15.

I knew him by his dark-blue eyes,
And by his features fair;
And as he leaped ashore, he sang
A simple Scottish air-

'There's nae place like our ain dear hame To be met wi' onywhere!'

TO THE CUCKOO.

1.

HAIL, beauteous stranger of the wood!
Attendant on the Spring!

Now Heaven repairs thy rural seat,
And woods thy welcome sing.

2.

Soon as the daisy decks the green,
Thy certain voice we hear :
Hast thou a star to guide thy path,
Or mark the rolling year?

3.

Delightful visitant! with thee

I hail the time of flowers,

When heaven is filled with music sweet

Of birds among the bowers.

4.

The school-boy wandering in the wood

To pull the flowers so gay,

Starts, thy curious voice to hear,
And imitates thy lay.

A GRACE BEFORE MEAT.

5.

Soon as the pea puts on the bloom,
Thou fly'st thy vocal vale.

An annual guest, in other lands,
Another Spring to hail.

6.

Sweet bird! thy bower is ever green,
Thy sky is ever clear;
Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,
No winter in thy year!

7.

O could I fly, I'd fly with thee!
We'd make, with social wing,
Our annual visit o'er the globe,
Companions of the Spring.

A GRACE BEFORE MEAT. 'Eating your meat in gladness and singleness of heart.'

1.

EAT thy meat in thankfulness,
Child of modest mind;
Wishing not for more or less,

Than what thou dost find;

Is thy portion but a crust?
Think what poor there be

That would, grovelling in the dust,
Beg that crust of thee!

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2.

If thy board with plenty smile,
Make no blessing less,
By lamenting all the while
Thine unworthiness.

Be no loud-tongued hypocrite,
In self-worship dressed;

He whose grateful heart beats light,
Praises God the best.

3.

If thy table mean supply
Just what hunger needs,
Never ask with envious eye
How thy neighbour feeds.
With an honest mind fulfil
Thine own humble part,
Eat thy meat in gladness still,
And singleness of heart.

EVENING HYMN.

1.

ALL praise to thee, my God, this night,
For all the blessings of the light;

Keep me, oh keep me, King of kings,
Beneath thy own almighty wings!

2.

Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son,
The ill that I this day have done;
That with the world, myself, and thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.

Oh may my

And may sweet sleep mine eyelids close!
Sleep, that may me more vig'rous make
To serve my God when I awake.

5.

When in the night I sleepless lie,
My soul with heavenly thoughts supply;
Let no ill dreams disturb my rest,
No powers of darkness me molest.

6.

Dull sleep!-of sense me to deprive ;
I am but half my time alive;
Thy faithful lovers, Lord, are grieved,
To lie so long of thee bereaved.

7.

But though sleep o'er my frailty reigns,
Let it not hold me long in chains;
And now and then let loose my heart,
Till it an hallelujah dart.

8.

The faster sleep the senses binds,
The more unfettered are our minds;
Oh may my soul, from matter free,
Thy loveliness unclouded see!

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9.

Oh when shall I, in endless day,
For ever chase dark sleep away:
And hymns with the supernal choir
Incessant sing, and never tire?

10.

Oh may my guardian, while I sleep,
Close to my bed his vigils keep;
His love angelical instil,

Stop all the avenues of ill.

TO MY MOTHER.

1.

O THOU whose care sustained my infant years,
And taught my prattling lip each note of love;
Whose soothing voice breathed comfort to my fears,
And round my brow hope's brightest garland wove ;

2.

To thee my lay is due, the simple song,

Which Nature gave me at life's opening day;
To thee these rude, these untaught strains belong,
Whose heart indulgent will not spurn my lay.

3.

O say, amid this wilderness of life,

What bosom would have throbbed like thine for me? Who would have smiled responsive? who in grief Would e'er have felt, and, feeling, grieve like thee?