ing back, he reached the place just as the
White Ship was making her last plunge. Great numbers of the terrified
and desperate young men leaped on board of the boat. It overturned,
and the prince went down in the deep waters.

"Thus in a moment were baffled the purposes of King Henry for so many
guilty years; and, of the three hundred souls that made merry in the
moonlit harbor of Balfleur, but one survived to tell the dismal tale.

"For some days no one dared to approach the king with the dreadful
intelligence. At length, a little boy was sent to him to break the
news, who, weeping, knelt at his feet, and told him that the White
Ship was lost, and the prince had perished. The king fell to the floor
as dead. The historians tell us that he never smiled again.

"I do not greatly pity him; for he lied again, and he stole again, and
he made the people suffer again, and I have little doubt that he
smiled again, when some plot of his crafty old age had ended to his
liking.

"Mrs. Hemans, in a short historical poem, tenderly touches on the
sorrow of King Henry for the lost prince; and, as I have not alluded
to that sorrow in a very charitable spirit, I will quote the
stanzas:--

HE NEVER SMILED AGAIN.

"The bark that held a prince went down,
The sweeping waves roll'd on;
And what was England's glorious crown
To him that wept a son?
He lived,--for life may long be borne
Ere sorrow break its chain;
Why comes not death for those who mourn?--
He never smiled again!

There stood proud forms around his throne,
The stately and the brave;
But which could fill the place of one,
That one beneath the wave?
Before him pass'd the young and fair,
In pleasure's reckless train;
But seas dash'd o'er his son's bright hair--
He never smiled again!

He sat where festal bowls went round,
He heard the minstrel sing,
He saw the tourney's victor crown'd,
Amidst the knightly ring:
A murmur of the restless deep
Was blent with every strain,
A voice of winds that would not sleep--
He never smiled again.

Hearts, in that time, closed o'er the trace
Of vows once fondly pour'd,
And strangers took the kinsman's place
At many a joyous board;
Graves, which true love had bathed with tears,
Were left to heaven's bright rain,
Fresh hopes were born for other years--
He never smiled