Of lord of thee, and arbiter of war; These are thy toys, and, as the snowy flake, They melt into thy yeast of waves, which mar Alike the Armada's pride, 'or spoils of Trafalgar.

The shores are empires, changed in all save theeAssyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage, what are they? Thy waters wasted them while they were free, And many a tyrant since; their shores obey The stranger, slave, or savage; their decay Has dried up realms to deserts :—not so thou, Unchangeable save to thy wild waves' playTime writes no wrinkle on thine azure browSuch as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now.

Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form
10 Glasses itself in tempest; in all time,

Calm or convuls'd-in breeze, or gale, or storm,
Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime
Dark-heaving;-boundless, endless, and sublime-
The image of Eternity-the throne

Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime
The monsters of the deep are made; each zone
Obeys thee; thou goest forth, dread, "fathomless, alone.

And I have loved thee, Ocean! and my joy
Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be
Borne, like thy bubbles, onward: from a boy
I 12 wantoned with thy breakers-they to me
Were a delight; and if the freshening sea
Made them a terror-'twas a pleasing fear.
For I was as it were a child of thee,
And trusted to thy billows far and near,
And laid my hand upon thy mane-as I do here.
LORD BYRON.

'unknell'd, not having the funeral bell tolled for him. 2 lay, ungrammatical. The proper word is "lie," but this would not rhyme with "bay." armaments, navies, armed with cannon. leviathan, properly a great sea-monster. It here means a shipof-war, built of oak. arbiter, one who decides a dispute. Armada, the Spanish Armada, sent against England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was dispersed by a storm. 7 Spoils of Trafalgar, the ships taken by the English at the battle of Trafalgar were almost destroyed in a storm. • Assyria, etc., ancient empires and states which once flourished on the shores of the Mediterranean. azure, sky-blue. 10 glasses, reflects. "fathomless, unable to be measured by fathoms, bottomless. 12 wantoned, played; sported.

9

THE LANDING OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS IN SCOTLAND.

JAMES V. of Scotland died in 1542, leaving an infant daughter, Mary; who became queen. When she was only six years old, she was sent to France, where she was brought up. She there married a French prince, Francis, who became King of France. On his death, in 1560, she determined to return to her native country. She set sail from France in 1561, and the following lines describe her landing at Leith, August 19th, 1561

Scotland, involved in 'factious broils,
Groaned deep beneath her woes and toils,
And looked o'er meadow, dale, and 2 lea,
For many a day her Queen to see :
Hoping that then her woes would cease,
And all her valleys smile in peace.
The spring was past, the summer gone;
Still vacant stood the Scottish throne:
But scarce had autumn's mellow hand
Waved her rich banner o'er the land,
When rang the shouts, from tower to tree,
That Scotland's Queen was on the sea.
Swift spread the news o'er down and dale,
Swift as the lively autumn gale;

Away, away, it echoed still,

O'er many a moor and Highland hill,

4

Each band attuned the loyal lay,
And for 5 Dunedin "hied away;

Each harp was strung in woodland bower,
In praise of beauty's bonniest flower.
The chiefs forsook their ladies fair;
The priest his beads and book of

prayer;

The lovely Mary once again
Set foot upon her native plain :

Kneeled on the pier with modest grace,
And turned to heaven her beauteous face.
'Twas then the caps in air were blended,
A thousand thousand shouts ascended;
Shivered the breeze around the throng;
Gay barrier cliffs the peal prolong;

And every tongue gave thanks to heaven,
That Mary to their hopes was given.

Her comely form and graceful o mien
Bespoke the Lady and the Queen;
The woes of one so fair and young
Moved every heart and every tongue.
"Driven from her home, a helpless child,
To brave the winds and billows wild;
An exile bred in realms afar,

Amid commotions, broils, and war.
In one short year her hopes all crossed,-
10 A parent, husband, kingdom lost!
And all ere eighteen years had shed
Their honours o'er her royal head.
For such a Queen, the Stuart's heir,
A queen so courteous, young, and fair,
Who would not every foe defy?

Who would not stand? who would not die?
Light on her airy steed she sprung,
Around with golden laurels hung;
No chieftain there rode half so free,
Or half so light and gracefully.
How sweet to see her ringlets pale
Wide waving in the Southland gale,
Which through the broom wood blossoms flew,
To fan her cheeks of rosy hue!

Whene'er it heaved her bosom's screen,
What beauties in her form were seen!
And when her courser's mane it swung,
A thousand silver bells were rung!
A sight so fair on Scottish plain
A Scot shall never see again!

When Mary turned her wondering eyes
On rocks that seem to prop the skies;
On palace, park, and battled pile ;

On lake, on river, sea, and isle ;
O'er woods and meadows bathed in dew,
To distant mountains wild and blue;