University of California • Berkeley nv ins ROYAL HIGHNESS'S MOST onEDIENT AND HUMBLE SERVANT, \1 i:XANDER BUCKLER. ODE. 'ER Britain, in December's days of gloom, When winter, all too early, robed the land , In ice and snow, a sudden sorrow fell For England's noblest son in peril lay — Her future Seventh Edward, as men deemed, When Hope was bright within them — but, alas ! They trembled now to hear the coming news Which still they waited for. Ah ! who should tell What tidings next might come, of joy or woe. From that fair Palace home — whence, hour by hour, 6 An Ode to His Royal Highness Were circulated into distant climes Sad messages, which carefully withheld The hope men thirsted for. The ice-bound streets A surging throng contained ; for pleasure's halls Were vacant, while the one absorbing thought Possessed all minds ; and in the Mart and 'Change Where gold is bought and sold, a stillness reign d, F'or gold itself, its value lost, as dread And boding rumours, lightning-flash'd, dispelled At eve, the hopes of morn, and strong men's eyes Betray'd the tears which had been dashed away, And women's plaintive voices publicly A prayer breathed forth for Him, their suffering Prince, For Her, his gentle Princess, in the, hours Albert Edzvard Prince of Wales. Of agony then passing o'er Her soul, And for their little Children far away ; And each man, whispering to his fellow, seemed To dread to-morrow's tidings. Traitors base, Were holding secret council, to subvert The Monarchy which counts a thousand years, When, lo ! the tidings came that loyalty Had fiird the Nation s heart, as streams are fill'd By rushing floods in winter. Then, as snow Is melted by the glorious noon-day sun. Their cursed plots were all dissolved, and each Escaped by stealth from their grim tavern lair, In fear and trembling, lest the town should rise And tear them limb from limb. 8 An Ode to His Royal Highness But far away, Beside His fever d couch our Noble Queen Was bending in mute sorrow, and His fair And peerless Wife, and gentle Sisters, fed By hope Divine, o'er that sad chamber cast The radiance soft, which woman s love alone Can shed in sickness. Though, with watching pale And heart-sore, yet they bravely struggled on And smiled as ministering angels bright, While grave physicians through the weary weeks Consulted, whispered, and forebore to breathe A single word of hope. Then came a time Of blank uncertainty, as when men wait upon the sand-girt margin of the deep And gaze far out to the receded sea, And know not if it ebbs or if it flows. In that dread day of agonised suspense, The fragrant incense of a million prayers In one vast cloud, ascended to the Throne Of God Almighty, where for one dear life A supplication so intense, so vast, So pregnant with deep meaning, never yet Arose from mortal lips. On bended knees^ Great congregations Miserere sang, With trembling lips and broken utterances ; "^ By a singular coincidence, the Miserere was one of the Psahns for the day on which the Special Prayer for His Royai Highness was first used (Dec. lo), and in many Churches it was chanted kneeling. lo An Ode to His Royal Highness '' Deep calling unto deep"— griefs lowest deep To Mercy deep appealing ; and scarce yet Had night descended on that day of prayer, When — like the dove returning to the ark, Hope's olive leaf just gather d — -on there came, Borne through the wires — which in the twilight sang Eolian music to the distant spheres, Unable their glad tidings to contain — . The hope-fraught message, sped from shore to shore, To earth's remotest lands, *' The Prince has slept." And hour by hour a message came again; And as the brook, like some slight silvery thread A Ibert Ediuard Prince of Wales, 1 1 Through meadows gliding, gathers breadth and strength, And widens to a beauteous rivulet — Enlarging, deepening, and expanding still Until its wide-spread banks embrace the waves Of some broad tidal river, on whose breast The nation's fleet is borne, in which her son^ Their confidence and expectation place: — So grew, so deepened, and so widened still The hope which hourly fed the people's heart. And now is bright-faced joy of sorrow born, Our Miserere to Te Detim changed, And wishes which men hardly dared to frame Have realised upon this happy day Fulfilment copious. 1 2 An Ode to His Royal Highness And can it be, Most Gracious Prince, that Heaven such mercy sheds On thee, and on the nation which is thine, Unless it has some special embassy Entrusted to thy keeping ? May thy mind Perceive it clearly, and thy willing hand Be strong to perfect it. And when the time Arrives for thee — at some far-distant day, The nation trusts— the care-fraught diadem To wear, and hold the golden reins of State ; May then the type for thy august career Be One whose spotless name the people hold In veneration, and whose glorious reign On history's page, in jewelFd characters, Transcendently will shine; whose loving care Albert Edward Prince of Wales. 1 3 In sickness tended thee with practised hand — Thy Royal Mother and our Gracious Queen, Whom God defend and save ! Hail, Prince belov'd, The nation with its great o'erflowing heart Rejoices in thy Royal Health restored! May life become more sweet, and bright home- joys More deeply glow, because of peril past ! And may that perils self the parent be Of loyalty re-doubled ! So shall peace And plenty fill the realm, and Science fair. And Art, her blooming sister, side by side In happy England dwell, and Commerce thrive In this united land. 14 An Ode to His Royal Highness, &c. And now, when all, From Peer 4o Peasant, join in sending thee The salutations of a glad New Year, Permit a heart, which at a distance shared The sorrow of thy stricken family, Once more to greet thee in a loyal Ode, And join Its notes of thanksgiving to theirs ;- For loyal hearts and sympathies shall be As granite bulwarks to thy future Throne. Brighton, January y 1872. Printed by John B. Day, Savoy Street, Strand.