CE IN WAR.

Peace be upon their banners!
When our war-ships leave the bay--
When the anchor is weigh'd,
And the gales
Fill the sails,
As they stray--
When the signals are made,
And the anchor is weigh'd,
And the shores of England fade
Fast away!

Peace be upon their banners,
As they cross the stormy main!
May they no aggressors prove,
But unite,
Britain's right
To maintain;
And, unconquer'd, as they move,
May they no aggressors prove;
But to guard the land we love,
Come again!

Long flourish England's commerce!
May her navies ever glide,
With concord in their lead,
Ranging free
Every sea,
Far and wide;
And at their country's need,
With thunders in their lead,
May the ocean eagles speed
To her side!

ALEXANDER MACLAGAN.[12]

Alexander Maclagan was born at Bridgend, Perth, on the 3d of April 1811.
His father, Thomas Maclagan, was bred to farming, but early abandoning
this occupation, he settled in Perth as a manufacturer. Unfortunate in
business, he removed to Edinburgh, with a young family of three
children; the subject of the present memoir being the eldest. Catherine
Stuart, the poet's mother, was descended from the Stuarts of
Breadalbane, a family of considerable rank in that district. At the
period of his father's removal to Edinburgh, Alexander was only in his
fifth year. Not more successful in his pursuits in Edinburgh, where
three additional children were born to him, Thomas Maclagan was unable
to bestow upon his son Alexander the liberal education which his strong
natural capacity demanded; but acquiring the common rudiments of
knowledge at several schools in the Old Town, he was at the early age of
ten years taken thence, and placed in a jeweller's shop, where he
remained two years. Being naturally strong, and now of an age to
undertake more laborious employment, his father, rather against the
son's inclinations, bound him apprentice to a plumber in Edinburgh, with
whom he served six years. About this time he produced many excellent
drawings, which received the approbation of the managers of the
Edinburgh School of Design, but the arduous duties of his occupation
precluded the possibility of his following his natural bent. His
leisure time was chiefly devoted to the cultivation of literature. So
early as his thirteenth ye