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 ne'er again shall be. From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford Bay, 35 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 Spaniards saw, along each southern shire, Cape beyond cape, in endless range, those twinkling points of

fire.

40

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 rang out all night from Bristol town;

45

And ere the day three hundred horse had met on Clifton Down.

35 Eddystone, a reef of rocks in the
English Channel (now famed for its
lighthouse), fourteen miles from
Plymouth breakwater.
Berwick (on Tweed), the northern-
most point of England.
Lynn, a seaport in Norfolk.
Milford Bay, in Pembroke, Wales.
St. Michael's Mount, a granite
rock in Mount's Bay, Cornwall.
Beachy Head, the highest point
on the South Coast of England, in
Sussex.

41 Tamar, a river in Devonshire,
falling into the sea just below Ply-
mouth.

Mendip, a range of hills ia
Somerset.

Longleat, Longleat House and
Park, Wilts.

Cranbourne's Oaks, the forest
of Cranbourne Chase, near Salis-
bury, Wilts.
Stonehenge, Druidical remains
on the Wiltshire Downs.
Beaulieu, in Dorsetshire, near
Lymington.

45 Bristol, a city in the two counties
of Gloucester and Somerset; &
place of great importance in Eliza-
beth's day.

Clifton Down, near Bristol.

The sentinel on Whitehall gate look'd forth into the night,
And saw, o'erhanging Richmond Hill, the streak of blood-red
light:

Then bugle's note and cannon's roar the death-like silence broke,
And with one start, and with one cry, the Royal City woke; 50
At once, on all her stately gates, arose the answering fires ;
At once, the wild 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 hurrying
feet,

55

And the broad streams of pikes and flags dash'd 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 roused in many an ancient hall the gallant squires of Kent:60 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 unfurl'd the flag o'er Darwin's rocky

dales;

65 Till, like volcanoes, flared to heaven the stormy hills of Wales;

Whitehall Gate, the gate of
Whitehall Palace, in London.
Richmond Hill, near London, in
Surrey.

50 The Royal City, London.
The Tower, the ancient fortress
of London.
Thames,

the river on which

London stands.

55 Wards, divisions of the City.
Blackheath, at this day a suburb
of London, on the south bank of
the river, but then a moor.
62 Hampstead, a height on the
north-west of London.

65 Peak, a high hill in Derbyshire.
Darwin, or Derwent, a stream
which rises in the Peak.

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;
Till broad and fierce the star came forth, on Ely's stately fane,
And town and hamlet rose in arms o'er all the boundless plain; 70
Till Belvoir's lordly terraces the sign to Lincoln sent,
And Lincoln sped the message on o'er the wide vale of Trent;
Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt's embattled pile,
And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle.

CHARLES DICKENS.-Born, 1812; Died, 1870.

Charles Dickens, the most popular novelist of this generation, was the son of an under official in the Navy Pay Department. Dickens began life as a parliamentary reporter, which his father had become, but at the age of twenty-four had made himself famous by the appearance of the first parts of "The Pickwick Papers." His industry, kindheartedness, and high motives in his subsequent writings, as well as their exquisite genius, found a fitting recognition by his burial in Westminster Abbey, among the great ones of our race.

THE IVY GREEN.

Or, a dainty plant is the ivy green,

That creepeth o'er ruins old!

Of right choice food are his meals, I ween,
In his cell so lone and cold.

Malvern's height, the highest of a range of hills in Worcester and Herefordshires.

The Wrekin, a hill in Shropshire. Ely's stately fane, Ely (Cambridgeshire) Cathedral.

70 Belvoir, Belvoir Castle, Leicester. Lincoln, county town of Lincolnshire.

Trent, a river which rises in Staf-
fordshire, passes Nottingham, and
after flowing 180 miles, joins the
Ouse, to form the Humber.
Skiddaw, a mountain in Cumber-
land, 3,022 feet high.

Gaunt, &c., Lancaster Castle.
74 Carlisle, a border English town
in Cumberland.

The walls must be crumbled, the stones decayed, To pleasure his dainty whim;

And the mouldering dust that years have made Is a merry meal for him.

Creeping where no life is seen,

A rare old plant is the ivy green.

Fast he stealeth on, though he wears no wings,
And a staunch old heart has he;

How closely he twineth, how tightly he clings
To his friend, the huge oak tree!
And slily he traileth along the ground,
And his leaves he gently waves,
As he joyously twines and hugs around
The rich mould of dead men's graves:
Creeping where grim death has been,
A rare old plant is the ivy green.

Whole ages have fled, and their works decayed,
And nations have scattered been;
But the stout old ivy shall never fade
From its hale and hearty green.
The brave old plant in its lonely days
Shall fatten upon the past;

For the stateliest building man can raise
Is the ivy's food at last :

Creeping on where time has been,
A rare old plant is the ivy green.

BOBERT BROWNING.-Born, 1812; still alive.

Robert Browning was born at Camberwell in 1812, and educated at the London University. He has written numerous dramas and poems of high merit. The following verses allude to an incident in the great war of Dutch Independence, fought against Philip II. of Spain, which ended in the triumph of the "Seven United Provinces," in 1579.

HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS
FROM GHENT TO AIX.2

1

I SPRANG to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;

I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three ;
"Good-speed!" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew;
"Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping through;
Behind, shut the postern,3 the lights sank to rest,
And into the midnight we galloped abreast.

Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace
Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place;
I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight,
Then shortened each stirrup and set the pique right,
Re-buckled the cheek-strap, chained slacker the bit,
Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit.

'Twas moonset at starting; but, while we drew near
Lokeren," the cocks crew and twilight dawned clear;