with us thy footsteps trode,
His seal was on thy brow.
Dust to its narrow home beneath,
Soul to its place on high;
They that have seen thy look in death,
No more may fear to die."

XII.

ABIDING WORDS.

Though many of the productions of the gifted poetess will soon be
forgotten, there is no doubt that some will live. The subjects are those
which gain an admittance to the hearts of all classes. We have already
given in full that beautiful poem "The Better Land." There is no danger
of "Casabianca" passing into oblivion. Children delight to commit it to
memory, and are all the better for the lesson of devotion to duty they
have learnt.

"Yet beautiful and bright he stood,
As born to rule the storm;
A creature of heroic blood,
A proud, though childlike form.

The flames rolled on--he would not go
Without his father's word;
That father, faint in death below,
His voice no longer heard."

Mrs. Hemans was at her best in treating of such matters as those dealt
with in "The Homes of England" and "The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers."
Any one is to be pitied who can read without admiration these lines from
the former:--

"The merry homes of England!
Around their hearths by night
What gladsome looks of household love
Meet in the ruddy light!
There woman's voice flows forth in song,
Or childhood's tale is told,
Or lips move tunefully along
Some glorious page of old.

The blessed homes of England!
How softly on their bowers
Is laid the holy quietness
That breathes from Sabbath hours!
Solemn, yet sweet, the church bell's chime
Floats through their woods at morn;
All other sounds in that still time
Of breeze and leaf are born."

There is little danger of "The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers" being
forgotten. How well the poetess indicated the, motive which led them
from their native country to the unknown land!--

"What sought they thus afar?
Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?
They sought a faith's pure shrine!

Ay, call it holy ground,
The soil where first they trod!
They have left unstained what there they found--
Freedom to worship God!"

As an example of Mrs. Hemans' treatment of sacred subjects, we may quote
the c