, my hope betrayed, my
father--oh! the worth,
The glory and the loveliness, are passed
away from earth!

"I thought to stand where banners waved,
my sire! beside thee yet--
I would that _there_ our kindred
blood on Spain's free soil had met!
Thou wouldst have known my spirit then--for
thee my fields were won,--
And thou hast perished in thy chains, as
though thou hadst no son!"

Then, starting from the ground once more,
he seized the monarch's rein,
Amidst the pale and wildered looks of all
the courtier train;
And with a fierce, o'ermastering grasp,
the rearing war-horse led,
And sternly set them face to face--the
king before the dead!--

"Came I not forth upon thy pledge, my
father's hand to kiss?--
Be still, and gaze thou on, false king!
and tell me what is this!
The voice, the glance, the heart I
sought--give answer, where are they?--
If thou wouldst clear thy perjured soul,
send life through this cold clay!

"Into these glassy eyes put light--be
still! keep down thine ire,--
Bid these white lips a blessing speak--this
earth is _not_ my sire!
Give me back him for whom I strove, for
whom my blood was shed,--
Thou canst not--and a king! His dust be
mountains on thy head!"

He loosed the steed; his slack hand
fell--upon the silent face
He cast one long, deep, troubled look--then
turned from that sad place:
His hope was crushed, his after-fate untold
in martial strain,--
His banner led the spears no more amidst
the hills of Spain.

Felicia Hemans

--To thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Shakespeare

MOSES' BARGAINS

"My second boy, Moses, whom I designed for business," says the vicar,
"received a sort of miscellaneous education at home."

As we were now to hold up our heads a little higher in the world, it
would be proper to sell the colt, which was grown old, at a neighbouring
fair, and buy us a horse that would carry single or double upon an
occasion, and make a pretty appearance at church or upon a visit. This
at first I opposed stoutly; but it was as stoutly defended. However, as
I weakened, my antagonists gained strength, till at last it was resolved
to part with h