That the lowest boughs and the brush-wood sheaf 5
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough,
In England, now !
And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds and all the swallows!
Hark where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge
Leans to the field, and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops-at the bent spray's edge-
That's the wise thrush ; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture 15
The first fine careless rapture !
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups—the little children's dower,-
Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower.
Robert Browning:
HOME THOUGHTS, FROM THE SEA.
Nobly, nobly Cape St. Vincent to the North-west died
away ; Sunset ran, one glorious blood-red, reeking into Cadiz
Bay ; Bluish mid the burning water, full in face Trafalgar lay ; In the dimmest North-east distance, dawned Gibraltar
grand and gray ; • Here and here did England help me ; how can I help
England ?' say, Whoso turns as I, this evening, turn to God to praise
While Jove's planet rises yonder, silent over Africa.
Robert Browning
Two brothers freely cast their lot
With David's royal Son ;
The cost of conquest counting not,
They deem the battle won.
Brothers in heart, they hope to gain
5
An undivided joy ;
That man may one with man remain,
As boy was one with boy.
Christ heard ; and willed that James should fall,
First prey of Satan's rage ;
John linger out his fellows all,
And die in bloodless age.
Now they join hands once more above,
Before the Conqueror's throne;
Thus God grants prayer, but in his love
15 Makes times and ways his own.
John Henry Newman.
Fair ship, that from the Italian shore
Sailest the placid ocean-plains
With my lost Arthur's loved remains, Spread thy full wings, and waft him o'er. So draw him home to those that mourn
In vain ; a favourable speed
Ruffle thy mirrored mast, and lead Through prosperous floods his holy urn.
All night no ruder air perplex
Thy sliding keel, till Phosphor, bright
As our pure love, through early light
Shall glimmer on the dewy decks.
Sphere all your lights around, above ;
Sleep, gentle heavens, before the prow;
Sleep, gentle winds, as he sleeps now,
My friend, the brother of my love.
My Arthur! whom I shall not see
Till all my widowed race be run;
Dear as the mother to the son,
More than my brothers are to me.
Alfred Tennysor.
IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE HON. EDWARD
ERNEST VILLIERS.
A grace though melancholy, manly too,
Moulded his being ; pensive, grave, serene,
O'er his habitual bearing and his mien
Unceasing pain, by patience tempered, threw
A shade of sweet austerity. But seen
In happier hours and by the friendly few,
That curtain of the spirit was withdrawn,
And fancy light and playful as a fawn,
And reason imped with inquisition keen,
Knowledge long sought with ardour ever new,
And wit love-kindled, showed in colours true
What genial joys with sufferings can consist;
Then did all sternness melt as melts a mist
Touched by the brightness of the golden dawn,
Aërial heights disclosing, valleys green,
And sunlights thrown the woodland tufts between,
And flowers and spangles of the dewy lawn.
And even the stranger, though he saw not these,
Saw what would not be willingly passed by.
In his deportment, even when cold and shy,
Was seen a clear collectedness and ease,
A simple grace and gentle dignity,
That failed not at the first accost to please ;
And as reserve relented by degrees,
So winning was his aspect and address,
His smile so rich in sad felicities,
Accordant to a voice which charmed no less,
That who but saw him once remembered long,
And some in whom such images are strong
Have hoarded the impression in their heart,
Fancy's fond dreams and memory's joys among,
Like some loved relic of romantic song,
Or cherished masterpiece of ancient art.
His life was private ; safely led, aloof
From the loud world,—which yet he understood
Largely and wisely, as no worldling could.
For he by privilege of his nature proof
Against false glitter, from beneath the roof
Of privacy, as from a cave, surveyed
With stedfast eye its flickering light and shade,
And gently judged for evil and for good.
But whilst he mixed not for his own behoof
In public strife, his spirit glowed with zeal,
Not shorn of action, for the public weal,-
For truth and justice as its warp and woof,
For freedom as its signature and seal.
His life thus sacred from the world, discharged
From vain ambition and inordinate care,
In virtue exercised, by reverence rare
Lifted, and by humility enlarged,
Became a temple and a place of prayer.
In latter years he walked not singly there ;
For one was with him ready at all hours
His griefs, his joys, his inmost thoughts to share,
Who buoyantly his burdens helped to bear,
55
And decked his altars daily with fresh flowers.
But further may we pass not ; for the ground
Is holier than the Muse herself may tread ;
Nor would I it should echo to a sound
Less solemn than the service for the dead.
60 Mine is inferior matter,—my own loss,The loss of dear delights for ever fled, Of reason's converse by affection fed, Of wisdom, counsel, solace, that across Life's dreariest tracts a tender radiance shed.
65 Friend of my youth! though younger, yet my guide, How much by thy unerring insight clear I shaped my way of life for many a year ! What thoughtful friendship on thy deathbed died ! Friend of my youth ! whilst thou wast by my side Autumnal days still breathed a vernal breath ; How like a charm thy life to me supplied All waste and injury of time and tide, How like a disenchantment was thy death!
Henry Taylor.
The night is late, the house is still ;
The angels of the hour fulfil
Their tender ministries, and move
From couch to couch, in cares of love.
They drop into thy dreams, sweet wife,
The happiest smile of Charlie's life,
And lay on baby's lips a kiss,
Fresh from his angel-brother's bliss ;
And, as they pass, they seem to make
A strange, dim hymn, “For Charlie's sake.'
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