lining at best is but vapour;
Silk and lacquer to nothingness fade
After hearts in their sorrow have broken
O'er the wrecks which Adversity made.

They may say that the box of Pandora
Holds reward in the bottom at last
For those who strive on in the searching.
And forget the fierce blows of the Past.
But late comes the voice of approval,
And worthless the cup and the crust,
When, in striving, by Death overtaken,
We lie lone and low in the dust.

They may say that right-living and thinking
Will keep the grim wolf from the door;
But how many Saints are there sinking
Whose crime is to live and be poor!
Let the knave promulgate the deception,
And dress the world's wounds with such salve;
It is false--while rank Villainy prospers,
And Virtue 's permitted to starve.

They may say--but mankind is a fiction
That puzzles the wisest to read;
And life is a vast contradiction--
A fable--a folly indeed.
He happy in heart is who careth
No jot for mankind or its ways,
To defy the world's frown he who dareth,
Unconscious of blame or of praise.

VERSES:

WRITTEN AFTER READING A BIOGRAPHY OF HIS GRACE
THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, TO WHOM THESE LINES
ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.

1877.

Like a Sea with its source in the distance belost,
That upholds on its breast and contains in its heart
Countless treasures and gems of which none know the cost--
All the brightest achievements of Science and Art:

So the proud race of Somerset flows down the Past,
With its Statesmen and Warriors--kinsmen of Kings:
With its learning and culture--its heritage vast--
And its virtues which inborn Nobility brings.

In the Wars of the Roses three Somersets gave
Up their lives for their Monarch in danger's dark hour,
And the rain of their hearts'-blood that watered each grave
Brought a still brighter flush to their Destiny's flow'r.

And when men the fair features of Liberty smeared
With the stain of Licentiousness through the dark Past,
'Twas a Somerset England's proud Standard upreared
O'er the stronghold of Raglan--and bled to the last:

A stronghold whose name once a Warrior bore
Who with courage undaunted chivalrously led
The brave soldiers of England through carnage and gore;
Where a Czar bade defiance--a Somerset bled.

Long the foremost in loyalty, forum, and field;
Where the s