55. The verses of this poem correspond in number with the years of Her Most Gracious Majesty's reign, and the metre of Tavil is its rhythm.

Her court was pure; her life serene;
God
gvae her peace; her land reposed;
A thousand claims to reverence closed
In her as Mother, Wife, and Queen.

-TENNYSON.

Victoria, the Good. Victoria the Good; good in all the various phases and stages of her long life; good as a girl in the simplicity of her good mother's home; good and simple and self-possessed when in the tender years of maidenhood, a kingdom's crown together with a kingdom's responsibilities was placed on her head; good and loving when she gave her heart away to the man of her choice, good and a perfect model for society at large as a true, loving wife and a mother of so many children; good and patient throughout the long years of widowhood; good and true in the domestic circle, not less good and true as the Queen and Empress of an Empire on which the sun never sets, a Queen and Empress with a heart big enough to hold millions, a Queen and Empress good and true to the rich and the poor, full of sympathy with every sorrow and calamity in the nearest and most distant parts of her Empire; good and true to all without any distinction of caste and creed.

• Translation of Arabic Verses in token of loyalty and devotion by His Holiness The Moolajeesaheb, High Priest of Borah Mahomedans. A. D. 1890.

The one great unfailing trait of the character of our beloved Queen Victoria was her readiness to hear appeals of distress made in any part of her kingdom or dominions; and it was her intense personal sympathy that made itself felt throughout the whole of the realm -even the most distant of her subjects did feel that as far as possible he or she had some part of her sympathy, and that she enjoyed that love and reverence which it was not the lot of any monarch in the history of the world to have done. *

--HIS EXCELLENCY LORD LAMINGTON.

True heart! Brave heart! Great Britain's noblest
Queen!

Thou reignest still o'er those who loved thee best;
Still thou art here, robed with unearthly sheen,
Still thou art near, though gone unto thy rest!
-ANNE S. JAMES.

HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY KING AND ';
EMPEROR EDWARD VII.

Oh! prince, my highest wish for thee

Thro' all thy earthly span

That thou be great and aye retain

The love of god and man.

Hail, Noble Prince! to India's coral strand,

Where thou may'st sure our hearts and arms command!

See, how beneath our Empress-mother's reign,

This fallen land hath risen once again.

Locking the springs of joy in icy band!

Reported in The Advocate of India of the 6th January 1904.

At length, with pity moved, the Sovereign Lord
To Britain gave the all commanding word:-
"Go thou, old Ocean's Bride, go wear yon gem,
Yon glitt'ring jewel in thy diadem!"

Inspired with noble aim and purpose high,

The Queen of th' azure deep came sweeping by.
At her approach dissolves the gloom away,
The sun of knowledge bursts and cheers the day;
The Arts spring up beneath her witching tread,
And o'er the varied scene their blessings shed;
The Lightning-spirit bears her words afar,
And Giant Steam propels her iron car;
Fair cities rise where hamlets stood before,
And Peace and Order reign from shore to shore !

Thrice-blessed Prince! into whose destined hand
Shall pass the sceptre of this classic land!
E'en Philip's son ne'er owned a realm more fair
Than what Heaven wills should form thy future care.

Albert Edward! England's Son and Heir!

Happy Heir to glorious Râma's throneKingliest of kings-beyond compare

Perfect name that in the Orient shone ! Welcome to the land that nursed thy dream, To her gorgeous shows, her glow and gleam!

Son of Her, our Mother as she 's thine,

Son of Her, whose spotless life and fame, Redolent of graces sweet-benign,

Have fill'd the world with Victoria's name!

Thrice welcome to India's sunny shore,

Where that name we loyally adore!

Welcome him, O Indians! welcome him!

Hindoos,-Moslems,-Parsis,-Buddists,-all!

Now our cup of joy flows o'er the brim !

Welcome him from street and roof and hall!

All that's ours from Himalay to sea,
Welcome him with shouts of jubilee !
Cities robe yourselves in gay attire!
Glow in golden floods of flashing fire!
Float in perfumes sense and heart desire!
Wake the very soul of harp and lyre!
And so welcome him this happy hour,-
Him the love of Denmark's sweetest flower!
Fairy palaces, spontaneous rise!

Streamers, shine with rainbow hues in air!
Voice of welcome, thunder to the skies!

Cannons boom! and trumpets, loudly blare!
Beat, warm heart of Ind, with rapture beat!
Pour thy fervours at the Prince's feet!

Welcome, for thou art our king to be!

Welcome, for this realm's by heirship thine!
Welcome, Guest from o'er the western sea!

Welcome, Heir of Albyn's Royal Line!
Thrice welcome now to India's sunny shore,
Where Victoria's name we all adore!

-RAM SHARMA. *

Welcome, most welcome, Prince of peace,

Of virtuous parents born!

Behold thine Empire's far extent,—

None brighter crown hath worn.

Read, Read the hearts that beat for thee

Their wish is only one,

That thou, like Victoria, pure may be,

And good as Albert gone.

• Of Calcutta. From an Ode of Welcome to H. R. H. the Prince of Wales.

Then shall thy kingdom aye endure-
The king of kings loves but the pure.
From Kashee's sacred fane shall rise
A holy prayer for thee;

On Pooree's sod, in Brindabun
We'll bend the reverent knee:
For God is one, our God and thine,
We'll pray to Him at every shrine,
That thou may'st blessed be.

Hail, future Lord of India, hail!
But heaven delay thy reign.
Long may thy holy mother live;

But when, relieved from earthly pain,
She, like the sun, sinks down to rest,
Plant thou her virtues in thy breast,
Her wisdom in thy brain.

A blessed life, O Prince, be thine!
And rest the blessing in thy line!
Thus shall we pray for thee:
Rejoice a subject nation's heart
By being good as great thou art :-
Our Prince, thus welcome we!

-CHUTEESH CHUNDER DUTT.*

Owing to the illness of his Majesty, the King-Emperor, the coronation and its accompanying rejoicings and festivities had in the first instance to be postponed, and an operation was performed. The one thing that at that time weighed upon his Majesty's mind was the disappointment of the public at the postponement of the coronation, and the first words uttered by him after the operation were "Will my people ever forgive me?"

*Of Calcutta. From a Poem of Welcome to H. R. H. The Prince of Wales.