all his outward life, though it had power over his inner life only to strengthen its radiance. His work and his character have heightened the self-respect of his countrymen and of mankind.

CHAPTER LX.-MISCELLANEOUS.

Victoria's Tears.

[On the death of William IV., June 20, 1837, his niece Victoria Alexandrina, who had then just completed her eighteenth year, became Queen of Great Britain and Ireland. When informed of the demise of her uncle, she wept in view of the great responsibility that was thus thrown upon her. Mrs. Browning has commemorated the circumstance in the following beautiful lines.]

1. "O MAIDEN! heir of Kings!

A King has left his place!
The majesty of death has swept

All other from his face!

And thou upon thy mother's breast

No longer lean adown,

But take the glory for the rest,

And rule the land that loves thee best!"

She heard and wept

She wept, to wear a crown!

2. They decked her courtly halls;

They reined her hundred steeds;
They shouted at her palace gate,
"A noble Queen succeeds!"
Her name has stirred the mountain's sleep,
Her praise has filled the town!

And mourners God had stricken deep
Looked hearkening up, and did not weep.

Alone she wept,

Who wept, to wear a crown!

3. She saw no purple shine,

For tears had dimmed her eyes;

She only knew her childhood's flowers
Were happier pageantries!

And while her heralds played the part,
For million shouts to drown,-

"God save the Queen!" from hill to mart,-
She heard through all her beating heart,
And turned and wept-

She wept, to wear a crown!

4. God save thee, weeping Queen!
Thou shalt be well beloved!
The tyrant's sceptre cannot move,
As those pure tears have moved!
The nature in thine eyes we see,
That tyrants cannot own,-
The love that guardeth liberties!
Strange blessing on the nation lies,
Whose Sovereign wept-
Yea, wept, to wear its crown!

5. God bless thee, weeping Queen,
With blessing more divine!

And fill with happier love than earth's
That tender heart of thine!

That when the thrones of earth shall be
As low as graves brought down,

A pierced hand may give to thee
The crown which angels shout to see!
Thou wilt not weep,

To wear that heavenly crown!

Why are the first eight lines in verse 1 embraced within quotationmarks?-Line 4, "all other" what?--Explain the meaning of lines 5, 6, and 7 in verse 3.

CHAPTER LXI.-THOMAS HOOD.-1798-1845.

I.-Biographical.

This ingenious and gifted man was the son of a bookpublisher in London, and was early placed upon "lofty stool at lofty desk" in his father's counting-room. His health failing under confinement, he was apprenticed to an engraver after a short tour into Scotland. At twenty-three he adopted literature as a profession, and was engaged upon several periodicals, the most notable of which was Punch. He also edited several literary annuals and The Comic Almanac. Many of his poems appeared in the periodicals with which he was connected, and are noted for their puns, a species of play upon words, that was managed by Hood with remarkable adroitness. A characteristic piece of this nature is

II.-Faithless Nelly Gray.

1. Ben Battle was a soldier bold,
And used to war's alarms;
But a cannon-ball took off his legs,
So he laid down his arms.

2. Now, as they bore him off the field,
Said he, "Let others shoot;
For here I leave my second leg,
And the Forty-Second Foot!" a

3. The army surgeons made him limbs:
Said he, "They're only pegs;

But there's as wooden members quite
As represent my legs!"

a "Forty-Second Foot," the name of the regiment of infantry (foot-soldiers) to which Ben belonged.

4. Now Ben he loved a pretty maid,
Her name was Nelly Gray;

So he went to pay her his devoirs,“
When he'd devoured his pay.

5. But when he called on Nelly Gray,
She made him quite a scoff;
And when she saw his wooden legs,
Began to take them off!

6. "O Nelly Gray! O Nelly Gray!
Is this your love so warm?
The love that loves a scarlet coat
Should be more uniform !"

7. Said she, "I loved a soldier once, For he was blithe and brave; But I will never have a man

With both legs in the grave!

8. "Before you had these timber toes, Your love I did allow;

But then, you know, you stand upon
Another footing now!"

9. "O false and fickle Nelly Gray!
I know why you refuse:

Though I've no feet, some other man
Is standing in my shoes!

10. "I wish I had ne'er seen your face;
But, now, a long farewell!
For you will be my death;-alas!
You will not be my NELL!"

a De-voirs (dev-wor'), respects; compliments.

11. So, round his melancholy neck
A rope he did entwine,

And, for the second time in life,
Enlisted in the Line!"

12. One end he tied around a beam,
And then removed his pegs,

And, as his legs were off, of course
He soon was off his legs.

13. And there he hung, till he was dead
nail in town;

As

any

For, though distress had cut him up,
It could not cut him down.

Like all great humorists, Hood had a touch of melancholy, by which the sympathies are moved under the play of the lightest fancies, and the more, perhaps, from their unexpected contrasts. Hood's last poem of importance, the most popular of all, depicting the miseries of London seamstresses, awakened a most benevolent interest in their sufferings. It appeared in Punch, under the title of The Song of the Shirt. We copy from it all but two or three verses.

III.-The Song of the Shirt.

1. With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat, in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread :
Stitch! stitch! stitch!

In poverty, hunger, and dirt;

And still, with a voice of dolorous pitch,
She sang the "Song of the Shirt."

a "The Line," another name for the regular infantry.