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Praise Him, thou sun, who dwells unseen Amidst transcendent light,

Where thy refulgent orb would seem

A spot, as dark as night.

Thou silver moon, ye host of stars,

The universal song

Through the serene and silent night
To listening worlds prolong.

Sing Him, ye distant worlds and suns,
From whence no travelling ray
Hath yet to us, through ages past,
Had time to make its way.

Assist, ye raging storms, and bear
On rapid wings His praise,

From north to south, from east to west,
Through heaven, and earth, and seas.

Exert your voice, ye furious fires
That rend the watery cloud,
And thunder to this nether world
Your Maker's words aloud.

Ye works of God, that dwell unknown
Beneath the rolling main;

Ye birds, that sing among the groves,
And sweep the azure plain;

Ye stately hills, that rear your heads,
And towering pierce the sky;
Ye clouds, that with an awful pace
Majestic roll on high;

Ye insects small, to which one leaf
Within its narrow sides

A vast extended world displays,

And spacious realms provides ;

Ye race, still less than these, with which
The stagnant water teems,

To which one drop, however small,
A boundless ocean seems;

Whate'er ye are, where'er ye dwell,
Ye creatures great or small,
Adore the wisdom, praise the power,
That made and governs all.

And if ye want or sense or sounds,
To swell the grateful noise,

Prompt mankind with that sense, and they
Shall find for you a voice.

From all the boundless realms of space
Let loud Hosannas sound;

Loud send, ye wondrous works of God,

The grateful concert round.

P. Skelton.

V.

THE SPANISH ARMADA.

TTEND all ye who list to hear our noble England's praise;

I tell of the thrice famous deeds she wrought in

ancient days,

When that great fleet invincible against her bore in vain The richest spoils of Mexico, the stoutest hearts of Spain.

It was about the lovely close of a warm summer day, There came a gallant merchant-ship full sail to Plymouth

Bay;

Her crew hath seen Castile's black fleet beyond Aurigny's

isle,

At earliest twilight, on the waves lie heaving many a mile

At sunrise she escaped their van, by God's especial grace; And the tall Pinta, till the noon, had held her close in

chase.

Forthwith a guard at every gun was placed along the

wall;

The beacon blazed upon the roof of Edgcumbe's lofty

hall;

Many a light fishing-bark put out to pry along the coast; And with loose rein and bloody spur rode inland many a

post.

With his white hair unbonneted the stout old sheriff

comes;

Behind him march the halberdiers, before him sound the

drums;

His yeomen, round the market-cross, make clear an ample

space,

For there behoves him to set up the standard of Her

Grace.

And haughtily the trumpets peal, and gaily dance the bells, As slow upon the labouring wind the royal blazon swells. Look how the Lion of the sea lifts up his ancient crown, And underneath his deadly paw treads the gay lilies down. So stalked he when he turned to flight, on that famed Picard field,

Bohemia's plume, and Genoa's bow, and Cæsar's eagle shield:

So glared he when at Agincourt in wrath he turned to bay, And crushed and torn beneath his paws the princely hunters lay.

Ho! strike the flag-staff deep, Sir Knight; ho! scatter flowers, fair maids :

Ho! gunners, fire a loud salute: ho! gallants, draw your

blades:

Thou sun, shine on her joyously; ye breezes, waft her wide;

Our glorious SEMPER EADEM, the banner of our

pride.

The freshening breeze of eve unfurled that banner's massy

fold,

The parting gleam of sunshine kissed that haughty scroll

of gold;

Night sank upon the dusky beach, and on the purple

sea,

Such night in England ne'er had been, nor e'er again shall be.

From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford Bay,

That time of slumber was as bright and busy as the day; For swift to east and swift to west the ghastly war-flame

spread;

High on St. Michael's Mount it shone: it shone on Beachy Head.

Far on the deep the Spaniard saw, along each southern

shire,

Cape beyond cape, in endless range, those twinkling points of fire.

The fisher left his skiff to rock on Tamar's glittering

waves:

The rugged miners poured to war from Mendip's sunless

caves:

O'er Longleat's towers, o'er Cranbourne's oaks, the fiery herald flew ;

He roused the shepherds of Stonehenge, the rangers of Beaulieu.

Right sharp and quick the bells all night rang out from Bristol town,

And ere the day three hundred horse had met on Clifton down ;

The sentinel on Whitehall gate looked forth into the night,

And saw, o'erhanging Richmond Hill, the streak of bloodred light.

Then bugle's note and cannon's roar the deathlike silence

broke,

And with one start, and with one cry, the royal city woke.

At once on all her stately gates arose the answering fires; At once the loud alarum clashed from all her reeling spires ;

From all the batteries of the Tower pealed loud the voice of fear;

And all the thousand masts of Thames sent back a louder

cheer :

And from the furthest wards was heard the rush of hurry

ing feet,

And the broad streams of flags and pikes rushed down each roaring street:

And broader still became the blaze, and louder still the

din,

As fast from every village round the horse came spurring

in:

And eastward straight, from wild Blackheath, the warlike errand went,

And raised in many an ancient hall the gallant squires of Kent.

Southward, from Surrey's pleasant hills, flew those bright couriers forth;

High on bleak Hampstead's swarthy moor they started for the North;

And on, and on, without a pause, untired they bounded

still,

All night from tower to tower they sprang; they sprang from hill to hill:

Till the proud Peak unfurled the flag o'er Darwin's rocky

dales,

Till like volcanoes flared to Heaven the stormy hills of Wales,

Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern's lonely

height,

Till streamed in crimson on the wind the Wrekin's crest

of light,

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