HACTENUS.

THE NEW YEAR.

THE old man he is dead, young heir,

And gone to his long account:

Come, stand on his hearth, and sit in his chair,
And into his saddle mount!

The old man's face was a face to be fear'd,
But thine both loving and gay;

C, who would not choose for that stern white beard
A bright young cheek alway!

The old man he had outlived them all:

His friends, he said, were gone ;

But hundreds are wassailing now in the hall,

And true friends every one!

The old man moaned both sore and long

Of pleasures past, he said;

But pleasures to come are the young heir's song,

The living, not the dead!

The old man babbled of old regrets,

Alack! how much he owed;

But the young heir has not a feather of debts

His heart withal to load!

The old man used to shudder, and seem

Remembering secret sin;

But the happy young heir is as if in a dream,
Paradise all within!

Alas! for the old man-where is he now?
And fear for thyself, young heir;
For he was innocent once as thou,
As ruddy, and blithe, and fair.

Reap wisdom from his furrowed face,
Cull counsel from his fear;

O, speed thee, young heir, in gifts and in grace,
And blessings on thee, New Year!

ALL'S FOR THE BEST.

(To the same music as "Never Give Up."

ALL'S for the best! be sanguine and cheerful:
Trouble and sorrow are friends in disguise;
Nothing but Folly goes faithless and fearful,
Courage for ever is happy and wise:
All for the best! if a man would but know it;
Providence wishes us all to be blest;
This is no dream of the pundit or poet,
Heaven is gracious, and-All's for the best!

All for the best! set this on your standard,
Soldier of sadness, or pilgrim of love,

Who to the shores of Despair may have wander❜d
A way-wearied swallow, or heart-stricken dove:
All for the best!-be a man but confiding,
Providence tenderly governs the rest,

And the frail bark of his creature is guiding
Wisely and warily all for the best!

All for the best! then fling away terrors,
Meet all your fears and your foes in the van,
And in the midst of your dangers or errors,
Trust like a child, while you strive like a man:
All's for the best!-unbiass'd, unbounded,

Providence reigns from the East to the West; And, by both wisdom and mercy surrounded, Hope and be happy that-All's for the best!

Wandering in a dream:

All things are so strange.

For, the dead who died this day,

Fair and young, or great and good, Though we mourn them, where are they? -With those before the flood;

Equally pass'd away.

Living hearts have scantly time

To feel some other heart most dear; Scarce can love the love sublime, Unselfishly sincere—

Death nips it in its prime!

Minds have hardly power to learn
How much there is to know aright,
Can dimly through the mist discern
Some little glimpse of light-

The order is, Return!

Willing hands but just begin

Wisely to work for God and man, And some poor wages barely win As one who well began

The Master calls, Come in!

Well-this is well: for well begun
Is all the good man here may do;
He cannot hope to see half done;
A furlong is crept through,

And, lo! the goal is won.

This is the life of sight and sense,

And other brighter lives depend
On all we here can just commence ;
But, long before an end,
God calls his servant hence.

S

Take courage, courage; not in vain
The Ruler hath appointed thus;
Account it neither grief nor pain
His mercy spareth us-
It is the labourer's gain.

Here we begin to love and know;

And when God's willing grace perceives The plant of heav'n hath roots to grow, He plucks the ranker leaves, And doth transplant it so!

OLD HAUNTS.

FOR MUSIC.

I LOVE to linger on my track
Wherever I have dwelt,
In after years to loiter back,
And feel as once I felt:

My foot falls lightly on the sward,
Yet leaves a deathless dint,
With tenderness I still regard
Its unforgotten print.

Old places have a charm for me

The new can ne'er attain, Old faces-how I long to see

Their kindly looks again!

Yet, these are gone: while all around

Is changeable as air,

I'll anchor in the solid ground

And root my memories there!

THE BATTLE OF ROLEIA,

YE children of the veterans

Who fought for faithless Spain,

And for ungrateful Portugal

Pour'd out their blood like rain