To have seen their legions in the field,
Their galleys on the wave!

I should have seen Rome's glory dimmed,
When round her leaguered wall
Came down the Vandal and the Goth,
The Scythian and the Gaul;
And the dwarfish Huns by myriads,
From the unknown northern shores;
As if the very earth gave up

The brown men of the moors.

I should have seen old Wodin 2
And his seven sons go forth,
From the green banks of the Caspian Sea
To the dim wilds of the North;

To the dark and piny forests,

Where he made his drear abode,
And taught his wild and fearful faith,
And thus became their god.

And the terrible Vikingr,3

Dwellers on the stormy sea,

The Norsemen 4 and their Runic 5 lore
Had all been known to me.

'Leaguered-besieged.

2 Wodin-one of the deified heroes of Saxon Mythology: we have his name in Wednesday, that is Wodin's-day.

3 Vikingr-men of the creeks or bays; pirates so called, famous in our early history.

Norsemen-northern-men, from the north of Europe.

5 Runic-mysterious, a name given to certain alphabetic characters cut in stones found in Norway, Sweden, and some other countries.

Think only of the dismal tales,
And the mysteries I should know,
If my long life had but begun,
Three thousand years ago!

Mary Howitt.

LAPLAND.

"WITH blue cold nose and wrinkled brow, Traveller, whence comest thou?

"From Lapland's woods and hills of frost,
By the rapid reindeer crost;

Where tapering glows the gloomy fir
And the stunted 1 juniper;

Where the wild hare and the crow
Whiten in surrounding snow;

Where the shivering huntsmen tear
His fur coat from the grim white bear ;
Where the wolf and arctic fox
Prowl along the lonely rocks;
And tardy suns to deserts drear
Give days and nights of half-a-year;
-From icy oceans, where the whale
Tosses in foam his lashing tail;
Where the snorting sea-horse shows
His ivory teeth in grinning rows;
Where, tumbling in their seal-skin boat,
Fearless the hungry fishers float,
And from teeming 2 seas supply
The food their niggard plains deny.

Miss Aikin.

1 Stunted-hindered from growth, dwarf.

2

Teeming-full, abundant.

ANIMALS AND THEIR COUNTRIES.

1

O'ER Afric's sand the tawny lion stalks;'
On Phasis' 1 banks the graceful pheasant walks;
The lonely eagle builds on Kilda's 2 shore:
Germania's forests feed the tusky boar:
From Alp to Alp the sprightly ibex bounds;
With peaceful lowings Britain's isle resounds;
The Lapland peasant o'er the frozen mere
Is drawn in sledges by the swift reindeer;
The river-horse and scaly crocodile

Infest the reedy banks of fruitful Nile;

4

3

The dipsas hisses over Mauritania's plain,5

And seals and spouting whales sport in the northern

main.6

Barbauld.

THE NEGRO BOY."

WHEN avarice enslaves the mind,
And selfish views alone bear sway,
Man turns a savage to his kind,
And blood and rapine mark his way.
Alas! for this poor, simple toy,
I sold a happy negro boy.

1 Phasis-a river in Persia.

2 Kilda-an island of Scotland; the most western of the Hebrides. 3 Mere-a large lake. Dipsas-a venomous serpent, whose bite produces intolerable thirst. 5 Mauritania-the ancient name of northwestern Africa, now Fez and Morocco. 6 Main-main-sea

ocean.

An African prince, who once visited England, was asked what he had given for his watch; he answered, "What I will never give again—a fine boy."

N

His father's hope, his mother's pride,
Though black, yet comely to their view,
I tore him helpless from their side,
And gave him to a ruffian crew;

To fiends that Afric's coast annoy,
I sold the trembling negro boy.

From country, friends, and parents torn,
His tender limbs in chains confined,
I saw him o'er the billows borne,
And marked his agony of mind;
But still to gain the simple toy,
I gave the weeping negro boy,

Beneath a tyrant's harsh command,
He wears away his youthful prime,
Far distant from his native land,
A stranger in a foreign clime.

Sad thoughts his days and nights employ,
A poor, dejected negro boy.

His wretched parents long shall mourn,
Shall long explore the distant main,
Eager to see the youth return,-

But all their hopes and sighs are vain ;
They never shall the sight enjoy
Of their lamented negro boy.

Samwell.

THE BIRD IN A CAGE.

OH! who would keep a little bird confined
When cowslip-bells are nodding in the wind,

When every hedge as with "good-morrow" rings,
And, heard from wood to wood, the blackbird sings?
Oh! who would keep a little bird confined
In his cold wiry prison ?-Let him fly,

And hear him sing, "How sweet is liberty !"

W. L. Bowles.

THE STREAMLET.

I SAW a little streamlet flow

Along a peaceful vale;

A thread of silver, soft and slow,
It wandered down the dale;
Just to do good it seemed to move,
Directed by the hand of Love.

The valley smiled in living green;
A tree, which near it gave
From noon-tide heat a friendly screen,
Drank from its limpid1 wave.
The swallow brushed it with her wing,
And followed its meandering.2

But not alone to plant and bird
That little stream was known;
Its gentle murmur far was heard-
A friend's familiar tone!

It glided by the cotter's 3 door,
It blessed the labour of the poor.

And would that I could thus be found,
While travelling life's brief way,

'Limpid-clear.

2 Meandering-winding course.

3 Cotter cottager.