RULE BRITANNIA.

He sweetly liv'd; yet sweetnesse did not save
His life from foes.

But after death out of his grave,

There sprang twelve stalks of wheat;

Which many wondering at, got some of those
To plant and set.

It prosper'd strangely, and did soon disperse
Through all the earth :

For they that taste it do rehearse,
That vertue lies therein;

A secret vertue, bringing peace and mirth
By flight of sinne.

Take of this grain, which in my garden grows,
And grows for you;

Make bread of it: and that repose
And peace which ev'ry where

With so much earnestnesse you do pursue
Is onely there.

245

RULE BRITANNIA.

THOMSON.

WHEN Britain first, at Heaven's command,

Arose from out the azure main,

This was the charter of the land,

And guardian angels sung the strain:

Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves!
Britons ever shall be slaves.

246

RULE BRITANNIA.

The nations not so blest as thee
Must in their turn to tyrants fall,
Whilst thou shalt flourish great and free,
The dread and envy of them all.
Rule Britannia, etc.

Still more majestic shalt thou rise,

More dreadful from each foreign stroke;
As the loud blast that tears the skies
Serves but to root thy native oak.
Rule Britannia, etc.

Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame;
All their attempts to bend thee down
Will but arouse thy generous flame,
And work their woe and thy renown.
Rule Britannia, etc.

To thee belongs the rural reign;

Thy cities shall with commerce shine;

All shall be subject to the main,

And every shore it circles thine,
Rule Britannia, etc.

The muses, still with freedom found,
Shall to thy happy coast repair;

Blest isle, with matchless beauty crowned,
And manly hearts to guard the fair.
Rule Britannia, etc.

THE MAID'S LAMENT.

24

THE MAID'S LAMENT.

LANDOR.

I LOVED him not; and yet, now he is gone,

I feel I am alone.

I checked him while he spoke; yet could he speak,
Alas! I would not check.

For reasons not to love him once I sought,
And wearied all my thought

To vex myself and him: I now would give
My love could he but live

Who lately lived for me, and when he found
'Twas vain, in holy ground

He hid his face amid the shades of death!
I waste for him my breath

Who wasted his for me; but mine returns,
And this lone bosom burns

With stifling heat, heaving it up in sleep,
And waking me to weep

Tears that had melted his soft heart: for years
Wept he as bitter tears!

"Merciful God!" such was his latest prayer,

'These may she never share!"

Quieter is his breath, his breast more cold,
Than daisies in the mould,

Where children spell athwart the churchyard gate
His name and life's brief date.

Pray for him, gentle souls, whoe'er ye be,
And O! pray, too, for me!

248

ADDRESS TO THE OCEAN.

ADDRESS TO THE OCEAN.

PROCTER. (BARRY CORNWALL.)

O THOU vast Ocean! ever-sounding Sea!
Vast symbol of a drear immensity!

Thou thing that windest round the solid world
Like a huge animal, which, downward hurled
From the black clouds, lies weltering and alone,
Lashing and writhing till its strength be gone.
Thy voice is like the thunder, and thy sleep
Is as a giant's slumber, loud and deep.
Thou speakest in the east and in the west
At once, and on thy heavily laden breast
Fleets come and go, and shapes that have no life
Or motion, yet are moved and meet in strife.
The earth has naught of this: no chance or change
Ruffles its surface, and no spirits dare

Give answer to the tempest-wakened air;
But o'er its wastes the weakly tenants range
At will, and wound its bosom as they go:
Ever the same, it hath no ebb, no flow:
But in their stated rounds the seasons come,.
And pass like visions to their wonted home;
And come again, and vanish; the young Spring
Looks ever bright with leaves and blossoming;
And Winter always winds his sullen horn,
When the wild Autumn, with a look forlorn,
Dies in his stormy manhood; and the skies
Weep, and flowers sicken, when the Summer flies.
Oh! wonderful thou art, great element:

And fearful in thy spleeny humors bent,

1

JEANIE MORRISON.

And lovely in repose; thy summer form
Is beautiful; and when thy silver waves
Make music in earth's dark and winding caves,
I love to wander on thy pebbled beach,
Marking the sunlight at the evening hour,
And hearken to the thoughts thy waters teach
Eternity Eternity — and Power.

249

JEANIE MORRISON.

WILLIAM MOTHERWEll.

I'VE wandered east, I've wandered west,
Through many a weary way;

But never, never can forget

The love of life's young day;

The fire that's blawn on Beltane e'en,
May weel be black gin Yule;
But blacker fa' awaits the heart
Where first fond love grows cool.

O dear, dear Jeanie Morrison,
The thochts o' bygane years

Still fling their shadows owre my path,
And blind my een wi' tears!
They blind my een wi' saut, saut tears,
And sair and sick I pine,

As memory idly summons up

The blythe blinks o`langsyne.