THE DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH CAPE.

Othear the old sea captain,

Who dwelt in Helgoland,

To King Alfred, the Lover of Truth,

Brought a snow-white walrus tooth,

Which he held in his brown right hand.

His figure was tall and stately,
Like a boy's his eye appeared,
His hair was yellow as hay,
But threads of a silvery grey
Gleamed in his tawny beard.

Hearty and hale was Othear,

His cheek had the colour of oak; With a kind of laugh in his speech, Like the sea tide on a beach,

As unto the King he spoke.

And Alfred, King of the Saxons,
Had a book upon his knees,
And wrote down the wondrous tale
Of him who was first to sail
Into the Arctic seas.

"I own six hundred reindeer,
With sheep and swine besides;
I have tribute from the Finns,
Whalebone and reindeer-skins,
And ropes of walrus-hide.

"To the northward stretched the desert,-
How far I fain would know;

So at last I sallied forth,
And six days sailed due north,
As far as the whale ships go.

"And then uprose before me,
Upon the water's edge,
The huge and haggard shape
Of that unknown North Cape,
Whose form is like a wedge.

"Four days I steered eastward,-
Four days without a night,
Round in a fiery ring

Went the great sun, O King,
With red and lurid light.

H

"And now the land," said Othear,
"Bent southward suddenly;
Then I followed the curving shore,
And ever southward bore,
Into a nameless sea.

"And there we hunted the walrus,
The narwhale and the seal;
Ha! 'twas a noble game!
And like the lightning's flame
Flew our harpoons of steel.

"There were six of us, all together,
Norsemen of Helgoland;

In two days and no more
We killed of them three score,

And dragged them to the strand!"

Then to the King of the Saxons

In witness of the truth,

Raising his noble head,

He stretched his brown hand, and said, "Behold this walrus-tooth!"

WELLINGTON.

For this is England's greatest son,
He that gain'd a hundred fights,
Nor ever lost an English gun;
This is he that far away
Against the myriads of Assaye
Clash'd with his fiery few and won;
And underneath another sun,
Warring on a later day,
Round affrighted Lisbon drew
The treble works, the vast designs
Of his labour'd rampart-lines,
Where he greatly stood at bay;
Whence he issued forth anew,
And ever great and greater grew,
Beating from the wasted vines

Back to France her banded swarms

Back to France with countless blows,
Till o'er the hills her eagles flew
Past the Pyrenean pines,

Follow'd up in valley and glen

With blare of bugle, clamour of men,
Roll of cannon and clash of arms,

LONG FELLOW.

And England pouring on her foes,
Such a war had such a close.

Again their ravening eagle rose

In anger, wheel'd on Europe-shadowing wings,
And barking for the thrones of kings;

Till one, that sought but Duty's iron crown,
On that loud sabbath, shook the spoiler down;
A day of onsets of despair!

Dash'd on every rocky square

Their surging charges foam'd themselves away;
Last, the Prussian trumpet blew,

Thro' the long-tormented air,

Heaven flash'd a sudden jubilant ray,

And down we swept, and charged, and overthrew ;
So great a soldier taught us there,

What long-enduring hearts could do

In that world's earthquake, Waterloo!-TENNYSON.

PUBLIC ADDRESS

BY THE PRINCE CONSORT.

I conceive it to be the duty of every educated person closely to watch and study the time in which he lives, and as far as in him lies to add his humble mite of individual exertion to further the accomplishment of what he believes Providence to have ordained. Nobody who has paid any attention to the particular features of our present era, will doubt for a moment that we are living at a period of most wonderful transition, which tends rapidly to the accomplishment of that great end to which, indeed, all history points,-the realisation of the unity of mankind. Not a unity which breaks down the limits, and levels the peculiar characteristics of the different nations of the earth, but rather a unity the result and product of those very national varieties and antagonistic qualities. The distances which separated the different nations and parts of the globe are vanishing before the achievements of modern invention, and we can traverse them with incredible speed; the languages of all nations are known, and their acquirement placed within the reach of everybody; thought is communicated with the rapidity and even the power of lightning. On the other hand, the great principle of division of labour, which may be called the moving power of civilisation, is being extended to all branches of science, industry, and art. Whilst formerly the greatest mental energies strove at universal knowledge, and that knowledge was confined to the few, now they are directed to specialities, and in these again even to the minutest points; but the knowledge acquired becomes the property of the community. Whilst, formerly, discovery was wrapt in secrecy, the publicity of the present day has this effect, that no sooner is a discovery or invention made than it is already improved upon, and surpassed by competing

efforts; the products of all quarters of the globe are placed at our disposal, and we have only to choose which is the best and cheapest for our purpose, and the powers of production are intrusted to the stimulus of competition and capital. So man is approaching a more complete fulfilment of that great and sacred mission which he has to perform in the world. His reason being created after the image of God, he has to use it to discover the laws by which the Almighty governs his creation, and by making these laws his standard of action to conquer nature to his use,-himself a divine instrument. Science discovers these laws of power, motion, and transformation; Industry applies them to the raw matter which the earth yields us in abundance, but which becomes valuable only by knowledge; Art teaches us the immutable laws of beauty and symmetry, and gives to our productions forms in accordance with them.

THE EXHIBITION OF 1851 has given us a true test and a living picture of the point of development, at which the whole of mankind has arrived in this great task, and a new starting-point from which all nations will be able to direct their future exertions. I confidently hope that the first impression which the view of this vast collection will produce upon the spectator will be that of deep thankfulness to the Almighty for the blessings which he has bestowed upon us already here below; and the second, the conviction that they can be realised only in proportion to the help which we are prepared to render each other; therefore only by PEACE, LOVE, and READY ASSISTANCE, not only between individuals, but between the nations of the earth.

ALEXANDER'S FEAST.

"Twas at the royal feast, for Persia won

By Philip's warlike son,

Aloft in awful state,

The god-like hero sat

On his imperial throne.

His valiant peers were placed around,

Their brows with roses and with myrtle bound:
So should desert in arms be crown'd.

Timotheus placed on high

Amid the tuneful choir,

With flying fingers touch'd the lyre;

The trembling notes ascend the sky,

And heavenly joys inspire.

The listening crowd admire the lofty sound;

"A present deity!" they shout around;

"A present deity!" the vaulted roofs rebound

With ravish'd ears

The monarch hears,

Assumes the god,
Affects to nod,

And seems to shake the spheres.

The master saw the madness rise;
His glowing cheeks, his ardent eyes;
And while he heaven and earth defied-
Changed his hand and checked his pride.
He chose a mournful muse,

Soft Pity to infuse:

He sang Darius great and good!
By too severe a fate,

Fallen fallen! fallen! fallen!
Fallen from his high estate,
And weltering in his blood!
Deserted at his utmost need
By those his former bounty fed,

On the bare earth exposed he lies,

With not a friend to close his eyes!

With downcast look the joyless victor sat,
Revolving in his altered soul,

The various turns of fate below;
And now and then, a sigh he stole,
And tears began to flow!

Now strike the golden lyre again!

And louder yet, and yet a louder strain!
Break his bands of sleep asunder,

And rouse him, like a rattling peal of thunder!
Hark! hark!-The horrid sound

Has raised up his head,

As awaked from the dead;

And, amazed, he stares around!

"Revenge! revenge!" Timotheus cries

"See the furies arise!

See the snakes that they rear,

How they hiss in their hair,

And the sparkles that flash from their eyes!

Behold a ghastly band,

Each a torch in his hand!

These are Grecian ghosts that in battle were slain,
And unburied remain

Inglorious on the plain!

Give the vengeance due

To the valiant crew!

Behold! how they toss their torches on high,

How they point to the Persian abodes,

And glittering temples of their hostile gods!"

The princes applaud, with a furious joy;

And the king seized a flambeau, with zeal to destroy;
Thais led the way,

To light him to his prey!

And, like another Helen, fired another Troy.-DRYDEN.