The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-11-02 00:00:00

Vottrp.

ODE TO THE FERN ISLANDS,
INSCRIBED TO GRACE HORSLEY DARLING.

BY THU HON. H. T. LIDDEI L, M.P.

Black Isles! where piety in ancient days
Her altar founded on the sea-beat share,
And white-robed monks sang their Creator's praise
Amid the tempest's whirl, and billow's roar!
What though no inure that desolated space
Shill ring with loud Hosannas to the Lord,
And sea-fowl nestle in the sacred place
Where one the sacramental cup was poured;
Yet still upon your rugged beach their stands
Au holy temple undefiled, nut made with bands.
Nor fashioned by the builder's rule and square,
Nor reared as earthly fanes with stone and lime,
ur a fair fraThirf though mortal) that Both bear
The' Aimiahly's impress on her brow sublime!
For as the •virgiu Una undismayed
Met the grim lion in the lonely wood,
And brought the lordly savage to her aid,
Tamed by the dignity of maidenhood,
Who sheathed his claws, and lulled his roarings wild,
Anil crouching at her feet, lay quiet as a child:
So did she, moved by gentle pity, feel,
A more than mortal courage moan her breast,
Nor feared to navigate her fragile keel
Where eddying breakers reared their snowy crest;
And demons rode upon the midnight storm
Bursting in thunder on the fatal rock,
Where clung for refuge many a shrieking form,
Their vessel shivered by the ghastly shock,
Which plunged at once into eternal sleep
Their late companions whehnecl beneath the surging deep.
In that dark hour of danger and despair
When winds and waters strove with sea and sky,
She only heard the drowning wretches' prayer;
She only saw their helpless agony—
And guided by an arm unseen, a Power
That bids the storm be still, and rules the wave,
She succour brought to those who deemed the hour
Of fate inevitable at hand, and gave
New life, new hope, where Death triumphant stood,
And clutched his trembling prey, and drank his victim's blood,
Oh noble effort ! deed of deathless fame!
From which the strength of man had shrunk appalled, -
But that in woman's heart there burnt a flame
By mercy fired, by prudence unenthralled,
The flame of charily, of faith, and love,
That lights to deeds illustrious the way,
Sent by the Holy Spirit from above
To sublimate our grosser part of clay—
And still in godlike bosoms love to dwell, ,
Like ancient Vesta's fire, unquenched, unquenchable.
Honour to thee, fair maid! for never more
Shall pilgrim hear St. Cuthbert's island surge;
And pause upon the metaucholy shore
That rings its victims' everlasting dirge,
But memory's power shall bring before his eyes
The horrors of that agonizing night,
And to creative fancy shall arise
That form heroic, with her pinnace
Who dared, amid a thousand perils, save
Her helpless fellow-men from an untimely grave.
Honour to thee and happiness, fair maid!
May each succeeding year from hence be fraught
With blessings due to services unpaid,
Save by the weed of Conscience, and the thought
That thou a chosen vessel of the Lord,
Redeemed and sanctified by Christ His Son,
May'st reap in other realms a rich reward,
Approved thro' faith, by works already done!
Receive this humble tribute—not disdain
A harp that long hath slept. and ne'er may wake again.
• Vide Spencer's beautiful Allegory in canto 3 of "The
Fairy Queen."

THE AUTUMN LEAF.

Dissevered from its parent stem
The Autumn leaf is falling,
The memories of former days
And brighter hues recalling:
Ab, happy if the wanderer lone
May tuu.e on life as brief,
And baste its errors to atone,
.Warned by the Autumn leaf.

Last Spring it was a verdant gem
The sunbeam seemed to bless;
And now it falls a slighted thing,
Devoid of one caress.
Muse on it, stranger—call to mind
A deeper source of grief;—
Oh think on those among mankind
Gone!—like the Autumn leaf.

Think on full many a happy home
Thou in thy course bast seen,
O'er which dark change on change has come
Since this same leaf was green :
The cheerful voice—love beaming eye,
Allowed no thoughts of grief;—
Yet sorrow was e'eu the more nigh
Than shades upon this leaf.

Then gaze upon its shrivelled form,
Which lies not there in vain,
If it awake one thought which may
Life's heedless course restrain;
Gaze till the tear bedews the cheek
At thinking life so brief,
Thlt thou may'st alter, fate, and fall,
Just like the Autumn leaf.