BEETLES. 417 BEETLES. (A FEW VERSES, FOR VERNON WOLLASTON.) EVERY toiler to his toil; Life is Work in Duty's hand, Art and Nature both demand Daily labour, midnight oil : Every workman for his work; Art hath many, keen of skill,— Nature showing whom she will Where her inner secrets lurk: Every scholar to his task; Know'st thou not thy special page To be conned from youth to age? Ask that knowledge, meekly ask,— Ask it of the Heaven above, Ask it of the Earth below, Ask thy heart and mind, and so Follow on in faith and love. Thou shalt thus be taught to find Suited to thy heart and mind. -What is ours?-Well, that depends; Mine, at this peculiar time Is,-in reason tagged with rhyme Just to touch on what's my friend's: Beetles are his special care; Beetles, huge as bats or birds, Beetles, of Madeiran birth, Beetles, from the Cape de Verdes, Beetles, in Nilotic mud, Beetles, from the bright Azores, Beetles new on British shores, Beetles older than the Flood! Beetles!-does this trivial seem?— All their lives from end to end, GOD in all His works is great, DIEU ET MON DROIT. Note these microscopic spots, Each a miracle of mind, Yea, the meanest thing that crawls,- As a marvel of deep skill Is praised in the Celestial Halls! Then, high-hearted Wollaston, Still work on in love and faith, 419 DIEU ET MON DROIT. No fanciful hope, and no cowardly fear An Englishman gathers his comfort and cheer Are shining in "GOD and my Right!" My GOD! the great Guard, the Good Ruler, and Friend, Who made me, and guides as He will; My Right! which His government helps to defend, And bids me stand up for it still: The heart that has trusted Him well does He love, Rejoiced upon earth with all peace from above, My Right-the right way, and my Right-the right arm, With these well about us, and GOD overhead, There never was mortal who fail'd or who fled, THE LAUREL CROWN. THE laurel crown! for duty done, That thrills and fills an earnest heart The laurel crown! for soaring song AN ESCAPE. Wisely, as a patriot ought, By burning word and glowing thought,— The laurel crown! in common eyes The laurel crown! in wisdom's ken A call from GOD to waken men, Lest in these mammon depths they drown,- Yes, laurel crown! if seen aright 421 AN ESCAPE. AN hour of peril in the Lydstep caves: |