"IN THE MOULD OF MERCY ALL IS CAST FOR SOULS FAMILIAR WITH TH' ETERNAL VOICE."-WORDSWORTH.

THE FORM REMAINS, THE FUNCTION NEVER DIES. -WORDSWORTH.

162

SIMON LEE THE OLD HUNTSMAN.

Old Ruth works out of doors with him,

And does what Simon cannot do ;

For she, not over stout of limb,
Is stouter of the two.

And, though you with your utmost skill
From labour could not wean them,
Alas, 'tis very little, all

Which they can do between them.

Beside their moss-grown hut of clay,
Not twenty paces from the door,
A scrap of land they have, but they
Are poorest of the poor.

This scrap of land he from the heath
Inclosed when he was stronger;
But what avails the land to them,
Which they can till no longer?

Few months of life has he in store,
As he to you will tell,

For still, the more he works, the more
Do his weak ankles swell.
My gentle reader, I perceive
How patiently you've waited,
And I'm afraid that you expect
Some tale will be related.

Oh, reader! had you in your mind
Such stores as silent thought can bring,

Oh, gentle reader! you would find
A tale in everything.*

* Compare with Shakspeare:

"Our life

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything."

66 LOVE, AS NATURE LOVES, THE LONELY POOR."-WORDSWORTH.

"OUR SOULS HAVE SIGHT OF THAT IMMORTAL SEA WHICH BROUGHT US HITHER."-WORDSWORTH.

"MERCY HAS PLACED WITHIN OUR REACH A PORTION OF GOD'S PEACE."-WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

MEMORY, LIKE SLEEP, HATH POWERS WHICH DREAMS OBEY

"OUR LIFE IS BUT A TALE OF MORNING GRASS, WITHERED AT EVE."-WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

"THE SUNSET OF LIFE GIVES ME MYSTICAL LORE, AND COMING EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEFORE."-CAMPBELL.

* Loch Goil, a lake which lies embosomed among wild precipitous mountains, in the south of Argyleshire. It opens into Loch Long.

WREATHS FOR EACH TOIL, A CHARM FOR EVERY WOE."-CAMPBELL.

"THE SUN HIMSELF MUST DIE BEFORE THIS MORTAL SHALL ASSUME HIS IMMORTALITY."-CAMPBELL.

"HOW FADING ARE THE JOYS WE DOTE UPON LIKE angels' visITS, SHORT AND BRIGHT."-J. NORRIS.

"LIKE ANGEL-VISITS, FEW AND FAR BETWEEN."-THOMAS CAMPBell.

VISITS, LIKE THOSE OF ANGELS, SHORT AND FEW BETWEEN."-BLAIR.

"IN THE VISIONS OF ROMANTIC YOUTH, WHAT YEARS OF ENDLESS BLISS ARE YET TO FLOW !"-CAMPBELL.

166

"TO BEAR IS TO CONQUER Our fate."-THOMAS Campbell.

BATTLE OF THE BALTIC.

'Twas vain: the loud waves lashed the shore,

Return or aid preventing :

The waters wild went o'er his child,—

And he was left lamenting.

[THOMAS CAMPBELL, author of "The Pleasures of Hope," "Gertrude of Wyoming," and several famous lyrics, born 1777, died 1844.]

"OH, MORTAL PLEASURE! WHAT ART THOU, IN TRUTH? THE TORRENT'S SMOOTHNESS ERE IT DASH BELOW."-CAMPBELL.

BATTLE OF THE BALTIC.*

IF Nelson and the North

Sing the glorious day's renown,
When to battle fierce came forth

All the might of Denmark's crown,

And her arms along the deep proudly shone;
By each gun the lighted brand,
In a bold determined hand,
And the Prince of all the land
Led them on.

Like leviathans afloat,

Lay their bulwarks on the brine ;
While the sign of battle flew

On the lofty British line:

It was ten of April morn by the chime:
As they drifted on their path,
There was a silence deep as death;

And the boldest held his breath,

For a time.

* On the 2nd of April 1801, Copenhagen was bombarded by the English under Lord Nelson and Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, and in their engagement with the Danish fleet of twenty-three ships of the line, eighteen were taken or destroyed.

"THE SENTINEL STARS SET THEIR WATCH IN THE SKY.' -CAMPBELL.

"CAN THE WORLD ONE JOYOUS THOUGHT BESTOW ON FRIENDSHIP WEEPING AT THE COUCH OF WOE?"-CAMPBELL.