SHELLON FUND Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1965, by J. E. TILTON & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of Mussachusetts. TO TIIE QUEEN. REVERED, beloved - you that hold A nobler office upon earth Thon arms, or power of brain, or birth Could give the warrior kings of old, Victoria, - since your Royal grace To one of less desert allows This laurel greener from the brows Of him that uttered nothing base; And should your greatness, and the care That yokes with empire, yield you time To make demand of modern rhyme If au ht of ancient worth be there; Then - while a sweeter music wakes, And thro' wild March the throstle calls, The sun lit almond-blossom shakes Take, Madam, this poor book of song; For tho' the faults were thick as dust In vacant chambers, I could trust Your kindness. May you rule us long, And leave us rulers of your blood As noble till the latest day ! May children of our children say, She wrought her people lasting good ; "Her court was pure ; her life serene ; God gave her peace; her land reposed ; A thousand claims to reverence closed In her as Mother, Wife, and Queen ; "And statesmen at her council met Who knew the seasons when to the Occasion by the hand, and make The bounds of freedom wider yet “By shaping some august decree, Which kept her throne unshaken still, And compass'd by the inviolate sca." MARCII, 1851. |
