"I have left behind me a gentle child, I have angered an aged mother,— And I from my home, in passion wild Have lured an only brother!" "Their curse be on him-yon dreamer dark”Thus thought the crew of the wandering bark. The sun went down on hearts more sad Though still they were still on the sea; Such a bird as in spring-time may, It sat all day on the mast and sails, For it told of land, and of dark green vales, A prophet's promise an angel's word They were all in the note of that singing bird THE BULLY. BY THE REV. G. CRABBE. SIR HECTOR BLANE, the champion of the school, This was his logic, and his arm so strong, Can you not see him on the morn that proved "Try, six times count your fingers; how he stands ! Your fingers, idiot!" "What, of both my hands?" With parts like these his father felt assured, He too was pleased to be so early freed, He now could fight, and he in time might read. Has gained him glory, and our heart's applause. No more the blustering boy a school defies, And in the captain's worth, the student's dulness dies. "Be all allowed," replied the squire; "I give Fight his good ship, and with the foe engage; "But still, my friend, that ancient spirit reigns: His powers support the credit of his brains, Insisting ever that he must be right, And for his reasons still prepared to fight. Let him a judge of England's prowess be, And all her floating terrors on the sea; But this contents not, this is not denied, He claims a right on all things to decide, A kind of patent-wisdom; and he cries, 'Tis so!' and bold the hero that denies. Thus the boy-spirit still the bosom rules, And the world's maxims were at first the schools'!" K THE SPARROW'S NEST. BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. BEHOLD, within the leafy shade, The Sparrow's dwelling, which, hard by, She looked at it as if she feared it ; She gave me eyes, she gave me ears ; And love, and thought, and joy. THE LADYBIRD. BY CORNELIUS WEBBE. LADYBIRD, fair Ladybird, As the warbling of the spheres! Exquisitely formed, though small, May by nature's grace be thine; Which, when we, as erring men, Think thee dumb and sleeping, then May send up a song divine. Birds no bigger than a span, Can outsing the giant man, And make hill and valley ring; Why, small creature, may not thou Loudly, eloquently now To the ears of angels sing? |