Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/322

 VICTORIA. 297

Showed proud array of noble and of peer,

Prelate and judge, each in his fitting robes

Of rank and power. And beauty lent its charms ;

For with plumed brows, the island peeresses

Bore themselves nobly. Distant realms were there

In embassy, from the far jewelled East,

To that which stretcheth toward the setting sun,

My own young native land.

Long was the pause

Of expectation. Then the cannon spake, The trumpets flourished bravely, and the throne Of old Plantagenet, that stood so firm, While years and blasts and earthquake-shocks dis solved

The linked dynasty of many climes, Took in its golden arms a fair young form, The Lady of the kingdoms. &quot;With clear eye And queenly grace, gentle and self-possessed, She met the fixed gaze of the earnest throng, Scanning her close. And I remembered well How it was said that tears o erflowed her cheek, When summoned first for cares of state to yield Her girlhood s joys.

In her fair hand she held A scroll, and with a clear and silver tone Wondrous in melody, descanted free Of foreign climes, where Albion s ships had borne Their thunders, and of those who dwelt at peace In prosperous commerce, and of some who frowned In latent anger, murmuring notes of war,

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