34

NEW YEAR'S DAY.

Mourn, hapless Caledonia, mourn
Thy banish'd peace, thy laurels torn!

SMOLLETT.

NEW YEAR'S DAY.

RISE, sons of merry England, from mountain and from plain,

Let each light up his spirit, let none unmoved

remain ;

The morning is before you, and glorious is the

sun;

Rise up, and do be done.

your

blessed work before the day

"Come help us, come and help us," from the valley and the hill

To the ear of God in heaven are the cries ascending still:

The soul that wanteth knowledge, the flesh that wanteth food ;

Arise, ye sons of England, go about doing good.

Your hundreds and your thousands at usage and in purse,

Behold a safe investment, which shall bless and never curse!

Oh, who would spend for house or land, if he might but from above

Draw down the sweet and holy dew of happiness and love?

THE TRUMPET.

55

Pour out upon the needy ones the soft and healing

balm ;

The storm hath not arisen yet-ye yet may keep the calm:

Already mounts the darkness,-the warning wind is loud;

But ye may seek your fathers' God, and pray away the cloud.

Go, throng our ancient churches, and on the holy floor

Kneel humbly in your penitence among the kneeling poor;

Cry out at morn and even, and amid the busy day, "Spare, spare, O Lord, Thy people ;-oh, cast us not away!"

Hush down the sounds of quarrel; let party-names alone;

Let brother join with brother, and England claim her own:

In battle with the Mammon-host join peasant, clerk, and lord,

Sweet charity your banner-flag, and GOD FOR ALL your word.

ALFORD.

THE TRUMPET.

THE trumpet's voice hath roused the land,
Light up the beacon-pyre;

56

THE LIFE OF MAN.

A hundred hills have seen the brand,
And waved the sign of fire;
A hundred banners to the breeze
Their gorgeous folds have cast;
And, hark, was that the sound of seas?
A king to war went past.

The chief is arming in his hall,
The peasant by his hearth;
The mourner hears the thrilling call,
And rises from the earth;
The mother on her first-born son
Looks with a boding eye;—

They come not back, though all be won,
Whose young hearts leap so high.

The bard has ceased his song, and bound
The falchion to his side;
Even for the marriage-altar crown'd
The lover quits his bride ;-

And all this haste and change and fear
By earthly clarion spread,-
How will it be when kingdoms hear

The blast that wakes the dead!

THE LIFE OF MAN.

LIKE to the falling of a star,
Or as the flight of eagles are,

MRS. HEMANS.

THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES.

Or like the fresh spring's gaudy hue,
Or silver drops of morning dew,
Or like a wind that chafes the flood,
Or bubble which on water stood,-
Even such is man, whose borrow'd light
Is straight called in and paid to-night.
The wind blows out, the bubble dies,
The spring entomb'd in autumn lies,
The stream dries up, the star is shot,
The flight is past, and man forgot.

57

BISHOP KING.

THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES.

ON what foundation stands the warrior's pride,
How just his hopes, let Swedish Charles decide.
A frame of adamant, a soul of fire,

No dangers fright him, and no labours tire:
O'er love, o'er fear, extends his wide domain,
Unconquer'd lord of pleasure and of pain :
No joys to him pacific sceptres yield;

War sounds the trump, he rushes to the field.
Behold surrounding kings their powers combine,
And one capitulate, and one resign:

Peace courts his hand and spreads her charms in

vain ;

"Think nothing gain'd," he cries, "till naught remain

On Moscow's walls till Gothic standards fly,
And all be mine beneath the polar sky!"

58

THE WAR OF THE LEAGUE.

The march begins in military state,
And nations on his eye suspended wait;
Stern famine guards the solitary coast,
And winter barricades the realms of frost.
He comes-nor want nor cold his course delay :
Hide, blushing glory, hide Pultowa's day!
The vanquish'd hero leaves his broken bands,
And shews his miseries in distant lands;
Condemn'd a needy supplicant to wait,
While ladies interpose, and slaves debate.
But did not Chance at length her error mend?
Did no subverted empire mark her end?
Did rival monarchs give the fatal wound?
Or hostile millions press him to the ground?
His fall was destined to a barren strand,
A petty fortress, and a dubious hand:

He left the name at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral, or adorn a tale.

JOHNSON.

THE WAR OF THE LEAGUE.

Now glory to the Lord of Hosts, from whom all glories are;

And glory to our sovereign liege, Prince Henry of Navarre!

Now let there be the merry sound of music and of dance

Through thy corn-fields green and sunny vines, O pleasant land of France!