X.-The Fisher Boy. Engraved by Ellis from a Pic

XI.-Reconciliation. Engraved by Illman and Pilbrow

from a Picture by Stephanoff.

✓ XII.-The Temple of Egina. Engraved by Kelly from

a Picture by Turner.

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284

292

THE AMERICAN EAGLE.

BY CHARLES WEST THOMSON.

BIRD of the heavens! whose matchless eye
Alone can front the blaze of day,
And, wandering through the radiant sky,
Ne'er from the sunlight turns away,
Whose ample wing was made to rise
Majestic o'er the loftiest peak,
On whose chill top the winter skies
Around thy nest, in tempests speak,
What ranger of the winds can dare,
Proud mountain king! with thee compare
Or lift his gaudier plumes on high
Before thy native majesty,

When thou hast ta'en thy seat alone,
Upon thy cloud-encircled throne?

Bird of the cliffs! thy noble form

Might well be thought almost divine;

B

Born for the thunder and the storm,

The mountain and the rock are thine;
And there, where never foot has been,
Thy eyry is sublimely hung,

Where low'ring skies their wrath begin,
And loudest lullabies are sung

By the fierce spirit of the blast,
When, his snow mantle o'er him cast,
He sweeps across the mountain top,
With a dark fury nought can stop,
And wings his wild, unearthly way
Far through the clouded realms of day.

Bird of the sun! to thee-to thee

The earliest tints of dawn are known, And 'tis thy proud delight to see

The monarch mount his gorgeous throne, Throwing the crimson drapery by, That half impedes his glorious way, And mounting up the radiant sky, E'en what he is the king of day!

Before the regent of the skies

Men shrink, and veil their dazzled eyes;

But thou, in royal majesty,

Hast kingly rank as well as he,

And with a steady, dauntless gaze,

Thou meet'st the splendour of his blaze.

Bird of Columbia! well art thou

An emblem of our native land;
With unblench'd front and noble brow,
Among the nations doom'd to stand;
Proud, like her mighty mountain woods;
Like her own rivers, wandering free;
And sending forth from hills and floods
The joyous shout of liberty!
Like thee, majestic bird! like thee,
She stands in unbought majesty,

With spreading wing, untired and strong,
That dares a soaring far and long,

That mounts aloft, nor looks below,
And will not quail though tempests blow.

The admiration of the earth,

In grand simplicity she stands; Like thee, the storms beheld her birth, And she was nursed by rugged hands; But, past the fierce and furious war, Her rising fame new glory brings, For kings and nobles come from far To seek the shelter of her wings. And like thee, rider of the cloud, She mounts the heavens, serene and proud, Great in a pure and noble fame,

Great in her spotless champion's name,

And destined in her day to be

Mighty as Rome-more nobly free.

My native land! my native land!

To whom my thoughts will fondly turn;
For her the warmest hopes expand,

For her the heart with fears will yearn.
Oh! may she keep her eye, like thee,
Proud eagle of the rocky wild,
Fix'd on the sun of liberty,

By rank, by faction unbeguiled;
Remembering still the rugged road
Our venerated fathers trod,

When they through toil and danger prest,
To gain their glorious bequest,

And from each lip the caution fell

To those who follow'd, 'guard it well.'

Long on each mountain's sun-crown'd height,
And o'er each forest's shadowy dell,

May freedom's banner meet the sight,
And freedom's pæan loudly swell-
Till every valley round about,

And every stream that wanders free,
Shall echo back the glorious shout,
'This is the land of liberty!'
Long may her happiness be found
Based on that firm and holy ground,
And, like her population's sweep,

Still spread abroad from deep to deep-
Where day declines, where morning springs,

The eagle stretches out her wings.