And some, far down beneath the sounding wave, Still shall they lie, though tempests o'er them

sweep;

Never may flower be strewn above their grave,
Never may sister weep!

And thou, the billows' queen-even thy proud form

On our glad sight no more perchance may

swell;

Yet God alike is in the calm and storm

Fare-thee-well, bark, farewell!

THE HERALD SHIP.

MRS HEMANS.

HEAVEN speed the canvas, gallantly unfurled
To furnish and accommodate a world,
To give the pole the produce of the sun,
And knit th' unsocial climates into one.-
Soft airs and gentle heavings of the wav
Impel the fleet, whose errand is to save,
To succour wasted regions, and replace
The smile of Opulence in Sorrow's face.-
Let nothing adverse, nothing unforeseen,
Impede the bark, that ploughs the deep serene,

MISSION SHIPS.

161

Charged with a freight transcending in its worth
The gems of India, Nature's rarest birth,
That flies, like Gabriel on his Lord's commands,
A herald of God's love to pagan lands.

CowPER.

MISSION SHIPS.

WHAT on thy boundless path of foam,
Eternal, heaving Sea!

Of all that hail thee as their home,
Hast thou most dear to me?

The merchant ship, whose precious gums,
And ambergris, and gold,

Are heaped, the price of princely sums,
Deep in her teeming hold:

The bark that gaily seeks the breezé

On embassy of state;

Round which the willing winds and seas,
Obsequious, seem to wait:

Or the proud bulwark of the deeps,
Where warring thunders play,
That, bristling for the combat, keeps

Stern watch on thy highway?

L

Not these! not these! for still they bear Those of the worldly brow;

And men disturbed with fruitless care, Press o'er thy billows now.

Not these, not these, O deep! for they
Man's purposes perform;
His lusts and passions to obey,
They court thy frequent storm.

But who are they, that as a cloud,
And doves, are hovering near;
Bearing unto the lost and proud
Their freight of glorious cheer?

None, bird-like, sit upon thy crest
So beautiful as these

None statelier have ever prest
Through thy tall surging seas.

The Mission Ships!-ride on thy waves
No treasures like to them:
Ocean! within thy secret caves,
Is hidden no such gem.

For holy footsteps tread that deck,
Of men that bear away
Riches, that shall survive the wreck

Of the last dooming day.