Titan monsters, with unwieldy bulk 
 
 Bruising and crushing her resistless hulk, 
 
 "With giant force her starting ribs assail, 
 
 Till all her planks are loose and all her bulwarks 
 
 fail. 
 
 Erom stem to stern her straining timbers creak, 
 Fit music mingling with the piercing shriek, 
 The mourDful sob, loud sigh, and dismal moan, 
 
THE SEA. 123 
 
 Shrill cry of dark despair and dying groan, 
 That rise in discord from the crowded hold, 
 Where human fiends, for greed of promised gold, 
 Their living freight, a cramp'dand fetter* d load 
 Of tortured flesh, have mercilessly stow'd. 
 "While angry lightnings from the scowling sky, 
 Like vengeful glances of that sleepless eye 
 No deadly crime could ever yet elude, 
 No depths escape, or serpent guile delude, 
 Light up the scene, as though with lifted spear, 
 With frowning brow, fixed gaze, attentive ear, 
 Wings half unfolded, and their lips compressed, 
 Eeady and waiting for the high behest, 
 Around God's throne avenging angels stand, 
 To launch the red bolt from their flaming hand. 
 Man preys on man, and wields his stronger arm 
 To visit helpless tribes with deadly harm, 
 As though God formed and nerved the wise and 
 
 strong 
 To do his brother foul and fatal wrong ; 
 
124 THE SEA. 
 
 Eaised him above the level of his race, 
 Gave him in arts and gifts a higher place, 
 That he those better gifts might basely use, 
 Disgrace his wisdom, and his strength abuse, 
 By hunting down, as savage beasts of chase, 
 A feebler, harmless, crush* d, and bleeding race. 
 God made the strong the weaker to defend, 
 His wrongs to right, and all his troubles end, 
 His burdens lift, and sink his galling chain 
 In deepest depths beneath the rolling main. 
 Man takes advantage of his brother's need 
 To tempt his untaught soul to deadly deed, 
 Urges him basely as a child of hell 
 Some feebler man to hunt, entrap, and sell. 
 Oh, when that bartered creature's fearful cry 
 Ascends with lightning swiftness to the sky, 
 When vengeance sleeps no more, but rushes down 
 All deeds of darkness with their doom to crown, 
 God's flaming shafts, with burning fury hurl'd, 
 Sink low to hell a proud, oppressing world ; 
 
THE SEA. 125 
 
 When thy vast solitudes, O mighty deep, 
 Their buried millions shall no longer keep, 
 But all who slumber in thy coral caves, 
 Eetter'd or free, beneath thy surging waves, 
 Shall wake to judgment, then the wretch who 
 
 caught, 
 
 The slave who suffer' d and the fiend who bought, 
 Captor and captive, face to face shall meet 
 Before their Judge's great and awful seat. 
 In that dread day what damning tongues shall rise 
 From thy still depths beneath the torrid skies 
 To tell their plain, unvarnish'd tale of wrong, 
 Of midnight slaughter, capture, twisted thong, 
 Of ravished home, sharp lash, and brutal blow, 
 Of childhood's tearsand mother's frantic woe, 
 Friends severed, brothers, sisters torn 
 Apart, and roughly to the seaboard borne, 
 
 The march of torture to the distant shore, 
 
 
 
 Each footstep marked with stain of dropping gore ; 
 Driven and goaded in a tether'd herd, 
 
126 THE SEA. 
 
 Like cattle to the shambles lashed and spurred ; 
 The hasty packing of each fettered frame, 
 With rude contempt for ease or decent shame, 
 The festered wound, cramped limb, and fevered 
 
 brain, 
 
 Eank fetid air, scant food, and galling chain ; 
 Of deaths by twenties in the crowded hold, 
 Of naked bodies, in no shroud enrolled, 
 Flung o'er the bulwarks of the guilty bark, 
 Like worthless offal, to the hungry shark ; 
 Or when by British cruiser hotly chased, 
 Her speed to quicken and her flight to haste, 
 Dropped, like the links of one vast living chain, 
 By hundreds headlong in the rolling main : 
 What guilty secrets shall be dragged to light, 
 Hidden for ages in the darkest night, 
 When slaves in myriads quit that tranquil grave, 
 Thy sea of glass without one rippling wave, 
 And take their stand in one long bright array, 
 Like squadrons marshalled at the dawn of day, 
 
THE SEA. 127 
 
 Witness to bear, and put to lasting shame, 
 With voice of thunder and with tongue of flame, 
 Their white oppressor, whose more cultured mind 
 And tutored brain such brutal deeds designed : 
 Whose blood-red hand, with weapons doubly 
 
 strong, 
 Heaped on their heads such floods of fiendish 
 
 wrong ! 
 
 The sinless trade in Afric's tusks and oil 
 Amply repays his utmost care and toil ; 
 Why will not man his greedy work confine 
 To limits marked by stringent laws Divine ? 
 Why seek more ample, but unhallowed, gains 
 By loading fellow-men with hopeless chains ? 
 And if such harmless traffic lack the zest 
 With which all lawless dangers feed the breast, 
 In thy vast depths where wondrous forms abound 
 In teeming plenty, surely may be found 
 More fitting objects for exciting chase, 
 And hardy perils of the headlong race ; 
 
128 THE SEA. 
 
 Creatures of prey that may be siiared and caught 
 For honest traffic or in harmless sport. 
 May not the white man push his teak-built bark, 
 In quest of dolphin or rapacious shark, 
 Or sperm whale laden with its costly freight 
 Of close-packed treasure of enormous weight ? 
 Man might be left unharmed or wisely made 
 A willing agent in some lawful trade. 
 Yes, in thy wastes of sultry calms and storms, 
 What splendid types, what variegated forms 
 Of animated nature find their home, 
 Float on thy waves, or diving, fre'ely roam 
 With gliding swiftness through those depths pro- 
 found, 
 
 No glance can pierce or plummet ever sound ; 
 Sporting in pastime to the surface rise, 
 Or wing their pathway through thy torrid skies ! 
 The Royal Albatross may rightly claim 
 The lofty grandeur of its regal name, 
 Bank in the list of ocean-birds as king 
 
THE SEA., 129 
 
 For soaring pride and breadth of spreading wing. 
 Look at yon frigate-bird in rapid flight 
 Beating his way athwart the dazzling light, 
 Or poising, hovering o'er the dancing spray, 
 With keen eye searching for its finny prey : 
 "With wide-spread pinion and unruffled breast 
 So beautifully balanced and at rest, 
 Motionless, fixed, reposing overhead 
 In perfect stillness like the sleeping dead ; 
 Then quickly roused with instincts all astir, 
 Darting with rapid rush and plunging whir, 
 As some weak flying-fish, with dainty wings, 
 Prom the smooth surface of thy bosom springs, 
 Or wheeling swiftly through the yielding air, 
 To seize and gorge upon the lion's share, 
 In rude and regal disregard of right, 
 Compelling fiercely, with a rushing flight, 
 The weaker sea-birds to disgorge their prey, 
 As feebler vassals of his lordly sway. 
 Now mark his motions,-as with eagle eye 
 
130 THE SEA. 
 
 He watches keenly from his post on high, 
 Over their heads, the fishers at their toil, 
 And scans each effort to entrap their spoil. 
 See with what patience and unflagging wiDg, 
 He sees them draw, recast, and yet again refling 
 Their ample nets with strong and sweeping arm, 
 Rippling with eddies the transparent calm ; 
 His eager longings and his anxious haste 
 The luscious morsels of their prey to taste, 
 Betray him never with too early flight, 
 Downward to sweep from his aerial heignt ; 
 No long delays e'er tempt him in despair 
 To quit his watchpost in the silent air, 
 The sought-for prey, he knows, will yet be found, 
 And patient labour with success be crowned. 
 He sees the nets sink down with gentle fall, 
 The fishers make their last successful haul ; 
 Then while the captives in the seamen's grasp 
 Flutter for life or wildly pant and gasp, 
 And hungry gulls and pelicans have caught 
 
THE SEA. 131 
 
 Some meagre produce of the lengthened sport, 
 
 Seizing their booty, as it slips and glides, 
 
 In tumbling plenty, by the lowered sides, 
 
 Or round the quarters of the frail canoes 
 
 The hardy seamen of the Tropics use, 
 
 His fierce propensities he quicky shows, 
 
 His savage eye with greedy fury glows ; 
 
 Scarce have his weaker comrades grasped their 
 
 prey 
 
 Than with the speed of lightning's flashing ray, 
 With ruthless violence and rapid rush, 
 All vain defence to overawe and crush, 
 He dashes downwards on the helpless throng, 
 With spreading pinion and with talons strong, 
 As rushes down the hurtling storm of hail, 
 Or gallant troops the open breach assail, 
 With lustful clutch of his rapacious claw, 
 To snatch the morsel from his neighbour's maw ; 
 Those feebler neighbours, in such battle-field 
 Unfit to cope, and glad in peace to yield, 
 
132 THE SEA. 
 
 Their hard-earned booty drop, and wisely seek, 
 "With flapping wing and wide-distended beak, 
 Some other morsel to assuage their grief, 
 And give their hunger and their pride relief. 
 Most splendid creature, with a breadth of wing 
 Eit for the bird- world's lofty-soaring king, 
 Lightness of trunk, and forked and slender tail, . 
 In lengthened beauty spreading to the gale, 
 That help to give it such sustaining might, 
 For swift rapidity and length of flight, 
 That oft while soaring in the cloudless sky 
 Its figure fades before the gazing eye. 
 Tes, far surpassing all descriptive words 
 In striking beauty are the tropic birds ; 
 Their habits wondrous as their graceful flight, 
 Puzzling the student where they pass the night. 
 At eve-tide, by the nightwinds gently fanned, 
 Sailing far distant from the nearest land, 
 Can they repose upon the rolling sea ? 
 Or with strong pinion do they swiftly flee, 
 
THE SEA. 138 
 
 Some desert spot of lonely rest to seek, 
 
 Some hermit rock or solitary peak, 
 
 That lifts its scant and needle point on high, 
 
 Unknown to man, unseen by mortal eye ? 
 
 How smooth their gliding through the liquid air, 
 
 Passing like sun-motes through the burning glare, 
 
 Their floating outlines keeping long in view 
 
 Athwart the spreading arch of peerless blue ! 
 
 The keenest eye detects no moving stir, 
 
 The sharpest ear no faintly-feeble whir ; 
 
 Their broad-stretched pinions without motion bear 
 
 Their slight-built framework through the buoyant 
 
 air. 
 
 Just now and then the wondrous creatures shake 
 With sharp spasmodic start, and briefly break 
 Their smooth progression with a sudden jerk, 
 Like slothful craftsmen smartly roused to work. 
 When some rude bark or passage- vessel fleet, 
 With colours flying and with flowing sheet, 
 In the far distance steaming, heaves in sight, 
 
134 THE SEA. 
 
 "With social freedom or with cautious flight^ 
 These graceful birds, in circles, never fail 
 Bound the white canvas of the friendly sail 
 To wheel and hover, till the seamen hail 
 Their presence as sure harbinger and sign 
 Of welcome nearness to the tropic line. 
 The two gay feathers in their flowing tail, 
 In lengthened glory floating on the gale, 
 Narrow, and straight, and beautifully long, 
 Pliant, but firm, and marvellously strong, 
 The South-Sea Islanders employ and prize 
 As proud adornments to delight the eyes> 
 Or mark as trophies from a kingly bird 
 Their chieftain's rank above the common herd. 
 The wondrous swallow, whose delicious nest, 
 By China's epicures esteemed the best 
 Of all the esculents that God bestowed 
 Their groaning board in festive time to load, 
 With feathered pride may be allowed a claim 
 Amongst the sea-birds to enrol his name, 
 
THE SEA. 135 
 
 A3 chiefly dwelling in the vaulted caves, 
 
 Which sea-winds visit and the billow laves ; 
 
 And from the teeming waters snatching food, 
 
 On which to feast himself and feed his callow brood. 
 
 Along the steep sea-walls that Java boasts, 
 
 Around its wonderful and fertile coasts, 
 
 Clothed to the brink with woods whose verdure 
 
 green 
 
 Adds silvan beauty to the tropic scene ; 
 Where screw-pines strike their strong tenacious 
 
 root 
 
 Deep in the sloping side and upward shoot, 
 Gracing the margin of the lofty rock 
 In proud defiance of the ocean's shock, 
 As giants gazing from their rocky seat 
 On billows breaking low beneath their feet ; 
 The surf of ages rolling in its strength, 
 And fretting, beating ceaselessly, at length, 
 By summer's ripple and by wintry seas, 
 In imperceptible and slow degrees, 
 
136 THE SEA. 
 
 Has crumbled down, and gnawed, and roughly 
 
 torn 
 
 The high chalk cliffs, and hammered out and worn 
 Deep dark recesses, in whose sheltered side 
 The swallow seeks her much-sought home to hide. 
 Here, in these sea-washed caves she loves to rest, 
 Ttear her young brood, and build her dainty nest ; 
 Here, when the breezes trouble most the sea, 
 "With movements as the lightning swift and free, 
 Vast swarms are seen to quit their cavern home, 
 And seek their food amid the thickest foam. 
 Though distant from the coast, the tranquil deep 
 In peace reposes, and its billows sleep ; 
 It never ceases with a fretting roar 
 To burst in foam upon the rocky shore. 
 There, where the mists in cloudy vapours rise, 
 Eright rainbows glisten with resplendent dyes, 
 More bright than Iris of our common skies, 
 And fling the glories of their brilliant span 
 Athwart steep heights unscalable by man. 
 
THE SEA. 137 
 
 While bravely traversing those tropic seas, 
 Ten thousand objects which delight and please 
 Break on the seaman's ever-raptured gaze, 
 Attract his wonder, and excite his praise. 
 Whole shoals of flying-fish in terror start 
 Up from the deep, and from its surface dart 
 With nervous wing, too narrow frail and slight 
 Long to sustain them in aerial flight ; 
 But driven wi]dly, like a flock. of sheep 
 Whom wolves chase headlong o'er some craggy 
 
 steep, 
 
 By huge bonitoes who pursue with haste, 
 As dainty food their flavoured flesh to taste ; 
 But all the efforts of their flying leap 
 To shun the perils of the glassy deep 
 Are vain and fruitless, for an active foe 
 Awaits their rising from the depths below ; 
 Eresh dangers meet them as they trembling dare 
 The unknown perils of the warmer air ; 
 Soon as their fragile forms appear in sight, 
 
138 THE SEA. 
 
 Feebly suspended in their airy flight, 
 
 Swift as the lightning, ere they plunge and hide 
 
 Beneath the surface of their native tide, 
 
 The keen-eyed frigate-birds head-foremost draw 
 
 The writhing victims down their hungry maw. 
 
 On each side threatened, all above, below, 
 
 By fierce sea-monster or by feather' d foe, 
 
 The graceful creatures pass their luckless day 
 
 In constant dread of birds and fish of prey. 
 
 The fierce bonito their most dreaded foe, 
 
 Meets lurking perils in the depths below ; 
 
 Not seldom, with an onslaught sharp and fierce 
 
 The well-arm* d sword-fish will his side transpierce 
 
 With pointed lance, with which he oft assails 
 
 With headstrong force the sperm-producing 
 
 whales, 
 
 And, like the pristis with his saw-like snout, 
 Puts the huge monster to disgraceful rout. 
 But, midst the monsters of the tropic seas 
 Which yield man profit, terrify or please, 
 
THE SEA. 139 
 
 Dreaded and loathed, the white shark bears the 
 
 palm 
 
 As ocean's curse and minister of harm. 
 Woe to the hapless mariner who falls 
 From masthead, rigging, or the wooden walls 
 Of vessel speeding with no breathing gale, 
 Unurged by oar, without one stitch of sail, 
 The sea unrippled as a glassy lake, 
 These ocean-tyrants prowling in her wake ! 
 Woe to the luckless and rapacious shark, 
 That keeping near such swift-progressing bark, 
 Allured by hunger or impelled by fate, 
 Seizes in haste the seaman's proffered bait ! 
 Woe to the wretch on whose devoted head 
 The stored-up vengeance of the crew is shed ! 
 That tempting food, like sin's attractive bait, 
 Which promised dainty meal and pleasure great, 
 Beneath the spread feast harboured all the while, 
 Concealed with studied and deceitful guile 
 The tempter's hook, with sharp and piercing fangs, 
 
140 THE SEA. 
 
 To fill its victim with convulsive pangs. 
 
 When, drawn on board, and gasping hard for 
 
 breath, 
 
 Doomed to a cruel and protracted death, 
 Hacked into pieces by exulting foes, 
 "Who round their captive with their weapons close, 
 Its vast tenacity of ebbing life 
 Prolongs its torments in the useless strife. 
 In spite of struggles and tremendous throes, 
 Its hardy captors, with their lusty blows, 
 Make its gashed trunk with bleeding wounds efface 
 The savage crimes of all its guilty race. 
 Each bark encounters on the sea's highway 
 Vast herds of dolphins sporting in their play : 
 But tropic fishes swarm and revel most 
 Around and near the undulating coast, 
 *In vast lagoons, whose shallow waters yield 
 
 * " The world beneath the waters has beauties of its own ; 
 and not a few observers have remarked the high gratification 
 with which they have gazed into its recesses, when these have 
 
THE SEA. 141 
 
 For sport and pastime safe and ample field ; 
 Or sheltered channels with unruffled stream, 
 That wind and wander, glide and brightly gleam, 
 
 not been so profound as to be beyond the exploring power of 
 the eye. In the quiet lagoons of the coral isles of the South 
 Sea, as a canoe glides over the smooth surface, scarcely dimp- 
 ling it with its progression, so transparent is the water that 
 every feature of the bottom, though many fathoms deep, is 
 distinctly traced. The groves of living coral, branching in 
 fantastic imitation of the shrubs and trees of the land, and 
 bearing in their thousands of expanded polypes, crimson, 
 green, orange and yellow, what seem to be brilliant compo- 
 site flowers in profusion, form a strange submarine shrubbery 
 of the gayest colours. The gorgeous shells, those fine cones, 
 and cowries, and olives, that form the pride of many a Euro- 
 pean cabinet, are crawling idly over the brainstones and 
 madrepores ; each partially covered with its fleshy mantle, 
 and expanding its broad undulating foot, which are glittering 
 in still richer painting than even the porcelain shells. Long 
 ribbon-fishes, that gleam like burnished silver, dart by ; and 
 parrot-fishes, coloured with the bright hues of the birds whose 
 names they bear, peacefully browse and nibble the young tips 
 of the growing coral. Fantastically- formed little shrimp-like 
 beings, almost as transparent as the water itself, and invisible 
 but for the crimson and violet marks that bedeck their bodies, 
 are sailing or shooting through the weedy groves ; and tiny 
 
142 THE SEA. 
 
 Bathed in the sunlight of all nature's smiles, 
 Threading their pathway through a thousand isles ; 
 There, like the humming-birds of brilliant plume, 
 Whose flashing colours tropic woods illume, 
 As, swift as swallows, through the glaring light, 
 From bud to bud they wing their lightning flight ; 
 E'en thus, through mazes of each coral grove, 
 The splendid tribes of balistinse rove, 
 With kindred fish, of gorgeous dye and form, 
 Who love smooth waters as they dread the storm ; 
 There, like some fairy queen's refulgent court, 
 They sparkle, glitter, flash, and gaily sport ; 
 Their graceful figures mingling with the flowers 
 That deck the pavement of those sunken bowers, 
 
 squadrons of pellucid jelly-fishes, and innumerable other 
 strange creatures, now reflect the beam of the vertical sun, 
 and flash into radiance, then relapse into invisibility and 
 secres^again. Then, like the demon of the paradise, comes 
 stealing along the grim and hateful shark, turning up his 
 little green eye of concentrated malignity, as he passes under 
 your boat, and making your very soul shudder at that gaze." 
 LAND and SEA, by PHILIP HENRY GOSSE, F.R.S. 
 
THE SEA. 
 
 And with their brilliancy ana matchless grace 
 
 ->!*- 
 
 Crowning the beauty of that wondrous place. 
 
 Belted with azure, red, and burnished gold, 
 
 Glowing with tints too dazzling to behold, 
 
 These wondrous fishes in their beauty blend 
 
 Glory of form and colours that transcend 
 
 In lustrous loveliness the force of pen 
 
 Or magic pencil of most gifted men 
 
 To paint correctly, for such fairy trains 
 
 Ne'er passed in splendour through the poet's brains. 
 
 But while these marvels of the deep defy 
 
 The poet's fancy, and in glory vie 
 
 With all that strikes his cultivated eye 
 
 As brightest, best, most beautiful and fair 
 
 Of all that tenants wave, and earth, and air ; 
 
 Other productions of the tropic seas, 
 
 Like loathsome offspring of the mind's disease, 
 
 In raging madman's fiercely-fevered brains, 
 
 When rank delirium holds the twisted reins ; 
 
 Or spectral forms, with which our fancy teems, 
 
14 THE SEA. 
 
 14 
 
 monstrous in our nightmare dreams, 
 Cr^wl at the bottom of the tropic deep, 
 
 pat in its waves, or in its shallows sleep. 
 Such is the frogfish, who, with vaulting leaps 
 Never progresses, but who lamely creeps 
 Slowly and halting like a crawling toad, 
 Whose own vile carcase proves a crushing load 
 Too cumbrous for his handlike fin to lift, 
 Push forward, backward, sideways, turn or shift. 
 Pit comrade for this hideous child of night, 
 No tail to speed it in its lazy flight, 
 The sunfish swims like floating bladder vast 
 With buoyant ballast to the water cast, 
 Or monstrous head dissevered from its trunk, 
 Deep in the waves as worthless lumber sunk. 
 Transparent fishes, without tail or fin, 
 As jelly frail, as thinnest waver thin, 
 Glide all but viewless through the glassy wave 
 In placid current or in coral cave ; 
 While swordtails, with a double case of shield 
 
THE SKA. 145 
 
 And horny tails, that pointed arrows yield 
 
 The hunting war-tribes of the fierce Malays, 
 
 To head their spear for sport or mortal frays, 
 
 Like men-at-arms equipped in coated mail, 
 
 Fearless and freely through the waters sail. 
 
 Mollmcs are scattered with a lavish hand 
 
 Through every tropic sea, on every tropic strand, 
 
 In vast profusion, as a locust host, 
 
 Of countless plenty on each coral coast. 
 
 There, also, fish of giant strength are found, 
 
 Whose lengthened process twisted firmly round 
 
 Some hapless fisher in his bark afloat, 
 
 Can drag him headlong from his fragile boat ; 
 
 Cephalopoda, whose strong tendons vie 
 
 In strength and thickness with the human thigh. 
 
 There, too, the vast tridacna may be found 
 
 Clinging with fondness to his chosen ground ; 
 
 A Titan fish, whose massive valves comprise 
 
 A breadth of measure of colossal size 
 
 Five feet across, and in their monstrous womb 
 
146 THE SEA. 
 
 Like barrack larder's well-provisioned room, 
 
 Bearing as inmate the enormous load 
 
 Of twice two hundred pounds securely stowed. 
 
 The splendid shells with deeply-hollowed curve 
 
 Are forced by man a twofold end to serve ; 
 
 In South-Sea Islands to collect the rain 
 
 And useful stores of flowing floods retain ; 
 
 In Koine's cathedrals to contain a store 
 
 Of useless water at the entrance door. 
 
 And scattered through the warmer waters dwell, 
 
 With varied tint and form of outer shell, 
 
 A host of volutes, harps, and sparkling cones, 
 
 Unknown to higher and more frigid zones, 
 
 In figure lovely, exquisitely rare ; 
 
 In colour peerless, delicately fair : 
 
 And there, from depths profound, the divers lift 
 
 The ocean's purest and most costly gift ; 
 
 In various portions of the Indian main, 
 
 And vast Pacific's widely-spread domain, 
 
 The Oriental pearl, pure, white, and round, 
 
THE SEA. 147 
 
 Fairest of gems and precious stones, is found. 
 The tribe of jelly-fish in varied hosts 
 Disport themselves around the tropic coasts, 
 In colour brilliant as the tints that dye 
 The sunlit glories of the Eastern sky ; 
 In form fantastic, but of wondrous grace ; 
 Some frilled with network of transparent lace ; 
 Some bell-shaped like a floating liquid dome, 
 Through calmly tepid waters gently roam ; 
 Some like a mushroom to the surface spring, 
 Others like fairy belt or girdling ring ; 
 Some globular, some circular and slim, 
 Some like a bunch of clustered berries swim. 
 The green velella, with its fairy dyes, 
 As sweetly delicate as Eden's skies, 
 With purple tentacles superbly dressed, 
 Transparent body and pellucid crest, 
 Transcends in beauty of its softened tones 
 The finest products of all other zones. 
 Surpassed, however, in its gorgeous pride, ;-,.. '.., 
 
148 THE SEA. 
 
 "When sailing nobly on the swelling tide, 
 By that most splendid of created things, 
 The princely nautilus, of ocean's kings 
 The peerless empress, grander in its size, 
 "With brilliant comb, where azure of the skies, 
 "With purple tints and pink of every shade, 
 Blend in rich harmony, and melt and fade 
 With softened lustre or with glowing beam, 
 As blending colours of the rainbow gleam. 
 The greatest marvels of the tropic deep 
 Are countless reefs and coral isles that sleep 
 Like gems of beauty in their tranquil rest, 
 Eeposing softly on its jewelled breast. 
 Wonderful structures ! reared by insect swarms, 
 Who labour deep beneath the reach of storms ; 
 Commence their building on the rocky floor, 
 And lift their miles of bulwark round the shore j 
 Colossal fabrics of enormous length, 
 Broad-belted terraces of massive strength, 
 Fringing the land and forming harbours wide, 
 
THE SEA. 149 
 
 Where the wide world's proud fleets might safely 
 
 ride; 
 
 Eising at times far distant from the land, 
 Girdling the ocean with a circling band, 
 Like bridal rings of monstrous strength and size, 
 Dropped on the surface from the glowing skies. 
 All is amazing in these coral isles ; 
 Their huge circumference of countless miles, 
 The vast lagoons or ocean-lakes that sleep 
 Like placid pools within the foaming deep, 
 Belted and bulwarked by the circling zone 
 Of slow-compacted, firm, and massive stone ; 
 The strength with which the puny insects' home 
 Eepels with ease the strongest billow's foam ; 
 The tangled mass of plants and vital seeds 
 That, drifting idly with the ocean's weeds, 
 Best on the sea-wall of the new-built pile, 
 And swiftly change it to a coral isle, 
 Clothing with grace their quiet place of rest, 
 Crowning its circle with a verdant crest. 
 
150 THE SEA. 
 
 There the tall figure of the graceful palm 
 
 Fringes the framework of the inward calm ; 
 
 For man's advantage admirably made 
 
 To yield the double boon of fruit and shade ; 
 
 Fit food he gathers from its waving crest, 
 
 And finds, when wearily he sinks to rest 
 
 In calm unbroken slumber at its feet, 
 
 A grateful shadow from the scorching heat. 
 
 Its feathered branches rocking in the breeze, 
 
 Emblems of triumph over stormy seas, 
 
 Appear to those who peaceful shelter crave 
 
 A welcome warm with friendly arms to wave, 
 
 And lure the seaman to repose and ease 
 
 In these fair gardens of the tropic seas. 
 
 And wandering sea-birds, who, as pilgrims roam, 
 
 Searching the ocean for a quiet home, 
 
 Like the lone dove whose weary pinions found 
 
 No fitting resting-place or solid ground, 
 
 Scanning with painful and extended flight 
 
 The waste of waters, wearily alight, 
 
THE SEA. 151 
 
 With toil-worn plumage, on these isles that sleep 
 As arks of shelter on their parent deep. 
 These coral structures of stupendous strength, 
 Which dwarf the pyramids in height and length, 
 Slowly and noiselessly by inches rise 
 To meet the sunwarmth of the Southern skies ; 
 Their solid masonry, compact in form, 
 In massive bulk repels the wildest storm ; 
 Before their firmbuilt walls and spreading bounds 
 The loftiest mountains are but fairy mounds, 
 Proofs of the power that constant labour brings 
 To crown the toil of small and weakly things ; 
 Proofs that no giant scheme or proud design 
 Should fail, when men with plodding zeal combine ; 
 Enduring proofs what monuments sublime, 
 Ardour and patience can produce in time. 
 Unlike these glories of the watery plain, 
 These grand results of lengthened toil and pain, 
 There sometimes rises in the Southern main, 
 Quick and impulsive as a startling dream, 
 
152 THE SEA. 
 
 Mid fire and smoke, and clouds of hissing steam, 
 A swiftly formed and loosely structured isle, 
 A useless, worthless, perishable pile, 
 Upheaved by some volcano long submerged, 
 Above whose slumbers, waves for years have 
 
 surged, 
 
 Whose fretting fires for ages closely pent 
 Aroused at length have forced a fiery vent, 
 And with spasmodic struggles heaved and hurled 
 A melted mountain to the upper world, 
 And tossed its scorched and burning fragments high, 
 In clouds of ashes to the troubled sky. 
 Most wondrous sight ! where fishes sport and play, 
 Ships float and billows roll, in one short day, 
 Like some huge monster from his troubled sleep, 
 Eises an island from the boiling deep ; 
 To sink as swiftly ; born within a day, 
 In time as brief it melts and dies away, 
 Melts by the action of the rolling tides, 
 And scatters piecemeal, and with speed subsides ; 
 
THE SEA. 153 
 
 Its fabric of no solid substance formed, 
 
 By the first wave is shattered, breached, and 
 
 stormed, 
 
 Its base but cinders, and its sloping wall 
 Disjointed dust, one billow makes it fall ; 
 Hailed by some passing ship as new discovered 
 
 shore, 
 
 The place that knew it knows it now no more. 
 So have I known some sudden burst of zeal, 
 Boused by the thought of endless woe or weal, 
 With startling spasm shake the heaving breast, 
 In deathlike slumbers long at guilty rest, 
 And with the fury of a fiery blast, 
 Too fierce to pause, and far too hot to last, 
 Speed like a comet on its blazing way, 
 Then sink in sin and perish in a day ; 
 Born of some hot enthusiastic fit, 
 Nature's brief candle quenched as soon as lit ; 
 Like Jonah's gourd, which springing in a night, 
 With the same swiftness vanished from the sight, 
 
154 THE SEA. 
 
 Or shooting stars whose briefly flashing rays 
 Die in the outburst of their transient blaze, 
 Sparkle and glimmer with phosphoric light, 
 Then downward rushing in their falling flight, 
 Leave in their place the gloom of deeper night. 
 I know that God can work the work of grace, 
 Commence, enlarge, complete it, in time's shortest 
 
 space, 
 
 It must have been so with the dying thief, 
 Whose soul sprang heavenward in that moment 
 
 brief 
 
 That passed between his nailing to the tree, 
 And the last wrench that set his spirit free : 
 He who reviled, without remorse or shame, 
 "With dying lips the dying Saviour's name, 
 Shone as a jewel in that Saviour's crown, 
 Before that day's descending sun went down. 
 The morning saw him in the downward road, 
 Burdened and stained with guilt's tremendous load. 
 And evening found him with the saints above, 
 
THE SEA. 155 
 
 A loving servant of the God of love. 
 The sickle touched that tare, that weed of hell ; 
 Grace changed it, and as ripened grain it fell. 
 That word that spake, and worlds from nothing 
 
 sprang, 
 
 "While God's bright sons His skill creative sang, 
 Is mighty still to bid new planets roll. 
 Fresh suns arise, or new create the soul. 
 His grace is potent as the mighty arm 
 "Which sinks the tempest to the softest calm, 
 And yearly crowns low vale and spreading plain 
 "With the rich harvest of the golden grain. 
 His lips who breathed on Adam's moulded frame, 
 And earth-built man a living soul became, 
 Who chased the darkness of primaeval night, 
 And bathed the world in glory and in light ; 
 And when on earth spake sight to blinded eyes, 
 To sick men health, and bade the dead arise ; 
 Can chase the darkness of the mind away, 
 And flood its chambers with eternal day ; 
 
156 THE SEA. 
 
 Can bid His word as living seed take root, 
 And yield its harvest of immortal fruit ; 
 Can soften down the bleak and flinty soil, 
 And bid it flow with streams of wine and oil ; 
 Can bid dead souls cast off" their dearth and gloom, 
 And with sweet graces blossom, bud, and bloom ; 
 Bid Pharisees God's needed grace implore, 
 And sinners pray, who never prayed before ; 
 "With one sharp call can make the vilest leap, 
 Like buried Lazarus, from their guilty sleep ; 
 In one short hour can purge the deepest taint, 
 And change the sinner to the ripened saint. 
 Tes, God can do it, and he sometimes may 
 Perfect His work within a single day ; 
 The babe in Christ in such brief moment can 
 By God's rich grace become the fullgrown man ; 
 But rarely thus, God's ways are seldom so, 
 By gradual steps His sons to manhood grow; 
 God's work of grace is carried on for years, 
 And first the blade and then the fruit appears ; 
 
THE SEA. 157 
 
 The babe is born at once, but grows and thrives, 
 Feeds on the word, and with temptation strives, 
 Grows strong in love, adds valour to his love, 
 And pushes onwards to his home above ; 
 The mounting pilgrim treads from strength to 
 
 strength 
 
 The road to Heaven in all its upward length ; 
 A living temple, a divine abode, 
 And dwelling fitted for a holy God, 
 Built up in faith, he rises stone on stone 
 Till crowned with glory at the Saviour's throne. 
 The sapling yields but scant and meagre fruit, 
 Though rivers feed its amply watered root ; 
 But when it spreads its growing branches wide, 
 With strength and health by rolling years supplied, 
 Its strong, mature, and nobly perfect form, 
 Warmed by the sun, uninjured by the storm, 
 Fed by the dew of many summers' skies, 
 Nourished by sap its living root supplies, 
 Is rich with boughs which porch and lattice drape 
 
158 THE SEA. 
 
 With blushing clusters of the luscious grape. 
 The work of grace is like the coral pile, 
 That rises slowly to the lasting isle, 
 Solid, compact, its strong-built bulwarks steep 
 Hurl back the billows of the stormy deep ; 
 In quiet depths far down beneath the shock 
 Of earth's rude tempests, to the living rock, 
 Cemented firmly, welded and secure, 
 The base remains immoveable and sure. 
 Thus he who lays his hope's foundation low, 
 Deep in the seas of love that ebb and flow 
 Around G-od's throne in shoreless tides of grace, 
 And finds Christ's smitten side the only place, 
 The only rock on which his soul can rear 
 Its sheltered harbour from distress and fear, 
 And resting there, and claiming as his own 
 That God-appointed tried Foundation Stone, 
 Builds himself up with godly fear and care, 
 With constant vigilance and ceaseless prayer, 
 With girdle braced pursues the Christian race 
 
THE SEA. 159 
 
 With fervour uses all the means of grace, 
 With the whole armour of the God of light 
 Wars a good warfare in the Christian fight, 
 Eemains unshaken in the awful hour 
 Of the great Tempter's most seductive power, 
 Unmoved sustains the fretting ills of life, 
 Its daily conflicts and its wearing strife, 
 Eepels the onslaughts of the hosts of hell, 
 When stormy trials wildly rage and swell, 
 His light with clear and ever brighter ray 
 Eefulgent shining to the perfect day. 
 His priceless labours richer harvests yield, 
 And yearly bless an ever widening field, 
 As some vast river in its lengthened way, 
 Through fertile valleys to the open bay, 
 Bears on the bosom of its flowing stream, 
 With sunlit wave and many a joyous gleam, 
 Its fertilising treasures far and wide, 
 In brimming plenty on its rolling tide, 
 His life's swift current ends its useful flight 
 
160 THE SEA.. 
 
 In the wide ocean of eternal light. 
 Or like some tree of noble span and girth 
 Whose boughs with plenty fill the lap of earth, 
 This tree of righteousness while dwelling here 
 Enriches earth with each advancing year, 
 In nobler plenty till the hand of love 
 Transplant his spirit to the land above ; 
 His life-long fruits of solid worth and weight 
 A lasting blessing to the Church and State. 
 Of those who bend beneath the Gospel rule, 
 And sit with Mary in the Saviour's school, 
 God seldom grants pre-eminence in grace, 
 Abundant service or exalted place, 
 To slothful laggards in the Christian race, 
 But crowns with lofty excellence, the saints 
 Whose fervour never flags, whose spirit never 
 
 faints, 
 
 Who meek and docile diligently wait 
 With open ear at Wisdom's open gate, 
 With plodding labours and persistent aim 
 
THE SEA. 161 
 
 Peed well their lamps and trim the glowing flame, 
 "With hope undying and unflagging zest, 
 Which knows no respite and which asks no rest, 
 Thus seek to grow with zeal that never faints, 
 The ripest scholars and the brightest saints. 
 Who prays with fervour shall with grace be crowned, 
 Who thanks with ardour shall with joys abound, 
 Who digs the deepest find the richest ore, 
 Improves his talents shall be blessed with more ; 
 When harvest dawns those reapers best succeed, 
 And louder singing take the foremost lead, 
 Who scatter widest wisdom's golden seed, 
 Those soldiers brightest palm and laurels bear, 
 Who sternest perils brave and roughest hardships 
 
 Share; 
 
 The amplest draughts those fishers bless at last, 
 Whose nets with patience and with toil are cast, 
 And those shine brightest in the ransomed host, 
 Who suffer longest and who labour most. 
 
PAET VI. CONCLUSION. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Proofs of infinite wisdom its Maker's signet and stamp its 
 teeming marvels prodigality of its vast stores in all ages 
 taught man to adore God inspired his soul with lessons of 
 piety and trust the four seasons the sea present in every 
 zone variety of the lands it visits beauty and value of 
 its varied products loveliness and loathsomeness of its 
 living tenants the exhaustless theme of poets fruitful 
 field for painters the variety and glory of sea sketches 
 musicians feebleness of poetry, painting, and music to do 
 justice to the sea inspired penmen honour done to the 
 sea in God's Word the sepulchre of sleeping saints 
 superior honour done to the sea at the Deluge passage of 
 Israel through the Red Sea Jesus walking on its waves 
 bidding it be calm feasting multitudes on its products 
 making it the scene of His miracles and ministry visiting its 
 shores after His refiurrection giving on its banks His last 
 command, " Feed my sheep" its constant testimony to the 
 CREATOR and SAVIOUR as ONE. 
 
ffifo 
 
 PAST VI. CONCLUSION. 
 
 " The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them 
 that have pleasure therein." PSALM cxi. 2. 
 
 OST wondrous Sea ! in endless wisdom 
 
 planned, 
 Stamped with the signet of thy Maker's 
 
 hand; 
 
 Thy desert waters in their vast extent, 
 By His control within due limits pent, 
 Girdled with belt of strand and solid rock, 
 Pit to repel high tide or stormy shock ; 
 What teeming marvels through thy wide domain, 
 Where light or darkness, calm or tempest, reign, 
 
 M 
 
166 THE SEA. 
 
 With lavish prodigality are spread, 
 Swarm in thy depths, and sparkle overhead, 
 Moat on thy surface, grace thy boundless shores, 
 Pill thy deep caves, or deck thy shining floors ! 
 Thy grand old features from remotest time 
 Have filled man's heart with ecstasy sublime ; 
 Enriched his thoughts, his deathless soul refined, 
 And Godward pointed his adoring mind. 
 In Arctic, Torrid, and in every zone, 
 Garnished and crowned with glories of thine own ; 
 Eeflecting on thy vast and liquid breast, 
 Sunrise and sunset in the east and west, 
 Sleeping in cloud-shade, or in starry light, 
 Or silver moonbeams in the stilly night, 
 Covered with gorgeous canopy of robes, 
 Studded and spangled with resplendent globes. 
 Winter and summer, spring and autumn, yield 
 Their varied splendours to thy ample field ; 
 Thy noble scenes as winter rude and wild, 
 As spring-time balmy, and as summer mild ; 
 
THE SEA. 167 
 
 While fishers through an endless autumn reap 
 Enormous harvests from thy swarming deep. 
 Most peerless Sea ! whose presence felt and known 
 Pervades each hemisphere and belted zone ; 
 Skirting soft soils where myrtles kiss the wave, 
 And granite shores which giant causeways pave ; 
 Lands fair as Paradise, where living green 
 With velvet mantle decks the fairy scene 5 
 And craggy coasts, where dismal horrors dweD, 
 Dark and repulsive as the gates of hell ; 
 Producing from thy womb a boundless store 
 Of food for man of every clime and shore, 
 A thousand dishes of substantial fare, 
 Nutritious esculents and dainties rare ; 
 And yet thy waves rapacious tyrants breed, I* b 
 Whose guilty tribes on human victims feed. 
 Thy shells cast forth by every tide and storm, 
 Of brilliant colour and of graceful form, 
 In splendour vie with birds of richest plume, 
 Bright summer flowers, and fruits of softest bloom ; 
 
168 THE SEA. 
 
 "While humble tenants of thy waters bear 
 Gems of soft beauty to adorn the fair : 
 And yet within thy depths foul monsters work, 
 And loathsome objects creep, and deadly dangers 
 
 lurk. 
 World-famous bards their noblest harps have 
 
 strung, 
 
 And lofty pSBans in thy favour sung, 
 Have made the treasures of thy vast domain 
 The fitting objects of their sweetest strain ; 
 Amid thy depths and desert wastes have found 
 A theme for melodies of richest sound, 
 And taught their muse in many a lovely lay, 
 Thy varied scenes and wondrous forms portray ; 
 And skilful painters have enriched our walls, 
 Our private dwellings, and our public halls, 
 "With scenes of beauty from thy heaving breast, 
 Thy raging billows or thy waves at rest, 
 Thy coral islands and thy vaulted caves, 
 And rocky headlands lashed by leaping waves ; 
 
THE SEA. 169 
 
 The verdant woods that crown thy lofty heights, 
 The moonlit softness of thy summer nights, 
 The awful grandeur of thine Arctic forms, 
 The gloom and terror of thy wintry storms, 
 The snow-froth fringing sunny creeks and bays, 
 The warning foam that surging breakers raise, 
 Wide reefs with wrecks and shattered fragments 
 
 strewn, 
 
 As splintered timber in the forest hewn ; 
 Soft balmy scenes, where all things seem to sleep 
 In dreamy stillness on the tranquil deep ; 
 Harbours of refuge, free and friendly ports ; 
 Eough battlemented cliffs, with massive forts 
 Bristling with cannon in the front and rear, 
 Wide-gaping monsters, marshalled tier on tier, 
 Frowning defiance, as about to break 
 The death-like silence, and with wrath awake 
 A thousand echoes with their thunder roar, 
 And hurtling hail and flaming lightnings pour 
 On hostile fleet or rash intruder strange, 
 
170 THE SEA.. 
 
 That dares to float within their distant range : 
 And peaceful glimpse of ever-tranquil shore, 
 "Where trumpet peal or cannon's angry roar 
 The still soft silence never rudely stirred, 
 "War-cry or dying groan were never heard, 
 On whose green slopes, unpressed by martial tread, 
 No smitten foeman fell, no prostrate hero bled. 
 A thousand artists trained to limn and trace 
 The world's fair landscapes with the richest grace, 
 A thousand poets with their pens of fire, 
 And skilled musicians with their softest lyre, 
 Have paid their tribute to thy grace divine, 
 And laid their products on thy lofty shrine ; 
 And after all their proud attempts to sketch 
 Thy fairest forms of beauty, and to fetch 
 Their inspiration from the ample hoard 
 Of matchless glories in thy bosom stored, 
 Their brightest gems have failed, and faintly seem 
 To shadow but some sparse and feeble gleam 
 Of vaster glories that defy the pen, 
 
THE SEA. 171 
 
 And shame the skill of wisest, ablest men. 
 The noblest painters' best productions trace 
 But scanty outlines of thy peerless grace, 
 And sweetest poets in their brilliant verse 
 But meagre fragments of thy charms rehearse. 
 Well may thy breast, O sea, with swelling tide, 
 With loudest thunders, and with lofty pride, 
 Heave with fond triumph, when thy sounding 
 
 praise 
 
 Feeds the best poets' best and noblest lays ; 
 And gifted painters of the highest name 
 Have wrought their best to spread thy lasting 
 
 fame : 
 
 But, nobler still, whose scenes with glowing pen, 
 High-gifted prophets, seers, and holy men, 
 Have traced with rapture on that wondrous page 
 The guide of childhood and the staff of age, 
 By God inspired, who formed thy flowing waves, 
 Thy teeming treasures, and thy coral caves. 
 Thy waters hold within their cold embrace, 
 
172 THE SEA. 
 
 Concealed from man, in many a lonely place, 
 Sacred deposits, waiting but the dawn 
 That bids them hail the resurrection morn, 
 The sleeping relics of the honoured dead, 
 Heroes renowned, whose blood in battle shed, 
 Commingled freely with the peaceful waves 
 That moaned a requiem o'er their quiet graves ; 
 And nobler still than mighty heroes' dust 
 Consigned as treasure to thy breachless trust, 
 Martyrs have found beneath thy yielding wave 
 Their quiet resting-place and hallowed grave, 
 While thousands of their fellow- Christians sleep 
 In calm repose below thy stormy deep. 
 But grandest still of all the honours paid, 
 And lofty tributes on thine altar laid, 
 The honour done thee by the Grod who made 
 Thy boundless waters, when the voice that spoke, 
 And teeming worlds to conscious life awoke, 
 Forced thy rude tumult His command to hear, 
 And hushed thy billows in their mad career ; 
 
THE SEA. 173 
 
 When the roused might of God's avenging hand 
 
 Burst the firm barriers of thy coral strand, 
 
 And bade thy waters in a deluge pour 
 
 O'er the wide circuit of each guilty shore, 
 
 Thy depths were broken up, thy torrents poured 
 
 From the vast fountains where their force was 
 
 stored, 
 
 In vengeful fury to perdition hurled 
 The teeming tenants of the peopled world, 
 Thy billows swept from off the deluged ground 
 All breathing things wherever man was found, 
 But bore in safety in their floating bark 
 The rescued household of the faith-built Ark ; 
 At His command thy surging waves went 
 
 forth, 
 
 Tremendous instruments of kindled wrath, 
 And mingling mercy with the fatal blow, 
 Lifted the righteous from the awful woe ; 
 And once again in mingled wrath and love 
 Gave thee thy mandate from His throne above, 
 
174 THE SEA. 
 
 Made thee the subject of His wondrous might, 
 And clave thy waters as a path for flight, 
 To snatch triumphantly His chosen seed 
 From hopeless terror in their sorest need ; 
 Like pent-up current of some giant sluice, 
 With sudden deluge in its might let loose, 
 Unbound thy waves, and bade their torrents flow 
 In angry vengeance on His haughty foe : 
 Put forth the power Omnipotence can wield 
 To make thy depths their living treasures yield, 
 To fill the nets in faith cast once again, 
 Though spread all night with patient toil in vain, 
 To bless His servants with an ample store 
 
 Those lowly men had never known before, 
 
 +.. 
 
 Prove His true Godhead to the chosen few, 
 Pay the tax asked, though never justly due, 
 And make scant products of thy waters feed 
 The famished thousands in their starving need : 
 And when those feet that walked our fallen earth 
 To scatter good, and change its grief to mirth, 
 
THE SEA. 175 
 
 "Walking thy surface as a grassy plain, 
 
 Made thy rough waves His sacred form sustain. 
 
 The noblest jewel in thy crown of fame, 
 
 That God Incarnate' s worn and weary frame 
 
 Was lulled to slumber on thy heaving breast, 
 
 His sacred footprints on thy surface pressed, 
 
 His wisdom stooped from thy smooth waves to 
 
 preach 
 
 To thousands gathered on thy pebbly beach ; 
 His mercy deigned His wonders to perform 
 Amid thy scenes of varied calm and storm. 
 And after death, when risen from the grave, 
 The loved Eedeemer, near thy flowing wave, 
 Bevealed His scarred but now immortal frame, 
 Ere quitting earth His promised throne to claim ; 
 Walked on the margin of thy rippling side, 
 Heard the soft murmur of thy gentle tide ; 
 Saw thy blue waters peacefully at rest, 
 And sunrise kindling on thy gleaming breast, 
 And on thy shining shore, with welcome voice, 
 
176 THE SEA. 
 
 Cheered His loved friends, and made their hearts 
 
 rejoice, 
 
 Fed on the products of thy fruitful deep, 
 And gave His last commandment, "Feed my 
 
 sheep." 
 Thrice-honoured Sea! thy scenes and swelling 
 
 breast 
 
 For all mankind are sanctified and blessed, 
 Linked with the Gospel of a Saviour's grace, 
 Wherever preached, in every age and place, 
 Stamped with the signet of that boundless love 
 And mighty prowess which He wields above, 
 And, bidding man, with never-dying voice 
 To trust in Christ and in His love rejoice, 
 While loud and clear thy rolling waves proclaim 
 The dying Saviour and our risen Lord the same. 
 
Jaitorag 
 
 NE crisp autumnal morning, 
 When day was brightly dawning, 
 My bed I snugly kept, 
 
 And calmly, calmly slept, 
 
 'Till bell and gong and ringing chime 
 
 Proclaimed our usual breakfast time. 
 
 Then leisurely and neatly 
 
 I dressed myself completely, 
 
 Without the slightest bustle, 
 
 Or straining nerve or muscle ; 
 
 No hurry or high pressure 
 
 Disturbed my tranquil leisure ; 
 
 And stepping, stepping lightly, 
 
180 THE BAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 And smiling, smiling brightly, 
 On wife and children three 
 That clustered round my knee, 
 Patting heads and kissing lips 
 That all the charms of earth eclipse, 
 Bright eyes from which the light in liquid splen- 
 dour flows, 
 
 And cheeks that shame the Persian rose, 
 And marble brows that rival Hermon's snows, 
 I sat me down in perfect ease, 
 "With nought to flurry, worry, tease, 
 But all serene as though my placid soul 
 Could treat a rapid flight from pole to pole, 
 Or journey of two hundred leagues as nought, 
 A trifle too minute to rouse a passing thought. 
 I talked with each, and smiled, and joked, 
 And laughed my loudest till I choked, 
 Did ample justice to the ham, 
 Cold chicken, cutlet, eggs and jam, 
 Pulled on my boots and pulled the bell, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 181 
 
 Then gently whispered, " Will you tell, 
 Sweet Queen of fairies, dearest Mab, 
 The boy to hail the nearest cab." 
 I softly glided to my room 
 My handkerchief and gloves perfume, 
 Pull the last strap and buckle tight, 
 See that my purse and its contents are right, 
 Give the firm lock its secret click, 
 Take down my hat and walking stick, 
 Give the last touch to my ambrosial curls, 
 The last long kiss to both my darling girls, 
 Then, stepping from the door of No. five, 
 Enter the cab, kiss hands, and off we drive. 
 With springy cab and cushioned seat, 
 The horse and driver fast and fleet, 
 We smoothly glide through crowded street, 
 And lulled by each serene sensation, 
 To dreamland's calmest contemplation, 
 We reach in time the Eailway Station. 
 There on the threshold of its massive portal, 
 
 K 
 
182 THE BATLWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 Putting to flight this raptured bliss immortal, 
 
 "What horrid contrasts do my dreamy soul awake, 
 
 My heartstrings torture and my courage rudely shake ! 
 
 Who can depict the Babel that awaits 
 
 Our entrance through those wide extending gates ? 
 
 A whirlwind with its fiery blast 
 
 That circles round and never rushes past, 
 
 A tempest beating with its ceaseless roar 
 
 The iron ramparts of some rocky shore, 
 
 A concentrated storm of blinding sleet and snow, 
 
 Red bolts, rough winds and raging waves, as though 
 
 Prom the four quarters of the maddened world, 
 
 Were gathered up all storms and rudely hurled 
 
 Into the precincts of that dreadful hall, 
 
 Where hellish sounds affright and strangest sights 
 
 appal ! 
 
 To what dread scenes on this polluted earth, 
 Of frantic revelry or madman's mirth, 
 Of deadly horror or of deepest woe, 
 Of phrensied guilt or passion's fiercest glow, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 183 
 
 May we compare the tangled sounds and calls 
 Eude mirth and horrid din within those wondrous 
 walls ? 
 
 Closjng the eye and judging by the ear, 
 
 The swaying sea of surging sounds appear, 
 
 With discord maddened to its fiercest heat, 
 
 And pulse of fury to its maddest beat, 
 
 Like hell exulting in its broken chain 
 
 With Bedlam bellowing in its rabid train, 
 
 Grim negroes yelling out their wrongs 
 
 Of knotted scourge and twisted thongs, 
 
 Or drunken sailors in a gale 
 
 With groaning mast and flapping sail, 
 
 In maniac troops with fury shouting 
 
 'Mid foaming waters breaking spouting, 
 
 Cordage creaking, 
 
 Pulleys squeaking, 
 
 While bursting waves in sheets of roaring foam 
 
 Split, shake, and smash their wooden home ; 
 
184 THE EAILWAT JOUBNEY. 
 
 And like a Titan's ringing hammer, 
 
 With everlasting din and clamour, 
 
 A Babel noise of clashing blows, 
 
 Like Vulcan smiting all his foes, 
 
 "With rapid strokes that rise and fall, 
 
 Wakes the sharp echoes of that frightful hall. 
 
 I learn at length the great producing cause 
 
 Of all this lawlessbreach of wholesome Railway laws ; 
 
 Two noted bruisers of superb renown, 
 With half the rabble loose upon the town, 
 Are moving northward to some chosen spot 
 Where fields are common and policemen not, 
 To bang and batter, crush and madly sting 
 Each other's structures in the corded ring, 
 Till brutal blows have mashed to pulp the face, 
 Fashioned in nature's noblest mould of grace, 
 And through the breaches of its battered clay, 
 The injured spirit works its outward way ; 
 And while the victor threatened justice flies, 
 His mangled brother in the roped arena dies. 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 185 
 
 BUT first of all, 
 Before the hall, 
 
 What carts and cabs and loaded flies, 
 With baggage vans of every size 
 Stream before our wildered eyes. 
 Top heavy carriages with pendulous emotion 
 Eocking and heaving like a stormy ocean, 
 Flies in which five with ease could scarcely ride 
 Loaded unfairly with the fair inside, 
 A dozen girls with veils and hairnets all in spangles, 
 And broken crinolines in sharply pointed angles, 
 Their brothers, uncle, and their country cousin, 
 Piled on the roof-top by the round half-dozen, 
 'Mid pyramids of trunks, whose vast dimension 
 Tighten the cordage to its utmost stretch of ten- 
 sion. 
 
 And when our feet have passed the portal, 
 Are we on earth ? and are our senses mortal ? 
 What sounds of fear 
 
186 THE BAILWAY JOUBNEY. 
 
 Assail our ear, 
 
 "What sights surprise 
 
 Our dazzled eyes ! 
 
 From every quarter 
 
 Cries of "Porter," 
 
 Ladies falling, 
 
 Babies squalling, 
 
 Children racing, 
 
 Tearing, chasing, 
 
 Servants rushing, 
 
 Bonnets crushing, 
 
 Thick-thewed porters with their burdens reeling, 
 
 Their piled up trucks and loaded barrows wheeling. 
 
 And what a motley mass of human life, 
 
 Surges and sways in mingled mirth and strife ! 
 
 Cooks with faces fiery red, 
 
 Pampered lackeys grossly fed, 
 
 Cadaverous wretches with their lanthorn jaws, 
 
 Hooked nose, keen eye, and oily paws, 
 
 Sublimely garrulous, and ghastly thin, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 187 
 
 With broad rimmed spectacles and bearded chin ; 
 Flash swells and rustics with a gait uncouth, 
 And tottering age and maids of blooming youth ; 
 Smart Nimrods speeding to the appointed meet 
 With thick- thonged whip, red coat, and booted feet ; 
 Light fingered gentry with their furtive looks, 
 And hang- dog gamblers with their betting books ; 
 Grave elders hobbling on their stout oak sticks, 
 And saucy youngsters full of fun and tricks ; 
 Gay foreigners of every clime and hue, 
 The nigger singer and the peddling Jew, 
 Poor Jew, whose brow in every age and clime 
 Bears the broad brand of deep ancestral crime ; 
 Tawdry smart Frenchmen and dull German clowns, 
 One bright with smiles, the other dark with frowns, 
 One sharp as treble, and as bass the other loud, 
 Linked like the lightning to the thunder cloud ; 
 Bloated Dutch skippers redolent of gin, 
 And lanky scarecrows with a Tanky grin ; 
 Some finding it impossible to calculate their change, 
 
188 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 Scolding and cursing all within their range, 
 Taking the matter anything but mildly, 
 Jabbering like parrots, and gesticulating wildly ; 
 While close-packed mobs with loud discordant 
 
 sounds, 
 
 Pierce yelping like a pack of hungry hounds, 
 Like clustered bees in time of swarming, 
 Or winter crowd of schoolboys warming, 
 Are crushing to the open wickets, 
 And madly asking for their tickets, 
 Or louder than a thousand Babels, 
 Shout, scream, and bawl for luggage labels. 
 
 AT length like seaman from the boiling surge 
 
 Half choked and stifled I with pain emerge, 
 
 Eroni this most stormy sea, 
 
 With dislocated knee, 
 
 With ancle sprained, 
 
 And raiment stained, 
 
 With hat most sadly shattered, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 189 
 
 And ribs most sorely battered, 
 
 With shins contused, 
 
 And elbows bruised, 
 
 With spirits saddened, 
 
 Feelings maddened 
 
 To find myself in spite of patent guard, 
 
 Minus a watch, and plus an inch of card. 
 
 marvels greet me on the platform stage, 
 Marvels suggestive of this wondrous age, 
 New fangled articles bestrew the stalls, 
 Huge placards gape and stare along the walls, 
 Each panel flaming with portentous sights, 
 Shirts, surplices and robes for festive rites, 
 Tremendous babies fed on patent groats, 
 And rampant horses neighing, " do you bruise 
 
 your oats ?" 
 
 Huge carrots which no earthly pot could boil, 
 And sickening flagons of cod liver oil, 
 Steam saws, steam ploughs, and patent harrows, 
 
190 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 And tempting net-work to entrap the sparrows, 
 
 And dainty views of milliner's recesses, 
 
 With smiling ladies fitting on most elegant new 
 
 Ale leaving frothily its monstrous jug, 
 And Titan notices of "THORLEY'S MUG," 
 In letters beating all the world for size, 
 So that the most obtuse of heedless eyes, 
 Or he who runs with swiftest haste and speed, 
 May catch the dazzling sense and easy read. 
 
 With blushing face a lovely maiden stares 
 
 Prom gilded frame, to tempt us to some wondrous 
 
 wares. 
 
 You marvel how her youthful face obtained 
 Such hoary locks, such venerable ringlets gained ; 
 For from the central parting from above 
 She vies with ravens and the milk-white dove, 
 The left side hair as white as spotless snow, 
 The right hand locks as dark as ebon sloe ; 
 
THE RAILWAY JOUBNEY. 191 
 
 Half swan, half crow, without a blush of shame 
 She smiles for ever from her gilded frame. 
 The owner of this wondrous virgin boasts, 
 She fairly represents the countless hosts 
 Who at his counter with his balm supplied, 
 Have laid their well spent money down and dyed. 
 He promises the world " no more grey hairs," 
 If they in plenty use his renovating wares. 
 If only wise enough to buy and try 
 One dozen bottles of his matchless dye, 
 He promises the credulous and fair 
 At sixty a uniquely charming head of hair, 
 And if they use in plenty his pots of creamy grease 
 The richness of its verdure will daily much in- 
 crease. 
 
 No barren temples shall betray their age, 
 Or warning white approaching death presage, 
 No snowy flakes advancing years proclaim, 
 No grey hair scandalise or baldness shame ; 
 Methuselah shall vie with Cupid's youthful face, 
 
192 THE BAILWAY JOUBNEY. 
 
 And flowing auburn curls his wrinkled forehead 
 
 grace. 
 
 Here Lady Carrot by the liberal use 
 Of his most fertilising crinile juice, 
 May turn her ringlets soft as softest down, 
 In flowing locks of most luxurious brown, 
 And by employing with a lavish hand 
 His Zylobalsamum and Crino-krand, 
 In one short month may give her foxy girls 
 Most graceful, or at least most greaseful curls. 
 Then at her side 
 In rival pride, 
 
 Another flaming placard claims, 
 To gain the same praiseworthy aims, 
 With unction spreads its unctuous board of sweets, 
 And meekly boasts their most surprising feats, 
 Asks leave to befriend 
 
 The world in its woes, 
 Its tortures to end 
 
 Prom its crown to its toes, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 193 
 
 With patented soaps and inflexible dyes, 
 And washes for weak and irascible eyes, 
 Specifics to give Bartimeus his sight, 
 Elixirs to wash the dense Blackamoor white, 
 To turn the crisp wool of the negro to hair, 
 And change the rough hand of the labourer fair ; 
 While near it are paintings of picturesque schools, 
 For the dullest of drones, and the weakest of fools, 
 Which promise to soften the hardest of brains, 
 And tame petted panthers with discipline's chains. 
 And there in mammoth bulk and ponderous pro- 
 portions, 
 
 Stand art-assisted Nature's gross abortions, 
 The last prize wether and the fattest ox 
 Grazing with apoplectic stare at Bramah's thief- 
 proof box. 
 
 Great Eowland too emblazons on the wall, 
 To fit the ugly for the route and ball, 
 His wizard adjuncts to the toilet table, 
 And boasts that for a guinea he is able 
 
194 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 With lotions, brushes, powder, patch and paint 
 To fill each wrinkle and erase each taint, 
 Cure pimples and all forms of skin complaint, 
 Keep up the rosy colour of the cheek, 
 Preserve its contour round and smooth and sleek, 
 Tinge the complexion with the healthy hue 
 And balmy freshness of the roseal dew, 
 Give to the teeth the snow of orient pearl, 
 To ancient locks a wavy glossy curl, 
 And on the verge of four or twenty score, 
 The blushing bloom of gay sixteen restore. 
 
 And all around, around, around, 
 
 "What useful and what useless goods abound, 
 
 Railway wrappers, cloaks and straps, 
 
 Brandy flasks and smoking caps, 
 
 Here on all sides you may find 
 
 Pood for body, food for mind, 
 
 Fittings for the head and leg, 
 
 Hang about on every peg, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 105 
 
 Babies' feeding-bottles, fans, 
 Wooden cups and leathern cans, 
 Sticks, umbrellas, Highland shawls, 
 Fishing rods and overalls, 
 Ginger beer and almond cakes, 
 Gaiters, jerseys, wideawakes, 
 Pens and ink, direction cards, 
 
 Watch defenders, patent guards, 
 
 
 Works of every size and name, 
 
 By men unknown or known to fame, 
 
 Magazines, Eeviews, and books, 
 
 Paper cutters, button hooks, 
 
 Broad sheets full of comic fun 
 
 Caustic jest or joking pun, 
 
 Sensation novels and most trashy tales, 
 
 In which no scanty gauze the coarsest vileness veils, 
 
 A few dry sermons here and there dispersed 
 
 To gild the poison and condone the worst ; 
 
 A proud array of works on shelf and stall, 
 
 To please, instruct, and suit the taste of all, 
 
196 THE .RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 A noble harvest from the fertile soil 
 Of British brains, robust with mental toil. 
 Each pot of ointment has its rotting fly, 
 No sun shines speckless in the midday sky, 
 And here to mar the outspread feast of mind, 
 A mottled brood of viee-fanged tomes we find. 
 Some sage conductors of a Eailway serial, 
 Deem it should be most frothy and aerial, 
 To please the palate of their reading classes 
 Our fast young men, and very fast young lasses ; 
 And fill it full of fancy's wildest flights, 
 Of bloody horrors and of startling frights. 
 They pander to their vitiated taste, 
 Eschewing topics pure and subjects chaste, 
 Bow to their morbid craving for sensation 
 In doses of extremest condensation. 
 The eye of modest virtue cannot look 
 Through twenty pages of the spicy book, 
 Without the mantling blush of wounded shame, 
 Tinging the cheek with burning crimson flame, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 197 
 
 Full, full of vice of every grade and shape, 
 
 Incest and arson, bigamy and rape, 
 
 Of feats of most incredible atrocity, 
 
 And flying rides of most impossible velocity, 
 
 Lives of mad fiends with fascinating eyes 
 
 Who lured to ruin by their fair disguise, 
 
 Of hoggish brutisliness and deeds of loathsome 
 
 lust, 
 
 Sugared and varnished with transparent crust, 
 Memoirs of scoundrels whose rank deeds of 
 
 shame, 
 
 Make most men loathe the echo of their name, 
 A tangled web of crime impossible as vile, 
 A skein of brazen turpitude and subtly woven 
 
 guile, 
 
 Of deeds of diabolical monstrosity, 
 And scenes of demoniacal atrocity, 
 Of ghastly terrors and of thrilling joys 
 Tasted with vicious gust by beardless boys ; 
 Women in white and maids in modest mauve, 
 
 o 
 
198 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 Who through our streets at midnight choose to 
 
 rove; 
 
 Of double suicides and wholesale killing 
 To gain a bet or earn a paltry shilling ; 
 Of skeletons and duels fought in chains, 
 And men existing with no heart or brains ; 
 Of scalping Indians with their war-paint on, 
 Eoasting their victims ere the life be gone. 
 Such is the hotspiced pabulum or diet 
 Wolfishly swallowed by the class who buy it y 
 Which with its stimulating dram of wonder, 
 Murder, seduction, turpitude, and plunder, 
 Poisons the morals of our rising youth, 
 Ruins their taste for plain unvarnished truth, 
 Unstrings their mental nerves and undermines 
 That hometaught rectitude that intertwines 
 Its wholesome fibres through the youthful mind, 
 By Christian parents cultured, trained, refined ; 
 Enfeebles conscience and destroys the sense 
 Of sweet delight in works of innocence, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOTTBKEY. 199 
 
 Leading them by its glare of meteor light, 
 
 To choose the gilded wrong and spurn the pure 
 
 right, 
 
 Prefer sweet sins, bright crime and splendid vice 
 To the dull virtue of the overnice ; 
 Deride prosaic goodness as too slow a pace 
 At which to travel life's too fleeting race, 
 And deem fast living and a reckless haste 
 Their strength to squander and their health to 
 
 waste, 
 
 Their time to murder and their life consume 
 In rushing swiftly to an early tomb, 
 A thing more manly and profoundly sage, 
 Than living purely to a green old age ; 
 To scorn the Church, her Bible and her creeds, 
 Abjure as folly all unselfish deeds, 
 To spurn the laws that fiery lusts restrain, 
 Curb wanton looks and lawless passions rein, 
 And think the mandates of that G-od a bore 
 Whom angels serve and seraph hosts adore. 
 
200 THE RAILWAY JOUEffEY. 
 
 No doubt these volumes of tremendous crime, 
 Eank with the marvels of this wondrous time, 
 Like six-legged monsters and distorted creatures 
 Prized for their utter loathsomeness of features ; 
 Books which extenuate as most sublime 
 Deeds which attain the greatest altitude of crime, 
 Spasms of sin and fevered strokes of guilt, 
 Virtue betrayed and blood in oceans spilt, 
 Infants in petticoats with loaded dice, 
 Young Jezebels of twenty steeped in vice, 
 Beardless young Neroes and fair Magdalenes, 
 Still in the springtime of their budding teens, 
 Blooming young specimens of early sin, 
 Pull of rank treason, blasphemy, and gin ; 
 Are taking marvels on the penny stage, 
 And equal marvels in the penny page. 
 In this light literature of lightest trash 
 Like round stewed down to form a spicy hash, 
 One sometimes finds good authors of a nobler race 
 Condensed and melted into smallest space, 
 
THE BAILWAY JOTTENET. 201 
 
 Or rather, as it seems, the scribe designs 
 
 To give an Epic in a dozen lines, 
 
 To squeeze spasmodically fifty years 
 
 Of mingling sighs and joys, sweet smiles and bitter 
 
 tears, 
 
 And all a long life's spirit-stirring scenes, 
 Battles and pastimes, reigning kings and queens, 
 Domestic facts and public acts complete 
 In the short compass of a single sheet. 
 Who has not met these concentrated pills, 
 These narrowed doses of stupendous ills, 
 Where all the dramas of a lengthened age 
 Are hotly outlined on a single page, 
 And tragic wars with centuries of grief 
 Scarce reach the margin of a second leaf ; 
 Where Troy is taken, or lost Eden won 
 Before the setting of a winter's sun, 
 And where up zigzag paths of guilt and crime, 
 With pauseless frenzy heroes mount and climb, 
 Till midst a blaze of pride they kneel and kiss 
 
202 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 The highest summit of Olympic bliss. 
 Six points of agony and six of shame, 
 Give to the scoundrel a gigantic fame, 
 And on the turret of the lofty height, 
 Where the tale ends its hot spasmodic flight, 
 We find a wondrous change, black turned to white, 
 Bitter to sweet and clouds to dazzling light, 
 Each swindling wretch whose deeds we loathed to 
 
 trace, 
 
 Shines at the close a cherubim of grace, 
 And red-hand parricides and prodigies of crime, 
 Mirrors of virtue, models for all time. 
 All the rapt tales that charmed our souls of yore 
 Are now discarded as an irksome bore, 
 Too slow to please the modern spicy taste 
 Eor deep sensation and for frantic haste j 
 The good Sir Walter with his wizard pen 
 Is all but elbowed from the haunts of men, 
 By grander authors of the present day, 
 Whose crazed productions fill the crowded way ; 
 
THE BAILWAY JOTJBNEY. 203 
 
 Where life is painted as a rapid rush 
 Of spasms, ending in a startling crush ; 
 The hero whirling through his mad career 
 Of crime and virtue, sunny smile and tear, 
 With bounding heart, hot cheek and flashing 
 
 eye, 
 
 Intense in grief, or strung to ecstasy ; 
 Brilliant in venture, at a single stroke 
 His perilled fortune often made and broke ; 
 Quitting the death-bed of his dearest friend, 
 To foulest haunts his eager steps to wend ; 
 Leaving the coffin of his darling bride, 
 Headlong to plunge in pleasure's sparkling tide ; 
 Dying at last in abject rags and shame, 
 One hour before the public press proclaim 
 Him heir to millions, and a titled name. 
 Our modern murderess out-herods Herod now, 
 In flint-hard heart and triply brazen brow, 
 And yet this female villain who can slay 
 A thousand innocents in sportive play, 
 
204 THE BAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 Belies our old-world notions of the deep sunk eyes, 
 
 Bepulsive features, and gigantic size, 
 
 The shaggy locks, sepulchral voice and stride, 
 
 Bough hands with dirk or knotted club supplied ; 
 
 But dazzles readers as the heroine of sin, 
 
 With silvery laugh, and pinkest, softest skin, 
 
 A girl with thrilling voice, and nature's nameless 
 
 grace, 
 
 With strange chameleon beauty in her face, 
 A seeming phalanx of most artless smiles, 
 Masking a hell- deep heart of subtle guiles, 
 A charming pair of softly liquid eyes, 
 Full-orbed and lustrous as Italian skies, 
 The plate glass windows of the hall of sin, 
 The curtained loop-holes of the lurking fiend 
 
 within; 
 
 A creature pleasant as a playful fawn, 
 All bright and cheery as the rosy dawn ; 
 A leopard with her smooth simplicity of face, 
 Her splendid movements and bewitching grace, 
 
THE EAILWAT JOTTBtfEY. 205 
 
 Her velvet tread and fascinating charm 
 Of marbled throat, small feet, and rounded arm ; 
 Gifted at twenty with the lore of age, 
 And hard-earned wisdom, of the hoary sage ; 
 Joining the Minster's cultivated choir, 
 With cherub lips and seraph tongue of fire ; 
 Lamb-like in spirit, saint-like in her walk, 
 Dove-like in play, an angel in her talk ; 
 And yet a leopard, spotted to the core, 
 An untamed tiger, and a something more ; 
 A fiend, a monster of such crimson crimes 
 As pale the scarlet of all guilt-stained times ; 
 HelPs fiercest devil lodging in the breast 
 That seems to slumber with the calmest rest, 
 Filling the heart-cells of a youthful form 
 With the rank seeds of every hell-born storm ; 
 A lovely woman with a murderer's heart, 
 Skilled to seduce and act the reptile's part ; 
 A child of hell, of darkness and of night, 
 Eobed in a seraph's garb of spotless light. 
 
206 THE EAILWAT JOUBNEY. 
 
 THE latest moment servants bring 
 Paper bundles void of string, 
 Parcels strange in aprons tied, 
 The latest News and Bailway Guide, 
 Wondrous morsels wrapped in rags, 
 Boxes, trunks, valises, bags, 
 Particoloured, green and blue, 
 Stuffed witli boot, chemise and shoe, 
 Hampers crammed with goodly fare, 
 Meats and wine of vintage rare, 
 Eishing rods and fiddle-cases, 
 Hard to fix in fitting places. 
 
 The last friends part, 
 
 And off we start, 
 
 The engine pants and snorts and blows, 
 
 The carriage doorways slam and close, 
 
 The broad and ponderous wheels are rolled 
 
 By thick-set arms of iron mould, 
 
 While streaming from the spouting side 
 
THE EAILWAT JOURNEY. 207 
 
 *fhe steam escapee in hissing tide. 
 
 Cranch, crunch, thud, rud, dubber dub rub, 
 
 Thudder, rubber, dub-dub, dub-a-rub-rub-rub. 
 
 Startled at starting, for our nerves are weak, 
 
 We gasp for breath, 
 
 G-row pale as death, 
 
 As one long piercing, shrill, unearthly shriek 
 
 Kings thro' our ears, and stops the power to speak, 
 
 The cry of anguish, or vindictive yell 
 
 Of baffled imp, or vanquished fiend of hell, 
 
 The death-shriek of some monstrous beast, 
 
 We've smashed a million pigs at least. 
 
 Ah no ! no sucking pig has lost a bristle, 
 
 The shriek was but the starting Kailway whistle, 
 
 A friendly voice, that sharp as ringing steel, 
 
 Sends all along the line its thrilling peal, 
 
 Like shrill-toned herald, who with urgent claim 
 
 Clears a free path for Kings of awful name, 
 
 Warning all stragglers on the iron road, 
 
208 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 That King Leviathan, with crushing load, 
 
 Heaving his mighty limbs and Titan sides, 
 
 Begins his stately march with giant strides. 
 
 Patter, patter, 
 
 Puss and clatter, 
 
 Din and whirl and dust, 
 
 Plunge and push and thrust, 
 
 Vapour curling, 
 
 Ash-clouds whirling, 
 
 Piston rod and wheel 
 
 Of iron, brass and steel, 
 
 Flash and dance and reel, 
 
 Eising, falling, 
 
 Sliding, crawling, 
 
 Squeaking, bawling. 
 
 Our speed increases as we rattle down 
 
 And reach the suburbs of the outer town ; 
 
 And there, yes, there, 
 
 On the look-out slope of the garden sward 
 
 I caught a glimpse of my darling Maude, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 "With my laughing Jessie, a peerless two, 
 
 Fresh as young rosebuds bathed in dew, 
 
 Meet for a Prince's son to woo ; 
 
 Threw them a kiss as the train flashed past 
 
 "With the fiery speed of a tropic blast ; 
 
 Then gently dosed 
 
 "With eyelids closed ; 
 
 Crash ! crash ! what's that ? a peal of thunder ? 
 
 A rattling volley ? No, a bridge we've just passed 
 
 under. 
 
 Clouds of cinders, dust and smoke, 
 Every mouth and nostril choke ; 
 We close the windows with a sudden spring, 
 Our weary carcase in the padded corner fling, 
 Drop into snatches of uneasy dream, 
 Lulled by the rumbling and the spirting steam. 
 The docile engine with its whirling wheels, 
 Bright furnace fires, and brighter brass and steels, 
 Appeared with vital energies endowed 
 To ride the whirlwind and outstrip the cloud ; 
 
210 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 Now with slimy swiftness creeping, 
 Then with lightning fury leapin g 
 Like fiery steed, 
 "With headlong speed, 
 As meteor flashing, 
 Blazing, dashing, 
 Eoaring, rumbling, 
 Darting, tumbling, 
 
 Through walls and earthworks eranching, crumb- 
 ling, 
 
 Through swollen torrents wildly splashing, 
 Through densest forests madly crashing, 
 Like demon flying, 
 Screeching, crying, 
 Laughing, sighing, 
 Telling, dying, 
 Its big heart sobbing, 
 Pulses throbbing, 
 Sinews snapping, 
 Valve lids flapping. 
 
THE RAILWAY JOUKKEY. 21 i 
 
 Every motion full of wonder, 
 
 Still as death or loud as thunder, 
 
 Sometimes all its fibres straining, 
 
 Every bone and muscle paining, 
 
 Then with soft and noiseless tread, 
 
 Soothing nerves and aching head. 
 
 I dreamed of gently purling stream, 
 
 And moonlight's calm and silver gleam, 
 
 Of dewy mead and waving corn, 
 
 And peaceful dells and graceful fawn, 
 
 And rapt in soft voluptuous calm 
 
 I fell beneath my neighbour's arm, 
 
 Who grasping watch and hat and purse 
 
 With many a stunning blow and curse, 
 
 Trailed me along the carriage floor 
 
 And flung me headlong through the door. 
 
 In that dread moment of extreme suspense, 
 
 Of terror roused and agonizing sense, 
 
 When awful visions of impending death 
 
 G-lared in my face and choked my gasping breath, 
 
212 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 One hurried wild and phrenzied prayer 
 Pierced with its shriek the chilly air, 
 And as I felt that horrid thrust 
 That hurled me to my native dust, 
 And seemed to crush me hip and thigh, 
 My whole heart burst in one mad cry, 
 A cry of anguish quickly drowned 
 In the loud roar and rushing sound, 
 Of massive cars that like a rattling chain 
 Of monster links in one long thundering train, 
 Tore like a comet with its fiery load 
 O'er the hard pathway of the iron road. 
 Launched headlong forth I felt myself, 
 Like bottle shaken from some topmost shelf, 
 Dropping, falling, swift and yet more swift 
 'No arm to aid with grip or friendly lift ; 
 Crash, crash I fell, my brains all madly reeling, 
 My nerves unstrung, bereft of sense or feeling, 
 Absent in mind, oh would that I had been 
 Absent in body from that awful scene ! 
 
THE BAILWAY JOURNEY. 213 
 
 When loudest called to manfully exert us, 
 Why do our senses always then desert us, 
 Why do we swoon and in dead faintings sink, 
 When limb and mind ought most to act and think ? 
 On coming slowly to my self-possession, 
 I still formed part of some most strange procession ; 
 After my swift descent and headlong shock, 
 Clinging like limpet to some seabeat rock, 
 I had some vague and dreamy kind of notion 
 That I was skimming through some boiling ocean, 
 Stuck to the fin or cordaged to the tail 
 Of some tremendous and distracted whale, 
 Who ploughed the deep amid the angry roar 
 Of breakers booming on the rocky shore. 
 My second thoughts delivered me in haste, 
 From the wild regions of the watery waste, 
 I felt as one whose utmost strength 
 And breath exhausted, now at length 
 Confessing he has vainly striven, 
 With headlong force impelled and driven 
 
214 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 Is carried with the rushing crowd, 
 
 Mid martial din and clamour loud, 
 
 To brave the hailstorm of the blazing fight, 
 
 Or storm the breastwork of some cannoned height, 
 
 While overhead and all around 
 
 Rings every dread and cruel sound, 
 
 Plunging shot and bursting shell 
 
 Thundering with the rage of hell, 
 
 Bullets hissing, rattling, crashing, 
 
 Sword-blades sharply ringing, clashing, 
 
 The swaying, swerving, jostling crowd, 
 
 With eager shout and curses loud, 
 
 Straining every nerve to reach 
 
 The glacis of the deadly breach. 
 
 Then quick as fancy's swift and changing flight, 
 
 Eescued unscathed from out the dreadful fight, 
 
 I felt as part of some vast moving thing, 
 
 That sped with tramping feet and whirring wing, 
 
 Swiftly along against the cool night breeze, 
 
 Whose gusty eddies swept the passing trees ; 
 
THE EATLWAY JOTJRNEY. 215 
 
 Then as my memory stirred its latent power, 
 Awoke and summoned back the last half-hour, 
 I realized in all its weight of crushing fears 
 My true position in this world of tears. 
 When robbed and bruised, 
 Perplexed, confused, 
 My foe had roughly hurled 
 My body out upon the world, 
 
 I dropped and sank 
 
 Across the wooden plank, 
 
 That runs below the carriage floors, 
 
 Like one long step to all their doors ; 
 
 Like drowning man my nervous grasp 
 
 Had seized with tight convulsive clasp, 
 
 My fall to stop, 
 
 An iron prop, 
 
 That plank and carriage braced and bound, 
 
 Which kept me pendent from the ground. 
 
 The lengthy train 
 
 With might and main, 
 
216 THE BAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 Kept rushing fast, 
 
 Against the blast, 
 
 And threatened with its ponderous weight, 
 
 To hurl me swiitly to my dreadful fate. 
 
 Horror of horrors ! in this doleful plight, 
 
 To travel thus throughout the long wet night ! 
 
 Through the black night the swerving swinging 
 
 train, 
 
 Plew madly on through mist and pelting rain, 
 Surging and heaving like some iron bark, 
 Throbbing and tossing through the 'murky dark. 
 My grasp relapsed, I fell with sudden crash, 
 And o'er my prostrate form the luggage tumbrils 
 
 dash ; 
 
 No straight before me, to my glad surprise, 
 ,Sit comrades smiling as I rub my waking eyes : 
 'Twas all the vapour of a troubled dream, 
 The nightmare offspring of that hissing steam. 
 
THE BAIL WAT JOURNEY. 217 
 
 EASED of the horrors of that ghastly sleep, 
 I breathe more freely as we onward sweep, 
 Gleam like an arrow to the distant mark, 
 Through woodland, tillage, common, verdant park, 
 Through cultured fields, wide waste and golden 
 
 corn, 
 
 Bough weed-grown ground and level shaven lawn, 
 On glossy paths of polished metal glide, 
 From vapoury steam with lightning speed sup- 
 plied ; 
 With mountains bored, rocks pierced and rivers 
 
 bridged, 
 
 Swamps crusted firmly and long valleys ridged, 
 Deep through the bowels of the tunnelled hill, 
 Plunge with firm trust in guard and stoker's skill, 
 And fondly seem with pride-dilated form, 
 To ride the whirlwind and to drive the storm. 
 As sparks fly upward from the blazing pile, 
 So speeds the train along its measured mile ; 
 As some great river with its verdant brinks, 
 
218 THE KAILWAY JOTJENEY. 
 
 A score of countries joins and interlinks, 
 Binding them closely by its silver chain, 
 So doth the Eailway with its flashing train, 
 Link the bright villages and smoke-dull towns, 
 The palaced courtiers and the cottaged clowns, 
 Strings them like coins of silver and of brass, 
 Like beads of agate or of worthless glass, 
 Of regal purple or of homely red, 
 On the dark outline of its iron thread. 
 "We pause one moment at a country station, 
 Leap from our seat and make a great sensation, 
 In smiling troops of simple minded peasantry, 
 With whom we joke in badinage and plea- 
 santry, 
 
 Then quit the gaping rustics with a bound, 
 Join the swift train and spurn the iron ground. 
 The travellers, a motley crowd, 
 Young and old, sedate and loud, 
 Some as drunkards, full of riot, 
 Some as Quakers, mute and quiet, 
 
THE BAILWAY JOURNEY. 219 
 
 At every Station change about, 
 Out and in and in and out, 
 In and out and out and in, 
 Plump and bony, fat and thin, 
 Grandly great and meanly small, 
 Sweetly short and proudly tall, 
 Dwarfish as an elfish sprite, 
 Stout as giants trained for fight ; 
 Left behind or onward hurled, 
 Picture of the shifting world, 
 Where daily troops in haste arrive, 
 Join the race and headlong drive, 
 And other troops of young and old 
 Quit the stage and loose their hold, 
 Ever changing, ever shifting, 
 Numbers dropping, numbers lifting, 
 East as time, and fleet as light, 
 The train pursues its lightning flight. 
 
 NOT without music of a mingled kind* 
 
220 THE EAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 Angelic, fiendish, brutal and refined, 
 As sweet as seraph warblings floating by, 
 Or lark's rich flood of song from cloudless sky, 
 Commingling with the bursts of frantic song 
 And discord that to drunken feasts belong. 
 "Within the train the close-packed jovial crowd 
 Bound for the ring were boisterous and loud, 
 "With ribald turbulence and stormy tongues 
 Tenting rude insults from their roaring lungs, 
 Shouting the praises of the latest fight, 
 Vaunting the prowess of their hero's might, 
 Telling brief snatches of some tipsy verse, 
 "With startling interludes of catawaul and curse ; 
 "While the huge engine burdened and oppressed, 
 Prom the vast caverns of its mighty breast, 
 Sobbed a harsh chorus like a broken-winded horse, 
 Or fifty ravens with the influenza hoarse. 
 Too faint to bid this Babel cease, 
 Come mingling sounds of soothing peace ; 
 Along the banks which fringe the side, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 221 
 
 Upheld by poles extending wide, 
 
 Electric wires, 
 
 Like fairy choirs, 
 
 Trilling, trumming, 
 
 "Whistling, humming, 
 
 Whispering low 
 
 And soft and slow, 
 
 As lovers' sighs 
 
 And gentle cries, 
 
 Or rising sharp 
 
 As plaintive harp, 
 
 When struck to tell 
 
 The fond farewell, 
 
 Flooded the air 
 
 With music rare, 
 
 And full of sweet and magic power 
 
 As honied words in maiden's bower, 
 
 Or mellow notes that float on airy wings 
 
 Breathed by soft zephyrs from Eolian strings. 
 
 Within the carriage, on the other side, 
 
222 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 A girl of twelve, with all the mother's pride, 
 
 And ruffled plumage of a fussy hen, 
 
 Guarded and watched a brother boy of ten. 
 
 Profoundly bowing to this little dame 
 
 I asked her first her brother's age and name, 
 
 Made some sage mention of the wind and weather, 
 
 Said they looked charming as they sat together, 
 
 And when a few more words were spoken, 
 
 And all the ice thus kindly broken, 
 
 I asked her to beguile the weary time 
 
 By giving us a tale in prose or rhyme. 
 
 Said she, " I love to hear a story told, 
 
 Will you begin, for you are wise and old ?" 
 
 Said I, " The young begin ; if you will sing a song, 
 
 To soothe us as we fly along, 
 
 I'll do my best to tell an after tale, 
 
 Shall blanch your cheek and turn it ghastly pale." 
 
 Thus urged, the child, with modest grace, began, 
 
 And thus, as far as memory serves, the ditty ran. 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 223 
 
 litilu 
 
 What shall I sing ? of friendship and of love, 
 The purple pigeon and the milk-white dove ? 
 The rainbow's splendour and the ocean's charm, 
 The sweets of peace and battle's dread alarm ? 
 The soaring eagle or the lapwing's flight, 
 The raven's blackness or the soft lamb's white ? 
 
 Shall I sing to you of my mother's smiles, 
 
 Her soft sweet songs of far-off sunny isles, 
 
 Or shall I sing my father's sterling worth, 
 
 The pure high memory he left on earth, 
 
 And how the sad salt tears of mother's eyes, 
 
 Gushed like a torrent when he mounted to the skies ? 
 
 Or shall I sing of all I learned at school, 
 
 Of Erench and grammar, parsing, tense and rule, 
 
 The joys of music and the grief and gloom 
 
 Of sitting silent in a crowded room, 
 
 The sweetless puddings and the half-done meat, 
 
 The hard tent bedstead and the harder seat ? 
 
224* THE KAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 Shall I sing of the jasmine and myrtle bowers 
 Of sunripe fruits and of Tropic flowers, 
 The zigzag dance of the firefly's flight, 
 In the deepening shade of the closing night, 
 The deep sea treasures and rolling waves 
 And the rubied floors of the coral caves ? 
 
 Or shall I praise like an Eastern girl 
 
 The sparkling gem and the Orient pearl, 
 
 The deep- dyed tints of the peacock's plume 
 
 And the rich-wrought shawls of the Persian loom, 
 
 The satins and lace that deck the fair, 
 
 The velvets and lawn the titled wear ? 
 
 Or shall I sing of the hoarded heaps 
 The wrinkled miser guards and keeps, 
 Of his costly cargoes bought and, sold, 
 His thirst for mammon and greed for gold, 
 Of each bond and scrip and parchment roll, 
 For which he wrecks his sordid soul ? 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 225 
 
 Or shall I sing of the busy hive 
 Where the honey merchants work and thrive ; 
 Of the joyous rays that flash and gleam 
 On the smiling face of the bubbling stream ; 
 Of the good little stars that shine so bright 
 "When the sulky moon withdraws her light ? 
 
 Or shall I sing of winter's gloom, 
 And summer nosegay's rich perfume, 
 Of spring's soft leaf and daisied lawn 
 And autumn's sheaves of golden corn, 
 Of all the joys of sight and sound 
 That glad the long year's varied round ? 
 
 Or shall I sing of the good and brave 
 Who risk their life the lost to save ; 
 The nobly great, the peerless few 
 Who join the life-boat's gallant crew, 
 The lighthouse guard, the fire-brigade, 
 Whose well- won laurels never fade ? 
 
226 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 Or would you have me sing the praise 
 In sweetest song and loudest lays, 
 Of him who wrote his deathless name 
 On virtue's fairest leaf of fame, 
 The noblest name beneath the skies 
 The good Prince Albert, great a-nd wise ? 
 
 The maiden ceased, I thanked her for her song, 
 She smiled, and hoped it was not much too long ; 
 I said 'twas just the song I liked the best, 
 It topics named, and you might guess the rest, 
 'Twas like a woman's wise constructed speech, 
 Skilled by quick queries to instruct and teach, 
 It asked a thousand questions one by one, 
 And waiting no reply it answered none, 
 It was a song no art of mine could mend, 
 And came too swiftly to its striking end. 
 The little brother who had kept quite still, 
 With open mouth and straining eyeballs till 
 His sister ceased her party- colorued strain, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 227 
 
 Now started briskly into life again, 
 And growing chatty, blurted out aloud, 
 " I went to school at Dr. B.'s at Stroud." 
 " Did you, my friend ?" I answered in my turn, 
 " And pray what kind of lessons did you learn, 
 You studied hard, of course, he crammed your head 
 As full of learning as your mouth with bread ?" 
 " Oh, yes," he said, " I studied hard the habits, 
 Of squeaking guinea-pigs and long-eared rabbits, 
 Of jackdaws, linnets, lizards, newts, and frogs, 
 Of tumbler pigeons, mice, and terrier dogs, 
 I played at marbles and could guard a wicket, 
 When Long Bob bowled at single-handed cricket." 
 " Don't mind him, Sir," the bridling sister cried, 
 " George, I'm ashamed, such schoolboy trash and 
 
 pride ! 
 
 But will you, Sir, now I have sung my song, 
 Tell us your story as we fly along ?" 
 The small boy winced, though young in years and 
 
 frame, 
 
228 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 His heart was manly and he felt the shame 
 Of being browbeat by his sister's tongue, 
 However sweet the song it just had sung ; 
 His temper warm, his spirit high and proud, 
 His feelings stung, he muttered half aloud, 
 He was a boy, no girl should snub him so, 
 Or smite his manhood such a public blow. 
 I soon made peace between the frowning two, 
 I valued marbles, pets, and cricket too ; 
 And since her song had pleased me passing well 
 I'd do my very best my promised tale to tell. 
 
 AN EASTERN TALE. 
 
 An Eastern Satrap, whose ancestral home 
 "Was roofed with pinnacle and spreading dome, 
 Whose fretted ceilings and the glittering walls 
 Spoke the proud splendour of his princely halls, 
 Whose daily guests in gold and purple dressed 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 229 
 
 Skilled in the smart retort and sparkling jest, 
 Brought to the banquet to delight their lord 
 And crown the pleasures of the festive board, 
 The richest gems with which their homes and 
 
 minds were stored : 
 
 This Eastern Prince whose word or slightest nod 
 Slaves dreaded as the thunder of a mighty God, 
 At whose proud feet in deep prostration b owed, 
 Servants and courtiers in an endless crowd, 
 With brilliant dresses that proclaimed the least 
 Some splendid monarch of the gorgeous East ; 
 Whose table groaned with piles of glittering plate, 
 Small latticed cups and flagons proudly great, 
 Sparkling and flashing with refulgent rays 
 Beneath ten thousand lamps' resplendent blaze ; 
 With couches broidered with consummate art, 
 And curtains purchased at the costliest mart, 
 With groups of sculpture of the rarest kind, 
 And all that cultured taste and wealth combined 
 Could gather from the Greek and Eoman shores 
 
 Q 
 
230 THE KAILWAY JOUENEY. 
 
 Or cull from Art's profuse and lavish stores. 
 With pillared shafts of amber, pink and white, 
 And bannered trophies from the field of fight ; 
 With famous statues, silver, gold, and stone, 
 Fringing the passage to the central throne, 
 And vases filled with shrubs in amplest bloom, 
 And pendant censers full of sweet perfume, 
 "With minstrels singing with the moving strains 
 That kindle mirth and soothe the sharpest pains, 
 Their melting cadence, lively, soft, profound, 
 The quick short thrill, the sweetly long-drawn 
 
 sound ; 
 
 And skilled musicians to entrance the soul, 
 "While dark-eyed houris brimmed the nectared bowl ; 
 And dancing girls in movements full of grace, 
 Of matchless symmetry of form and face, 
 Flitted like fairies through the dazzling glare, 
 Or float like Zephyrs on the perfumed air 
 This Eastern monarch, notwithstanding all 
 This wealth of comforts in his regal hall, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 23*1 
 
 Was not content, but fretted, groaned and sighed 
 
 To have his soul with fuller joys supplied. 
 
 His eye, disgusted with the constant light, 
 
 And hackneyed sameness of each festive sight, 
 
 His ear fatigued by oft repeated round 
 
 Of changeless songs to never changing sound ; 
 
 His palate weary of its dainty meat, 
 
 His spirit sated with each tasted sweet, 
 
 Longed for fresh pleasures and some new found joy 
 
 Whose yet untasted bliss might never cloy ; 
 
 Some new excitement whose abiding zest 
 
 Might fill with rapture his delighted breast. 
 
 " These joys," said he, " you bring me day by day, 
 
 All cease to please, their charm has passed away, 
 
 And these nocturnal, but long known delights, 
 
 With which you bore me for a thousand nights, 
 
 Have all grown old, insipid, vapid, tame, 
 
 Our oldest fathers all enjoyed the same 
 
 Let each now tax and cudgel hard his brain, 
 
 To bid new pleasures mark our happy reign." 
 
232 THE EAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 The brains were cudgelled, and new joys were 
 
 found, 
 
 But none with everlasting praise were crowned ; 
 Most failed to please beyond the second day, 
 So swiftly passed their novelty away ; 
 All failed to live, and but a scanty few 
 "Won his brief favour for a week or two. 
 At length a courtier, wiser than his peers, 
 Of riper knowledge and maturer years, 
 Promised fresh pleasure day by day to bring 
 To yield enjoyment to the jaded King. 
 His plan was this, to gather to the court 
 The men of subtle brain and storied thought, 
 Skilled in the art of telling with effect, 
 Most wondrous tales with monstrous lies bedecked. 
 The plan succeeded and the monarch heard 
 With rapt attention every lying word, 
 Swallowed and drank with ever greedy ear 
 A thousand fictions through the circling year ; 
 Absorbed and pleased, he wasted all his time 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 233 
 
 In hearing stories told in prose or sounding rhyme. 
 At length this new-found and prolonged employ 
 Failed to supply him with a perfect joy ; 
 His thirst for tales increased from year to year, 
 The more he heard the more he wished to hear 
 More pungent stories and more striking tales 
 Were tried, and each in quick succession fails ; 
 Each smooth-tongued gifted orator in vain 
 Essayed his best, his lasting praise to gain : 
 " Tour tales are good and eloquently told," 
 Observed the king, " and worth their weight in 
 
 gold; 
 
 But words weigh light, and words of fiction least, 
 Like frothy adjuncts to some civic feast, 
 And yet I prize them, and pronounce the best 
 In fairest diction elegantly dressed, 
 And crammed with startling and spasmodic deeds, 
 Tield joy all other thrilling joys exceeds. 
 The fault I find is that they always end, 
 And no one tries this fatal fault to mend ; 
 
234 THE KAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 In one short hour the fleeting pleasure's past, 
 The joy dies out, the gladness does not last. 
 To cure this fault and gain the thing I need, 
 From this day forward be the law decreed 
 That whoso brings me, from the South or East, 
 The North or West, a never-ending feast, 
 A mental banquet that shall never cease, 
 But grow with years and still in bulk increase, 
 Shall wed my daughter, call my house his own, 
 And when I die succeed me on my throne. 
 But the vain fool who rashly tries and fails, 
 And cheats me with his swiftly-ending tales, 
 Shall have his tongue with red-hjot pincers torn, 
 And then to public execution borne, 
 Shall lose his head, and thus to all proclaim 
 His lying swindle and eternal shame." 
 The dazzling splendour of the promised prize 
 Hid the risked danger from ambitious eyes ; 
 And many candidates, from far and near, 
 Claimed the indulgence of the monarch's ear. 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 235 
 
 Varied and wondrous were the arts they tried 
 To beat old Time with Fiction's flowing tide. 
 The thread of life pursued its tranquil course 
 When snapped the thread of their prolonged dis- 
 course ; 
 
 The stream of Time rolled on with quiet pride 
 When the spent current of their thoughts was 
 
 dried. 
 
 Day after day and week succeeding week, 
 In dreary dullness some would prose and speak, 
 While others tried to lengthen out the time 
 With jingling stanzas of atrocious rhyme. 
 The wretches did their very best to gain 
 The promised guerdon, but, alas! in vain 
 In vain their efforts, with consummate skill, 
 To please the Satrap, and his terms fulfil ; 
 Their tales, tho' spun with all their mental 
 
 strength, 
 
 All found an end, despite their monstrous length. 
 The luckless tellers in their turn gave in, 
 
236 THE BAILWAY JOTJRKEY. 
 
 And one by one resigned the prize they hoped to 
 
 win. 
 
 They lost the prize and cursed the evil day 
 They staked their life in such unequal play : 
 Some, when their tale was ending, would have fled: 
 In vain each paid the forfeit of his head ; 
 And round the walls and on the palace gate 
 Grinned fifty skulls to warn all comers of their fate. 
 At length, in swarth magnificence of pride, 
 With flowing beard, and gem- decked robe supplied, 
 Gracefully bending to the regal seat, 
 Then falling prostrate at the monarch's feet, 
 A man of giant frame, with massive head, 
 Keen eye, wide nostril, temples broadly spread, 
 Limbs firmly knit, and cast in classic mould, , , 
 Around whose turban, locks in auburn clusters 
 
 rolled 
 
 Proclaimed himself the wonder of the age, 
 The deepest thinker and sublimest sage, 
 "Who, wishing brilliantly to close his proud career, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 237 
 
 Begged the indulgence of the monarch's ear. 
 In vain they pointed to each ghastly head, 
 Which told how ill all former candidates had sped. 
 " My tale," said he, " no failure can attend ; 
 Its onward course shall never have an end." 
 His calm composure and the wary way 
 In which he uttered what he had to say ; 
 His fearless bearing and commanding mien 
 Drew the attention of the monarch's Queen, 
 "Who, smiling, said, " Let him, my lord, be tried ; 
 No better man could win our daughter for his 
 
 bride." 
 
 The fair Princess, who gazed upon the scene 
 Thro' the slight openings of a latticed screen, 
 Blushed with emotion, and with tender sighs 
 Whispered, " The Prince, my lover, in disguise !" 
 When needful stipulations had been made, 
 And due regard to stated forms displayed ; 
 When all arrangements were at length complete, 
 Which fixed his times to rest and drink and eat, 
 
238 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 He bent his body with a lowly bow 
 And touched the pavement with his marble brow; 
 Then rising slowly with consummate grace, 
 While proud assurance lit his radiant face, 
 As muttered plaudits through the palace ran, 
 He raised his ringed right hand, and thus began : 
 " King, there reigned, a thousand years ago, 
 An aged prince with hair as white as snow, 
 Whose golden sceptre and imperial robe 
 Struck dumb with terror half the peopled globe. 
 The countless acres of his wide domain 
 Produced enormous stores of yellow grain ; 
 He grasped it all, and with a tyrant's hand, 
 Clutched the whole produce of the favoured land. 
 To hold this long accumulating pelf, 
 And keep his hoardings solely for himself, 
 He reared a structure of tremendous size, 
 Whose summit reached and pierced the distant 
 
 skies : 
 Its base was broader than a thousand parks, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 239 
 
 Its second stage outsoared the soaring larks, 
 The third out-topped the eagle's highest flight, 
 The fourth was lost amid the stars of night ; 
 And on the pinnacle's most lofty top, 
 The last left aperture to seal and stop, 
 A plug of gold was fixed with cunning care, 
 To keep the treasure from the outward air. 
 The prince of robbers, with his vulture gaze, 
 Saw the bright nugget in the sunset rays, 
 Climbed the vast walls before the dawn of day, 
 Dislodged the gold, and bore the prize away. 
 The following morn a bird on soaring wing, 
 Who loved to breakfast on some dainty thing, 
 Sped to the spot, and taking up a grain, 
 Hose on the air and sought his nest again. 
 In the dim watches of the murky night, 
 Around the base a locust swarm alight, 
 And with the first red blush of early dawn 
 One reached the top and seized a grain of corn ; 
 The third day saw the bird with cleaving plume 
 
240 THE EAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 Snatch a ripe grain, and then his flight resume ; 
 The fourth day, at the first approach of morn, 
 Another locust seized another grain of corn ; 
 The fifth day saw another bird alight, 
 Pluck forth a grain, and then resume his flight ; 
 The next day, at the first approach of dawn, 
 Another locust seized another grain of corn ; 
 The next day saw a bird with cleaving plume 
 Snatch a ripe grain, and then his flight resume ; 
 The next day, at the near approach of morn, 
 Another locust seized another grain of corn ; 
 The next beheld another bird alight, 
 Pluck forth a grain, and then resume his flight ; 
 The next day, at the first approach of dawn, 
 Another locust seized another grain of corn ; 
 
 The next day " " Stop," the monarch blandly 
 
 cried, 
 
 And w,aved his hand with more than Eastern pride ; 
 " You've said enough of locusts and of birds, 
 Advance your tale and waste no further words." 
 
THE RAILWAY JOTJ11NEY. 241 
 
 The teller bowed, and pausing for a while, 
 Besumed his story with the blandest smile 
 " The twentieth bird no sooner takes its flight, 
 Than, swift as thought, another comes in sight ; 
 The twentieth locust wings his airy way, 
 And takes his grain upon the fortieth day ; 
 The next day saw another bird alight, 
 Pluck forth a grain, and then resume his flight ; 
 The next day, at the early blush of dawn, 
 Another locust seized another grain of corn ; 
 The next beheld another bird alight, 
 Snatch a ripe grain, and take to instant flight ; 
 
 The next " " Hold, hold," the monarch loudly 
 
 cries, 
 
 "While aDger flashes from his kindling eyes ; 
 " Will you not cease thus madly to rehearse 
 The cuckoo sameness of your locust verse ?" 
 The teller paused, returned the glance of pride, 
 And then, with calm serenity replied, 
 Stroking the beard that graced his jewelled breast, 
 
242 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 " I have but feebly done your Majesty's behest : 
 You wished a story that should never cease, 
 But grow with years, and still in bulk increase ; 
 I have commenced my tale, and shall proceed, 
 Till the wide world confess how I succeed. 
 To terms agreed, and signed in legal form, 
 Both you and I in honour must conform." 
 The monarch gave his head the slightest bow, 
 With much impatience on his scowling brow 
 The sage proceeded with his countless birds, 
 And locust swarms with slightly varying words 
 Prom morn to night for many a weary day, 
 Till roused to anger by this long delay, 
 The monarch once more raised his hand and said : 
 " Friend, it is time your countless swarms had fled, 
 Have not your locusts surely now obtained, 
 And all the birds ere this most fully gained 
 All the ripe corn they needed to supply 
 Each bird and insect that can crawl or fly ? 
 "What followed next ?" To which the sage replied, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOTTENET. 243 
 
 " 'Tis true, your Majesty, that swarms have died, 
 Their place with younger swarms have been sup- 
 plied ; 
 
 'Tis only just my tale should be rehearsed, 
 By first relating what occurred the first. 
 Why should my zeal your Majesty offend, 
 When I refuse to bring my story to an end ? 
 Was it not this your regal law required ? 
 Is it my fault your Majesty is tired ?" 
 " Well, well," the monarch angrily rejoined, 
 " How many grains remain to be purloined ? 
 How long, how many more revolving years 
 Must this eternal sing-song din our ears ?" 
 To which, with humour twinkling in his eye 
 The sage returned the following reply : 
 " O King, it is impossible to tell, 
 The birds have emptied but the topmost cell ; 
 And the tall pyramid at least contains 
 Ten million more all full of golden grains." 
 " But," said the monarch, rising from his throne, 
 
24:4 THE RAILWAY JOUBtfEY. 
 
 " You must, my friend, at least with candour own, 
 That if the grains remain, the birds have all been 
 
 fed, 
 
 And all the swarms of locusts died or fled ; 
 Can you not cease this endless wordy play, 
 And say what followed when they passed away ? 
 Will you to doomsday perseveringly rehearse, 
 The changeless cadence of your jingling verse?" 
 To which the sage replied, " O King, 'tis true, 
 Locusts have vanished like the morning dew, 
 And flocks of birds have fattened on the grain, 
 Whose lifeless wings shall never soar again ; 
 But still the sky is darkened like a shroud, 
 With one enormous mass of moving cloud ; 
 A cloud of locusts numerous as the grains, 
 That spread their hosts on ocean's sandy plains ; 
 A long line also of approaching birds, 
 Whose every movement must be told in words ; 
 Have patience then, nor doubt my flowing rhyme 
 Will surely reach the end of them in time. 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 245 
 
 The thousandth bird no sooner takes its flight 
 
 Than swift as thought another comes in sight ; 
 
 The thousandth locust wings his airy way, 
 
 And takes his grain the second thousandth day ; 
 
 The next day saw another bird alight, 
 
 Pluck forth a grain, and then resume its flight ; 
 
 The next day with the first red streak of dawn, 
 
 Another locust seized another grain of corn." 
 
 The tale had reached the twenty thousandth grain 
 
 When the king's wrath blazed forth in rage again ; 
 
 Starting in fury from his regal seat, 
 
 Stamping in anger with his sandalled feet, 
 
 He waved the teller to the palace door, 
 
 And shouted louder than a lion's roar 
 
 " Will you to all eternity rehearse 
 
 The cuckoo sameness of your changeless verse ? 
 
 Take all you want my daughter, sceptre, robe, 
 
 My whole possessions on the rolling globe, 
 
 My cipwn, my throne, my treasures, gardens, lands, 
 
 Each costly palace, furnished as it stands 
 
246 THE RAILWAY JOTTBKEY. 
 
 Take all, but cease oh ! cease your weary words 
 Tour endless locusts and your countless birds." 
 
 I ceased my tale, the little maiden's eyes, 
 
 Expressed the fervour of her rapt surprise, 
 
 And mutely thanked me with their lengthened 
 
 look, 
 
 Scanning my face as some entrancing book ; 
 The boy first shouted with his ready tongue, 
 " Tour tale was better than the song she sung ; 
 That Prince deserved the kingdom ; what a brick 
 To serve the Satrap such a jolly trick ! 
 But what a fool the monarch must have been, 
 And what a stunning goose his brainless Queen!" 
 The little maiden found her speech at last, 
 And urged her teeming questions hot and fast 
 " Thank you, kind Sir, but did the Queen suspect 
 The Prince, in Merlin's borrowed raiment deckt ? 
 And were they married ? did the fairies make 
 Her bridal dresses and the wedding cake ? 
 
THE RAILWAY JOUBNEY. 247 
 
 How many bridesmaids held her bridal train ? 
 What jewels did her coronet contain ? 
 Did ostrich feathers fan the perfumed air ? 
 Did flashing diamonds and agates rare, 
 Or sprinkled pearls adorn her raven hair ? 
 And was she dressed in purple, or in white ? 
 In colours gay, or dazzling as the light ? 
 And did the cruel and vindictive king 
 Really and truly do that monstrous thing ? 
 And tare with .pincers, red with furnace heat, 
 The tongues that gave him such a mental treat, 
 And told him tales to soothe his hungry brain, 
 And add new pleasure to his lengthened reign ? 
 Did he consign them to the axe and block, 
 Expose their skulls, all gentle hearts to shock ? 
 And scare and fright the sages of his time, 
 By treating failure as a fatal crime ? 
 And would he give his daughter to the man, 
 Whose tongue in endless fiction longest ran ? 
 Though old and ugly, crooked, poor and mean, 
 
248 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 A frightful monster, full of sores and spleen ? 
 What was his promise worth, the selfish thing ! 
 The tale must last as long as he was king ; 
 The pleasure please him to his latest breath, 
 The guerdon granted only at his death ! 
 I'm glad the teller was so wondrous wise. 
 What was the colour of the Prince's eyes ? 
 Was he content to gain the Bride alone, 
 Or did he claim the rashly proifered throne ?" 
 To all which questions I with truth replied, 
 " You think far more about the Prince's bride 
 Than of his tale, and yet the tale's the thing 
 With which he cured the folly of the king. 
 My tale has pleased you, may I then request 
 Another song, and let it be your best ; 
 Tour last song ended in a noble strain 
 Of good Prince Albert, and his gentle reign, 
 For reign he did, on love's firm- seated throne, 
 Our nation's heart, its soul, was all his own. 
 Sing to me then of that world-honoured name, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 249 
 
 Greatest and noblest on the roll of fame ; 
 
 ALBEET THE GOOD, your heart has learned to deem 
 
 No topic sweeter than that lofty theme. 
 
 The little maiden drooped her tear-dimmed eye, 
 
 And with a tone of sadness made reply : 
 
 " The good Prince Albert ! Tes, I'll sing his worth, 
 
 But more in mourning than in strains of mirth : 
 
 Angels might shout him welcome to the skies, 
 
 We speak his greatness but with streaming eyes. 
 
 I wrote a ditty on that dismal night 
 
 When the tomb hid him from our yearning sight ; 
 
 And, like a child, my doleful feelings flowed 
 
 In thoughts like those of Cowper's famous ode. 
 
 hc Iftffc Utaifcn's Stoamd $tn$* 
 
 ON THE BURIAL OF THE PRINCE CONSORT. 
 
 1. 
 
 Chime out the death-toll ; sadly let it swell, 
 Prom steeple and from tower, in city and in dell, 
 
250 THE BAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 And widely through the world where Britain's 
 children dwell 
 
 Tell its sad tale ; 
 Eilling all hearts with woe, 
 Bidding tear-torrents flow, 
 "While at the sudden blow 
 
 Millions turn pale. 
 2. 
 
 Toll for the Prince, the noble and the great, 
 Friend to the Crown, yet servant to the State ; 
 "Who won for the land that he served long and 
 late, 
 
 All man could earn ; 
 The throne's support and stay, 
 In trouble's wintry day, 
 Passed like a cloud away 
 
 Not to return. 
 3. 
 
 Toll for the good, the upright and the just, 
 Whose manly form of perfect beauty must 
 
THE KAILWAY JOURNEY. 251 
 
 Now sleep, and mingle with its kindred dust, 
 
 Bending to fate ; 
 When Grod the spirit calls, 
 Death scales the palace walls, 
 The noblest hero falls, 
 
 Albert the Great ! 
 4. 
 
 Sound the loud toll-note solemnly and slow, 
 Chant the sad requiem mournfully and low, 
 Weep a whole nation stricken with the blow, 
 
 Albert is dead ! 
 Par above earthly things, 
 Upborne on seraph wings 
 To Grod's own home of kings 
 
 Our Albert fled. 
 5. 
 
 Toll for the Prince, the father of the land, 
 Who ably fostered with a guiding hand 
 Projects for good, his prudence sagely planned, 
 
 Our nation's Friend ! 
 
252 THE BAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 He, who with patient zeal, 
 "With loyal heart and leal, 
 Toiled for the public weal, 
 
 Toiled to the end ! 
 6. 
 
 Toll for the loved, the upright and the good, 
 Who for all did at all times all that he could, 
 Who firmly on the side of virtue ever stood, 
 
 Sternly sublime ; 
 G-one is the people's guide, 
 Gone the proud nation's pride ! 
 Albert the good has died, 
 
 Died in his prime ! 
 ; 7. 
 
 Toll for the good, the constant and the pure, 
 Whose kindness of heart was ever fast and sure, 
 The record of whose goodness for ever shall 
 endure, 
 
 Albert the kind! 
 He whose void place to fill, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 253 
 
 Seek for one where you will, 
 Wide through the world, and still 
 
 Never shall find ! 
 8. 
 
 Toll for the firm, the modest and the true, 
 Whose gifts were distilled like the fertilising dew, 
 Silently and softly, from the clear and cloudless 
 blue, 
 
 Balmy and wide ! 
 Albert, whose open hand 
 Scattered throughout the land, 
 Boons as the countless sand, 
 
 Early has died ! 
 9. 
 
 Toll for the Friend no widow sought in vain, 
 Whose help like the drops of the gently falling 
 
 rain, 
 Healed her crushed spirit of its heart-rooted pain, 
 
 Swift with relief ; 
 Drying her scalding tears, 
 
254 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 Hushing her rising fears, 
 
 Giving her widowed years 
 
 Freedom from grief! 
 
 10. 
 
 Between the slandered and his causeless fate, 
 Like some broad oak whose spreading limbs abate 
 The sleet of slander and the hail of hate, 
 
 Albert has stood ; 
 The passing bell has swelled, 
 It's saddest dirge has knelled, 
 
 That noblest tree is felled, 
 
 Albert the Good. 
 
 11. 
 
 Toll for the pure, the pure in heart and mind, 
 Toll for the meek, the patient and the kind, 
 Toll for the spirit gentle and refined, 
 
 Gone to the skies ! 
 Deep from their inmost core 
 Our hearts their loss deplore 
 
 And sound from every shore, 
 
 Moaning and sighs ! 
 
THE EAILWAT JOURNEY. 255 
 
 12. 
 
 Eing out the dirge-note solemn and sublime, 
 Toll ; for the Queen, thus widowed in her prime, 
 Weeps for the Prince- King, the hero of his time, 
 
 Albert adored ! 
 Yes, let the nation keep 
 
 Lengthened high fast and weep, 
 Weep, for her grief is deep, 
 
 Deep for her lord ! 
 13. 
 
 Weep for the husband, the counsellor and friend, 
 Who stood like a buttress no hurricane could rend, 
 Firmly and faithfully to life's latest end, 
 
 True to his Queen ! 
 Weave for his regal tomb, 
 
 Wreaths of immortal bloom, 
 
 Hide its sepulchral gloom 
 
 In deathless green ! 
 
 14. 
 
 Weep for the heir, who loses in his youth 
 His much-loved Mentor in the paths of truth, 
 
256 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 "Weep for his loss with bitterness of ruth, 
 
 "Weep for his loss ! 
 Who now shall point his eyes 
 To heaven's eternal prize, 
 
 And bid his soul despise 
 
 Earth's tinsel dross ? 
 
 15. 
 
 Toll for the father of a kingly race, 
 
 Their bright exemplar in all modes of grace ; 
 
 Who, faultless, taught them in the loftiest place 
 
 Still to excel ! 
 
 Who sought no human praise, 
 Or earth's fast fading bays, 
 
 But strove to spend his days 
 
 Purely and well ! 
 
 16. 
 
 Weep for the wise instructor of his age, 
 The meek philanthropist and thoughtful sage, 
 The brightest star that gilds our land's historic 
 
 page, 
 
 Sunk to his rest ! 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURKEY. 257 
 
 No longer shining "here 
 He fills a brighter sphere, 
 Through one long endless year, 
 
 Albert the blest ! 
 
 17. 
 
 Weep for the loss our nation has sustained, 
 But laud for the good our Prince has obtained, 
 The white robe of glory all spotless and unstained, 
 
 Purer than light ! 
 Circled with seraph throngs, 
 Tasting mid angels' songs, 
 All that to heaven belongs 
 
 Of sweet delight ! 
 
 18. 
 
 The seed must slumber in its parent earth, 
 In deathlike stillness and apparent dearth, 
 Before its second and immortal birth, 
 
 Such is God's will ! 
 
258 THE EAILWAY JOTJKKEY. 
 
 Albert the Great and Wise, 
 Shall greater still arise, 
 And in far clearer skies, 
 
 Shine brighter still ! 
 
 Too long a song ! the brother rudely cried, 
 And dull enough to give us all the dumps beside ; 
 Why don't you sing us a real stunning one, 
 Brimful of frolic and of jolly fun, 
 Of fairies' tricks and giants' bloody fights, 
 Hobgoblins, ghosts and laughter-loving sprites ? 
 The maiden drew her breath and softly sighed, 
 Then blushed, coughed gently, and in turn replied, 
 " I know 'twas long, too long and doleful too, 
 Too long and dismal far for such as you ; 
 The theme was sad and sad my soul with grief, 
 But having sung it gives my heart relief. 
 As payment for your patience with my song, 
 I'll sing you one less sad and not so long." 
 
THK RAILWAY JOURNEY. 259 
 
 THE VALIANT LITTLE ARMY. 
 
 1. 
 
 IN scarlet arrayed, 
 
 With splendid cockade 
 The sergeants with piping appear, 
 
 Enlisting they come, 
 
 With pibroch and drum, 
 And a promise of gallons of beer. 
 
 2. 
 
 The ducks in the gutter, 
 
 Their hearts in a flutter, 
 For dread of the martial array, 
 
 Their heads in a whirl 
 
 Their feathers unfurl 
 And flee from the splendour away. 
 
260 THE EAILWAT JOURNEY. 
 
 3. 
 
 But the geese of the town, 
 
 Clodhopper and clown, 
 The sluggard, the drunkard and rake, 
 
 Whether scoundrel or calf, 
 
 Are caught by the chaff, 
 And the sergeant's bright blood-money take. 
 4. 
 
 Each rawboned recruit 
 
 Is instructed to shoot, 
 And step to the note of the fife, 
 
 And is willing to pay 
 
 Por his shilling a day, 
 His freedom, his home and his life. 
 5. 
 
 These dregs of the street, 
 
 Their drilling complete, 
 With their broad streaming banners unfurled, 
 
 As in phalanx they stand, 
 
 Are a lion-like band, 
 The pride and the dread of the world. 
 
THE BAIL WAT JOURNEY. 261 
 
 6. 
 
 Hear the story 
 
 Of their glory, 
 Hear me tell the brilliant way, 
 
 Risk and warning 
 
 Bravely scorning, 
 How these lions won the day. 
 
 7. 
 
 A scorching sun, 
 
 Toes three to one, 
 
 A country strange and wild, 
 Cross fires between, in a dark ravine, 
 
 Through which their ranks defiled ; * 
 
 Assaulted, 
 
 They halted, 
 
 And formed in Brigade, 
 
 And facing the foe, 
 
 Laid half of them low, 
 With a brisk fusilade. 
 
262 THE KAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 8. 
 
 All down the valley 
 
 Reform and rally ; 
 
 And up the height, 
 
 They swarm and fight ; 
 Form in phalanx firm and strong, 
 Then like heroes march along ; 
 
 Up the steep 
 
 They bound and leap, 
 Charge the batteries right ahead, 
 
 No one runs, 
 
 Spike the guns, 
 
 Sabre gunners, 
 
 Shoot the runners, 
 Half their valiant souls have sped ! 
 9. 
 
 Height beyond height 
 
 Rages hotly the fight, 
 
 And cavalry gleam 
 
 In steel-blazing stream, 
 
THE BAILWAY JOURNEY. 263 
 
 Light Lancers and heavy Hussars ; 
 
 As the squadrons appear, 
 
 Flashing sabre and spear, 
 Our lions dash at them with pealing huzzas ; 
 
 Hack them asunder, 
 
 Or trample them under, 
 
 Eush to the front 
 
 Of the battle's hot brunt, 
 Storm the big guns that continued their thunder ; 
 
 Then leaving the slain, 
 
 Call the vanquished in vain, 
 To take from them quarter and yield ; 
 
 Cleave them right down 
 
 Through corslet and crown, 
 Sweep them like chaff from the red battle field. 
 
 The schoolboy clapped his tiny hands with glee, 
 Kicked his small feet against my luckless knee, 
 Waved his striped scull-cap round and round his 
 head 
 
264 THE BAILWAY JOTTBNEY. 
 
 And bawled as if he meant to rouse the dead ; 
 
 " Huzza ! I'd like to head the black dragoons, 
 
 And thrash the jackets of those G-erman loons, 
 
 "What jolly fun to pistol half a score 
 
 And sabre gunners ancle deep in gore !" 
 
 " You shocking child," the maiden cried, " how 
 
 wrong ! 
 
 I wish I had not sung that foolish song. 
 Fighting is cruel, bloodshed is a crime, 
 War the worst plague of every age and clime/* 
 " 'Tis awful jolly," cried the heedless boy, 
 " A redcoat's life is always full of joy, 
 And then they get such lots of tin and fame, 
 And great big handles to their soldier's name." 
 " Par more of dangers," said the little maid, 
 " I'll tell you how a soldier's work is paid, 
 "With hardships, perils, wounds, and broken bones, 
 "With fevers, agues, racking aches and groans, 
 Small pay, less comfort and a ghastly death, 
 Or if surviving war's sirocco breath, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOTTBNEY. 265 
 
 A starving pension of such niggard dole, 
 As swiftly tends to liberate the soul." 
 " Who cares for danger a button or a sou ? 
 None but a milksop or a girl like you, 
 I'll be a soldier, 'twould be stunning fun, 
 To be the captain of a thundering gun." 
 " 'Tis even thus," I mused within my breast, 
 " What hollow baubles give to life its zest, 
 Cocks' feathers, lace and blazing scarlet coats, 
 The gay parade and bugle's thrilling notes, 
 The thought of scaring thousands as they run 
 With the loud thunder of a blazing gun, 
 The clanging sabre and the flag-tipped lance 
 Catch the young fancy, while the splendid chance, 
 The one great prize among ten million blanks, 
 A peerage with the Commons' vote of thanks, 
 Fills the fond soul with pride's delusive dreams 
 Of wealth, renown, and lofty Babel schemes, 
 Fans the heart fevered with these hot desires, 
 And feeds the current of its glowing fires. 
 
266 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 'Tis a dark lottery, where side by side, 
 
 Death and the grave with mocking leer preside ; 
 
 To martial strains war drives the whizzing wheel, 
 
 Their bony fingers each decision stamp and seal ; 
 
 A ghastly wound, cracked skull, a sun-struck brain, 
 
 A fractured limb, a bed of life-long pain ; 
 
 He whose young hopes outtopped the lofty skies, 
 
 And grasped in vision warfare's noblest prize, 
 
 In unsoothed pain on blood- soaked heather lies, 
 
 'Mid dying groans and vulture's doleful cries, 
 
 Sinks to an early grave and hopeless dies." 
 
 I had observed a lady by my side, 
 
 Whose wrinkled face her youthful dress belied, 
 
 Who ever trembled with a nervous start, 
 
 And pressed her white glove to her throbbing heart, 
 
 When we referred in either song or tale, 
 
 To love in city or in silent vale ; 
 
 And often from her heaving bosom took 
 
 A jewelled locket and a rich bound book, 
 
THE EAILWAT JOURNEY. 267 
 
 And from the volume with a deep drawn sigh, 
 And starting teardrops trembling in her eye, 
 Took a worn letter and with palsied hand, 
 Its crossed and recrossed leaves with pleasure 
 
 scanned. 
 
 I half suspect my mute but puzzled look 
 Asked for the meaning of that oft-read book, 
 For stretching forward with a sickly smile, 
 She said, " The journey's tedium to beguile ; 
 I proifer this, alas ! it is my best, 
 And tells the secret of my long unrest." 
 
 " Adored Lorenzo ! oh my absent love, 
 All things within me, round me and above 
 Are full of thee, thou idol of my breast, 
 My faithful bosom yearns for thee and rest. 
 I find no quiet in the silent night, 
 I see no brightness in the sunny light, 
 I taste no sweetness in the balmy air, 
 
268 THE EAILWAT JOUENET. 
 
 I draw no solace from the voice of prayer, 
 I hear no music in the song of birds, 
 No balm in friendship's soft and honeyed words 
 While thou art gone : my soul is lone and sad, 
 My heart is broken, nought can make it glad. 
 All things grate harshly on my listening ear, 
 'Till I once more thy silver accents hear. 
 All sights prove loathsome as they flutter by, 
 'Till thy loved presence glad my straining eye. 
 Divine Lorenzo ! treasure of my heart, 
 "When ruthless fate in malice bade us part, 
 It could not from my tortured mind efface 
 The heart- deep image of thy form and face. 
 Darling ! for whom my strongest passions yearn, 
 Oh ! come and foster by thy glad return 
 The fires of love that still with ardour burn. 
 The muse of darkness in the long cold night, 
 Sweeps my heart's harp strings with a strange 
 
 delight, 
 And blissful visions all it's pulses nil 
 
THE EAILWAT JOUKKEY. 269 
 
 With rapture deeper than Archangel's thrill, 
 When in my dreams thy long loved hand I hold, 
 Clasp thy sweet figure and thy face behold. 
 Wilt thou not come and make these dreams of 
 
 night, 
 
 The joyous Eden of perpetual sight ? 
 Wilt thou not come, Lorenzo ! wilt thou not, 
 And end the torture of my lonely lot ? 
 I want you, every nerve and fibre of my frame 
 Tingles and glows with rapture at thy name, 
 Lorenzo, sweetest, dearest, precious prize, 
 Star of my life, the sunlight of my eyes ! 
 Oh ! come, come quickly, give my soul relief, 
 And with one look of love dispel its cloud of grief ! 
 All the wide fields of Nature teem with love, 
 The spreading earth, the arching dome above, 
 All things that creep, and swim, and walk and fly, 
 In river, pasture, grove, or sea, or sky, 
 Are full of love, and find their fitting mate 
 To share the sweetness of the nuptial state 
 
270 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 And crown the fulness of their destined fate. 
 
 Concord and sympathy in nature's vast domain, 
 
 Brim the full joy-cup by their happy reign. 
 
 Love with no echo of responsive love, 
 
 No soft reply from earth or heaven above, 
 
 Is drear and deadly ; oh ! a fatal thing 
 
 That fans the heart-core with its vampire wing, 
 
 To taint its vitals with its venomed sting, 
 
 Destroy the vigour of its helpless prey, 
 
 And drain its fresh warm blood in streams away. 
 
 I want you, oh, I want you, yes, so much 
 
 Palpably solid to my sight and touch, 
 
 My sleepless soul its restless vigil keeps, 
 
 While the worn frame in prostrate languor sleeps. 
 
 Will you still rob me by your lengthened stay 
 
 Of peace by night and calm repose by day ? 
 
 Will you not come and aid my yearning heart, 
 
 In nature's joy to take its cheerful part ? 
 
 Oh ! come and bid my weeping spirit live, 
 
 Come, and new life to all my forces give. 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 271 
 
 Lorenzo, come, and like the rosy dawn, 
 
 Turn my long night to love's ecstatic morn. 
 
 All nature beckons to the ample feast, 
 
 She spreads for man and for the meaner beast, 
 
 Is it not sinful that my soul's desires, 
 
 Its inward longings and its burning fires, 
 
 Can find no vent, no freedom for their play, 
 
 Or taste the banquet for thy long delay ? 
 
 In blushing smiles and loveliness of dress, 
 
 All nature wooes me to her fond caress ; 
 
 Brightness and beauty spread from verdant plain, 
 
 To mountain summit, all alas in vain ! 
 
 The velvet moss, the fragrant mountain thyme, 
 
 The purple heather with its pearly rime ; 
 
 The valleys thick with wreaths of blossomed thorn, 
 
 "With silver daisy or with golden corn, 
 
 All call in vain ; trees shake their scented sprays, 
 
 And rainbows glisten with their gladsome rays ; 
 
 The south wind loads each breath of balmy air, 
 
 "With richest perfumes and with odours rare ; 
 
272 THE BAILWAY JOTTE^EY. 
 
 The little birds are pouring on the gale, 
 The raptured chorus of their love-frought tale ; 
 "While two their time most lovingly employ, 
 With perfect concord and with full-tongued joy 
 In building tastefully a downy nest, 
 For love's soft home of calm unruffled rest. 
 Oh ! how they chatter with their ceaseless song, 
 And tell the charms that to such joys belong ! 
 Why am I not a bird to choose my mate, 
 And join the pleasures of our double fate ? 
 Lorenzo, why ? Oh ! why in coldness doom, 
 So warm a heart to waste its strength in gloom ? 
 The sea lies sleeping in the sunny beam, 
 Calm as a child, or love's first trustful dream ; 
 Beneath the surface love exerts its sway, 
 And shoals in concert ply their loving play. 
 Was not I born for love, did not my soul, 
 Yield to Lorenzo all the mighty whole, 
 The whole vast treasure of my woman's love, 
 The first great gift to man from God above ? 
 
THE RAILWAY JOUBNEY. 273 
 
 Who ever heard of hermits of the wave, 
 Doomed to dull solitude in deep sea cave ? 
 Insects in swarms through glowing sunbeams 
 
 glance, 
 
 "With social humming in the mazy dance ; 
 E'en things inanimate together mate, 
 And add new beauty to each other's state ; 
 The spreading branches of the fruitful vine, 
 Bound sturdy oaks their graceful tendrils twine, 
 The lichen drapes the abbey's ruined halls, 
 And moss clings gently to its crumbling walls ; 
 The rippling water whispers words of love, 
 To listening willows on the banks above ; 
 And dainty flowers with loving roots embrace, 
 The grim old castle's battle-battered face ; 
 Laws of attraction bind the massive globes, 
 That gild the fringe of night's enamelled robes ; 
 Love finds its echo and its sweet delight, 
 In the vast breadth, and depth and boundless 
 
 height, 
 
274 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 Of God's great universe ; while I alone 
 No lover find, no sympathizer own. 
 Adored Lorenzo, forty years have fled, 
 And poured their sorrows on my drooping head, 
 Since thy loved image faded from my sight, 
 And plunged my soul in chaos and in night. 
 To thee for years like needle to the pole, 
 Has turned the homage of my thrilling soul ; 
 Mute as the Pole, more frigid than its snow, 
 Cold as the winds that round its icebergs blow, 
 Has been thy heart ; love wakes no echo there, 
 Her softest pleadings and impassioned prayer, 
 Melt like a vapour on the silent air." 
 
 The schoolboy laughed, the maiden for a while 
 Gazed at my features with a saddened smile, 
 Then wiped a tear that trickled down her cheek, 
 Took the poor lady's hand and tried to speak 
 " Dear lady, your Lorenzo must be dead, 
 He could not write or come," she simply said. 
 
THE BAILWAY JOTJBNEY. 275 
 
 I groaned in spirit, then with voice suppressed, 
 Self musing, eased the burden of my breast, 
 " The old, old story ! man's false heartless tongue, 
 And woman's heart-strings basely, madly wrung. 
 Poor aged girl ! her heart with fervour glows, 
 In spite of threescore winters' cooling snows ; 
 Forty long years of withering neglect, 
 Her sky with sunshine never faintly flecked, 
 Have not suppressed the ardour of the flame, 
 That glows with rapture at her lover's name. 
 How strange a thing is woman's love beguiled, 
 Jetrayed, neglected ! Oh ! how terrible and wild ! 
 A boiling torrent or a lava stream, 
 That pours impetuous through the riven seam 
 Of Hecla's height, where everlasting snows 
 Ne'er cool the flame that in its bosom glows 
 "When will men learn the passions they excite, 
 When flirting gaijy for a week's delight ! 
 When will men learn the prize with which they part, 
 Who spurn the treasure of a woman's heart ! 
 
276 THE BAILWAY JOFK^EY. 
 
 Who woo it, win it, waken all its fire, 
 The glowing yearnings of its strong desire, 
 Then leave the blazing wreck on life's rude seas, 
 To court the buffets of each wanton breeze, 
 To waste its wealth of incense on the air, 
 And sink at last alone in desolate despair ! 
 "When will men ponder e'er they touch the strings, 
 Of that most wondrous of all wondrous things, 
 A woman's heart ; what strange wild music sleeps, 
 Beady to waken to the hand that sweeps 
 The slightest fibre of its thrilling wires, 
 In its vast compass ; what electric fires,. 
 Tingle and vibrate through the burning soul, 
 Till one vast fiery mass of love inflame the whole ? 
 Do such men see in hell the heart they left, 
 Pull-fraught with fire, of promised love bereft, 
 The lifelong madness and the dead .despair, 
 That fester, gangrene, burn and rankle there ? 
 How base to trifle with those quenchless fires, 
 And fan the embers of those hot desires, 
 
THE EAILWAT JOTJBNEY. 277 
 
 Which once awakened never more repose, 
 But fiercely burn while life's warm current flows, 
 And still in death with ever lambent flame, 
 Light the dim eye and thrill the dying frame !" 
 
 Folding the letter as I gently bowed, 
 
 I gave it back, and then remarked aloud, 
 
 " Had you no clue, could you not write or send, 
 
 Tour grief to soothe, your sad suspense to end ?" 
 
 " Oh ! yes, I wrote, a thousand letters sent 
 
 To every station where his Eegiment went, 
 
 No answer came, not one responsive word, 
 
 My prayers, my pleadings were alike unheard ; 
 
 Forty long, years have thus in sorrow flown, 
 
 I live unloved, and I must die alone." 
 
 To chase the nightmare of her clouded dream, 
 
 And cheer the children with some brighter theme, 
 
 I asked my little friend to try once more, 
 
 To cull some ditty from her ample store, 
 
 It would not weary if it lasted long, 
 
 T 
 
278 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY, 
 
 But cheer our spirits as we rushed along. 
 With equal readiness and modest grace, 
 A smile of pleasure kindling in her face, 
 The little maid responded to the call, 
 And with this simple song entranced and cheered 
 us all. 
 
 littU 
 
 LIGHT. 
 1. 
 
 Where the south wind breathes 
 
 Its softest sighs, 
 'Mid the perfumed wreaths 
 
 Of tropic skies, 
 Where the wild breeze waves 
 
 Its viewless wing, 
 In the ocean caves 
 
 Where mermaids sing, 
 
 There do I dwell. 
 
THE EAILWAT JOTTENET. 279 
 
 2. 
 
 Where the autumn gale 
 
 Fans ripened grain, 
 In the golden vale 
 
 Or boundless plain ; 
 "Where the north winds blow 
 
 With chilling breath, 
 O'er fields of snow 
 
 And plains of death, 
 
 There do I dweU. 
 
 3. 
 Where the blue-bells chime 
 
 Fairies to prayer, 
 And the blushing thyme 
 
 Sweetens the air ; 
 Where the tempests rock 
 
 Belfry and tower, 
 With a ruder shock 
 
 Than cannon's power, 
 
 There I abound. 
 
280 THE .RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 4. 
 
 "With sheaves of beams 
 
 My hands are filled, 
 Where the sickle gleams 
 
 Or fields are tilled ; 
 Where the waters leap 
 
 In bubbling foam, 
 Or in calmness sleep 
 
 By the fisher's home, 
 
 There am I found. 
 
 5. 
 
 In the deadly breach 
 
 'Mid the cannon's roar, 
 On the pebbly beach 
 
 Of the shining shore ; 
 In the senate hall 
 
 And the den of vice, 
 On cathedral wall 
 
 And on gamester's dice, 
 
 There am I found. 
 
THE RAILWAY JOUBNET. 281 
 
 6. 
 
 Where the red wine pours 
 
 In festive hall ; 
 On the bride's rich stores 
 
 And on death's black pall ; 
 On the heaps of slain 
 
 Whose life has fled, 
 On the crimson plain 
 
 Of the ghastly dead, 
 
 There am I found. 
 
 7. 
 Where the glow-worm flits 
 
 Plashing along, 
 Where the mavis sits 
 
 Trilling its song ; 
 Where the anvil glows 
 
 'Mid the circling dark, 
 While the hammer blows 
 
 Scatter the spark, 
 
 There am I found. 
 
282 THE BAILWAY JOUKNEY. 
 
 8: 
 
 Where the taper shines 
 
 In the widow's cot, 
 As her heart divines 
 
 Her sea-boy's lot ; 
 In the twilight dell 
 
 Where lovers part ; 
 In the felon's cell, 
 
 Cheering his heart, 
 
 There am I found. 
 
 9. 
 
 Where the full-orbed moon, 
 
 With pearl-like sheen, ; ,' 
 Gilds the rolling sea 
 
 And its waves of green ; 
 Where the hot sun sheds 
 
 Its mid-day blaze, 
 On pilgrim heads 
 
 In the desert ways, 
 
 There am I found. 
 
THE EAILWAT JOTTBNEY. 
 
 10. 
 
 Where the drum and fife 
 
 And the bugle call, 
 Summon to strife 
 
 From the Barrack hall ; 
 And martial flags 
 
 In triumph wave, 
 Their shot-torn rags 
 
 Above the brave, 
 
 There am I found. 
 
 11. 
 
 Where the heart-sick maid 
 
 Warbles her love, 
 In the sylvan shade 
 
 To the cooing dove; 
 Where the soothing strain 
 
 Of the soft sung psalm, 
 Fills the bed of pain 
 
 With a holy calm, 
 
 There am I found. 
 
284 THE EAILWAT JOURNEY. 
 12. 
 
 Where the lantern shines 
 
 "With horn-dimmed light 
 In coal-wrought mines, 
 
 By day and night ; 
 Where the lighthouse lamp, 
 
 Through the pitchy dark 
 Of mist and damp, 
 
 Guides the rocking bark, 
 
 There am I found. 
 
 13. 
 Where a myriad stars 
 
 Enthroned on high, 
 Circle the heavens 
 
 And stud the sky, 
 With incredible speed, 
 
 Sunning my race, 
 I take the lead 
 
 Through luminous space. 
 
THE BAILWAY JOURNEY. 285 
 
 14. 
 
 Through the darkened room 
 
 A path I cleave, 
 And no trace of gloom 
 
 Behind me leave ; 
 Darting one glance 
 
 With ardent flight, 
 My diamond lance 
 
 Scatters the night. 
 
 4 
 
 15. 
 Where Nature basks 
 
 In copse and dell, 
 I ply my tasks, 
 
 And do them well ; 
 'Mid cold and heat 
 
 My rainbow wings, 
 And arrowy feet 
 
 As dainty things, 
 
 Their labours ply. 
 
286 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 16. 
 
 I pierce the bowers 
 
 'Neath Summer skies, 
 And buds and flowers 
 
 Blush deeper dyes j 
 I gild the snow 
 
 Of "Winter's gloom, 
 And scenes of woe 
 
 With hope illume, 
 
 Where mourners sigh. 
 
 17. 
 Near the Monarch's throne, 
 
 And his palace gate, 
 In each precious stone 
 
 Of the rich and great ; 
 Thro' the poor man's pane 
 
 And his shattered door, 
 With the sleet and rain 
 
 That flood his floor, 
 
 I find my way. 
 
THE RAILWAY JOTTKNEY. 287 
 
 18. 
 
 'Mid the jewelled cup 
 
 And the costly plate, 
 "Where princes sup 
 
 In regal state ; 
 Eound the pewter bowl, 
 
 "With equal zest, 
 Where the poor-law dole 
 
 Is the pauper's best, 
 
 I glance and play. 
 
 19. 
 "Where the setting sun, 
 
 Like a crimson globe, 
 Whose course is run, 
 
 Loosens her robe, 
 And lets it float 
 
 On the western sky, 
 While billow and boat 
 
 In the twilight lie, 
 
 There am I found. 
 
288 THE BAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 20. 
 
 'Mid the angels' songs, 
 
 In the streets of gold, 
 Where seraph throngs 
 
 Their wings unfold ; 
 Where Grod displays 
 
 His smiling face, 
 In the full orbed blaze 
 
 Of boundless grace, 
 
 There I abound. 
 
 WE reach the station near the chosen spot 
 Where fields are common and policemen not : 
 Through the long train from front to distant rear, 
 Three thousand throats with loud and ringing 
 
 cheer, 
 
 Shout their arrival at the destined goal, 
 And through the gate in surging torrents roll, 
 As oosing mud from some discharging drain 
 Pours its vile volume on the verdant plain, 
 
THE BAILWAY JOTJBNET. 289 
 
 The train delivered from this living freight, 
 
 And eased of more than half its cumbrous weight, 
 
 Dashes along through vale and daisied mead 
 
 With lighter strides and swifter flight of speed. 
 
 The noble engine and the cars relieved, 
 
 The travelling inmates very far from grieved, 
 
 "We seem endued with one glad pulse of mirth, 
 
 To skim the surface of our mother earth. 
 
 Five minutes at the most 
 
 Destroy our empty boast, 
 
 The emptied carriages with bounding speed, 
 
 From the dead weight of living ballast freed, 
 
 Vibrate and tremble, oscillate and swerve, 
 
 From side to side with such a swinging curve, 
 
 That all our brains grow giddy with the quaking, 
 
 Addled and dizzy with the constant shaking : 
 
 With heads through windows thrust we loudly 
 
 call, 
 
 Shriek in shrill treble and with fury bawl, 
 " Screw up the carriages, screw tighter, screw !" 
 
290 THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 In vain ; the rocking pendulum the faster flew ; 
 
 No aid can reach us as we pierce the yielding air, 
 
 Our fellow pilgrims all the sickening danger share. 
 
 Stokers and guards by fixed and changeless laws 
 
 Are useless till the flying engines pause. 
 
 'Tis the one penalty the public pay, 
 
 For being with the speed of lightning's play 
 
 Dragged through the world by jets of hissing steam 
 
 A heated furnace and a fiery team. 
 
 No aid responds to shout or piercing cry 
 
 When danger threatens or when death is nigh. 
 
 oscillate and tremble like a pendulum in grief, 
 Or the quiver of a frail and breeze-beshaken leaf, 
 Or the lurching of a vessel in a restless state of 
 
 motion, 
 Tumbling and tossing in a madly chopping ocean. 
 
 No halt, we faster and still faster go, 
 The flying moments but augment our woe, 
 
THE BAILWAY JOUENET. 291 
 
 Locked in our moving purgatory fast 
 As felons vile in bolted dungeons cast. 
 
 "We suffer smarting stinging pains, 
 
 In all our tingling, bursting veins, 
 
 Endure this wide world's worst and foulest ills, 
 
 Jostled to jelly, pestled into pills, 
 
 Pounded to powder, phrenzied into fits, 
 
 Jolted and ground and battered into grits. 
 
 Shaken and stirred up like a Doctor's mixture, 
 
 With not a moment's grip of any solid fixture, 
 
 Till muscle, nerve, and bone at the oft repeated 
 
 lunge 
 
 Bruised into pulp, or softened into spunge, 
 Felt melting into chaos or dissolving into dust, 
 While our clothes, though the toughest, inevitably 
 
 must 
 Be shivered into shreds by the lengthened out 
 
 duration 
 Of the ceaseless and pauseless, eternal trituration. 
 
292 THE BAILWA? JOURNEY. 
 
 A Station reached, the guards in haste descend, 
 Tighten the screwbolts and the nuisance end. 
 "We start afresh with mind and limbs at ease, 
 And o'er the plain the thundering phalanx flees. 
 As camels or a mammoth-coil a needle's eye may 
 
 thread, 
 Or streams flow darkly through some subterranean 
 
 bed, 
 
 "With sudden clang and sharply ringing shock 
 We pierce a Tunnel in the living rock, 
 Crash into darkness, rumble through the gloom, 
 As earth receives us in her murky womb. 
 The home-bound school-girl sitting at my side, 
 In frantic terror started up and cried, 
 " Sir, I suspect the locomotive's sick, 
 And in this dreary cave intends to stick, 
 Its thudding plunge, its heavy sigh, 
 Its sobbing, creaking, wheezing cry, 
 Are its poor effort to concoct a 
 Demand upon the nearest doctor. 
 
THE BAILWA.Y JOTJENET. 293 
 
 I calmed the child and hushed her rising fears 
 "With words that summoned smiles to chase the 
 
 trickling tears. 
 
 Our night soon fled before the opening dawn, 
 Like the quick sunlight of an Eastern morn. 
 Thank God we've left our rocky tomb 
 And light succeeds the earthy gloom, 
 When suddenly a startling shriek, 
 Proclaims a bursting rent or leak, 
 The boiler's burst and ladies scream 
 'Mid rolling clouds of hissing steam, 
 A grating crunch, a spitter spatter, 
 And doors fly open with a rattling clatter ; 
 Every head begins to ache, 
 Every heart to throb and quake, 
 Every nerve and muscle quiver, 
 Every heart- string thrill and shiver ; 
 Head over heels the living torrent pours, 
 In scrambling haste through all the opened doors ; 
 With heated pokers 
 
294 THE EAILWAT JOURNEY. 
 
 Maddened stokers, 
 
 Blistered, scorched, and hurt, 
 
 Begrimed with greasy dirt, 
 
 Battered, bruised, 
 
 And sore contused, 
 
 With frantic gestures race and rush 
 
 Like mad bulls through the crowded crush ; 
 
 The danger signals fiercely wave, 
 
 The railway guards with fury rave, 
 
 While one despatched at topmost speed 
 
 To fetch another fiery steed, 
 
 With red flag waving disappears, 
 
 'Mid mingled prayers and hopes and fears. 
 
 A dreamy miserable hour 
 
 With now and then a hailstone shower, 
 
 And then the snorting iron horse arrives, 
 
 'Mid cheers that hail it as the Saviour of our lives. 
 
 The empty and half-empty cars, too light 
 
 With noiseless smoothness to maintain their flight, 
 
 Still jolt and vibrate with a jerking bound, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 295 
 
 And rumble onwards with a rattling sound. 
 
 Thus plagued we urge our headlong flight, 
 
 Now in darkness, now in light, 
 
 Ever thumping, 
 
 Kudely bumping, 
 
 Ever shaking, 
 
 Eoughly quaking, 
 
 Often groaning, 
 
 Sighing, moaning, 
 
 Often weeping, 
 
 Seldom sleeping, 
 
 Trying dosing 
 
 Or composing, 
 
 Sometimes shrieking, 
 
 Seldom speaking, 
 
 'Mid the rattle, 
 
 Who could prattle ? 
 
 AT length we reach the Meet-all central junction, 
 And cool our heated wheels with pounds of greasy 
 unction, 
 
296 THE KAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 "With ringing hammer tap their glowing rims, 
 And lubricate the joints and brazen limbs 
 Of our fleet iron steed, to aid his rapid flight 
 And smooth his transit through the closing night. 
 
 The ebon shades of evening falling fast, 
 
 And bank and hedgerow indistinctly skimming 
 
 past, 
 
 I close my eyes upon the deepening gloom, 
 My soft stuffed corner in the car resume, 
 And dream of long past happy days at school, 
 "When guided by a gentle Pedant's rod and rule, 
 I shewed up to my kind examiner's dismay, 
 The grand results of half a morning spent in play, 
 Millions computed, angles of all grades defined, 
 Rough battlements with rare felicity designed, 
 Conic or comic sections, algebraic fractions, 
 And other frolicsome and erudite transactions, 
 The pen arid pencil sketches and grotesque devices 
 "Which form the staple of a minor's minor vices ; 
 
THE RAILWAY JOURNEY. 297 
 
 "Wonderful Jehus in their six-horsed vans, 
 
 And piled up pyramids of pipkins, pots and pans, 
 
 Mingled with wondrous architective plans, 
 
 Of bridges, churches, cottages and forts, 
 
 Mansions of all sizes, castles of all sorts, 
 
 Men like Don Quixote frantically mad 
 
 Smiting huge dragons in their scaly armour clad : 
 
 Men with plumed helmets who appear to wield 
 
 Two handed swords and most prodigious shield, 
 
 Colossal spear, duck gun and monstrous quiver, 
 
 Ample enough to make Goliath shiver, 
 
 As though Briarius-like the fighting crew, 
 
 Possessed a hundred arms instead of two, 
 
 Pitted against some heroine who plies 
 
 Her deadly battle-axe of startling size : 
 
 Sailors whose arms the hardest blows have dealt, 
 
 Cutlas in hand and pistol in their belt, 
 
 Or crossbraced soldiers charging side by side, 
 
 The serried foemen with colossal stride ; 
 
 Tartar-clad. Highlanders and Grenadiers, 
 
298 THE RAILWAY JOTIENET. 
 
 Dandified Lancers with their flag-tipped spears, 
 Or single heroes striding, slashing, slaying, 
 No friend or foe their bloody onslaught staying, 
 Or prostrate in the fascined rifle trench, 
 Sending a bullet at the flying French : 
 Days when I gabbled fluently of fluid pressures, 
 And wet and solid, dry and superficial measures, 
 Of virtual velocities, fly-wheels and lever forces, 
 Hydraulic rams more potent than a thousand 
 
 horses, 
 
 Prospective and perspective glimpses of the moon, 
 And observations made at midnight and at noon ; 
 Of trigonometry and tricks at Christmas revels, 
 Surveys and gradients, theodolytes and levels ; 
 Dreamed I was cramming at the old loved college, 
 Most monstrous cart-loads of all useful knowledge, 
 And wondered if the schoolboy at my side, 
 His mother's darling and his father's pride, 
 "Would waste the morning of his golden prime, 
 And let the noontide of his college time, 
 
THE RAILWAY JOFBNEY. 299 
 
 In reckless heedlessness of mind pass by 
 As fruitlessly and worthlessly as I. 
 
 Stopped at the outpost by the faithful picket, 
 Who takes from each his clipped and crumpled 
 
 ticket, 
 
 We reach at last the lengthened journey's end 
 With stiffened joints too cramped with ease to 
 
 bend, 
 
 And from our pent up cars with joy descend. 
 Armed with his hammer comes the smith and tries 
 Each inch of iron with his hand and eyes, 
 With practised art and skill essays his best 
 Each travelled carriage- wheel to try and test, 
 Happing and ringing with attentive ear 
 To catch the answer whether dull or clear, 
 And render rivet, axle, rim and screw, 
 And tire and bolt securely tight and true. 
 
 A band of searchers rush with headlong speed, 
 
300 THE BAILWAY JOUKKEY. 
 
 Lynx-eyed, lithe-fingered and with eager greed, 
 A phalanx bent on booty and on gain, 
 And take possession of the emptied train, 
 As harpies visit some wild battle field 
 To reap the spoils its ghastly acres yield ; 
 Ransack each seat, each pocket and each curtain, 
 "With well trained touch that makes the matter 
 
 certain, 
 
 Pass their skilled hands above, beneath and under, 
 Catch like a magnet every ounce of plunder, 
 With glance detective into every crevice peep, 
 Fling up the cushions and each corner sweep. 
 
 Never since Noah descended from the ark 
 And cleared the cabins of his wondrous bark, 
 Did such a medley of chaotic store 
 Perplex the gaze of living man before, 
 As strew the timbers of the platform floor. 
 Each searcher as from rifled car he springs, 
 Adds to the mass of most incongruous things : 
 
THE EAILWAT JOTJHNEY. 301 
 
 Ear more successful than explorers vain, 
 Who brave the icebergs of the Arctic main, 
 Or wise examiners at learned College, 
 Who probe their pupils' empty brains for know- 
 ledge, 
 
 The agile band with swift and rapid toil, 
 Clear the long train of its abandoned spoil, 
 And fling the variegated b'Soty down 
 Like the rich sack of some beleaguered town. 
 Perplexed, I gazed upon this novel scene, 
 And stopped to learn what such a search could 
 
 mean; 
 
 With half roused awe, 
 Diverted saw 
 These Argus men 
 Of furtive ken, 
 Slamming doors 
 And searching floors, 
 Hurling on the platform stage 
 Half in frolic, half in rage, 
 
302 THE BAILWAY JOURNEY. 
 
 Forgotten articles of dress 
 
 Or debris of some trampled mess, 
 
 Now a body or a skirt, 
 
 Now a frill or flannel-shirt, 
 
 Live stock and dead stock, properties and chattels, 
 
 "Wax dolls, rag dolls, coral bells and rattles, 
 
 Odd boots and shoes, stray gauntlets, railway 
 
 wraps, 
 Front curls and haircombs, and gaudy smoking 
 
 caps, 
 Smelling bottles, scent-bags, handkerchiefs and 
 
 mittens, 
 
 White mice and blackbirds, chaffinches and kittens, 
 Almanacks and papers, applerind and plums, 
 Fragments of jam tarts and nibbled crusts and 
 
 crumbs, 
 
 Orange peel and cherrystones 
 With eggshells and chicken bones, 
 Darning needles, stockings, knitting tools and 
 
 socks, 
 
THE KAIL WAY JOTJKNEY. 303 
 
 Pinafores and bibs, and tiny baby frocks, 
 Tooth-picks and thimbles, comforters and muffs, 
 Nightcaps and slippers, and crochet frills and cuffs, 
 Half reels of cotton and tangled webs of thread, 
 Grey, blue, and black, and green, and white, and 
 
 red, 
 
 Skeins of soft silk and ends of knotted strings, 
 Ends of cheroots and india-rubber rings. 
 
 The searcher's palm at times for a little moment 
 
 lingers 
 
 On soft spongy cakes or broken ladies' fingers, 
 Or he starts with a shrug and a half spasmodic 
 
 grin, 
 
 Pricked by a needle or punctured by a pin. 
 "Warned by such trifles their labours to pursue, 
 With caution and with care, their labours they 
 
 renew, 
 Till startled by the poignancy of something strange 
 
 and new, 
 
304 THE BAILWAY JOTJENET. 
 
 Sprinklings of black pepper that make them wince 
 
 and sneeze, 
 
 Or parings of onions, lemon-peel and cheese ; 
 Nosegays by the score most miserably faded, 
 Back hair for ladies elaborately braided, 
 A worn out umbrella discoloured by the rain, 
 A thick and heavy walking staff, or dandy's flimsy 
 
 cane ; 
 
 Wristbands and brooches and shreds of gauzy lace, 
 Methuselah's gold spectacles without their lea- 
 thern case, 
 Neckties and bonnet-veils, pocket-books and 
 
 purses, 
 
 Love letters, envelopes, share-lists and verses ; 
 Photographs and play-cards, journals by the quire, 
 Lemonade and soda flasks without their cork and 
 
 wire ; 
 
 Button hooks and gaiters, and gutta percha soles, 
 And half consumed remainders of biscuits, buns, 
 and rolls. 
 
THE RAILWAY JOUBNEY. 305 
 
 These peaceful relics of a modern Bailway 
 
 journey, 
 Are not so ghastly as the debris of an ancient 
 
 feudal Tournay, 
 
 Where clotted blood, crushed casque and splin- 
 tered spear, 
 Dead horse and shattered falchion on the field 
 
 appear. 
 
 Business and pleasure in the present day, 
 Pursue the smooth paved tenor of their way, 
 "With more of ease and smaller chance of harm, 
 Of fractured skull or lacerated arm, 
 Than threatened those in Chivalry's gone days, 
 Who joined the pastime of her martial plays, 
 When steel-clad knights for love of pleasure 
 
 fought, 
 
 And stunning blows and sharp collisions sought, 
 And found their joy in war's rough risks and stern 
 
 alarms, 
 The shock of conflict and the clash of arms. 
 
306 THE RAILWAY JOURKET. 
 
 THE iron horse is shunted out of sight, 
 Inspected, groomed and stabled for the night, 
 The cars well washed and swept and dusted clean, 
 In slow procession quit the busy scene. 
 Stokers and guards with heavy toil oppressed, 
 Snatch from the night their scanty meed of rest, 
 "While fresh relays of drivers, clerks and porters, 
 Quit with regret their cozy sleeping quarters, 
 Their nightly vigil on the line to keep, 
 Or toiling hard while others rest in sleep, 
 Work the huge trains that speed their rapid flight, 
 Through the dark watches of the weary night. 
 
JTO 
 
' Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to 
 dwell together in unity." PSALM cxxxiii. 1. 
 
 H ! who can tell what blessings dwell 
 
 In fullest, richest measure, 
 And brimming joy without alloy, 
 
 In broadest tide of pleasure, 
 In that dear place where gifts of grace 
 
 Descending from above, 
 Strike deep their root and bear their fruit 
 In unity and love ? 
 
 x 
 
310 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 2. 
 
 Where home is bright with living light 
 
 From concord's smiling sun, 
 "Whose sacred beams and golden gleams 
 
 All spirits blend in one ; 
 Where all in harmony combine 
 
 With love's unselfish arts, 
 And like the vine their tendrils twine 
 
 Around each other's hearts. 
 
 3. 
 
 Where he who reigns, with love maintains 
 
 His ever gentle sway, 
 And all with fleet and willing feet 
 
 His slightest wish obey : 
 His first great care with ceaseless prayer, 
 
 To form a home of love, 
 Which being such resembles much 
 
 The better home above. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 311 
 
 4. 
 
 Where she who shares his joys and cares, 
 
 "With fond endearment strives 
 To weave in one the threads that run 
 
 Through both their blended lives. 
 Her heart repays with fondest gaze 
 
 The love of those who love it, 
 As placid lake its glories take, 
 
 From midday sun above it. 
 
 5. ,., M . r 
 
 Where both preside and wisely guide 
 
 Their children's footsteps right, 
 With heart-warm praise in Grod's own ways, 
 
 To walk by Wisdom's light ; 
 To know in youth the vital truth 
 
 That home should ever be 
 A peaceful nest of constant rest 
 
 From storm and troubled sea ; 
 
312 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 6. 
 
 Their fairest beauty loving duty 
 
 Done with winning grace, 
 That beams with bright and glad delight 
 
 In fondly smiling face ; 
 That joys above are born of love, 
 
 That reigns supremely there, 
 Those pleasures sweet that make us meet 
 
 Those higher joys to share. 
 
 7. 
 And hand in hand, a joyous band, 
 
 The children aye together, 
 All dangers dare and sunshine share, 
 
 And stormy tempests weather ; 
 Unite their cares and join their prayers, 
 
 And blend their loud thanksgiving, 
 "With one large heart their goods impart 
 As those who know to God they owe 
 
 A life of warm thanksliving. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 313 
 
 8. 
 
 I knew of one whose race was run, 
 
 And battle bravely fought, 
 "With single eye, that from the sky 
 
 Its guerdon only sought ; 
 Who wisely took Grod's sacred Book, 
 
 His heart and life to leaven, 
 His guiding light by day and night, 
 
 To lead his soul to heaven. 
 
 a 
 
 "What though his name, unknown to fame, 
 
 Is in no peerage found, 
 Nor sleeves of lawn those arms adorn, 
 
 That scattered blessings round ; 
 No earthly court his presence sought, 
 
 Or gave him mitred throne, 
 His brow shall shine with crown divine 
 
 Erom Grod and God alone. 
 
314 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 10. 
 
 With growing light shall sparkle bright 
 
 That star-becircled crown, 
 "When earthly thrones, 'mid blood and groans, 
 
 Have sunk for ever down. 
 Earth's cisterns fail, earth's splendours pale, 
 
 And earthly crowns decay, 
 But his shall last, when earth has past, 
 
 Through one long endless day. 
 
 11. 
 
 The words he taught, the deeds he wrought, 
 
 The alms he gave away, 
 The ills he braved, the souls he saved 
 
 Erom error's blinding ray ; 
 The tears he wept while others slept, 
 
 Each prayerful groan and sigh, 
 If not by men, with lasting pen, 
 
 Are registered on high. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 315 
 
 A faithful preacher, not a creature 
 
 To shuffle, trim, and halt, 
 But firmly, gravely, nobly, bravely, 
 
 Denounce each rampant fault ; 
 His shafts of wit each folly hit 
 
 "With never-missing aim, 
 While actions mean and deeds unclean 
 
 "Were put to lasting shame. 
 
 13. 
 
 The world in vain essayed to gain 
 
 His sanction to its ways, 
 To smile or frown his virtue down 
 
 With sneer or hollow praise; 
 With little fear for mocking jeer, 
 
 Or love for him who fawns, 
 He thrust aside, despised, defied, 
 
 Its roses and its thorns. 
 
316 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 14. 
 
 Its coldest winds could never chill 
 
 His heart's warm love for all, 
 JSTor thankless ill his spirit fill 
 
 With slightest tinge of gall : 
 Its blandest smiles and wooing guiles 
 
 His honest soul withstood, 
 Its roughest scorn and sharpest thorn 
 
 Ne'er stayed his work of good. 
 
 15. 
 
 Like Him whose might is slow to smite, 
 
 But swift to send relief, 
 "Whose mercies yearn, when sinners turn, 
 
 To stanch their bleeding grief ; 
 It grieved him sore and cost him more, 
 
 The least reproof to give, 
 Than with the smile that slept awhile, 
 
 Ten thousand wrongs forgive. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 317 
 
 16. 
 
 Bight apt to teach he loved to preach 
 
 The Saviour's love to souls, 
 The stream of grace to bless our race, 
 
 Which like a river rolls, 
 Broad, deep, and free, as shoreless sea, 
 
 Or breezy, balmy air, 
 Unbought, unchained, but simply gained 
 
 By dint of earnest prayer. 
 
 17. 
 
 With anxious thought and care he sought 
 
 The penitent to guide, 
 Who wept apart with broken heart, 
 
 To Christ the crucified, 
 Whose blood was spilt to cleanse from guilt, 
 
 And raise us to the sky, 
 And pardon wins for blackest sins 
 
 And crimes of crimson dye : 
 
318 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 18. 
 
 And bid him clasp with nervous grasp 
 
 The proffered arm of might, 
 "Which saves the soul and makes it whole, 
 
 And scatters all its night ; 
 And then rejoice with grateful voice 
 
 In Him who loves to bless, 
 Whose smiles dispel the mists of hell, 
 
 "THE SUN OF BlGKETEOUSNESS." 
 
 19. 
 
 He loved with care from hurtful snare 
 
 To guard unheeding youth, 
 With glowing tongue to teach the young 
 
 To choose the ways of truth ; 
 With gentle rein to guide and train 
 
 The infant's halting feet, 
 Or catch with smile and winning guile 
 
 The Arab of the street j 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 31 
 
 20, 
 
 To screen from blame and shield from shame 
 
 The weeping child of sin, 
 Whose broken sighs the world despise, 
 
 And never care to win ; 
 With spirit meek and guarded seek 
 
 The fallen to restore, 
 From prying eyes and slander's lies 
 
 Their frailties cover o'er. 
 
 21. 
 
 Whene'er he saw God's righteous law 
 
 The prodigal alarm, 
 And bitter tears, produced by fears, 
 
 The world could never calm, 
 With skilful art and yearning heart 
 
 He caught the sinner's arm, 
 On ruin's brink, about to sink, 
 And stay'd his grief by swift relief 
 
 Of mercy's healing balm. 
 
320 THE HAPY EAMILT. 
 
 22. 
 
 Pull well he knew that not a few 
 
 Accused of deepest crime, 
 "Were men untrained and unrestrain'd 
 
 In childhood's plastic time ; 
 That ill was wrought by want of thought 
 
 In strong temptation's hour, 
 Only in part from want of heart, 
 
 Or wanton mischief's power ; 
 
 23. 
 
 That many a wild but noble child, 
 
 Erom want of early culture, 
 With spirits high and eagle eye, 
 
 Had grown a preying vulture ; 
 That deadly deeds, like rankest weeds 
 
 Oft spring from richest soil, 
 By plough untilled, by wheat unfill'd, 
 
 But grudged the slightest toil. 
 
THE HAPPY TAMIL?. 321 
 
 24. 
 
 "When youth are thrown, unwatched, alone, 
 
 Where sin's strong current rolls, 
 "Where devils work and dangers lurk 
 
 To snare unheeding souls, 
 Pollution stains and vice enchains 
 
 With fetters none can sever, 
 The devils reap while angels weep, 
 
 And souls are lost for ever : 
 
 25. 
 
 By sheer neglect ignobly wrecked 
 
 Where billows overwhelm, 
 'Mid sunken rocks and tempest shocks 
 
 Without a guiding helm ; 
 Like vessel left, of chart bereft, 
 
 To make its helmless way, 
 With freight of gold and wealth untold, 
 
 Through seas of foaming spray. 
 
322 THE HAPY FAMILY. 
 
 26. 
 
 At death-bed side a faithful guide, 
 
 "With meekness bending low 
 That silvered head where time had spread 
 
 Its pearl-white crown of snow ; 
 He pointed high the dying eye 
 
 To Canaan's open portal, 
 The blood-stained door and shining shore 
 
 That bound the life immortal. 
 
 27. 
 
 With hearty aid he toiled and prayed 
 
 Tor every arm of love, 
 That nobly wrought and wisely sought 
 
 Its wisdom from above ; 
 Those godly bands of working hands, 
 
 The bulwarks of its strength, 
 That cover o'er our native shore, 
 
 In all its breadth and length ; 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 323 
 
 28. 
 
 "Which seek to dry each weeping eye, 
 
 Each throbbing heart console ; 
 To soothe to rest each aching breast, 
 
 And win each straying soul ; 
 Or stretch their hands to distant lands, 
 
 To cheer their night of gloom 
 With Gospel light, whose splendours bright 
 
 The darkest souls illume : 
 
 29. 
 
 Who send the message of the cross, 
 
 Like morn's reviving dew, 
 Waste lands and stormy seas across 
 
 By faithful men and true, 
 Whose herald feet are widely found 
 
 With mercy's flag unfurled, 
 And silver trumpet's pealing sound 
 
 Throughout a dying world : 
 
324 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 30. 
 
 Who never grieve their homes to leave, 
 
 For heat or lasting snows ; 
 And bravely dare the cross to bear 
 
 Amidst its deadly foes ; 
 Their weapons wield in mission field, 
 
 Against infernal powers ; 
 And armed in mail Divine assail 
 
 The devil's strongest towers. 
 
 31. 
 
 For Israel's seed he loved to plead, 
 
 A people hated long, 
 As outcasts wild traduced, reviled, 
 
 In jest and drunken song ; 
 For ages cursed, despised, dispersed, 
 
 By every hand oppressed ; 
 Afar from home compelled to roam, 
 
 And find no quiet rest. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 325 
 
 32. 
 
 And yet the tribes of Adam's race 
 
 More favoured than the rest, 
 "Whose names engraven deeply, grace 
 
 The Saviour's jewelled breast ; 
 To whom of old, by seer unrolled, 
 
 The word of Grod was given, 
 From whom there came His mortal frame, 
 
 "Whose side for sin was riven. 
 
 33. 
 
 And in whose line of heroes shine 
 
 Apostles, prophets, kings, 
 Whose every name of matchless fame 
 
 A blaze of glory flings 
 O'er every page, in every age, 
 
 Throughout the chequered scroll, 
 As monarch, priest, or martyred sage, 
 
 In long unbroken roll. 
 
326 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 34. 
 
 And yet to be restored and free, 
 
 With Judah's flag unfurled, 
 A nation owned and high enthroned 
 
 Above a prostrate world. 
 A glorious morn, with brilliant dawn, 
 
 Shall wake her from the ground ; 
 Her sorrows cease in lasting peace, 
 
 While joy and praise abound. 
 
 35. 
 
 i 
 
 Among the nations of the earth, 
 
 The lowest in her fall 
 Shall then receive a second birth, 
 
 And rank above them all ; 
 No longer cursed shall be the first 
 
 In earth's last brightest story, 
 Whom all the rest shall own as best, 
 
 And love to crown with glory. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 327 
 
 Their fetters riven, their sins forgiven, 
 
 And hearts with rapture glowing, 
 Her ransomed bands shall till their lands, 
 
 With milk and honey flowing ; 
 "With manly toil shall make her soil 
 
 Prom vine and olive yield 
 Abundant stores of wine and oil 
 
 From every cultured field, 
 
 37. 
 
 And purged from guilt, her walls rebuilt, 
 
 Her fane with glory crowned, 
 While through her courts and chief resorts 
 
 The notes of praise resound, 
 Shall Salem shine with light Divine, 
 
 Jerusalem retaken, 
 To bliss restored by Christ her Lord, 
 
 " A city not forsaken." 
 
328 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 38. 
 
 When reason slept and Europe wept 
 
 'Mid passion's stern alarms, 
 And echoing wide on every side 
 
 The trumpet called to arms, 
 'Mid war's red blaze and stirring days, 
 
 He spent his manhood's prime, 
 "When hosts encamped, and slaughter 
 stamped 
 
 The first Napoleon's time. 
 
 39. 
 
 Who far and wide in crimson tide 
 
 Of conquest sped his flight 
 To high renown till smitten down 
 
 By Britain's arm of might, 
 And doomed to lie and droop and die 
 
 In clouded, cheerless night ; 
 With galling chain, across the main 
 
 On rock and island height. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 329 
 
 40. 
 
 Whose heart of steel for none could feel 
 
 But mowed his way to fame, 
 O'er slaughtered heaps and ruined keeps 
 
 Of proud historic name, 
 A million lives, a million wives, 
 
 Left widows in their prime, 
 To him were nought, or millions brought 
 
 To want in childhood's time. 
 
 41. 
 
 When blood was shed till nations bled 
 
 At every open pore, 
 And bloody tales with widow's wails 
 
 Were heard at every door, 
 And ruin came in crimson flame 
 
 To mansion, hall, and cot, 
 And frenzied fears and scalding tears 
 
 Were woman's nightly lot. 
 
330 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 42. 
 
 "Where graceful pine and clinging vine 
 
 And scented myrtles blow, 
 And Autumn's spoil from slender toil 
 
 And easy labour grow, 
 "Where mildest dews their balm diffuse, 
 
 And load the fragrant gale, 
 And freely blows the virgin rose 
 
 And pinks their scent exhale ; 
 
 43. 
 
 Each sun arose on marshalled foes 
 
 And blazed on carnage red, 
 And then withdrew in crimson hue 
 
 To set on heaps of dead. 
 And closing night withdrew the light, 
 
 To veil the purple flood, 
 And try to hide the deep broad tide 
 
 That rolled in streams of blood. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 331 
 
 44, 
 
 The moon's soft shrine that loves to shine 
 
 On hills and valleys green, 
 "Was fain to shroud its face in cloud, 
 
 To shun the ghastly scene, 
 Each star was hid or closed its lid, 
 
 All nature spread her pall 
 In horror round the charnel ground, 
 
 And midnight shadowed all. 
 
 45. 
 
 Ah, who can tell what sorrow fell, 
 
 With deep and sombre shroud, 
 And veiled that kind and gentle mind 
 
 With griefs despondent cloud, 
 When hearth and roof beneath the hoof 
 
 Of war were trampled down ; 
 And he who rose by others' woes 
 
 And seized the Gallic crown ; 
 
332 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 46. 
 
 With eagle blow laid monarchs low, 
 
 With quick successive strokes, 
 As tempests crash with blasting flash 
 
 The grand old forest oaks ; 
 And swept each land with sword and brand 
 
 And conquest's fiery surge, 
 And levelled prone each shaken throne 
 
 As earth's tremendous scourge. 
 
 47. 
 
 And when at last the fiery blast 
 
 Had died away to peace, 
 And Britain's arm with waving palm 
 
 Bade war's red horrors cease ; 
 None thanked as he on bended knee 
 
 The God of love and light, 
 Or louder praised, or longer raised 
 
 The shout of glad delight. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 333 
 
 48. 
 
 In after years his wakened fears 
 
 Each nation's movements weighed, 
 And lifting high his fervent cry 
 
 For life-long peace he prayed. 
 To him red coat and martial note 
 
 Were types of ghastly woes, 
 And warlike plume the type of gloom, 
 
 And foemen's frenzied blows. 
 
 49. 
 
 He loved to gaze on coming days, 
 
 AVhen Christ, in heaven adored, 
 Should claim and own the wide world's throne, 
 
 Her one, her only Lord ; 
 When all should sing, " THE LORD is King," 
 
 And Satan's empire cease, 
 The Victim slain as Victor reign 
 
 Triumphant Prince of peace : 
 
334 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 50. 
 
 The golden age in prophet's page 
 
 In glowing terms revealed, 
 When, freed from dearth, the wide-spread earth 
 
 Shall teeming harvests yield ; 
 No sword or spear in fight appear, 
 
 No banner be unfurled, 
 But warfare cease, and lasting peace 
 
 Pervade a smiling world. 
 
 51. 
 
 No martial host invade the coast 
 
 Of peaceful neighbour lands, 
 On spoil intent or conquest bent, 
 
 With overwhelming bands ; 
 And then enrol on blazoned scroll 
 
 The foul and fiendish story, 
 So full of base and black disgrace, 
 
 As deed of brightest glory. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 335 
 
 n 
 
 52. 
 
 Each warlike band shall till the land, 
 
 And bid its fruits increase, 
 Their weapons burn, or wisely turn 
 
 To implements of peace ; 
 The sickle wield to reap the field, 
 
 Or prune the spreading vine, 
 And make the soil by peaceful toil 
 
 O'erflow with milk and wine. 
 
 53. 
 
 Thrice happy time ! when guilt and crime 
 
 Shall curse the earth no more, 
 But sweet repose from war's sad woes 
 
 Shall visit every shore ; 
 When stalwart arms, 'mid war's alarms, 
 
 And trumpet's martial sound, 
 No more shall strew with bloody dew, 
 
 But till, the fruitful ground. 
 
336 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 54. 
 
 When, robed in might and dazzling light, 
 
 The Saviour shall descend 
 To take His throne and reign alone, 
 
 And Satan's triumphs end ; 
 Lands far and wide on every side 
 
 With loud hosannas ring, 
 And princes throng with raptured song 
 
 To hail the world's great King. 
 
 55. 
 
 Where orphans wept whose parents slept 
 
 The last long sleep of death, 
 Their children pressing, kissing, blessing 
 
 With their last dying breath 
 Was there no eye those tears to spy 
 
 Fast dropping on the grave, 
 No willing ear those sobs to hear 
 
 That help and pity crave ? 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 337 
 
 56. 
 
 No hand to dry each weeping eye, 
 
 No strong protecting arm 
 With kindly art the orphan's heart 
 
 To heal with soothing balm ? 
 Yes, orphans' cries and widows' sighs 
 
 Awoke His loving heart 
 To wipe their tears, dismiss their fears, 
 
 And act a Father's part. 
 
 57. 
 
 "With busy hand and head that planned 
 
 The swiftest help to bring, 
 He often made with timely aid 
 
 The widow's heart to sing. 
 His open door to rich or poor 
 
 A heart's warm welcome offered, 
 To all, indeed, in want or need 
 
 A kindly shelter proffered. 
 
338 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 58. 
 When raging pest filled every breast 
 
 With terror and dismay, 
 And, spite of care, the young and fair 
 
 Were fading fast away ; 
 When vigour shrunk and manhood sunk 
 
 Beneath the fatal blow, 
 Or fever's breath with shafts of death, 
 That wing their flight in stilly night, 
 
 Had laid its thousands low ; 
 
 59. 
 
 Without alarm or fear of harm 
 
 Prom rank contagion's breath, 
 This man of God then bravely trod 
 
 The pathway strewn with death ; 
 For death's dark wing would harmless fling 
 
 Its shade across his way, 
 Who perilled all, at duty's call, 
 
 With dying men to pray. 
 
THE HAPPY EAMILT. 339 
 
 60. 
 
 When basely stung by slander's tongue, 
 
 And wantonly belied, 
 His spirit ruled, his temper schooled, 
 
 He graciously replied, 
 c< Curses and lies are injuries 
 
 To him from whom they come, 
 For cursing words, like strong-winged birds, 
 
 Eeturn to roost at home. 
 
 61. 
 
 " Words that defame oft miss their aim, 
 
 And rouse the good man's Friend ; 
 God will reverse the causeless curse, 
 
 And slandered saints defend. 
 Shall I complain, when slander's breath 
 
 Its vilest venom poured 
 And falsely doomed my Lord to death, 
 
 Whom seraph hosts adored ?" 
 
340 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 62. 
 
 In sore affliction's heated fires 
 
 He glorified his God, 
 And torn by trial's thorny briars, 
 
 He called the smiting rod 
 A Father's scourge his soul to purge 
 
 Prom sin's defiling sway, 
 And death's fell shafts but bitter draughts 
 
 To cleanse his dross away. 
 
 63. 
 
 "Without one fear or faithless tear, 
 
 Distrustful groan or sigh, 
 His lowly soul would take the whole 
 
 As coming from on high ; 
 His faith could own that from the throne 
 
 His wise Physician's hand 
 Gave even these as love's decrees 
 
 By perfect wisdom planned. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 341 
 
 64. 
 
 With lifted dart death struck his heart 
 
 A doubly fatal blow, 
 And at his side, with rapid stride, 
 
 Laid son and daughter low, 
 Like stripling oaks beneath the strokes 
 
 Of woodman's ringing axe, 
 Or shattered pine and elm that line 
 
 The tempest's lightning tracks. 
 
 65. 
 
 Like pliant reed or ocean's weed 
 
 That yield beneath the prow, 
 Or grassy blades in forest glades 
 
 Before the zephyrs bow ; 
 He meekly bowed beneath the cloud, 
 
 And saw athwart the tomb 
 Fair mercy's bow above, below, 
 
 Broad- spanning all the gloom. 
 
342 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 66. 
 
 His soul could brave the open grave, 
 
 And terror's ruthless king ; 
 His Captain's blow had smitten low, 
 
 And robbed them of their sting. 
 Death brought him gain, for sin and pain 
 
 Again should wound him never ; 
 It bade him rise to brighter skies, 
 Supremely blest in endless rest, 
 
 To reign with Christ for ever. 
 
 67. 
 
 To him the tomb was but a room 
 
 In which the body sleeps, 
 While God's own eye unsleepingly 
 
 Its faithful vigil keeps 
 A few short years, till Christ appears 
 
 To call the sleeping clay 
 To quit its rest, with glory drest, 
 
 And wake to endless day. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 343 
 
 68. 
 
 His vision clear, undimmed by tear, 
 
 Across death's gloomy vale 
 Saw mansions rise in cloudless skies 
 
 And joys that never fail ; 
 Bright hills of light with splendour bright 
 
 Where deathless fruits abound, 
 By streams that glide with tranquil tide 
 
 Through Eden's thornless ground. 
 
 "With ardour fired, his soul aspired 
 
 On faith's swift feet to haste, 
 Those homes of bliss to claim as his, 
 
 Those living fruits to taste, 
 That place to gain where seraphs reign 
 
 On sapphire thrones of light, 
 And ever shine, with love Divine, 
 
 On Zion's sacred height. 
 
344 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 70. 
 
 He longed to rest with sinless breast 
 
 On Canaan's peaceful shore, 
 Ey Satan vexed or care perplexed 
 
 Or sin defiled no more ; 
 To spend his days in constant praise 
 "With full harp strung and fervent tongue 
 
 And ever tearless eye, 
 In rapt employ and perfect joy 
 
 Eeneath that God-lit sky. 
 
 71. 
 Assisting ever, thwarting never, 
 
 His faithful partner stood, 
 His strong support, who only sought 
 
 To aid his deeds of good ; 
 "With arts endearing, soothing, cheering, 
 
 And ready, hand to hand, 
 With all her heart to take her part 
 
 In every work he planned. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 345 
 
 72. 
 
 No time misused, no trust abused, 
 
 No talent misapplied, 
 His years flew past as smooth and fast 
 
 As river's rapid tide, 
 Through level ground and sloping mound, 
 
 With ever ceaseless flow, 
 Dispersing wide on every side 
 
 Its gifts to high and low. 
 
 73. 
 
 And broader growing, fuller flowing, 
 
 Nearing fast its end, 
 Till deep and wide with ocean's tide 
 
 Its rolling waters blend. 
 Or like the blaze, in cloudless days 
 
 Of Autumn's setting sun, 
 "With life declining, brighter shining, 
 
 Till all his work was done. 
 
346 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 74. 
 
 Through life's long day the narrow way, 
 
 With zeal he firmly trod, 
 His one desire with soul of fire 
 
 To serve his Saviour-God ; 
 His Gospel preach, His precepts teach, 
 
 His promises proclaim, 
 And loudly call and welcome all 
 
 To trust His saving name. 
 
 75. 
 
 Yes, all his days God's wondrous ways 
 
 Of love to fallen man 
 He loved to trace in streams of grace 
 
 Prom mercy's saving plan. 
 He led the way to realms of day, 
 
 And then, without a sigh, 
 "With his last breath he taught in death 
 
 How righteous men can die. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 347 
 
 76. 
 
 The widow's tear bedewed his bier, 
 
 And orphan children wept 
 In blank despair, when passing where 
 
 The good man's ashes slept. 
 His sermons still with wisdom fill 
 
 The minds of young and old, 
 His golden deeds like living seeds, 
 
 Their fragrant fruits unfold. 
 
 . i 
 
 77. 
 Though cold in dust his body must 
 
 In death-like silence rest, 
 Each golden thought of truth he taught, 
 
 Still lives in many a breast ; 
 For those who heard each well-weighed word, 
 
 "With fond affection stored 
 That wealth of light, and still delight 
 
 To count the treasured hoard. 
 
348 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 78. 
 His children led by such a head, 
 
 His footprints loved to trace ; 
 And side by side with vigour tried 
 
 Like him to grow in grace. 
 They shared together changing weather, 
 
 Storms, and wintry skies ; 
 And all they bore but bound them more 
 
 In closer, deeper ties, 
 
 79. 
 
 One heart, one soul transfused the whole, 
 
 And knit them each to other, 
 Like silken chain of jewelled grain, 
 
 Or brother linked with brother. 
 The snow-white dove of Godlike love 
 
 Had found its fitting rest, 
 "With folded wing to reign as king 
 
 In each contented breast. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 349 
 
 80. 
 
 An angry word was never heard 
 
 Throughout the live-long day ; 
 The deep repose was never stirred 
 
 By passion's lawless play, 
 By temper sour, or brows that lower 
 
 With thunder-clouds of gloom, 
 Or flashing eyes, where murder lies 
 
 And deeds of darkness loom ; 
 
 81. 
 
 By look askance, or angry glance, 
 
 Or bitter biting words, 
 That scathe and burn enough to turn 
 
 The sweetest blood to curds ; 
 By savage jeer, or caustic sneer, 
 
 Or sharp and smart sarcasms, 
 Or piquant strokes of brutal jokes, 
 
 That sting like cataplasms : 
 
350 THE HAPPY TAMIL! . 
 
 82. 
 
 But words of grace from smiling face, 
 
 "With sweetest, gentlest sound, 
 That much increase the love and peace 
 
 And joy of all around. 
 One golden chain the whole contain, 
 
 Like richest wreath unblighted, 
 "Where full-blown rose and buds repose 
 
 In harmony united. * 
 
 83. 
 
 Their only thought to give unsought 
 
 To all about them pleasure, 
 And daily add, to make them glad, 
 
 Their own heart's mirthful treasure. 
 Unruffled calm, like dewy balm, 
 
 On Hermon's hallowed crest, 
 Or unction shed on Aaron's head, 
 
 Pervaded every breast. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 351 
 
 84 
 
 The younger girls, with waving curls 
 
 Of flowing auburn hair, 
 Whose ruby lips the rose eclipse, 
 
 And lily's perfume share ; 
 With dimpled charm of rounded arm, 
 And laughing sunny eyes, 
 Whose sapphire sphere shone bright and clear 
 
 As azure of the skies ; 
 
 85. 
 
 Through field and lane and level plain 
 
 On restless fairy feet, 
 Eaces running, dancing, fanning, 
 
 Their brimming joy complete ; 
 As linnets gay, with gleesome play 
 
 Prolong their merry freaks, 
 Bound moss-grown trees, where sun and breeze 
 
 With roses flush their cheeks ; 
 
352 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 86. 
 With rapture climb where purple thyme 
 
 And blushing heather grow, 
 Or search the sod where bluebells nod 
 
 And golden cowslips blow ; 
 O'er daisied ground, up ferny mound, 
 "With loosened tongues or panting lungs, 
 
 And supple footsteps fly, 
 And drink a wealth of rustic health 
 
 Prom open air and sky. 
 
 87. 
 In woodland scene, with verdure green, 
 
 Eeplete with forest charms, 
 And cozy glades which Nature shades 
 
 And guards from rude alarms ; 
 Pass joyous hours amid the flowers, 
 
 Laughing, joking, singing, 
 Their merry lays of jocund praise 
 
 Through copse and valley ringing. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 353 
 
 88. 
 The elder boys, with equal noise, 
 
 Or music's pleasing sound, 
 With dulcet lute, or sounding flute, 
 
 Awake the echoes round ; 
 "While thrilling notes from warbling throats, 
 
 Come swelling on the breeze, 
 And murmurs soft are heard aloft 
 
 Prom gently- waving trees. 
 
 89. 
 Sweet peace and praise fulfil the days 
 
 Like Paradise above, 
 Where sunny fruits from sweetest roots, 
 And fragrant bowers of fairest flowers, 
 
 Compose a home of love. 
 An easy night of slumbers light, 
 
 With healing balm succeeds 
 The cheerful day of mirthful play, 
 
 Or mercy's active deeds. 
 
354 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 90. 
 
 All soft and slowly, sweet and holy, 
 
 Eose their matin psalm ; 
 And night-winds bear their words of prayer 
 
 On eve's prevailing calm. 
 "With one glad heart they take their part 
 
 In services Divine, 
 Together raise their notes of praise 
 
 In God's all-hallowed shrine. 
 
 91. 
 
 No earthly care disturbs their prayer, 
 
 No wandering of thought ; 
 "With hallowed mind their* joy they find 
 
 In G-od's own sacred court. 
 Most rich enjoyments, sweet employments, 
 
 Pill their Sabbath-days 
 With joyous beams and glowing gleams 
 
 From worlds of endless praise. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 355 
 
 92. 
 
 No speech unclean, or tale obscene, 
 
 Their spotless lips profaned, 
 (Like muddy stream, or putrid steam 
 From stagnant mire, with fever's fire 
 
 And rank corruption stained.) 
 Their words were right and chaste as light, 
 
 Transparent as the day, 
 Or streams that flow from virgin snow, 
 
 "With sparkling crystal play. 
 
 93. 
 
 No reckless jest, with festering pest, 
 
 To wound the tender heart, 
 Or wasplike fling its fiery sting 
 
 To make its tendrils smart ; 
 No teasing sport or keen retort, 
 
 No scathing, scalding jeer ; 
 No snarling tone, or grumbling groan, 
 
 Assail the wounded ear : 
 
356 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 94. 
 
 No burly bluster, tinsel lustre, 
 
 Or meretricious varnish : 
 No tawdry gloss, or verbal dross, 
 
 Their conversation tarnish. 
 Their yea was yea, their nay was nay, 
 
 A bond their naked word ; 
 Their promise passed was firm and fast, 
 
 Nor once belied or blurred. 
 
 95. 
 
 No curse profaned, or falsehood stained, 
 
 Those lips of sterling truth ; 
 No serpent guile, with mocking smile, 
 
 Deformed their virgin youth. 
 Their spotless life unmarred by strife, 
 
 Plowed peacefully along, 
 As sunlit waves in crystal caves, 
 
 "With soft unbroken song. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 357 
 
 96. 
 
 Their books well worn, but never torn, 
 
 Or soiled with filthy stains, 
 Of study told more prized than gold, 
 
 And amply-cultured brains ; 
 The head informed, the heart reformed, 
 
 The life and temper sweetened ; 
 The deathless soul, by grace made whole, 
 
 For heaven's glory meetened. 
 
 97. 
 Taught from their youth the sterling truth 
 
 Of God's unchanging "Word, 
 Its slightest voice of whispered joys 
 
 Their inmost spirit stirred. 
 They prized it more than golden ore, 
 
 Or gems from Eastern mart, 
 Their chief delight by day and night, 
 
 To search its every part. 
 
 2 A 
 
358 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 98. 
 
 From childhood taught, by guile uncaught, 
 
 To shun the tempter's snare, 
 Never to stray from God's highway, 
 
 Or sinful pleasures share ; 
 Their path they traced, with girdle braced, 
 
 Flung far each cumbrous weight, 
 From error turned, and nobly spurned 
 
 The tempter's gilded bait. 
 
 99. 
 
 "When strongly pressed with jeer and jest 
 
 To break some sacred law, 
 They meekly dare the cross to bear, 
 
 And from the scene withdraw. 
 Most sorely vexed, annoyed, perplexed 
 
 By slander's venom often, 
 They meekly tried, by love applied, 
 
 Their foes' hard hearts to soften. 
 
THE HAPPT FAMILY. 359 
 
 100. 
 
 With docile mind that longs to find 
 
 God's finger-prints on high, 
 They turn their eyes with glad surprise 
 
 To God's eternal sky. 
 "While others sleep they study deep, 
 
 In nightly vision learning 
 High truths Divine from lamps that shine, 
 
 In Nature's temple burning : 
 
 101. 
 
 Those stars that write in lines of light, 
 
 On heaven's blazoned scroll, 
 A word of love from God above 
 
 To faith's discerning soul ; 
 Whose constant rays, or meteor blaze, 
 
 Earth's brightest gems eclipse, 
 And poets sung with raptured tongue 
 
 And seraph-glowing lips : 
 
360 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 102. 
 
 Those countless globes in night's fair robes, 
 
 That ample breadth of span, 
 "Whose shoreless height proclaims aright 
 
 The littleness of man ; 
 Those silent spheres in wisdom's ears 
 
 "Which speak while worlds are sleeping, 
 Of ceaseless care that watches there, 
 
 Its sleepless vigil keeping. 
 
 103. 
 
 Those worlds of light that night by night 
 
 Bedeck the vaulted sky, 
 Were wisdom's preachers, voiceless teachers 
 
 To their observant eye ; 
 Each silent star that beams afar 
 
 A source of inward light 
 To guide, console, and fill the soul 
 
 "With ever fresh delight. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 361 
 
 104. 
 
 The meteor gem of Bethlehem 
 
 That guided Eastern kings 
 Their King to greet with welcome meet 
 
 Of costly offerings ; 
 To spread their gold and wealth unrolled 
 
 Beneath that Infant's feet, 
 Whose work of grace gives man a place 
 
 In Zion's golden street. 
 
 , 
 
 105. 
 
 The moon whose face of virgin grace 
 
 With beauty bathed the flowers, 
 And brightly beamed and glanced and gleamed 
 
 Through Eden's sinless bowers : 
 Whose welcome light on Horon's height, 
 
 At man's uplifted hand, 
 Its setting stayed to yield its aid 
 
 To Judah's warrior band : 
 
362 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 106. 
 
 Whose glories shine from silver shrine, 
 
 In full-orbed splendour burning, 
 And monthly wane, but still again 
 
 To duty swift returning ; 
 With lambent flame fulfilled the aim 
 
 "For which its fires were lighted, 
 And led to Him whose saving name 
 
 Illumes a world benighted. 
 
 107. 
 
 Those glories high that stud the sky 
 
 And David's zeal awoke, 
 With kindled fire to sweep the lyre 
 
 And Godlike strains evoke ; 
 Whose jewelled scroll oft led his soul 
 
 In nightly trance to trace, 
 With solemn awe, GodV brighter law 
 
 And nobler wealth of grace. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 363 
 
 108. 
 
 All these proclaim with one acclaim, 
 
 Like sentinels that stand 
 At heaven's gate, that good and great 
 
 Is He whose wisdom planned, 
 Whose hand unfolds, whose arm upholds 
 
 These rolling worlds on high, 
 "Whose beams adorn from eve to morn, 
 
 The curtains of the sky. 
 
 109. 
 
 For them in vain that brilliant train 
 
 Of constellations bright 
 Shone not on high in midnight sky 
 
 With blaze of lustrous light ; 
 The glory spread above their head 
 
 By lavish hand of love, 
 Attracted oft their souls aloft 
 
 To brighter worlds above. 
 
364 THE HAPPI FAMILY. 
 
 110. 
 
 With painful care and earnest prayer, 
 
 And humbleness profound, 
 The prophets' lore they pondered o'er 
 
 As if on hallowed ground ; 
 Their pages turned, those wonders learned, 
 
 Which in their books abound, 
 With searching thought that only sought 
 
 That truth might still be found. 
 
 111. 
 
 Eor with the few they wisely knew 
 
 That if their lot was cast 
 In wondrous times when Nature's chimes 
 
 Were ringing out their last ; 
 When portents rise in Eastern skies, 
 
 And earth is strewn with signs, 
 The faithful read and meekly heed, 
 
 Though public faith declines. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 365 
 
 112. 
 
 Whene'er they erred by thoughtless word, 
 
 Or some unguarded deed, 
 Though undesigned, with troubled mind 
 
 They stanched the wound with speed, 
 The fault confessed with honest breast 
 
 As open as the dawn, 
 With naught concealed, but all revealed 
 
 As in the light of morn. 
 
 113. 
 
 Their love was true and fresh and new 
 
 As morn's unsullied beam, 
 Or pearls of dew that early strew 
 
 The banks of rippling stream ; 
 It ne'er grew old, or weak, or cold, 
 
 By rough winds oft molested, 
 But lasted long, as warm and strong 
 
 As though untried, untested. 
 
366 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 114. 
 
 No joy to them in silk and gem 
 
 To dress with endless pains 
 Eor county balls in stifling halls, 
 
 Where green-eyed envy reigns. 
 Their richest dress of comeliness 
 
 A spirit meek and lowly, 
 Their brightest gem and diadem, 
 
 A temper calm and holy. 
 
 115. 
 
 Nor were their modest figures found 
 
 Enormously inflated, 
 Their heads with costly rubbish crowned, 
 
 "With vanity elated, 
 Where rank displays its jewelled blaze 
 
 Of coronet and stars, 
 Or gaily glide with pomp and pride 
 
 Fair fashion's rolling cars. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 367 
 
 116. 
 
 They ne'er forgot the humble lot 
 
 Our Saviour made sublime, 
 Or proudly thought the poor man nought, 
 
 Or poverty a crime. 
 Wealth was not grace, nor want disgrace, 
 
 In their enlightened eyes ; 
 They knew that gold or titles hold 
 
 No passport to the skies ; 
 
 117. 
 
 That those possessing scanty dressing 
 
 And meagre food and bad, 
 Vile raiment wore, one nature bore 
 
 With those in purple clad ; 
 That they who dwell in poorhouse cell 
 
 God's image also bear, 
 As well as they who spend the day 
 
 In fashion's pomp and glare. 
 
368 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 118. 
 
 Prom Him they learned who never spurned 
 
 The poor man from His side, 
 But heard his call, and granting all, 
 
 His utmost need supplied, 
 Never to slight the poor man's right 
 
 To sympathy and care, 
 Or put to shame his modest claim 
 
 Or supplicating prayer : 
 
 119. 
 
 "Who with the low when here below 
 
 His lowly dwelling made, 
 To mean abodes in by-way roads 
 
 His welcome visits paid ; 
 To deaf or blind, or tortured mind, 
 
 His healing gifts displayed, 
 And succoured those whose wants and woes 
 
 Called loudest for His aid : 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 369 
 
 120. 
 
 From Him* who came to cure the lame 
 
 And cheer the darkened room, 
 By sick-bed side who health supplied, 
 
 And life by charnel-tomb ; 
 "Warm to His breast their children pressed 
 
 Who loved His saving name, 
 And valued much His healing touch 
 
 From which such virtue came ; 
 
 121. 
 
 Who shared the lot and lowly cot, 
 
 And with the poorest dwelt, 
 The need relieved of all who grieved, 
 
 And all their sorrows felt ; 
 Who moved about to seek them out, 
 
 The speechless tongue to heal, 
 The sightless lead, the famished feed 
 
 With richly ample meal : 
 
370 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 
 
 122. 
 
 And when at length with failing strength 
 
 His life approached its end, 
 Sought still to claim that honoured name, 
 
 The poor man's dying Friend ; 
 With arm of might, from endless night 
 
 Of unavailing grief, 
 Who lifted high above the sky 
 
 The poor repentant thief. 
 
 123. 
 
 They bore in mind that all mankind, 
 
 Though poor their lot and mean, 
 Had flesh and bone just like their own, 
 
 And feelings just as keen ; 
 They flew on fleet and willing feet 
 
 With needful help to seek 
 Each stricken haunt where famine gaunt 
 
 Or sickness blanched the cheek. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 371 
 
 124. 
 
 With lowly mind they stooped to bind 
 
 Torn heart or fractured limb, 
 Or lull to deep and tranquil sleep 
 
 By softly murmured hymn ; 
 With manner bland and tender hand 
 
 The furrowed temple smoothe, 
 And with the charm of Gospel balm 
 
 The anguished spirit soothe. 
 
 125. 
 
 They ne'er abused or e'en refused 
 
 The poor man's humble plea, 
 No boon denied, but all supplied 
 
 With open hand and free ; 
 Like God, who pours His ample stores 
 
 On men of low degree, 
 Whose love descends on foes and friends 
 
 In one wide brimming sea: 
 
372 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 126. 
 
 A servant's feelings never pained, 
 
 But ever strove to treat 
 Their servants like their Lord, who deigned 
 
 To wash His servants' feet : 
 Tor beasts and birds, had gentle words, 
 
 And tender, kindly deeds, 
 Like Him whose hand, o'er sea and land, 
 
 The whole creation feeds : 
 
 127. 
 
 No toil or labour grudged their neighbour, 
 
 Cost, or self-denial, 
 But gave the prime of purse and time 
 
 To ease their bitter trial ; 
 Eeady and swift the load to lift 
 
 Which burdened backs oppressed, 
 And soothe and calm with words of balm 
 
 The aching, throbbing breast. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 373 
 
 128. 
 
 When leaves fell fast before the blast, 
 
 By hailstones rudely battered, 
 And tough old trees beneath the breeze 
 
 "Were torn and rent and shattered ; 
 'Mid forests shaking, branches breaking, 
 
 Lightning flashing fast, 
 Rough winds sighing, havoc flying 
 
 On the raging blast ; 
 
 129. 
 
 Men doomed to roam from hearth and home, 
 
 Where wife and child reposed, 
 To beating storm, in wildest form, 
 
 Their hardy frames exposed ; 
 When thunders pealed, and vessels reeled 
 
 And sunk beneath the shock, 
 Or tempest- driven, shattered, riven, 
 
 Struck the fatal rock : 
 
 2 B 
 
374 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 130. 
 
 When wide and far with splintered spar, 
 
 As though in forest hewn, 
 Wild beach and shore were covered o'er, 
 
 And seas with wrecks were strewn ; 
 Their perilled lives made sailors' wives, 
 
 With hearts distraught by care, 
 With anxious fears shed scalding tears, 
 
 And wrestle hard in prayer : 
 
 131. 
 
 They lifted high their earnest cry 
 
 To Him who vigil keeps 
 O'er every land, and in whose hand 
 
 The mighty ocean sleeps, 
 To help and save the men who brave 
 
 The perils of the deep, 
 And soothe to rest the troubled breast 
 
 Of those who madly weep. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 375 
 
 132. 
 
 Where anguish wrings the heart's warm strings 
 
 For wife or parent dead, 
 Or fretting care breeds mute despair 
 
 For hopes for ever fled ; 
 "Where floods of grief that spurn relief 
 
 Like bursting billows roll, 
 Or lost delight has plunged in night 
 
 A mother's tortured soul ; 
 
 133. 
 
 In every scene, however mean, 
 
 Of mingled want and woe, 
 Where love and grace could find a place 
 
 To bid their bounty flow ; 
 To God alone was fully known, 
 
 That opulence of good, 
 With which unsought they freely wrought 
 
 The utmost that they could. 
 
376 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 134. 
 
 From cot to cell where sorrows dwell 
 
 Their private alms were given, 
 Like silent streams or noiseless beams, 
 
 That glad the earth from heaven ; 
 Or dewy rain on lowly plain 
 
 Descending gently down 
 Unlike the cloud that thunders loud 
 
 Around the mountain's crown. * 
 
 135. 
 
 Without man's praise or staring gaze 
 
 Their works of love and light 
 Were nobly done and praises won 
 
 In Grod and Angels' sight ; 
 For seraph eyes know no disguise 
 
 But pierce the deepest gloom, 
 View deeds of grace in secret place, 
 
 And scan the darkened room. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 377 
 
 136. 
 
 Their souls were bent with fixed intent 
 
 And ardour-glowing love, 
 Through toil and pain to reach and gain 
 
 Their Father's home above. 
 Their treasure there, they longed to share 
 
 The thrill of rapt delight 
 "With which its throng in joyous song 
 
 Surround the throne of light ; 
 
 137. 
 
 Its robes of whiteness, quenchless brightness 
 
 And stores of bliss untold, 
 Its pearl-bright portal, fruits immortal, 
 
 And streets of shining gold ; 
 Its bridal hall of jasper wall, 
 
 And endless feast of joy, 
 Its crystal stream with sunlit beam 
 
 And round of sweet employ. 
 
378 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 138. 
 
 They longed to see, from cloud- veil free, 
 
 The Lamb for sinners slain, 
 Who stooped to share all human care 
 
 And want and woe and pain ; 
 Whose head was torn and crowned with thorn 
 
 And heart with anguish riven, 
 His feet and hands rent deep with bands 
 
 And nails with fury driven. 
 
 139. 
 
 Whose frame was marred and rudely scarred 
 
 And bruised by cruel blows, 
 And made the jest, in purple dressed, 
 
 Of wild and brutal foes, 
 His death pangs mocked by those who flocked 
 
 To scorn His dying groan, 
 And wound His ear with scoff and jeer 
 
 And taunt His anguished moan. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 379 
 
 140. 
 
 But now enthroned, adored, and owned, 
 
 With highest glory crowned, 
 And reigning high in cloudless sky, 
 
 "While seraphs bend around. 
 Heaven's spreading dome His fitting home 
 
 Jehovah's throne His seat, 
 While white-robed choirs with golden lyres, 
 
 His endless praise repeat. 
 
 141. 
 
 They longed to gaze through endless days, 
 
 On Him who thus was slain, 
 His glory see and like Him be, 
 
 And with Him dwell and reign. 
 With waving palm and lofty psalm 
 
 Of praise surround His seat, 
 Their blood-bought crown with love cast down 
 
 At His all worthy feet. 
 
380 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 142. 
 
 They ever walked, and worked, and talked, 
 
 And wrote, and read, and prayed, 
 As in His sight, who Day and Night, 
 
 And Light and Darkness made ; 
 The Judge on high, whose searching eye 
 
 No hidden thought eludes, 
 No height confounds, no limit bounds, 
 
 No serpent guile deludes ; 
 
 143. 
 
 As not their own, but His alone 
 
 "Who left the Court on high, 
 "Where hosts obey His gentle sway, 
 
 For them to live and die ; 
 Who loves to keep His blood-bought sheep 
 
 In wisdom's narrow ways, 
 To shield their hearts from Satan's darts, 
 
 And guide them all their days ; 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 381 
 
 As those who love the God above 
 
 As Father, Saviour, Friend, 
 And live as those whom Jesus knows 
 
 And angel guards defend, 
 The Father claims with sweetest names, 
 
 As sons and daughters here, 
 And means to own before His throne 
 
 When Jesus shall appear. 
 
 145. 
 
 All this may seem but homely dream, 
 
 Untrue and never known, 
 Since Adam's fall, in hut or hall, 
 
 Eound cottage-porch or throne, 
 A vision vain of poet's brain, 
 
 Of more than mortal home, 
 Where free from pain all pleasures reign 
 
 Beneath the dream-built dome. 
 
382 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 146. 
 
 A vision fair of rich parterre, 
 
 "Where colours sweetly blend, 
 Their witching charm of bud and balm 
 
 In blooms that never end, 
 Unknown, unseen, since Eden's Queen, 
 
 Her Paradise forsook, 
 And gave each bower of fruit and flower, 
 
 Her last long parting look. 
 
 147. 
 
 This lovely scene of what has been, 
 
 In Grod's bright home above, 
 Amidst the throng whose thrilling song 
 
 Is one full chord of love, 
 Has been on earth where sterling worth 
 
 And sweet domestic love, 
 Have filled the throne and reigned alone, 
 
 As in those courts above. 
 
THE HAPPY FAMILY. 383 
 
 148. 
 
 Oh, may no cloud of darkness shroud, 
 
 That sunny spot of earth, 
 JS"o mists arise to dim the eyes, 
 
 Or stay their constant mirth ; 
 !N"o trouble rude its foot intrude, 
 
 No influence malign 
 Profanely dare to venture there, 
 
 To blight that peaceful shrine. 
 
 149. 
 
 But may the bright and smiling light, 
 
 Of G-od's approving face, 
 It's lustre shed and glory spread, 
 
 Around that hallowed place, 
 His outstretched arm defend from harm 
 
 Their household Temple's dome, 
 The outspread wing of Jesus fling 
 
 Its rampart round their home. 
 
384 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 
 
 150. 
 
 And may I meet in Zion's street 
 
 That noble loving band, 
 The white robe wear, and with them share 
 
 The promised better land ; 
 By sin unstained, by grief unpained, 
 
 In bliss to dwell for ever, 
 "Where vanquished death and envy's breath 
 
 Our friendships cannot sever. 
 
387 
 
 (ftmfrtyma 
 
 THE SEA-EAGLE. 
 
 1. 
 
 P on the storm-beaten cliffs, 
 Glancing down upon the dancing skiffs, 
 Dreamily gazing on the tumbling waves 
 Boiling and tossing in the vaulted caves, 
 The old sea-eagle, with a foam- white pate, 
 Sat in grave conclave with his brooding mate. 
 
 2. 
 
 Where the life-boats groan and creak, 
 Where the sea-gulls soar and shriek, 
 
388 EMBLEMS FROM KATUBE. 
 
 "Wide through the air's dominions, 
 He had sailed on broad-spread pinions, 
 And daily gathered skill and might 
 Eor broader sweep and bolder flight. 
 
 3. 
 
 Out from the murky sky, 
 "Where storm-clouds drifted by, 
 A gleam of calm sunshine shone 
 Straight on his rocky throne ; 
 And with its clear revealing rays, 
 Boused into life his dreamy gaze. 
 
 4. 
 
 "With upward glance that pierced the sky, 
 And a rush like a whirlwind passing by, 
 A downward plunge with a whistling whirr, 
 As though shrill blasts were all astir, 
 A ringing cry and a flashing wing, 
 Swooped from his perch the eagle-king. 
 
EMBLEMS FROM NATURE. 389 
 
 A weaker bird of feebler flight, 
 
 But sharper scent and keener sight, 
 
 Amidst the boiling spray, 
 
 Had seized his finny prey, 
 
 And bore it firmly in his beak, 
 
 His starving mate and brood to seek. 
 
 6. 
 
 Down with an eye of flashing flame 
 The broad- winged eagle-monarch came, 
 And like a thunderbolt of war, 
 Dashed from his weaker brother's maw 
 The prize obtained by patient toil, 
 And bore it off as lawful spoil. 
 
 7. 
 
 Too often thus the men who ride 
 In regal pomp and purple pride, 
 
 2 c 
 
390 EMBLEMS FROM NATUEE. 
 
 To live by honest work too grand, 
 Or soil with toil their dainty hand, 
 Employ their strength to snatch away 
 Their neighbour's wealth as easy prey. 
 
 8. 
 Proud monarchs, from ambition's height, 
 
 ' O " 
 
 Decree with oaths that might is right : 
 
 I'or them exists the world below, 
 
 For them suns shine and harvests grow, 
 
 That all inferior feebler things 
 
 Sweat, toil, sow, spin, and reap for kings : 
 
 9. 
 
 That men's strong thews and working brains 
 Belong to him who o'er them reigns ; 
 That kings maye us their blood and bone 
 To save from loss or risk their own, 
 May grasp the fruit of all their toil, 
 And feast and fatten on the spoil. 
 
EMBLEMS FKOM NATURE. 391 
 
 THE SEA-BIRDS. 
 1. 
 
 BANGED on the steep ascent 
 
 Of some sea-cliff's high battlement, 
 
 In long unnumbered rows, 
 
 The sea-birds find repose, 
 
 And from that giddy dazzling height 
 
 In safety launch their headlong flight. 
 
 2. 
 
 Man's soaring, toiling, plodding brain 
 
 Seeks such a lofty height to gain 
 
 Such elevated flight sustain, 
 
 But always, all alas ! in vain ; 
 
 Unless with faith's strong wing supplied, 
 
 He sinks to ruin in the stormy tide. 
 
 3. 
 
 Man in his highest flights, 
 Man on his lofty heights, 
 
392 EMBLEMS FKOM NATURE. 
 
 Finding no soothing rest 
 
 To calm his aching breast, 
 
 Care-driven to an early grave 
 
 Topples down headlong in the surging wave. 
 
 THE LIMPET. 
 
 i. 
 
 DOWN on the surf-beaten rocks, 
 Exposed to tempests' rudest shocks, 
 Clinging tenaciously for life, 
 The limpet mocks the ocean's strife, 
 Defies the surging billows' power, 
 Eirm rooted to its rocky tower. 
 
 2. 
 
 Thus souls who firmly clasp, 
 With faith's strong nervous grasp, 
 
EMBLEMS FROM NATURE. 393 
 
 Salvation's moveless Eock, 
 Can bear the rudest shock 
 Of earth's wild raging storms, 
 And death's most frightful forms. 
 
 THE SEA-DEPTHS. 
 1. 
 
 DOWN in sea- depths profound, 
 Which plummets never sound, 
 "Which breezes never fan, 
 Unseen by mortal man, 
 There dwell eternal calms 
 Unstirred by earth's alarms. 
 
 2. 
 
 And thus in vine- wreathed cot, 
 The wise man's chosen lot, 
 
394 EMBLEMS FROM NATURE. 
 
 The proud world's haughty eye 
 Unheeds or passes by, 
 Oft dwells a sweet repose, 
 From earthly cares and woes. 
 
 THE MOUNTAIN PINE, 
 i. 
 
 UP the grand old mountain- sides 
 Deep-rooted pines, like clinging brides 
 Bend their elastic forms 
 Before the sweeping storms, 
 Then deeper strike their root, 
 And higher upward shoot. 
 
 2. 
 
 E'en thus the lowly saint, 
 Without one proud complaint, 
 
EMBLEMS FROM NATURE. 395 
 
 To Jesus anchored fast, 
 
 Bends to affliction's blast, 
 
 Then rises strengthened by the shock, 
 
 More firmly rooted to the living Eock. 
 
 THE EUGGED HILL, 
 i. 
 
 IN the bleak and barren hill 
 K"o spade or plough can till, 
 Where neither moss nor thorn 
 The hardened rock adorn, 
 There sleeps an endless store 
 Of rich metallic ore. 
 
 2. 
 
 In spite of sun and showers, 
 No sweetly-blooming flowers, 
 
396 EMBLEMS FEOM ]*ATIJBE. 
 
 Or fields of waving grain 
 Its stony wastes sustain ; 
 And yet beneath its sterile soil 
 Lies ample pay for manly toil. 
 
 3. 
 
 J Tis thus that looks that promise nought 
 Conceal the golden mine of thought ; 
 And, hid by surface rude and plain 
 The gentle mood and working brain, 
 Kind heart and loving soul are found, 
 And brightest gems of wit abound. 
 
 4 
 
 'Tis not with chiselled face 
 
 Where beauty loves to trace 
 
 Its fairest lines of grace, 
 
 We often hope to find 
 
 Best heart or brilliant mind ; 
 
 But talents lurk and virtues reign 
 
 Beneath rough brow and features plain. 
 
EMBLEMS rKOM NATURE. 397 
 
 THE BLACKTHORN. 
 
 i. 
 
 THICK in the roadside hedge, 
 On the hillside's sloping ledge, 
 In the early days of spring, 
 The blackthorn blossoms fling 
 Their fragrance far and wide, 
 And, like a virgin bride, 
 With snow-white wreath supplied, 
 Sweet promise give of sweeter prime 
 In autumn's golden harvest time. 
 
 2. 
 
 But when these perfumed wreaths of snow 
 Beneath the summer sun-warmth grow 
 To ripening clusters overhead, 
 And nourished, fanned, and daily fed 
 
398 EMBLEMS FROM NATURE. 
 
 By balmy breeze and gentle rain, 
 Their full maturity attain, 
 The black sloe, with its biting touch, 
 Our palate wounds, we marvel much 
 So sweet a bud should thus produce 
 Such nauseous fruit with acrid juice. 
 
 3. 
 
 'Tis thus that childhood's open face 
 Of baby innocence and grace, 
 Its winning smiles and budding charms 
 Of dimpled cheek and rounded arms, 
 Its guileless prattle, fairy feet 
 Its parent's wishes prompt to meet, 
 Its simple trust in those above it, 
 Its hearty love to those who love it, 
 Like fragrant buds of promise raise 
 Our highest hope for future days. 
 We fondly dream of noblest deeds 
 Ee suiting from such noble seeds ; 
 
EMBLEMS FROM NATURE. 399 
 
 Of modest purity of life, 
 A holy dread of angry strife, 
 Of temper never quickly stirred, 
 And manly truthfulness of word ; 
 A clustered group of richest fruit, 
 Pit produce of such gentle root. 
 
 4. 
 
 But when at length in riper years 
 The long-expected fruit appears, 
 The loving hearts whose guardian care, 
 "With proud delight in one so fair, 
 Their cherish' d offspring fondly trained, 
 With bitter disappointment pained, 
 Find childhood's grace has given way 
 To passion's dark and lawless sway, 
 The face that once with beauty smiled 
 "With discord's furrowed brow defiled ; 
 In vain their yearning glances seek 
 The dove-like eye and dimpled cheek, 
 
400 EMBLEMS FROM NATUEE. 
 
 The bloodshot eye with anger speaks, 
 Foul tempers blanch the faded cheeks, 
 And black and dismal fruits abound 
 Where once unsullied buds were found : 
 Those fairy feet now rashly tread 
 The downward pathway to the dead ; 
 Those lips so guileless sweet and clean, 
 Are soiled with lies and oaths obscene ; 
 Those arms once lifted up in prayer 
 Now raised in angry strife to share; 
 Those infant hands which loved to clasp 
 A mother's hand with loving grasp, 
 In full-grown manhood's sturdy prime 
 Dyed doubly deep with crimson crime ; 
 The whole heart rank with foul complaints, 
 The whole man filled with leprous taints. 
 Sad contrast! when the spring's fair buds produce 
 No autumn fruit but stone and bitter juice. 
 The child a budding wreath of virgin snow, 
 The man a blackguard, coarse and basely low 
 
EMBLEMS FROM NATURE. 401 
 
 The child one sunny brightly-beaming smile, 
 The man one putrid mass of all that's vile. 
 
 THE FALLING BLOSSOMS, 
 i. 
 
 BENEATH the orchard's spreading trees, 
 Untouched by man or swept by breeze, 
 Like snow-flakes scattered all around, 
 The fairest blossoms strew the ground ; 
 And childhood's inexperienced eye 
 Bewails the wreck, and questions why 
 Such dainty buds were only made 
 To droop and wither, fall and fade. 
 
 2. 
 
 One cruel fate awaits them all, 
 They gently loosen, softly fall, 
 
402 EMBLEMS FROM NATURE. 
 
 And leaf by leaf, with circling flight, 
 Join the vast heaps of fading white. 
 Ah, why such haste and speed to doom 
 The lustrous wealth of such a bloom, 
 The glory of such wondrous flower 
 To perish in so brief an hour ? 
 
 But man's mature and thoughtful mind 
 A reason plain and good can find 
 "Why sweetly-fragrant blossoms all 
 With swift decay so early fall : 
 Their beauty frail, their glory brief, 
 They only scatter leaf by leaf, 
 That nobler forms of richer grace 
 May swell and ripen in their place. 
 
 4. 
 
 Thus Autumn proves with luscious crop 
 That blossoms fair so quickly drop, 
 
EMBLEMS FROM NATURE. 403 
 
 A valued harvest to produce 
 
 Of rich and pulpy globes of juice. 
 
 And who would grieve for blossomed spray, 
 
 Like melting snow-drift passed away, 
 
 When clustered fruit of blushing bloom 
 
 In ripened beauty fills its room ? 
 
 5. 
 
 'Tis thus our household blossoms oft, 
 So sweetly fragile, fair, and soft, 
 "With baby grace and budding bloom, 
 Drop gently to an early tomb. 
 No wintry blast or poisoned breeze, 
 But silent inroads of disease 
 Press peacefully the vital thread, 
 The work is done, the child is dead. 
 
 6. 
 
 And parents oft, with stricken heart, 
 Unschooled by faith to bear the smart, 
 
4i04t EMBLEMS FROM NATURE. 
 
 With writhing anguish question why 
 Their sweetest bud was doom'd to die ; 
 Arraign the Euler of the skies, 
 And view with grief and blank surprise 
 So fair a creature's gentle breath 
 Thus quickly stopped by early death. 
 
 7. 
 
 But men whose faith has dared to climb 
 Above the boundaries of time, 
 And view with steadfastness of gaze 
 The coming world of endless days ; 
 Or seen the ransomed spirits stand, 
 Disrobed of flesh, at Grod's right hand, 
 A serving host of seraph priests 
 At Eden's high and holy feasts ; 
 
 And know the storms and waves of strife 
 That crowd and sweep the sea of life, 
 
EMBLEMS FROM NATURE. 405 
 
 Have learn'd to own the wisdom why 
 Their babes in budding childhood die. 
 Their tears for infants early dead 
 As blooming blossoms quickly shed, 
 Dim not their view of future days, 
 Nor stay their sounding hymns of praise. 
 
 9. 
 
 Ah ! who would grudge that baby form 
 A swift escape from wind and storm, 
 To find within the Saviour's breast 
 Its sheltered home of endless rest ? 
 Thrice happy bark whose spreading sail, 
 So softly caught by gentle gale, 
 Is wafted clear of sin and pain, 
 And taught so soon that death is gain ! 
 
 10. 
 
 And who that sees the coming morn, 
 "When God's eternal day shall dawn, 
 
 2 D 
 
406 EMBLEMS FROM NATUBE. 
 
 And all that sleep in Christ shall rise 
 "With bodies fashioned for the skies, 
 "Would grieve when fragile forms of grace 
 Drop softly to their resting-place 
 To waken, strengthened by the night, 
 Eesplendent forms of dazzling light ? 
 
 11. 
 
 Blossoms and babes appear to grow 
 For nothing more than outward show, 
 To win the smile of passers-by, 
 Then gently drop their bloom and die. 
 'But let the harvest day declare 
 Why swiftly fall those blossoms fair 
 They die not, but retain their place 
 In nobler forms of richer grace. 
 
407 
 
 HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER. 
 
 ' Giving thanks unto tke Father, which hath made us meet 
 to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light ; 
 who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and 
 hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son." 
 COL. i. 12, 13. 
 
 1. 
 
 OH Grod the Father ! let me claim, 
 Through thy dear Son and heir, 
 
 My portion in that dearest name, 
 And all its blessings share. 
 
 2. 
 
 Thy Son's atoning blood was shed ; 
 
 His stainless life was given, 
 To shield from wrath my guilty head, 
 
 And fit my soul for heaven. 
 
408 HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER. 
 
 3. 
 
 In His blood- sprinkled robe arrayed, 
 
 I venture boldly near, 
 By past transgressions undismayed, 
 
 To claim a Father's ear. 
 
 4. 
 Oh ! let that ear admit and heed 
 
 My Abba Father cry ; 
 Thy Father's heart with willing speed 
 
 Command the swift reply. 
 
 5. 
 
 My Father, let thy mighty hand 
 My feeble strength uphold ; 
 
 Aid me the tempter to withstand, 
 And keep within thy fold. 
 
 6. 
 
 Oh may a Father's tender love, 
 My life's brief day attend ; 
 
 A Father's peaceful home above, 
 My life's brief journey end. 
 
HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER. 409 
 
 7, 
 A Father's strong protecting arm, 
 
 Defend my perilled soul 
 From outward snares and inward harm, 
 
 With ever wise control. 
 
 8. 
 My Father ! with thy watchful eye 
 
 Eestore me when I stray ; 
 Eeveal the dangers I should fly, 
 
 And clear my thorny way. 
 
 9. 
 
 Eein in, rein in my wayward will, 
 
 And curb its strong desires ; 
 Purge from my heart each latent ill, 
 
 And quench its wanton fires. 
 
 10. 
 My Father, let my tottering feet 
 
 Ne'er stumble, halt, or slide ; 
 Assuage my passion's fever-heat, 
 
 Abate my lofty pride. 
 
410 HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER, 
 
 11. 
 
 My Father, guard me day and night 
 
 "With thy paternal care, 
 Asleep, awake, in gloom or light, 
 
 In work, repose, or prayer. 
 
 12. 
 My Father, teach thy witless child, 
 
 Nor spare the smarting rod, 
 "Whene'er by subtilty beguiled, 
 
 He wanders from his God. 
 
 13. 
 
 Shed light pure light, within my mind, 
 And calm my troubled breast, 
 
 And let my child-like spirit find 
 In thee her perfect rest. 
 
 14. 
 Oh, never may a Father's frown 
 
 My trembling soul dismay, 
 But love's bright smile in mercy crown 
 
 My life with constant day. 
 
HYMN TO GOD TI1E FATHEE. 
 15. 
 
 Thy Spirit's richest fulness give, 
 
 "With ever fresh supply, 
 To teach me as thy child to live, 
 
 And as thy child to die : 
 
 16. 
 And when my failing footsteps tread 
 
 The threshold of the tomb, 
 Thy wings of love their shelter spread, 
 
 And scatter all its gloom. 
 
 17. 
 Then give me in thy Palace court 
 
 The royal robe and place, 
 By thy dear Son's deep anguish bought, 
 
 The gift of boundless grace. 
 
 18. 
 Less than the meanest and the least 
 
 Of those who round thee stand ; 
 Yet, let me at thy table feast 
 
 "With that thrice happy band. 
 
412 HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER. 
 
 19. 
 
 And as thy son, through endless days, 
 Heaven's sinless service share, 
 
 And lift the voice of sounding praise 
 In grateful rapture there. 
 
 20. 
 
 My Eather, view me in thy Son, 
 As spotless, pure, complete ; 
 
 "When all my work and warfare done, 
 I bow before thy feet. 
 
 21. 
 
 And be my God and Father while 
 
 Eternity shall last ; 
 Nor ever let thy loving smile 
 
 One shadow overcast ; 
 
 22. 
 
 But let thy face of glory shed 
 Its unveiled flood of light, 
 
 To fill my soul and crown my head 
 With infinite delight. 
 
413 
 
 HYMN TO GOD THE SON. 
 
 i. 
 
 WISEST of Pilots ! steer my bark, 
 
 I cannot hold the helm ; 
 The sea runs high, the night is dark, 
 
 And tempests overwhelm. 
 If Thine all- seeing watchful eye 
 
 Its sleepless vigil keep, 
 My trusting soul may well defy 
 
 The perils of the deep. 
 
 2. 
 
 Most tender Shepherd! be my guide, 
 
 I cannot keep my feet, 
 In downward paths they often slide, 
 
 Where sin and sorrow meet. 
 
414 HYMN TO GOD THE SON. 
 
 If Thou direct my onward way, 
 And hold my feeble hand, 
 
 My feet shall in the judgment-day 
 In Zion safely stand. 
 
 3. 
 
 Greatest of Teachers ! give me light, 
 
 (Myself I cannot teach,) 
 And with that touch that opens sight, 
 
 My deepest darkness reach. 
 The highest wisdom I shall gain, 
 
 If at Thy feet I learn, 
 Knowledge of saving truth attain, 
 
 From error's ways to turn. 
 
 4. 
 
 Cleanse, good Samaritan, my sores, 
 
 I cannot heal my soul, 
 Thy skill alone our health restores, 
 
 And makes the spirit whole. 
 
HYMtf TO GOD THE SON. 415 
 
 Bind up my bruised and broken heart, 
 
 Assuage my racking pains, 
 Give nerve and strength to every part, 
 
 Pour life through all my veins. 
 
 5. 
 
 If Thou, the Great Physician, cure, 
 
 And healthful vigour give, 
 My perfect cleansing is secure, 
 
 My leprous soul shall live. 
 My feet with strength shall firmly tread 
 
 The straight and narrow way, 
 My arms, to shield my heart and head, 
 
 "Wax valiant in the fray. 
 
 6. 
 
 Great Advocate ! conduct my cause, 
 
 I know not what to say, 
 I cannot mend Thy broken laws, 
 
 Or any ransom pay : 
 
416 HYMN TO GOD THE SON". 
 
 If Thou Thy dying merits plead, 
 
 My pardon is secure, 
 That plea exceeds my utmost need, 
 
 And makes acceptance sure. 
 
 7. 
 
 Great Saviour of our guilty race, 
 
 I cannot save my soul ; 
 I cannot one dark sin efface, 
 
 Thou, Thou must do the whole. 
 Then guide my soul in wisdom's ways, 
 
 Be Thou my health and strength, 
 Illume my mind with wisdom's rays, 
 
 And bring me HOME at length. 
 
417 
 
 HYMN 
 TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 * As many as arc led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons 
 of God." ROM. viii. 14. 
 
 1. 
 
 THOTT Blessed Spirit of my God ! 
 
 To Thee I owe my every good, 
 Each footstep in the upward road, 
 
 Each truth embraced or understood. 
 
 2. 
 
 Water of life from heaven's high hills 
 Mowing broad- volumed full from Thee, 
 
 Blessing the earth in myriad rills, 
 
 Touched my dead soul and made it free ; 
 
418 HYMN TO THE HOLT SPIRIT. 
 
 3. 
 
 Free from corruption's rampant reign, 
 Free, for no longer dead to thee ; 
 
 Free from the world's seductive chain, 
 From Satan's cruel bondage free. 
 
 4. 
 
 When first I tried my heart to raise 
 Grodward in vain, Thy breath divine 
 
 The child-like voice of prayer and praise 
 Inspired, and stamped, and sealed me Thine. 
 
 5. 
 
 Thy light revealed the sores within, 
 Led me to Jesu's bleeding side, 
 
 Shewed the tremendous guilt of sin, 
 Gave the death-wound to all my pride. 
 
 6. 
 
 Descending softly as the dove, 
 
 Thou didst subdue each fierce desire, 
 
 Kindled within a heart of love, 
 And fed the flame with sacred fire. 
 
TO THE HOLT SPIKIT. 419 
 
 7. 
 My teacher Thou in early youth, 
 
 In manhood's prime, in waning age ; 
 My guide to each immortal truth 
 
 That brightly gilds the sacred page. 
 
 8. 
 "When sin-convinced, by Sinai cursed, 
 
 Sorrow's dark shadow o'er me fell, 
 Thy gentle hand the cloud dispersed, 
 
 And raised me from the gates of hell. 
 
 9. 
 
 Source of all grace, fountain of love, 
 Wellspring of faith, and hope, and joy, 
 
 O'erflowicg from the throne above, 
 Thy fruit is bliss without alloy. 
 
 10. 
 Oft in temptation's trying day, 
 
 My feeble breath of prayer would fail, 
 Thy grace has nerved me still to pray, 
 
 And as a Prince with God prevail. 
 
420 HYMN TO THE HOLT SPIRIT. 
 
 11. 
 
 When anxious cares and heavy woes 
 Overwhelmed my heart in deepest grief, 
 
 Thy soothing balsam gave repose, 
 And brought my sinking soul relief. 
 
 12. 
 
 Helped me to lift each weighty care, 
 With strength proportioned to my day ; 
 
 And uncomplainingly to bear 
 
 The rough discomforts of the way. 
 
 13. 
 
 Withdrew my soul from earthly toys, 
 
 Prom broken cisterns made it part, 
 And with the feast of gospel joys, 
 
 Ravished and satisfied my heart. 
 
 JA 
 Drew me aside from poisoned streams^ 
 
 With milk and wine assuaged my thirst, 
 Shed on the world thy lightning beams, 
 
 And all its gilded bubbles burst. 
 
HYMN TO THE HOLT SPIRIT. 421 
 
 15. 
 
 Still cleanse me, teach, support, and guide, 
 
 Still nourish, solace, warm, and lead ; 
 Still bind me to my Saviour's side, 
 
 And help me on His love to feed. 
 
 16. 
 In crosses, struggles, conflicts, woe, 
 
 Help me to conquer by Thy grace, 
 To triumph wrestling with the foe, 
 
 And run with zeal the Christian race, 
 
 17, 
 
 If error tempt my feet to turn, 
 
 And leave the Saviour's bleeding side ; 
 
 Oh, bid my faith again discern 
 The sin-atoning purple tide ! 
 
 18. 
 
 And when death's dreary vale I tread, 
 With Pisgah views my spirit cheer, 
 
 Bear up my frail and drooping head, 
 And chase away each rising fear. 
 
422 HYMN TO THE HOLT SPIEIT. 
 
 19. 
 
 Oh, lead me on, Thou Good and Great, 
 Till joyously my pilgrim feet 
 
 Shall enter Eden's pearly gate, 
 Its gem-paved court and golden street. 
 
423 
 
 THE BIBLE. 
 
 " The Kword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." EPH. 
 
 vi. 17. 
 " The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field." 
 
 MATT. xiii. 44. 
 
 " Thy word is a lamp unto my feet." PSALM cxix. 105. 
 " The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of 
 
 gold and silver." PSALM cxix. 72. 
 
 1. 
 
 THESE is a SWOED of sharpest edge, 
 Of matchless temper, keenest pointy 
 
 That rives tough armour like a wedge, 
 And penetrates its every joint. 
 
 2. 
 
 Strikes through the iron-plated heart, 
 Couches the eyeball blind and bleared ; 
 
 Fleet as the lightning's cleaving dart, 
 Pierces the conscience triply seared. 
 
424 THE BIBLE, 
 
 3. 
 
 The strongest force of Satan's arms 
 With ease repels ; unveils his wiles, 
 
 "When masked in Scripture's borrowed charms 
 He blandly woos with seraph smiles. 
 
 4. 
 
 That sword is not the flaming brand 
 The angel poised at Eden's gate, 
 
 To keep man's rude unhallowed hand 
 From snatching here a deathless fate. 
 
 5. 
 
 Bright as that brand with flashing gei-s 
 From Eden's mines, of wondrous worth, 
 
 Its splendour guides the sons of men 
 Back to the Tree of Life on earth. 
 
 6. 
 
 That weapon forged by skill divine, 
 For conquest made, the Spirit's sword, 
 
 Ko rust shall know, but brightly shine, 
 Undimmed for ever as the WORD. 
 
THE BIBLE. 425 
 
 7. 
 That Word is like an open field, 
 
 Where priceless treasures, wealth untold, 
 Beneath the surface lie concealed. 
 
 Like hoarded piles and bars of gold. 
 
 8. 
 
 With verdure clad of purest green, 
 And flowers culled from Zion's hill, 
 
 Of sweetest fragrance, rainbow sheen, 
 And pencilled with divinest skill. 
 
 9. 
 
 Oh ! blessed he, whose searching eye, 
 
 Attracted by these blossoms rare, 
 Is led its deeper depths to try, 
 
 And delve and dig by earnest prayer ; 
 
 10. 
 To read, and scan, and sift, and learn, 
 
 Its fullest length and breadth explore, 
 Each golden sentence weigh, and turn 
 
 Its mine of wealth its veins of ore. 
 
426 THE BIBLE. 
 
 11. 
 
 That word resembles much a lamp, 
 By skill elaborately wrought, 
 
 Its massive frame of wondrous stamp 
 With jewelled glories richly fraught. 
 
 12. 
 But yet the brilliant outer form, 
 
 Enshrines a brighter inner light, 
 To guide the vessel through the storm, 
 
 And scatter wide the shades of night. 
 
 13. 
 Oh ! happy he, in early youth, 
 
 With Christian banner full unfurled, 
 Who grasps this lamp of shining truth 
 
 To guide him through a hostile world. 
 
 14. 
 
 A royal CASKET is the Word, 
 
 Adorned with rubies, pearls, and gold, 
 
 Surpassing all that ear hath heard, 
 An opulence of gems untold. 
 
THE BIBLE. 427 
 
 15. 
 
 Thrice happy lie this casket opes 
 
 With faith's bright key ; its ample stores 
 
 "Will fill his soul with noblest hopes, 
 As all its wealth he wide explores. 
 
 16. 
 
 A title-deed to mansions fair, 
 A fadeless crown, a sceptre bright, 
 
 Proclaiming him the rightful heir 
 To portions with the saints in light. 
 
 17. 
 
 This wondrous Book of books remains, 
 The old man's staff, the guide of youth, 
 
 Unscarred by Time, undimmed by stains, 
 A Beacon-light of quenchless truth. * 
 
 18. 
 Descriptive prose or glowing verse, 
 
 Can ne'er describe its deathless fame, 
 One tithe its matchless worth rehearse, 
 
 Or half its use to man proclaim. 
 
428 THE BIBLE. 
 
 19. 
 
 Sages have scanned its sacred page, 
 And found their wisest maxims there ; 
 
 Painters have limned, from age to age, 
 It& scenes on canvas rich and rare. 
 
 20. 
 Poets renowned of every clime, 
 
 To it have swept their softest lyre, 
 And bathed their noblest, sweetest rhyme 
 
 In its deep fount of lambent fire ; 
 
 21. 
 
 In lofty flights of grateful praise, 
 Soaring like eagles in the dawn, 
 Prom out its sunlit cloudless blaze, 
 * Their deepest inspiration drawn. 
 
 22. 
 
 And skilled musicians world-renowned, 
 Ransacked its stores with endless pains, 
 
 To its unrivalled themes to sound 
 
 Their highest notes, their grandest strains. 
 
THE BIBLE. 429 
 
 23. 
 
 And better still, the Martyr throng, 
 Apostles, Fathers, Heroes, Saints, 
 
 And Prophets famed in Sacred song, 
 
 "Who wept on earth their long complaints, 
 
 24. 
 Have all been guided by its light 
 
 To crowns of glory, thrones of state, 
 To founts of ever-fresh delight, 
 
 And bliss unutterably great. 
 
430 
 
 BROKEN CISTERNS. 
 
 " For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken 
 me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out 
 cisterns,broken cisterns, that can hold no water." JER. ii. 13. 
 
 1. 
 
 THE scorching sun was flaming high, 
 The sultry air was hot and dry ; 
 The foot-sore pilgrim, faint with pain, 
 The long-sought cistern toiled to gain. 
 
 2. 
 
 The flaming sun grew hotter still, 
 And hotter still each sandy hill; 
 No juicy stem or blade of green 
 Bedecks the waste and barren scene. 
 
BEOKEN CISTEBNS. 431 
 
 3. 
 
 No moisture in the burning air, 
 No cloud to tone the blinding glare ; 
 No shrub, scant rock, or waving palm, 
 No gentle breeze or dewy balm. 
 
 4. 
 
 But all around, above, below, 
 One fiercely smiting, fiery glow ; 
 While sands, inflamed to furnace heat, 
 Torment and scorch his blistered feet. 
 
 5. 
 
 With outstretched arms and straining eyes, 
 At length he grasps the welcome prize : 
 The empty vault of fractured stone 
 But echoes back his stifled moan. 
 
 6. 
 
 The hollow cistern's shattered side 
 Has freed the truant liquid tide ; 
 It's splintered marble floor retains 
 No remnant of the hoarded rains. 
 
432 BEOKEN CISTEBffS. 
 
 7. 
 
 The flaming sun, with mocking blaze, 
 Pours on his head its hottest rays ; 
 And, mad with raging thirst and pain, 
 He turns to urge his quest again. 
 
 8. 
 
 Bousing his heart to struggle still 
 To reach the stream o'er yonder hill, 
 He faintly fans hope's dying flame, 
 And pushes on with steadfast aim. 
 
 9. 
 
 With failing strength and halting feet, 
 He wrestles bravely with the heat ; 
 His stiffening joints refuse to bend 
 "When will his weary journey end ? 
 
 10. 
 
 He tops at length that distant hill, 
 And blissful scenes the prospect fill ; 
 Soft rolling waves of sun-lit stream 
 Through verdant banks of willow gleam. 
 
BROKEN CISTEENS. 433 
 
 11. 
 
 Oli, joy ! beneath that flowing wave 
 His fevered frame to cool and lave ; 
 "With freshened limbs to plunge and glide, 
 And amply quaff that crystal tide. 
 
 12. 
 The traitor stream, that seemed so nigh, 
 
 Faded before his raptured eye 
 Vanished, and melted into air, 
 And left the man in mute despair ! 
 
 13. 
 
 There, in the light and glare of day, 
 The hollow vision passed away, 
 Like mocking dream in stilly night 
 That yields the felon brief delight. 
 
 14. 
 
 And yet with certainty he knows 
 That close at hand the river flows, 
 Whose friendly waves, with lavish store, 
 Have saved a thousand lives before. 
 
434 BROKEN CISTERNS. 
 
 15. 
 
 The flaming sun grew hotter still, 
 And hotter yet each sandy hill ; 
 But in the all-but-hopeless strife 
 He battled bravely still for life. 
 
 16. 
 
 At length he nears the shelving bank, 
 Where former pilgrims often drank, 
 And, standing on the sandy slope, 
 Has reached the goal of all his hope ! 
 
 17. 
 
 The channel mocked his maddened gaze, 
 Reflecting back the scorching rays ; 
 And where the vanished waters flowed, 
 The surface like a furnace glowed. 
 
 18. 
 
 No drop no drop no moistened stone, 
 No juicy blade its borders own ; 
 Its brink, its slopes, its barren bed, 
 Are hot and dry his hopes are dead ! 
 
BEOKEN CISTERNS. 435 
 
 19. 
 
 Too faint to lift his hands on high, 
 Too weak to raise the feeblest cry, 
 Too spent to close his glazing eye, 
 He s#nk in horror down to die ! 
 
 20. 
 
 The sun its torrid fury shed, 
 And smote his low, unsheltered heac, 
 Drove his hot blood to fever heat, 
 And burnt and scathed his bleeding feet, 
 
 21. 
 
 No loving eye of friend is near, 
 To wet his lips with dropping tear ; 
 No gentle hand of love to spread 
 Cool shelter o'er the fevered head ; 
 
 22. 
 
 No tongue of kith or kin to claim 
 
 The loved, though worn and wasted frame ; 
 
 No arm to dig the shallow grave, 
 
 Prom vulture's eye the corpse to save. 
 
436 BROKEN CISTERNS. 
 
 23. 
 
 Alone, amidst that desert waste, 
 The cup of death his soul must taste, 
 Its last and deadly dregs must drain, 
 And all its worst assaults sustain. 
 
 24. 
 
 No whispered words of promise cheer 
 His sinking soul and dying ear ; 
 No saintly lips his spirit calm 
 With hallowed prayer or murmured psalm. 
 
 25, 
 
 Alone, beneath the brazen sky ; 
 Alone, the hot sun flaming high ; 
 Alone ! around, above, below, 
 Earth, air, and sky, one furnace-glow. 
 
 26. 
 
 And ringing through his dying soul, 
 While death-waves o'er his spirit roll, 
 The words of conscience sharply tell 
 The guilty trust by which he fell. 
 
BEOKEN CISTERNS. 437 
 
 27. 
 
 " Too late, too late I now bewail 
 
 My trust in waters that could fail ; 
 
 O fool ! my all, my life to stake 
 
 On cisterns time and chance could break ! 
 
 28. 
 
 " Too late, too late I iiow deplore 
 My need of what I scorned before ; 
 The brimming fount from which I turned, 
 The living stream I rashly spurned/' 
 
 29. 
 
 A still, small voice, as music clear, 
 Palls dew-like on his dying ear : 
 " Why, sinner, thus despairing sink ? 
 Come, come to me, and freely drink!" 
 
 30. 
 
 The thirsty pilgrim lifts on high 
 With rapt surprise, his dying eye, 
 And, filled with feelings deep and strange, 
 
 Beholds a vast and wondrous change. 
 
 2 F 
 
438 BEOKEN CISTEENS. 
 
 31. 
 
 A lofty Eock its welcome sliade 
 And nobly ample breadth displayed, 
 From sun and blinding glare to shield, 
 And cool and friendly shelter yield. 
 
 32. 
 
 Fresh, balmy air, and pastures green, 
 With life and beauty crowd the scene, 
 "While gentle notes of softest sound 
 Breathe hope and lasting peace around ; 
 
 33. 
 
 "While, gushing from the craggy mount, 
 Through riven cleft, a crystal fount, 
 Like Hagar's well, at hand to save, 
 Rolled forth its cool, transparent wave. 
 
 34. 
 
 In lavish plenty flowed the stream, 
 Its purling waters flash and gleam, 
 While bubbling at his fevered side 
 It poured its softly-rippling tide. 
 
BEOKEN CTSTEENS. 439 
 
 35. 
 
 The pilgrim stretched his wasted arm, 
 And dipping deep his fevered palm, 
 He drank, and drank, and drank again, 
 To cool each hot and throbbing vein. 
 
 36. 
 
 Oh bliss ! beneath that flowing wave, 
 His weary frame to cool and lave, 
 With freshened limbs to plunge and glide, 
 And amply quaff that crystal tide. 
 
 37. 
 
 "With zeal he plunged, and. plunged again, 
 Till health restored his reeling brain, 
 New life through all his members flowed, 
 And every nerve with vigour glowed. 
 
 38. 
 
 'Twas thus my foolish heart in vain 
 Hewed out with endless toil and pain 
 Its worthless wells of fading mirth, 
 And dug its cisterns in the earth. 
 
440 BBOKEN CISTERNS. 
 
 39. 
 
 And sought for years, with empty soul, 
 Of earthly bliss the distant goal, 
 And fondly hoped with worldly toys 
 To quench its thirst for perfect joys. 
 
 40. 
 
 Though oft my sickened spirit ached, 
 My all I risked, my soul I staked, 
 And madly strove my thirst to slake 
 Erom cisterns time and chance could break. 
 
 41. 
 
 I garnered up my love in friend, 
 And thought my joy would never end ; 
 T clung to children, home, and wife, 
 And thought the bliss would last for life. 
 
 42. 
 
 I made of books an ample store, 
 And revelled deep in learned lore ; 
 Tasted the sweets its streams supply, 
 And drank the joys that wealth can buy. 
 
BROKEN CISTEENS. 44 
 
 43. 
 
 "Wisely and kindly God awoke 
 My dreaming soul with stroke on stroke ; 
 Scattered and spoiled my treasured hoards, 
 And rudely swept away my gourds. 
 
 44. 
 
 Failing to find in aught of these 
 Fulness of joy or lasting ease ; 
 Or forced from each in turn to part, 
 With bitter soul and aching heart : 
 
 45. 
 
 My yearning spirit, still untaught, 
 Its empty vessel madly sought 
 To fill from self; and vainly tried 
 To quench its thirst with haughty pride. 
 
 46. 
 
 With self-imposed laborious prayer, 
 And solemn gait, atid sombre air, 
 With fasts prolonged, and ampler alms, 
 I strove to still my soul's alarms. 
 
442 BROKEN CISTERNS. 
 
 47. 
 
 With penance keen myself I bound, 
 Like mill-horse in a constant round ; 
 With zeal to toil without repose, 
 In works that slavish fears impose : 
 
 48. 
 
 As opiates to my stricken soul, 
 Its fears to burst, its grief console ; 
 And keep a balance in the scale, 
 My Judge to please when life should fail. 
 
 49. 
 
 In vain no cool refreshing balm, 
 !N"o settled peace or hallowed calm, 
 My aching heart's deep want relieved, 
 Nor grace nor life my soul received. 
 
 50. 
 
 But worse the flaming law revealed 
 Deep-rooted sores too long concealed ; 
 While vengeful thunders' angry roll 
 Struck terror to my guilty soul. 
 
BROKEN CISTEENS. 443 
 
 51. 
 
 I saw with dread and blank dismay 
 My cherished hopes all fade away ; 
 My bright and glowing prospects pale, 
 And all my earthly cisterns fail. 
 
 52. 
 
 Tes, all had failed in black despair, 
 Beneath the hot sun's furnace-glare ; 
 'Mid ruined cisterns, shattered, dry, 
 Hopeless I laid me down to die. 
 
 53. 
 
 Like Eden's fragrance drawing near, 
 And breathing in my failing ear, 
 A still small voice of tender love 
 Urged me to lift my gaze above. 
 
 54. 
 
 " See, sinner, in the flowing tide. 
 That ever leaves my riven side, 
 A fountain thou may'st freely take, 
 Thy burning thirst to quench and slake ; 
 
444 BROKEN CISTERNS. 
 
 55. 
 
 " A river from the throne on high, 
 'No scorching sun can ever dry, 
 "Whose living waters ever flow, 
 A perfect cure for sin and woe." 
 
 56. 
 
 And now I bless the loving care 
 That made my soul of earth despair, 
 That dashed my castles to the earth, 
 And dried my wells of godless mirth. 
 
 57. 
 
 Yes, I can bless the gracious hand 
 That found me in a desert land 
 Whose failing streams the thirsty mock, 
 And led me to the smitten Rock : 
 
 58. 
 
 Then spread before my longing eyes 
 The welcome manna of the skies, 
 And plunged me in the cleansing tide 
 That ever leaves His wounded side. 
 
BROKEN CISTERNS. 445 
 
 59. 
 
 The hand that gives I kiss and bless, 
 The hand that takes I bless no less ; 
 'Tis love that weans from earth the soul 
 That God may come and fill the whole. 
 
 60. 
 
 His love our hollow hopes dispels, 
 And drains and empties out our wells, 
 Dries up the source of earthly streams, 
 And spoils the pride of Babel schemes. 
 
 61. 
 
 Oh, truest love, to sweep away 
 The fading pleasures of a day, 
 To crowd the scene and fill their place, 
 With rich and lasting feasts of grace. 
 
 62. 
 
 Oh, wondrous act of boundless grace, 
 That met my sad and hopeless case, 
 Bade me arise from ruin's brink, 
 And streams of living water drink. 
 
446 BEOKEN CISTEENS. 
 
 63. 
 
 Thrice happy he whose aching soul 
 No earthly balm could render whole, 
 The great Physician's hand has fed 
 With healing water, living bread. 
 
 64. 
 
 More happy still who early spurns 
 Earth's failing streams and broken urns ; 
 Forsakes each poisoned fount of sin, 
 And seeks eternal bliss to win. 
 
 65. 
 
 Who seeks the wells of earth to drain, 
 Shall thirst, and thirst, and thirst again ; 
 Then perish by their shattered side, 
 'Mid ruined hopes and channels dried. 
 
 66. 
 
 While he who heeds the Saviour's voice, 
 And tries the fount of endless joys 
 Eternity can never drain, 
 Shall never NEVER THIEST 
 
447 
 
 THE TKUE CHRISTIAN 
 PASTOR. 
 
 ' Who is sufficient for these things ?" 2 COR. ii. 16. 
 
 1. 
 
 WHAT marvels of transforming grace 
 To make a man a saint ! 
 
 Old Adam's image to efface ! 
 
 The Saviour's form divinely trace ! 
 
 And purge corruption's taint. 
 
 2. 
 
 The Holy Spirit, like a dove, 
 
 Broods o'er the moral waste, 
 Pours through the soul the tide of love, 
 Lifts up the heart to joys above, 
 And bids it freely taste. 
 
448 THE CHRISTIAN PASTOK. 
 
 3. 
 
 Makes the barred gates of error yield, 
 
 Puts Satan's hosts to flight ; 
 Arms him with breastplate, helmet, shield, 
 Bids him the Spirit's falchion wield, 
 
 And faith's strong battle fight. 
 
 But higher still and nobler far, 
 
 The work of grace Divine, 
 To make that saint a burning star, 
 A glowing standard in the war, 
 
 In Christ's right hand to shine. 
 
 5. 
 
 What streams of varied gifts combined 
 
 Are needed for his part ; 
 What noblest qualities refined 
 Must fill the faithful pastor's mind, 
 And permeate his heart ! 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PASTOB. 449 
 
 6. 
 
 Herald of grace from Heaven's high court, 
 
 Credentialed from above, 
 In every act, and word, and thought 
 Ambassador from Him who bought 
 
 His soul with dying love. 
 
 7. 
 
 For sinful man, 'mid toil and strife, 
 
 To live as He would live ; 
 For sinful man, where ills are rife, 
 Ease, health, renown, and even life, 
 To give as He would give. 
 
 8. 
 
 'Midst friend and foe, by day, by night, 
 To be what He has been, 
 
 The salt to cleanse, the guiding light, 
 
 A living letter, clear and bright, 
 By all distinctly seen. 
 
450 THE CHRISTIAN PASTOK. 
 
 9. 
 
 "With builder's skill and watchful prayer, 
 
 To build on Christ alone, 
 And yet raise up with pious care 
 Each polished shaft and pillar fair 
 
 From that Foundation- stone. 
 
 10. 
 
 The Fisher's patient faith of heart 
 
 The Gospel net to cast, 
 And ply unweariedly his art, 
 Nor from his loved employment part, 
 Till crowned with joy at last. 
 
 11. 
 
 A Shepherd's tenderness of care, 
 A Father's yearning love, 
 "With soul of ceaseless wrestling prayer, 
 Each lamb to guide, instruct, prepare 
 For thrones of bliss above. 
 
THE CHBISTIAK PASTOE. 451 
 
 12. 
 
 A Pilot's eye, the ship to guide, 
 
 His firm hand on the helm, 
 
 JS"or blench when rises passion's tide, 
 
 Or demons on the tempest ride, 
 The bark to overwhelm. 
 
 13. 
 
 A Leader's courage much to dare, 
 
 And lift his standard high, 
 The battle's fiercest rage to share, 
 The cross's crushing weight to bear, 
 "Without a groan or sigh. 
 
 14. 
 
 Like "Watchman at the city gate, 
 He sleeps not at his post, 
 "With piercing eye and head elate, 
 His trumpet warns of coming fate, 
 Or tread of martial host. 
 
452 THE CHEISTIAN PASTOR. 
 
 15. 
 
 Like Husbandman, with sterile farm, 
 
 Replete with weeds and stones, 
 "Who drives the plough with stalwart arm, 
 Until the soil beneath the charm 
 His patient labour owns. 
 
 16. 
 
 Then broadcast o'er the furrowed plain, 
 Thus deepened by the plough, 
 He scatters wide the chosen grain, 
 And prays for heaven's refreshing rain 
 To make it fruitful now. 
 
 17. 
 
 To melt the sinner's heart to tears, 
 To fill with solemn awe, 
 
 To wake his conscience, rouse his fears, 
 
 He echoes in his drowsy ears 
 
 The thunders of the law. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PASTOR. 453 
 
 18. 
 
 But ploughshare of the law alone 
 
 "Will never change the soul, 
 Dissolve the granite heart of stone, 
 The tempter from his seat dethrone, 
 Or make the sinner whole. 
 
 19. 
 
 The still small voice of dying love 
 
 The sinner's soul must hear, 
 
 The peaceful message from above, 
 
 Borne like the olive by the dove, 
 Proclaiming mercy near. 
 
 20. 
 
 He therefore lifts the cross on high, 
 And on the world's high-road 
 
 Beckons and calls each passer-by, 
 
 Nor ceases from his earnest cry, 
 
 " Behold the Lamb of God !" 
 2 
 
454 THE CHRISTIAN PASTOR. 
 
 21. 
 
 Deaf to the world's seductive voice, 
 His garment spotless keeps, 
 Thrusts wide aside forbidden joys, 
 With each glad heart will yet rejoice, 
 
 And weep with him that weeps. 
 
 22. 
 
 From his dear Master's pattern learns 
 
 The world's dread laugh to bear, 
 Ambition's gilded baubles spurns, 
 From sin's enticing circles turns, 
 
 His Master's cross to share. 
 
 23. 
 
 AVhat seraph tongue that man requires, 
 
 "What aptitude to teach, 
 "What store of zeal's unwasting fires, 
 
 And all that man's warm heart inspires, 
 By lip and life to preach ! 
 
THE CHRISTIAN PASTOR. 455 
 
 * 24 
 
 Skill to console in wearing toil, 
 
 The tender lambs caress, 
 The angered friends to disembroil, 
 Apply to wounds the balm and oil, 
 
 And comfort in distress. 
 
 25. 
 
 O Thou that fillest all in all, 
 
 Below, beneath, above, 
 Before Thy throne we prostrate fall ! 
 On Thee, on Thee alone we call, 
 
 For those we dearly .Ipve. 
 
 26. 
 
 Each mind with stores of knowledge fill, 
 
 Each soul with love inspire, 
 Thy flock to tend, Thy vineyard till, 
 With patience, firmness, courage, skill, 
 And lip of living fire. 
 
456 THE CHRISTIAN PASTOB. 
 
 27. 
 
 "With burning eloquence to preach, 
 
 And feed Thy chosen sheep ; 
 With quenchless zeal to warn and teach, 
 Each straggler from the fold to reach, 
 And in the pasture keep. 
 
 28. 
 
 Thrice holy Eather fount of love ! 
 
 To Thee our eyes we lift ; 
 Baptize Thy heralds from above 
 "With sevenfold graces of the Dove, 
 
 And every perfect gift. 
 
 29. 
 
 Chief Shepherd ! bid Thy boundless grace 
 
 In copious streams descend, 
 In lines of light on them to trace 
 The brightness of Thy shining face, 
 Till life and toil shall end. 
 
THE CHEISTIAN PASTOR. 457 
 
 30. 
 
 Great Spirit ! with Thy favour blest, 
 
 In all Thy Church abide ; 
 But chiefly in each pastor's breast, 
 With noblest, sweetest unction rest, 
 
 In fullest, richest tide ! 
 
458 
 
 " TO DIE is GAIN; 
 
 (PniL. i. 21.) 
 
 1. 
 
 WHEN I view the gates of glory 
 
 Beaming through the veil of death ; 
 When I chaunt Bedemption's story 
 "With my faintly faltering breath ; 
 Oh, bemoan not, 
 Weep and groan not, 
 Tell me what my Saviour saith. 
 
 2. 
 
 Whisper in my dying ear 
 
 Words of sweetest joy and gladness ; 
 Sing soft hymns that banish fear, 
 Let me see no dropping tear, 
 
 Let me hear no tone of sadness 
 
TO DIE IS GAIN. 459 
 
 Or dreary dirge 
 When on the verge 
 Of home, with glory flashing near. 
 
 3 f 
 
 Eather mingle strains symphonious 
 
 With the welcome of the sky, 
 Seraph harps and lips harmonious 
 Sweetly sing " 'Tis life to die ; 
 Happy mortal, 
 Pass the portal 
 To thy Father's house on high !" 
 
 4. 
 Envy not my soul its rest, 
 
 When its wiogs are swift unfolding ; 
 Keep it not from being pressed 
 To its Saviour's loving breast, 
 
 When with unveiled eye beholding 
 Fadeless treasures, 
 Endless pleasures, 
 In the palace of the blest. 
 
460 
 
 LOVE NOT THE WORLD. 
 
 " If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not 
 in him." 1 JOHN n. 15. 
 
 1. 
 
 OH ! to be dead to earth, 
 To spurn its fading toys ; 
 
 Born by a higher birth 
 To everlasting joys ! 
 
 2. 
 
 Oh to be free from earth, 
 
 Its trammels, pits, and snares ; 
 
 To rise above its mirth, 
 Its troubles and its cares ! 
 
LOVE NOT THE WOBLD. 461 
 
 3. 
 
 Oh to esteem this earth, 
 
 As deathless spirits should, 
 A -desert land of dearth, 
 
 With naught of lasting good ! 
 
 4. 
 Oh to have done with earth, 
 
 Its bustle, toil, and din, 
 Its joys of little worth, 
 
 Its atmosphere of sin ! 
 
 5. 
 
 Oh to be born of God, 
 His boundless love to know ; 
 
 To feel it shed abroad, 
 And in my bosom glow ! 
 
 6. 
 
 Oh to live near to God, 
 
 To taste His richest grace ; 
 To own Him as my Lord, 
 
 And see His smiling face ! 
 
462 LOYE KOT THE WOELD. 
 
 7. 
 
 Oh to be like my Lord, 
 
 In body, spirit, soul ; 
 Each wish with His in full accord 
 
 "While endless ages roll ! 
 
 8. 
 Oh to be with my Lord, 
 
 The last dread battle fought, 
 'Mid Paradise restored, 
 
 And Heaven's saint-crowded court ! 
 
463 
 
 THE DYING SAINT TO HIS 
 EELATIVES. 
 
 i. 
 
 OH ! weep not for me since my Jesus is here ; 
 
 Sweet children, dear kinsmen, oh ! weep not for 
 
 me; 
 Jehovah, my Father, has bid me not fear, 
 
 And Christ for my safety becomes guarantee. 
 
 2. 
 
 In days that are gone, His soft bosom was mine, 
 And shall it not be when I need it the most ? 
 
 And will He not let me for ever recline 
 
 On the warm heart that bled that I might not 
 be lost ? 
 
464 THE DYING SAINT. 
 
 3. 
 
 Oh! welcome the thought that He loves me the same, 
 Eternal as free is the love of our Lord ; 
 
 Cold death may be dark, but in Jesus' sweet name 
 Hallelujahs shall float o'er the Jordan I ford. 
 
 4. 
 
 At the portals of jasper, as fair as the sun, 
 My Saviour I see with a look full of love ; 
 
 By faith now I claim the bright crown He has won 
 Effulgent to shine in His kingdom above. 
 
 5. 
 
 Oh ! soon shall I put off the burden of flesh, 
 And quit you a while for a home in the skies, 
 
 But there shall our friendships all blossom afresh, 
 And God wipe away every tear from our eyes. 
 
 6. 
 
 Then away with all sadness, depression, and gloom, 
 And hopefully, joyously, follow me there ; 
 
 Eor the Sun of eternity lights up the tomb, 
 And the conquest of Jesus His people must share. 
 
465 
 
 THE BELIEVER'S TRIUMPH 
 IN DEATH. 
 
 1. 
 
 ANGELS, as ye wing your way 
 From the realms of endless day, 
 Deign to grace our lower sky ; 
 
 Come ! and wonder, 
 Come and see a Christian die. 
 
 2. 
 
 Te who tempt the heirs of glory, 
 Ye who hate redemption's story, 
 See your leader vanquished lie ; 
 
 Come ! and wonder, 
 Come and see a Christian die. 
 
466 THE BELIEYEE'S TRIUMPH IN DEATH. 
 
 3. 
 
 Te who search creation o'er, 
 To exhaust kind Nature's store, 
 See a balm all yours outvie ; 
 
 Come ! and wonder, 
 Come and see a Christian die. 
 
 4. 
 
 Te who still unwearied pore 
 
 On the page of classic lore, 
 
 Feast your mind and feast your eye ; 
 
 Come ! and wonder, 
 Come and see a Christian die. 
 
 5. 
 
 Ye who mock at revelation, 
 
 Te who scorn your soul's salvation, 
 
 Try its truth this touchstone by ; 
 
 Come ! and wonder, 
 Come and see a Christian die. 
 
THE BELIEYEE'S TRIUMPH IN DEATH. 467 
 
 6. 
 
 Ye among the sons of mortals 
 "Who have been at Zion's portals, 
 To the sleep of death been nigh, 
 
 Come ! and wonder, 
 Come and see a Christian die. 
 
 7. 
 
 Kinsmen, ye who love your friend, 
 To his death-bed hither wend, 
 Hear the dying Christian cry, 
 " Come ! and welcome, 
 Welcome, friends, to see me die !" 
 
 8. 
 
 Ere the silver cord be broken, 
 Ere the last farewell be spoken, 
 Ere the spirit soar on high, 
 Come ! and wonder, 
 Come and see a Christian die. 
 
468 THE BELIEVER'S TRIUMPH IN DEATH. 
 
 9. 
 
 Blessed Jesus, while we live, 
 All that's needful freely give ; 
 "When we on a death-bed lie, 
 
 Come and teach us, 
 Teach us, Saviour, how to die. 
 
469 
 
 "REJOICE IN THE LORD 
 ALWAY." 
 
 PHIL. iv. 4. 
 
 1. 
 
 CHEISTIAN ! change the look of sadness 
 For the smile of beaming gladness, 
 Bid the mists of carking care 
 And the cloud of dark despair 
 Flee, before the healing rays 
 Of the Sun of endless days ; 
 
 The Eock of Ages changes never, 
 Banish doubting thoughts for ever. 
 2H 
 
470 "BEJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAY." 
 
 2. 
 
 Widow ! doff thy weeds of sadness, 
 Clothe thee in the robes of gladness, 
 Christ adopts thee as His bride, 
 Christ, the dead, but glorified, 
 He whose brow once pierced with thorns 
 ~Now a crown of bliss adorns ; 
 Thy Maker acts the husband's part 
 To fill with joy thy widowed heart. 
 
 3. 
 
 Mourner ! change thy garb of sadness 
 
 For the robe of joy and gladness, 
 
 Let the Gospel's healing balm 
 
 All thy guilty fears disarm, 
 
 Let thy broken heart rejoice 
 
 At thy Lord's forgiving voice ; 
 
 "Wash thy robes in Calvary's streams, 
 Bathe thy soul in Heaven's bright beams, 
 
" REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAY." 471 
 
 4. 
 
 Christian ! change thy cry of sadness 
 
 For the song of joy and gladness, 
 
 Let soft hymns of praise arise 
 
 In the place of groans and sighs, 
 
 Constant Psalms to Zion's King, 
 
 Daily, loudly, sweetly sing ; 
 Let naught be heard but grateful sounds 
 Where God's amazing grace abounds. 
 
 5. 
 
 Brother ! yes, the voice of gladness 
 Eather than the tone of sadness, 
 Pleases Him whose side was riven, 
 That thy guilt might be forgiven, 
 From whose heart and tortured head 
 Eich atoning blood was shed 
 
 Thy heart to cleanse and render white, 
 Thy head to deck with crown of light. 
 
472 "BEJOICE IN THE LOED ALWAY." 
 
 6. 
 
 4 Sister ! yes, the smile of gladness 
 Bather than the look of sadness, 
 Honours Him whose mercies mild 
 Made thee His adopted child, 
 Clothed thee with the robe of state, 
 Gave thee wealth immensely great, 
 Guards thee with a sleepless eye 
 Till thou reign with Him on high : 
 Then join the songs of praise above, 
 And prove thy faith and grateful love. 
 
473 
 
 THE JOY OF THE LORD OUR 
 STRENGTH. 
 
 " The joy of the Lord is your strength." NEH. viii. 10. 
 
 1. 
 
 CHEISTIAN ! cease thy mournful cry, 
 Put thy doleful dirges by, 
 Take the harp and strike the strings, 
 Bid thy faith unfold her wings, 
 
 2. 
 
 Christian ! cease that downcast look 
 Of one thy God for years forsook ; 
 God has never left thy side, 
 God has been thy constant Guide. 
 
474 THE JOT OF THE LORD 
 
 3. 
 
 Christian ! wherefore dost thou wear 
 That prison face of grim despair ? 
 Ill becomes the look of slave, 
 Those whom Jesus loves to save. 
 
 4. 
 
 Christian ! cease thy halting tread, 
 Stumbling feet and drooping head, 
 Take the proffered arm of grace, 
 Swiftly run the Christian race. 
 
 5. 
 
 Christian ! banish all thy gloom, 
 Life's last end is not the tomb, 
 Through its shattered bolt and bar 
 Brighter visions beam afar. 
 
 6. 
 
 Christian I hush those deep-drawn sighs, 
 Wipe the tear-drop from thine eyes ; 
 Jesus died for thee in love, 
 Jesus lives for thee above. 
 
OtJE STRENGTH. 475 
 
 7. 
 
 Christian ! banish slavish fear, 
 Never weep the faithless tear, 
 Bid distrustful doubtings cease, 
 Taste the joys of perfect peace. 
 
 8. 
 
 Christian ! thy great Lord enrolls 
 In His army thankful souls ; 
 From His ranks He bids depart 
 Joyless soul and thankless heart. 
 
 9. 
 
 Christian ! like the eagle raise 
 Ever sunward all thy gaze ; 
 Christian ! like the eagle soar 
 Ever upward, more and more. 
 
 10. 
 
 Christian! if thou joy in grace, 
 Thou shalt swifter run the race, 
 Pirmer tread the narrow way, 
 More than conquer in the fray. 
 
476 THE JOT OF THE LORD 
 
 11. 
 
 Cease then, cease thy mournful cry, 
 Downcast look and deep-drawn sigh, 
 Walk with God in grateful love 
 The freeman's path to realms above. 
 
 12. 
 
 On thy soul His love has smiled, 
 Live as God's adopted child, 
 Live not as the heir of woe, 
 As you homeward, Godward, go. 
 
 13. 
 
 Heir to thrones and harps of gold, 
 Eden's wealth of bliss untold ; 
 Praise should be thy loved employ, 
 God is honoured by thy joy. 
 
 14. 
 
 Christ has scattered all thy night, 
 Christ has made thy garments white, 
 Walk in light, and joy, and peace, 
 Bid thy gloom for ever cease. 
 
OUE STRENGTH. 477 
 
 15. 
 
 Ever bright and brighter still, 
 Let thy soul its course fulfil, 
 Like the sun's increasing raj, 
 Shining on to perfect day. 
 
 16. 
 
 Like a river's flowing stream, 
 Giving back each joyous beam, 
 Bearing blessings far and wide, 
 On its ever-onward tide : 
 
 17. 
 
 Let thy life resplendent shine 
 "With a glory all divine, 
 And with constant onward flow 
 Eichest gifts profusely sow. 
 
 18. 
 
 Till thy joyous life of love 
 End in perfect bliss above, 
 And the earthly song of praise 
 Blend with seraphs' sweeter lays. 
 
478 
 
 THE ISTHMIAN GAMES. 
 
 Lines suggested by the announcement of the Rev. Joseph 
 M'Cormick's lecture on " The Isthmian Games," at which 
 the band of the Waterford Christian Young Men's In- 
 stitution was expected to attend. 
 
 1. 
 
 TO-MOEEOW, good M'Cormick comes, 
 With sound of trumpet, beat of drums, 
 To tell our city's peerless dames 
 The way they played the Isthmian Games. 
 
 2. 
 
 With grandest postures, most dramatic, 
 And looks tremendously ecstatic, 
 With lip compressed and haughty pride 
 To shew how Grladiators died. 
 
THE ISTHMIAN GAMES. 479 
 
 3. 
 
 With muscles strung to toughest tension, 
 And breathing kept in long suspension, 
 To shew the world the sinewed charms 
 Of burly wrestlers' brawny arms. 
 
 4. 
 
 With buskined foot and giant stride 
 And heel with feathered wing supplied, 
 With speed the dusty course to trace, 
 And gain the goal and win the race : 
 
 5. 
 
 To shew how swiftly racers ran 
 With earnest zeal their measured span, 
 With bended neck and straining eyes 
 Fixed on the fading earthly prize. 
 
 6. 
 
 And thus to draw the moral sage 
 So needed in this worldly age, 
 To wrestle bravely with the foes 
 Who drag us down to endless woes. 
 
480 THE ISTHMIAN GAMES. 
 
 7. 
 
 To fight as those whose noble aim 
 Is not to gain some worthless fame, 
 Or barren meed of praise on earth 
 But God's own smile of lasting worth, 
 
 8. 
 
 "With ponderous arm and lusty blows 
 To bruise and crush our deadly foes, 
 And not as they who only care 
 To bruise the wind and beat the air. 
 
 9. 
 
 Nor life's entangled mazes thread 
 "With halting gait and limping tread, 
 But run as those who seek a crown 
 That withers not when thrones go down. 
 
 10. 
 
 To spur and stimulate to zeal 
 In seeking everlasting weal, 
 And gain, when ceases earthly strife, 
 The guerdon of ETEKNAL LIFE. 
 
481 
 
 THE BEEVITY OF LIFE. 
 
 " We spend our years as a tale that is told." PSALM xc 9. 
 
 1. 
 OTJB life is short and brief, 
 
 A swift revolving year ; 
 That fails with wasting grief, 
 Fades as the falling leaf, 
 
 Falls as the dropping tear. 
 
 2. 
 
 Melts like the autumn snow, 
 Or ocean's dancing foam ; 
 Dies like the sunset glow, 
 Or softest winds that blow, 
 On Ceylon's sultry home. 
 
482 THE BREVITY OF LIFE. 
 
 3. 
 
 Swift as the flashing ray 
 
 Of lightning's glancing blaze ; 
 Brief as the meteor's stay, 
 Or shuttle's rapid play, 
 "We spend our mortal days. 
 
 4. 
 
 Swifter than passing gleam 
 
 Of pleasure-yielding tale, 
 
 Or midnight's grateful dream, 
 
 Or summer's trickling stream, 
 
 "Whose fickle waters fail. 
 
 5. 
 
 As actors here on earth, 
 
 "We tread the puny stage, 
 First tears and feeble birth, 
 Short span of grief and mirth, 
 . Then manhood sinks in age. 
 
THE BEEYITT OF LIFE. 483 
 
 6. 
 
 But in those dazzling rays, 
 
 High up in courts above, 
 With glory all ablaze, 
 Are thrones of endless days, 
 
 The gift of boundless love. 
 
 7. 
 
 Bright in unfading green, 
 
 To grace the victor's hand, 
 Immortal palms are seen, 
 And crowns of lustrous sheen, 
 
 "Where saints and seraphs stand. 
 
 8. 
 
 Brother ! the prize is great, 
 
 Eight worthy to be won, 
 Then shun the sluggard's fate, 
 Fling far each cumbrous weight, 
 
 And gird thy loins to run. 
 
484 THE BBEVITY OF LIFE. 
 
 9. 
 
 Press on towards the skies, 
 
 Speed swift the path to glory, 
 Fix full thy straining eyes 
 On Him who holds the prize, 
 And ran the race before thee. 
 
 10. 
 
 Let not the world entrance, 
 
 Or tempt thee once to halt, 
 Think how a backward glance 
 Stopped in her safe advance 
 That Beacon-light of salt. 
 
 11. 
 
 Still onward, upward, higher, 
 With utmost strain of soul, 
 "With hopes that never tire, 
 And zeal's unflagging fire, 
 Press on to reach the goal. 
 
THE BREVITY OF LIFE. 485 
 
 12. 
 
 A few more fights to gain, 
 
 A few more streams to ford, 
 And free from sin and pain, 
 In bliss we dwell and reign 
 
 "With Christ our loving Lord. 
 
 13. 
 
 A few more darts to shun, 
 A few more storms to weather ; 
 
 A few more leagues to run, 
 
 And then, the haven won, 
 "We rest and reign together. 
 
 A few more hills to climb, 
 
 With Christ's broad banner o'er us, 
 And then farewell to Time, 
 And bright in light sublime, 
 
 Heaven's gates shall flash before us, 
 2r 
 
486 
 
 D E E A M & 
 
 t 
 
 DKEAMS are true and passing sweet, 
 
 The love- sick Maiden sighs, 
 Yes, dreams are sweet, in them we meet 
 
 The manly form we prize ; 
 And sit in myrtle-covered bowers, 
 
 In ecstasies of bliss, 
 And talk of wedding rings for hours, 
 
 "With now and then a kiss. 
 
DREAMS. 487 
 
 2. 
 
 No ! dreams are ugly horrid things, 
 
 The Parlour-maid declares, 
 Such double knocks and startling rings, 
 
 And running up the stairs ; 
 Such scolding and upbraiding tones 
 
 Assail our sleeping ears, 
 Such pains afflict our aching bones, 
 
 Our dreams are full of tears. 
 
 3. 
 
 No, dreams are very jolly things, 
 
 The laughing School-boy cries, 
 In them the hand of fancy brings' 
 
 Such lots of grub before our eyes ; 
 Such stunning tarts and monster cakes, 
 
 Such puddings crammed with plums, 
 On which we feast till dawn awakes 
 
 And sweeps away the crumbs. 
 
488 DEEAMS. 
 
 4. 
 
 Dreams are droll and funny things, 
 
 The Humourist replies, 
 In them we fly without our wings, 
 
 And see without our eyes ; 
 "We leap and dance without our feet, 
 
 "We shout without our lungs, 
 We feast on air as dainty meat, 
 
 And sing without our tongues. 
 
 5. 
 
 Dreams are foolish things and vain, 
 
 Philosophers reply, 
 The airy vapours of the brain, 
 
 Like bubbles floating by ; 
 The senseless ravings of the head, 
 
 When it has dropped the reins, 
 As helpless as the feather bed 
 
 To guide its muddled brains. 
 
DKEAMS. 489 
 
 6. 
 
 Dreams are pleasant while they last, 
 
 The Senator replies, 
 In them with ease we firmly grasp 
 
 Ambition's noblest prize ; 
 'Mid foaming seas to overwhelm, 
 
 Our skill the storm controls, 
 "We pilot safe the reeling realm 
 
 Through tempests, rocks, and shoals. 
 
 7 
 
 In dreams the dullest Poet sings 
 
 In song of highest flight, 
 And proudly spreads his paper wings 
 
 Above the starry height ; 
 Sits down among the favoured few 
 
 With Eoyalty to dine, 
 And sells his last new poem too 
 
 For twenty pounds a line. 
 
490 DREAMS. 
 
 8. 
 
 Our dreams are sweet at blush of dawn, 
 
 The worldly Parson cries, 
 "With croziers, mitres, sleeves of lawn, 
 
 "We dazzle vulgar eyes ; 
 
 And fill with portly pomp and ease 
 
 i 
 
 Cathedral stalls and thrones, 
 With cushions padded soft to please 
 The Church's fattest drones. 
 \ 
 
 9. 
 
 The Barrister without a brief 
 
 To buy an ounce of snuff, 
 In dreams forgets his wearing grief 
 
 And pockets fees enough ; 
 Vaults to the bench in swift career, 
 
 In ermined splendour rides, 
 Sits on the woolsack as a peer, 
 
 And over Lords presides, 
 
DREAMS. 491 
 
 10. 
 
 The ragged Pauper in his dream 
 
 Dons garments free from dirt, 
 A suit without a tattered seam, 
 
 New hat and snow-white shirt ; 
 Sits down to ribs of fattest beef 
 
 And Titan ]egs of mutton, 
 In foaming tankards drowns his grief 
 
 And gorges like a glutton. 
 
 11. 
 
 A dream can stretch a cottage wall 
 
 To any earthly size, 
 Till lofty room and noble hall 
 
 Surround our wond'ring eyes ; 
 Deal stools and broken-bottomed chairs 
 
 Are turned to sofas soft, 
 And modest flights of wooden stairs 
 
 To marble steps aloft. 
 
492 DREAMS. 
 
 12. 
 
 The Doctor shakes his learned head, 
 
 And rubs his polished chin, 
 Says, dreams float rudderless ahead, 
 
 Like fish without a fin. 
 We cannot tell the guiding laws 
 
 Which rule the sleeping mind, 
 But if we only knew the cause, 
 
 The reason we could find. 
 
 13. 
 
 We tell our patients dreams abed 
 
 Dyspeptic symptoms show 
 Of shattered nerves or fevered head, 
 
 Or spirits running low. 
 But we ourselves are none the worse 
 
 For dreams that soothe and please, 
 When dukes and princes fill our purse 
 
 With fifty-guinea fees. 
 
DREAMS. 493 
 
 14. 
 
 Dreams are rare and precious things, 
 
 The weeping Felon cries, 
 For balmy dew is on their wings, 
 
 As angels from the skies : 
 Yes, pleasant dreams are sunny beams 
 
 That pierce the prison's gloom, 
 To cheer with bright and hopeful gleams 
 
 The captive's dreary tomb. 
 
 15. 
 
 Soft dreams of mother's tender care, 
 
 Of sister's loving kiss, 
 Of sabbaths in the house of prayer, 
 
 And childhood's simple bliss ; 
 Of daisies in the dewy field, 
 
 In long-forgotten days, 
 And chime of bells that sweetly pealed 
 
 Their silver song of praise. 
 
494 DREAMS. 
 
 16. 
 
 And dreams are sweet to sailors too, 
 
 Amid the rudest storms, 
 When sweetly spread before their view 
 
 Pass wife and children's forms : 
 Dreams o'er their sleeping spirits cast 
 
 Their spell serene and soft, 
 When bending mast before the blast 
 
 Comes crashing down aloft. 
 
 17. 
 
 His dreams abundant solace yield 
 
 The last eventful night, 
 The soldier in the tented field, 
 
 To nerve him for the fight : 
 In his own cottage home he stands, 
 
 By wife and child caressed, 
 While medals placed by queenly hands 
 
 Adorn his manly breast. 
 
DREAMS. 495 
 
 18. 
 
 Dreams soothe the student's heated brains 
 
 In midnight's silent hours, 
 Like gentle dews and balmy rains, 
 
 That freshen drooping flowers ; 
 The mind distressed by fevered head, 
 
 Eeplumes its weary wings, 
 And from its dream-producing bed 
 
 With new-found vigour springs. 
 
 19. 
 
 The soothing dream consoles the mind 
 
 And needed strength imparts, 
 While dreams of horror undefined 
 
 Have broken stubborn hearts ; 
 Sweet dreams of childhood's happy home 
 
 Have turned the outcast back, 
 No longer truant-like to roam 
 
 In error's downward track. 
 
496 DEEAMS. 
 
 20. 
 
 Then steer we clear the sad extreme 
 
 Of superstition's creed, 
 Nor idly deem that nightly dream 
 
 Supplies no mental need 
 True wisdom owns God gave us dreams 
 
 For purpose wise and true, 
 Its verdict shuns both rash extremes, 
 
 And lies between the two. 
 
497 
 
 THE DONKEY AND THE 
 EACEHORSE. 
 
 THE BIETH, LIFE, SOEEOWS, DEATH, 
 AND BUEIAL OF A DONKEY. 
 
 " All in the Downs the fleet was moored." 
 
 1. 
 
 ALL in the grass on village green 
 The baby donkey first was seen, 
 The smallest little darling beast, 
 Of dearest tiny foals the least. 
 
 2. 
 
 All in the shafts his life was past, 
 'Mid summer heat and wintry blast, 
 In drawing coals from dawning light 
 Till darkness veiled the world in night. 
 
498 THE DONKEY 
 
 3. 
 
 All in the midst of thistles rank 
 And stagnant pools, he ate and drank, 
 "While many a blow and lusty whack 
 Battered his ribs and bruised his back. 
 
 4. 
 
 His value harshness failed to spoil, 
 His daily round of plodding toil 
 His master's board with bread supplied, 
 And warmed a thousand hearths beside. 
 
 5. 
 
 All in the dust the donkey laid, 
 Kicked up his heels and loudly brayed, 
 Then uttered one tremendous snore, 
 Closed both his eyes, and breathed no more. 
 
 6. 
 
 All in a heap of rotting dung, 
 "Where paupers worthless rubbish flung, 
 His worn-out bones were rudely cast, 
 To fester, but to rest at last. 
 
THE EACEHOBSE. 499 
 
 THE BIETH, LIFE, EXPLOITS, DEATH, 
 AND BTJEIAL OF A EACEHOESE. 
 
 1. 
 
 ALL in the straw of stable clean 
 
 The infant racer first was seen, 
 
 Its titled owner's kindling eyes 
 
 With rapture hailed the new-born prize. 
 
 2. 
 
 All in the midst of courtly peers 
 The racer spent his early years, 
 Christened by lords and loudly blest, 
 "While fairest hands and lips carsseed. 
 
 3. 
 
 All on the Downs his pace was tried, 
 A hundred Members by his side, 
 While in the eyes of knowing grooms 
 The thousand-guinea tankard looms. 
 
500 THE DONKEY AND 
 
 4. 
 
 And when at length the race was run, 
 The goal was reached, the cup was won, 
 His praise was thundered long and loud 
 By prince and peasant in the crowd, 
 
 5. 
 
 All in the Times his deeds were sung, 
 All through the land his praises rung, 
 While flowing bowls of sparkling wine 
 "Were drained to toast the steed divine. 
 
 6. 
 
 His noble owner's fortune went, 
 On breeding, training, jockies spent ; 
 And racked by sleepless care and thought, 
 His famous cups were dearly bought. 
 
 7. 
 
 His keep and guard a constant drain, 
 His stakes but rare uncertain gain, 
 Winning or losing, swift or slow, 
 He filled a thousand homes with woe. 
 
THE EACEHOESE. 501 
 
 8. 
 
 At length to glut his owner's pride, 
 The lash and spur were madly plied, 
 "While streamed with gore his tortured side, 
 He shrieked, leaped, touched the goal, and died, 
 
 9. 
 
 All 'mid the deaths of noted men, 
 With learning's best and noblest pen, 
 Exerting all its brilliant powers, 
 The press records his latest hours. 
 
 10. 
 
 All in the glare of blazoned scroll, 
 
 The Turf his pedigree enrol, 
 While graven cups of solid gold 
 His wondrous excellence unfold. 
 
 11. 
 His corpse in lordly park is laid, 
 
 Beneath the broad elm's ample shade, 
 "While massive piles of costly stones 
 Cover with pride his rotting bones. 
 
 2 K 
 
502 THE DONKEY AND 
 
 M E A L. 
 
 1. 
 
 E'EN thus within the human hive 
 The brainless drones in splendour thrive, 
 "While plodding useful workers know 
 No respite from derision's blow. 
 
 2. 
 
 Creatures from Italy and France, 
 Who please by vicious song and dance, 
 Are prized and petted, crowned, applauded, 
 "With clouds of golden incense lauded. 
 
 3. 
 
 While wise inventors, pastors, teachers, 
 Moral heroes, writers, preachers, 
 Must meekly bear their luckless fate, 
 A pelting storm of scorn and hate. 
 
THE BACEHOKSE. 503 
 
 4. 
 
 The fool with honour's sash is belted, 
 The sage with execration pelted, 
 The useless drones with favour loaded, 
 The useful bee despised and goaded. 
 
 5. 
 
 The world that feeds with lavish hands 
 The rogues who scatter folly's brands, 
 Pays with harsh words and harsher deeds 
 The men who scatter wisdom's seeds. 
 
 6. 
 
 To those who pander to their pride 
 The means of life are well supplied, 
 While those who strive to check their lust 
 Are rudely trampled in the dust. 
 
 7. 
 
 They pamper those with ample pay 
 Who strew with flowers the downward way, 
 But thrust aside with bitter scorn 
 The guides to glory's endless dawn. 
 
504 THE DONKET AND 
 
 8. 
 
 Men pour their heaps of golden dust 
 On those who feed their pampered lust ; 
 Hard blows, contempt, and paltry dole 
 On those who feed the deathless soul. 
 
 9. 
 
 The world has always crowned as great 
 The men who most deserved its hate, 
 And crowned with thorns or withered bays 
 The men who best deserved its praise. 
 
 10. 
 
 The world has ever madly slain 
 The men who would its sins restrain ; 
 'Twas so with Jesus, Stephen, Paul, 
 Apostles, prophets, martyrs, all. 
 
 11. 
 
 And yet 'tis well, the end in view 
 Should simply be, all good to do, 
 And toil in hope of no reward, 
 But from the hand of Christ our Lord. 
 
THE RACEHORSE. 505 
 
 12. 
 
 A nobler crown than earthly bays, 
 And sweeter words than human praise, 
 And richer wealth than gold, await 
 The lowly saint, at Zion's gate. 
 
 13. 
 A lasting throne in fadeless halls, 
 
 s 
 
 And endless joy that never palls, 
 A higher rank and nobler name 
 Than brightest seraph-princes claim. 
 
 14. 
 
 From angel hosts a welcome home 
 That fills the vast and lofty dome, 
 And, richer gain than kingdoms won, 
 The Saviour's hearty praise, " WELL DONE !" 
 
506 
 
 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 
 
 ' For with Thee is the Fountain of Life, and in Thy light 
 shall we see light." PSALM vi. 9. 
 
 1. 
 
 of life and light, 
 Scatter my death and night 
 "With Thy life-giving streams, 
 And all-pervading beams. 
 
 2. 
 
 Fountain of love and grace, 
 My sin's deep stain efface, 
 Thy grace and love alone 
 Can melt this heart of stone. 
 
 3. 
 
 Fountain of help and rest, 
 Visit my burdened breast, 
 Bring health and swift relief 
 To my consuming grief. 
 
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 507 
 
 4. 
 
 Fountain of truth and peace, 
 From error's chain release, 
 And bless this soul of mine 
 With liberty Divine. 
 
 5. 
 
 Fountain of all our health, 
 From Heaven's exhaustless wealth 
 Pour forth the healing tide 
 From Thy deep-wounded side. 
 
 6. 
 
 Fountain of all our strength, 
 In all its breadth and length 
 Eeveal Thy love Divine, 
 And seal and make it mine. 
 
 7. 
 
 Fountain .of purest joys, 
 And bliss that never cloys, 
 With richest balm console 
 This weary aching soul. 
 
508 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 
 
 8. 
 
 Fountain of all that's good, 
 Conceived or understood, 
 Thy help I loudly crave, 
 Hear, bless, relieve, and save. 
 
 9. 
 
 When gloomy tempests lower, 
 Be Thou my spirit's power, 
 And 'mid the battle's strife 
 Be Thou my spirit's life. 
 
 10. 
 
 Be Thou my shield and sun 
 "While life's short race is run, 
 When death's dark shadows fall 
 Be Thou my God, my all. 
 
 11. 
 
 When earthly cisterns fail, 
 When earthly splendours pale, 
 Dawn on my ravished sight, 
 The Fount of endless light. 
 
509 
 
 THE STONE OF ZION. 
 
 " Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, 
 a precious corner stone, a sure foundation. He that be- 
 lieveth on Him shall not be confounded." 
 
 ISAIAH xxviii. 16. 
 
 1. 
 
 SINNEB ! see the Stone of Zion, 
 Safe as flint-rock to rely on, 
 In thyself the feeblest worm, 
 Let thy trust in Him be firm. 
 
 2. 
 
 On the battlements of Zion, 
 Blazoned deep with Judah's Lion, 
 Floating on the midnight sky, 
 Waves the red-cross banner high. 
 
510 THE STONE OP ZION. 
 
 3. 
 
 Standard of a thousand fights, 
 Crowning Zion's lofty heights, 
 He who wars beneath its shade 
 More than conqueror is made. 
 
 4. 
 
 Death and hell may stop his way, 
 Sin and woe becloud his day, 
 But the hand of Judah's Lion 
 Sends him needed help from Zion. 
 
 5. 
 
 Trials sore may vex his breast, 
 Thorny griefs disturb his rest, 
 But the Prince of Peace is near 
 To disperse the rising tear. 
 
 6. 
 
 Bough may be his path and dark, 
 Stormy winds may rock his bark, 
 But his Saviour's lifted arm 
 Brings the sunlight and the calm. 
 
THE STONE OF ZION. 511 
 
 7. 
 
 Sinner, trust the King of Zion, 
 Firm as flint-rock to rely on.; 
 Never doubt His will to save, 
 "When His promised aid you crave. 
 
 8. 
 
 Captain of the hosts of Zion ! 
 Israel's King ! and Judah's Lion ! 
 When their trial waxes long, 
 Bid Thy people's faith be strong. 
 
 9. 
 
 Nerve their arm for lengthened fight, 
 Put their strongest foes to flight, 
 Gird their loins the race to run 
 Till the distant goal be won. 
 
 10. 
 
 While they tread the battle-field, 
 Be their constant strength and shield ; 
 Grant them grace the cross to bear 
 Till the Victor's crown they wear. 
 
512 THE STONE OF ZIQN; 
 
 11. 
 
 When they reach the river's brink, 
 Bid them neither doubt or shrink, 
 Bid them from the heights of Zion 
 Thy pledged word of truth rely on. 
 
513 
 
 LESSONS LEARNED IN THE 
 CHAMBER OF SICKNESS. 
 
 i. 
 
 PATIENCE to bear my Father's will, 
 When His wise mind thinks best to fill 
 My cup with sorrow or with seeming ill, 
 Patience to drink it still. 
 
 2. 
 
 Love to all saints, though seas and mountains 
 
 part 
 
 And controversy old and sharp and tart ; 
 Love to a brother from a brother's heart, 
 That with that love would all else free impart. 
 
514 LESSONS LEARNED IN * 
 
 3. 
 
 To hate all sin, the sin that lurks below 
 An outward walk as pure as virgin snow ; 
 As well as sins that into mountains grow, 
 And deep as crimson glow. 
 
 4. 
 
 To feel for others in their pains and woes, 
 Their sick-bed throbbings, aches, and throes, 
 When fevered head forbids the eyes to close 
 To freshen nature with one hour's repose. 
 
 5. 
 
 To prize that precious Book of balm, 
 Of cheering promise, soothing Psalm, 
 That points to heaven's eternal calm, 
 And bids me trust my Saviour's arm. 
 
 6. 
 
 To prize that great Physician more, 
 Whose skilful hand doth daily pour 
 The healing balsam on my every sore, 
 Erom heaven's exhaustless store. 
 
THE CHAMBER OF SICKNESS. 515 
 
 7. 
 
 To prize more highly that rich purple tide 
 That flowed in streams from His most precious 
 
 side, 
 When in my place He bowed the head and 
 
 died, 
 The spotless Lamb, the sinless Crucified ! 
 
 8. 
 
 To know that unity and tender care 
 That led Him my poor nature's garb to wear, 
 Its burdens carry, and its sickness bear, 
 And all its sinless sorrows share. 
 
 9. 
 
 The sweetness of that sympathy Divine, 
 Whose tendrils with my heartstrings intertwine, 
 Feels as its own whatever touches mine, 
 And hourly whispers, " Tried one, I am thine." 
 
516 LESSONS IN THE CHAMBER OF SICKNESS. 
 10. 
 
 Teach me these lessons, gracious Lord, 
 Lessons most clearly written in Thy word, 
 But badly learned or only half inferred, 
 Till under Thy sharp rod distinctly heard. 
 
517 
 
 SONNET 
 ON THE DEATH OF MY FIKST-BORN. 
 
 THE leaf was falling when my child was born, 
 And autumn's blast came moaning through the 
 
 trees; 
 
 Sear leaves were floating on the chilling breeze 
 In circling eddies to the crystalled lawn ; 
 The nipping hoar-frost from the ground had shorn 
 The last-left beauties of fair Flora's gems, 
 Which hung low drooping on their frozen stems, 
 Emblems of my quick-blighted hope, from whom 
 The honoured name of parent had been torn, 
 Ere for one day that name I could assume ; 
 And yet, oh ! no, not torn, the child still lives, 
 Lives in the regions of unclouded day, 
 Lives in the presence of the God who gives, 
 And giving, owns the right to take away. 
 
 2 L 
 
518 
 
 SONNET 
 
 THE DEATH OF MY SECOND CHILD. 
 
 PILLOWED in softness on thy mother's breast, 
 
 I left thee, little one, nor dreamed how soon 
 
 Thy sun would enter on eternal noon, 
 
 Thy spirit seek its speedy granted rest ; 
 
 And as thy tender forehead I caressed, 
 
 My heart beat high with thoughts of future days, 
 
 With hope that thou in infancy might yield 
 
 Thyself to God, and in this world below 
 
 Thy cherub lips might lisp thy Saviour's praise, 
 
 Thy puny arm faith's shield and falchion wield, 
 
 Thy feet tread firmly wisdom's pleasant ways ; 
 
 God heard and struck my gourd ; and yet, oh ! no, 
 
 But bade His angel with the hand of love 
 
 Transplant my treasure to His courts above. 
 
519 
 
 GEIEF IS SHORT AND JOY IS 
 LONG. 
 
 ' For oui- light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh 
 for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." 
 2 COR. iv. 17. 
 
 1. 
 
 SIGHS and groans and floods of tears, 
 Wounds and pangs, and hosts of fears, 
 Clouds of gloom and grief and pain 
 Through the wide world rule and reign. 
 Yes, the flood of grief is strong, 
 Yes, the hour of woe is long ; 
 Yes, the sea of ills is deep, 
 Sit we down and wail and weep. 
 
520 GEIEF IS SHOET 
 
 2. 
 
 Brief the bliss and small the joys 
 Earth can yield with all its toys, 
 Dark the path and deep its gloom 
 That leads and brings us to the tomb : 
 "Black the sky and dull the night, 
 Damp the air and faint the light, 
 Bleak the road and sharp the thorn, 
 And Jong to wait for break of dawn. 
 
 3. 
 
 Stern the test and hot the fire, 
 Loud the storm and deep the mire, 
 Strong the foes and fierce as strong, 
 Joy is brief and grief is long ! 
 Such the way we sigh and moan, 
 Such the song we sob and groan, 
 "When faith gives way to fear and doubt 
 And all its flame of hope dies out. 
 
AIS'D JOT IS LONG. 521 
 
 4. 
 
 Sad the song and worse than sad, 
 Bad the grief and worse than bad, 
 It wounds the Lord's great heart of love, 
 And grieves and puts to flight the Dove. 
 It robs the soul of peace and strength, 
 Its joy in all its breadth and length, 
 It makes it lame and halt and blind, 
 Too weak and faint its way to find. 
 
 5. 
 
 Hark ! the voice that leaves the sky, 
 Paith be strong and tears be dry, 
 Cease ye floods of grief to flow, 
 Cease, oh, cease, ye signs of woe ; 
 I have bought thee, thou art mine, 
 I and all I have is thine; 
 Why, my child, why lost in woe, 
 Eise my dove, and mourn not so, 
 
522 GRIEF IS SHORT 
 
 6. 
 
 Calm thy heart and smoothe thy plume, 
 Hush thy fears and cease thy gloom, 
 Sing with faith the loud sweet song, 
 Grief is short and joy is long. 
 See you not the Bow that sheds 
 Light on each dark cloud and spreads 
 Its arch of hope with beams that say 
 These clouds shall melt to joy and day. 
 
 7. 
 
 Night is short and day is long, 
 Tune your harp, and chant your song, 
 Soon the sky shall glow with light, 
 Soon the sun shall chase the night. 
 Yes, the flood of peace is strong, 
 Yes, the day of bliss is long, 
 Yes, the sea of love is deep 
 Shout for joy and dance and leap. 
 
AND JOT IS LONG. 523 
 
 I am Lord of land and sea, 
 All my love I give to thee, 
 All my arm and hand can do 
 Shall be done to bring thee through ; 
 Bring thee through rough seas of woes, 
 Bring thee through fierce hosts of foes ; 
 Guide thee, guard thee, all the way 
 To the land of light and day. 
 
 9. 
 
 By your fears you do me wrong, 
 Grief is brief, and joy is long, 
 Trust me still and you shall yet 
 See a sun that shall not set. 
 Turn thy gaze and view the tree 
 Where in love I bled for thee, 
 Then in faith look up and see 
 How in love I reign for thee. 
 
524 GRIEF IS SHORT AND JOT IS LONG. 
 10. 
 
 See ! the stars that gild the night, 
 Bid thy faith burn clear and bright, 
 Let thy hope be firm and strong, 
 Grief is brief, and joy is long. 
 "When thy life's short race is run, 
 "When thy crown of life is won, 
 Then thy heart shall shout the song, 
 Grief was short, but joy ^long. 
 
525 
 
 CHRIST MUST REIGN. 
 
 " For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his 
 feet." 1 COB. xv. 25. 
 
 GOD'S own right hand 
 
 , Of .strength and might, 
 Shall guard our land 
 
 Through storm and fight, 
 Shall stem the tide 
 
 Of sin that flows 
 
 Through all the wide round world, 
 And spoil the pride 
 
 Of all his foes, 
 
 Till deep in hell their hosts are hurl' d. 
 
526 CHRIST MUST EEIGN. 
 
 Yes, Christ shall reign, 
 
 Through all the earth ; 
 And grief and pain 
 
 Give way to mirth ; 
 To Him be bent 
 
 Each heart and knee 
 
 Through all the wide round world ; 
 Each chain be rent 
 
 And all be free, 
 
 And war's red flag in peace be furl'd. 
 
 Both Jew and Greek, 
 
 Both old and young, 
 His praise shall speak 
 
 "With heart and tongue ; 
 "With loud glad sound 
 
 All souls shall sing 
 
 Through all the year's long days ; 
 The wide world round 
 . With sweet notes ring, 
 
 And love's soft hymns of joy and praise. 
 
527 
 
 JESUS AND THE SINNER 
 
 ' Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, 
 Behold, thou art made whole ; sin no more, lest a worse 
 thing come unto thee." JOHN v. 14. 
 
 COVERED with wrath and filled with shame 
 A burdened wretch to Jesus came, 
 With groans besieged the mercy-seat, 
 And bathed with scalding tears His feet. 
 
 His eye beheld the leprous taint, 
 He heard the sad and loud complaint, 
 His heart with melting love was moved, 
 His hand the guilty load removed. 
 
528 JESUS AND THE SINNER. 
 
 "With blood that left His opened veins 
 He purged the guilt, He cleansed the stains, 
 "With lifted hand the bolt to stay 
 Boiled like a cloud the wrath away. 
 
 Then slowly, calmly lifting high 
 His pointing finger to the sky, 
 Said : " Sinner, see yon opened door ; 
 Go, go in peace, but sin no more." 
 
529 
 
 YET WILL I TRUST. 
 
 " Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." 
 JOB xiii. 15. 
 
 1. 
 
 THOUGH the sea be deep and wide, 
 "Wild the storm and strong the tide, 
 He who holds the helm and steers 
 Bids us calm our doubts and fears. 
 
 2. 
 
 Though it seem the gloom of night, 
 Though we see no ray of light, 
 Christ the Lord is with us here 
 Let us hush our grief and fear. 
 
530 TET WILL I TRUST. 
 
 3. 
 
 Night with Him is clear and bright, 
 Where He is, there all is light, 
 He is with us in the gloom, 
 Gilds the cloud and lights the tomb. 
 
 4. 
 
 Sing we then the Lord's new song, 
 Trust we Him whose arm is strong, 
 Trust Him when the days are dark, 
 Trust Him as our shield and ark. 
 
 5. 
 
 Though His hand sharp blows should deal 
 And His heart seem hard as steel, 
 And His eye and ear should close 
 Blind and deaf to all our woes, 
 
 6. 
 
 Though the cloud should grow more thick, 
 Though our soul be faint and sick, 
 Though our path be thick with thorn 
 And our feet be rent and torn, 
 
YET WILL I TRUST. 531 
 
 7 
 
 Though each fount of bliss be dry 
 And no smile should glad the eye, 
 Though no friend or help be near 
 The soul to aid or heart to cheer, 
 
 8. 
 
 Though no sun should shed its ray 
 Moon or star light up our way, 
 All be full as mouth of hell 
 Of gloom more black than tongue can tell ; 
 
 9. 
 
 Still in Christ we fix our trust, 
 He is true and He is just, 
 And His word of truth shall stand 
 Long as seas shall gird the land. 
 
 10. 
 
 Faith can see His firm right arm 
 Strong to shield Has saints from harm, 
 Firm to bruise and crush their foes, 
 Strong to bring them through their woes. 
 
532 YET WILL I TKTJST. 
 
 11. 
 
 Faith can see His heart of love 
 Soft as that of pure white dove, 
 Beat as true and throb as warm 
 Through all the clouds of mist and storm. 
 
 12. 
 
 Faith can trust when Christ doth hide 
 His deep red scars in hand and side, 
 Masks with frown and gloom His face, 
 And veils His beams of love and grace. 
 
 13. 
 
 Faith can kiss the rods that smite, 
 Own with joy that all is right, 
 Faith can bow and bless the stroke 
 That breaks the rock and snaps the oak. 
 
 14. 
 
 Faith can sing when all is drear, 
 " Clouds are bright and night is clear, 
 Christ my Sun shines full as day 
 Though He try me, though He slay." 
 
YET WILL I TRUST. 533 
 
 15. 
 
 Faith can shout, in pangs of pain, 
 " Death is life, to die is gain, 
 Christ my Life is still my stay, 
 Though He try me, though He slay." 
 
 2 M 
 
534 
 
 EPITAPH 
 
 OJS" MY YOUNG FBIEND ELOEENCE'S 
 EAVOUEITE DO a GINGEEDENNY. 
 
 BENEATH this stone lies Gingerdenny, 
 
 I 
 "Who never earned a single penny, 
 
 Who never had the slightest cause 
 To soil with toil his dainty paws, 
 But ate roast beef and drank sweet milk, 
 And slept on couch of softest silk. 
 The dearest dog in all the world, 
 With graceful tail superbly curled, 
 Eyes meeker than the gentlest dove, 
 Soft skin, and heart of softer love, 
 A voice as musical as sweet, 
 And pitter-patter fairy feet. 
 
EPITAPH ON FLORENCE'S DOG. 535 
 
 A wondrous dog of high degree 
 And long and lofty pedigree, 
 The root of whose ancestral tree, 
 Sprang into being in the shade 
 Of lovely Eden's tranquil glade. 
 When Adam gave each beast its name 
 This dog advanced his prior claim 
 To head the canine roll of fame, 
 And walking by the weeping pair 
 Their grief to soothe, their lot to share, 
 On happy Eden turned his tail 
 With many a low and mournful wail. 
 Another grandsire of our pet, 
 With curly hair of glossy jet, 
 Was heard for many a day to bark 
 In tuneful chorus with the lark 
 And grateful Japhet in the Ark ; 
 And when the Flood's destructive tide 
 Was gone, and all the earth was dried, 
 Bushed forth amazed with sniffing nose 
 And wagging tail and dancing toes. 
 
536 EPITAPH ON FLORENCE'S DOG. 
 
 Our pet may also claim descent 
 Prom Tobit's dog who fishing went. 
 That dog was too his great Grand Sire 
 "Who earned a monumental spire, 
 And had his praises nobly sung 
 Eor soothing with his healing tongue 
 The poor man's wound and sickly sore 
 Who famished at the rich man's door. 
 Our darling pet was such a duck 
 So full of frolic and of pluck, 
 So full of love, so free from vice, 
 So sweet, so good, so very nice, 
 More spicy than Domingo spice ; 
 "We could not find a better name 
 To sound the honours of his fame 
 And all his virtues loud proclaim 
 Than that which far surpasses any 
 Dear, darling, ducky Gringerdenny ! 
 
537 
 
 THE SEA AND ITS CREATOR. 
 
 " For by Him (Christ) were all things created all things 
 were created by Him, and for Him.*' COL. i. 16. 
 
 WHEBE great sea-billows thunder forth 
 The stormy music of their foaming wrath, 
 And loudly utter with their sweeping surge 
 The drowning seaboy's solemn dirge ; 
 
 Where leaping breakers clap their hands 
 And wash with cream the golden strands, 
 Or fling their feathery incense high 
 In playful laughter to the sky ; 
 
 Where sun-lit waves with rippling tide 
 Through coral groves in softness glide, 
 Or gently kiss the tranquil shore, 
 With blossomed myrtle covered o'er ; 
 
538 THE SEA AND ITS CEEATOE. 
 
 Where ice-bound billows, capped with snows 
 Through one long endless night repose, 
 And never on the frozen air, 
 Eise songs of praise or words of prayer ; 
 
 In those dead solitudes profound 
 As where the waves with life abound, 
 Are proofs and signs, around, above, 
 Of G-od's great skill and constant love. 
 
 Stamped on the Arctic's ice-bound face, 
 Mirrored in sunlight on the boundless space 
 That fills the Tropics with its glassy sheen, 
 Is Christ's all-potent God-head seen. 
 
539 
 
 PERFECTION. 
 
 " I hare seen an end of all perfection." PSALM cxix. 96. 
 
 1. 
 
 PERFECTION dwells not here ; it doth not grow 
 On earth's broad plains or in the depths below ; 
 Sages have sought it through the world's wide 
 
 bound, 
 
 And still deplore it never has been found. 
 Earth's wisest king, with boundless wealth and 
 
 sway, 
 
 Grave to each earth-born joy its fullest play, 
 And left on record that his favoured reign 
 "Was filled with vanity, chagrin and pain. 
 
540 PERFECTION". 
 
 2. 
 
 The sweetest ointment has its rotting fly, 
 The fairest view some spot to vex the eye, 
 The sweetest home some hindrance to its joy, 
 The happiest lot some mixture of alloy. 
 The richest nation has its need to borrow, 
 The gladdest party has its meed of sorrow, 
 The day its sunset and its night of gloom, 
 And life its death-bed and its open tomb. 
 
 3. 
 
 Some grains of folly marred the wisest man, 
 Some error spoiled his best and ripest plan, 
 The' purest jewel has its specks and flaws, 
 
 , And loopholes weaken best concocted laws. 
 The smoothest temper has its stubborn fit, 
 
 'The best-oiled mill its grating grain of grit, 
 The straightest pathways have some crooked bend, 
 The brightest days some clouds before they end. 
 
PERFECTION. 
 
 4. 
 
 There is no road without its ups and downs, 
 No sunny face without its tears and frowns, 
 No field of wheat without its crop of tares, 
 No placid breast without its wave of cares ; 
 No cup of bliss without its drop of gall, 
 No lofty flight without its after fall, 
 No gay parterre without its mingling weeds, 
 No stainless life without its faulty deeds. 
 
 5. 
 
 The softest pillow has its sleepless nights, 
 The richest orchard its autumnal blights ; 
 The meekest heart its fevered fits of ire, 
 The chastest soul its thrill of roused desire. 
 The sweetest rose oft wounds the gentlest hand, 
 And care's deep lines the best-loved features 
 
 brand ; 
 
 Best builders leave their structures incomplete, 
 And bravest armies sometimes meet defeat. 
 
542 PEEEECTION. 
 
 6. 
 
 The lowliest saint has thoughts of inward pride, 
 The calmest sea its ripple and its tide ; 
 The clearest moon its group of darkened blots, 
 The warmest sun its shade of freckled spots. 
 The richest harp may yield a jarring note, 
 The clearest sunbeam has its dancing mote ; 
 The firmest rampart has its yielding point, 
 The stoutest chain its vulnerable joint. 
 
 7. 
 
 The strongest men their times of weakness own, 
 The jester's joke oft dwindles to a groan; 
 The punster tastes no relish in his pun, 
 The clown no pleasure in his roaring fun. 
 The busiest hive has drones in clover fed, 
 Its sweetest comb some cell of bitter bread ; 
 And each famed college has its drones, and men 
 "Who pour forth wormwood from their tongue and 
 pen. 
 
PERFECTION. 543 
 
 8. 
 
 The wisest lawyer pleads his cause in vain, 
 The ablest doctor yields to death and pain ; 
 The dunce belies his teacher's golden lip, 
 The best sea-captain mourns his foundered ship. 
 From the King's palace to the pauper's cell, 
 Where sages study or where hermits dwell ; 
 In the broad limits of the land and sea, 
 There is no thing from fault and blemish free. 
 
 9. 
 
 The secret annals of the purest reign 
 Disclose the stigma of some hidden stain, 
 And spotless ermine and untainted lawn, 
 'No Church or State with innocence adorn. 
 Perfection dwells not here ; it doth not grow, 
 On earth's broad plains, or in the depths below, 
 All who have sought it through the world's wide 
 
 round, 
 Must still confess it never has been found. 
 
544 PERFECTION". 
 
 10. 
 
 God the all-perfect, in all good excells, 
 And full perfection in His presence dwells, 
 In the vast compass of his perfect mind, 
 The wisest seraph no defect can find ; . 
 Through the broad regions of unmeasured space 
 There is no scattered tribe or sentient race, 
 Can charge the G-od who fixes all its state, 
 "With wrong, neglect, or prejudice, or hate. 
 
 11. 
 
 No bribe deflects, no passion shakes the hand 
 That rules worlds countless as unnumbered sand ; 
 No secret thought eludes His searching ken, 
 "Whose eye rests ever on the ways of men. 
 Through long past ages to the present day, 
 His wide spread rule has held its stainless sway ; 
 There is no darkness in the God of light, 
 " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?" 
 
PERFECTION. 545 
 
 12. 
 
 Emblemed and imaged by the seamless robe, 
 Which wrapped His form who walked our sinful 
 
 globe, 
 
 Was His example, whose all-stainless soul, 
 Perfect in all its parts was one all-perfect whole. 
 Sinless in heart, all-holy in His will, 
 His thoughts unsullied and unstained by ill ; 
 His life exhibits to our erring race, 
 The spotless brightness of His Father's face. 
 
 13. 
 
 Seek we then perfect purity, 'tis found 
 In His example, who, though compassed round 
 With sharp temptations and ten thousand foes, 
 Above them all with undimmed lustre rose. 
 The same great Saviour by His dying blood, 
 Makes His Church spotless in its cleansing flood, 
 And with the footprints of His living feet, 
 Marks the straight road of perfectness complete. 
 
546 PERFECTION. 
 
 14. 
 
 Perfection has its home it reigns on high, 
 "Where glory fills the ever-cloudless sky ; 
 It crowns the raptures of that home above 
 "With undimmed joy and ever-perfect love. 
 In the broad circle of that sunlit plain, 
 Shall pure delight in full perfection reign, 
 Each heart with streams of pleasure be supplied, 
 "While griefs deep founts are all for ever dried. 
 
 15. 
 
 No serpent lurk beneath its fragrant trees ; 
 No tolling bell waft sadness on the breeze j 
 No sickness peril with its ache or pain, 
 The full-tide glow of health's perpetual reign ; 
 No war's rude clarion, with its loud alarm, 
 Break the soft trance of the eternal calm ; 
 No sight of woe, no passion's lawless play, 
 Mar the long love-feast of its endless day. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
WORKS BY THE REV. EDWARD DALTON, D.D. 
 HECTOR OF TRAMORE. 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOSEPH, considered more especi- 
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 Lectures delivered in the Cathedral at Waterford. Dedi- 
 cated to the Bishop of Cashel. Second Edition. Fcap., 
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 "It exhibits throughout the soundness, simplicity, and faithfulness 
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 " The Discourses now before us seem well adapted for the accom- 
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 a very graphic and touching manner, and they bring out, effectually 
 and forcibly, the great moral lessons to be learned from his eventful 
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 and graceful ; and the pious earnestness with which he applies and en- 
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 BRIEF THOUGHTS on the things of God and the 
 
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 THE LITERARY BEAUTIES OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 A Lecture delivered at the Waterford Young Men's 
 Christian Institute, and published at the request of the 
 Committee. Price, in coloured wrapper, 12mo. 4d 
 
 THE HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEFOEMA- 
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 THE WATCHFUL PEO VIDENCE OF GOD. Six 
 
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 NO PEACE WITH ROME. A Lecture in Words of 
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