Yea, though Earth be torn asunder,-
Or the secret heart be vext,-
Though with elemental thunder
Or by petty cares perplext,
Still I stand, and rule the riot;

Still my deep calm soul is blest
With its own imperial quiet,
The sublimity of Rest!

For, a staunch and stalwarth true man,
Fearing GOD, and none beside,-
Nothing more, nor less, than human,
Nothing human can betide

That may disenthrone a spirit

Doom'd to reign in Time's decay,

Grandly fated to inherit

Endless peace in endless Day!

Neber you

Slander.

A BALLAD OF COMFORT.

fear; but go ahead

In self-relying strength :

What matters it, that malice said,

"We've found it out at length!

Found out? found what ?-An honest man

Is open as the light,

So, search as keenly as you can,

You'll only find-all right.

Yes, blot him black with slander's ink, He stands as white as snow !

You serve him better than you think,

And kinder than you know: What? is it not some credit, then,

That he provokes your blame?
This merely, with all better men,
Is quite a kind of fame!

Through good report, and ill report,
The good man goes his way,
Nor condescends to pay his court
To what the vile may say :-
Ay, be the scandal what you will,
And whisper what you please,
You do but fan his glory still
By whistling up a breeze.

The little spark becomes a flame

If you won't hold your tongue ; Nobody pays you for your blame, Nor cares to prove it wrong;

But if you will so kindly aid

And prop a good man's peace,

Why, really one is half afraid

Your ill report should cease!

Look you! two children playing there With battledores in hand

To keep the shuttle in the air

Must strike it as they stand;

It flags and falls, if both should stop, To look admiring on,

And so Fame's shuttlecock would drop Without a Pro and Con!

The Golden Mean.

A BALLAD OF WISDOM.

"Give me neither poverty nor riches."

Pageants rare of splendid waste
Hurried on with glittering haste;
Honours high, and fashions gay,-—
Teasing pomp by night and day;
Luxuries that never cease

Rich in every zest but-peace;
Flattering homage, sickly sweet,
Pleasures-pleasures? false and fleet,-
Who shall swear that rank and wealth
Have one bliss except by stealth
When the great, the rich, the proud
Stoop to imitate the crowd?

Aching toil, or starving rest;
Disappointment's bleeding breast;
Hopes of better, never here;
Luck a laggard in the rear;
Cellar, children, curses, cries,
Furious crime, or fawning lies,-
Food? the foulest, scantly dealt;
Pain? ay, pain for ever felt;
Who, with Francis, who can praise,
Poverty, thy works and ways,
Till they rise above despair,

Till content hath smother'd care?

Give me, Blessed Father! give
Just enough in love to live ;
Give me what is truly good-
Grace, and food, and gratitude;
Kindly give me patience, health,
Anything but wasteful Wealth;
Wisely in Thy mercy grant
Anything but wasting Want;
That I may not through excess
Sin from want or wantoness,-
That I may be clear and clean,
Lucid in the Golden Mean.

Time.

A BALLAD FOR THE AGED.

Light as flakes of falling snow
Drop the silent-footed hours;
And the days, they come and go,

And the years we scarcely know

How their frosts, and fruits, and flowers,

Transient crops of weal and woe,
Change, and pass, and perish so!
While we muse upon To-day,
Lo! the dream has died away;
And there lives what was To-morrow,
With its present joy or sorrow,
Pains and pleasures, fear and hope,
A variable kaleidoscope :

So on, so on; till years have sped
By tens and twenties over head,
And those flakes that fell unfelt

Have grown to snows-that never melt!

Gud preserve the Queen!

A LOYAL BALLAD, April 1848.

How glorious is thy calling,
My happy Fatherland,
While all the thrones are falling,

In righteousness to stand,
Amid the earthquakes heaving thus
To rest in pastures green,—
Then, GOD be praised who helpeth us,
And-GOD preserve the Queen!

How glorious is thy calling!

In sun and moon and stars

To see the signs appalling
Of prodigies and wars,—
Yet by thy grand example still
From lies the world to wean,

Then, God be praised who guards from ill,
And-GOD preserve the Queen!

Within thy sacred border

Amid the sounding seas,

Religion, Right, and Order

Securely dwell at ease;

And if we lift this beacon bright,

Among the nations seen,

We bless the LORD who loves the right,

And-GoD preserve the Queen!