breathed his last in the fifty-sixth year of his age: his funeral was celebrated with splendid solemnity by the English, and honoured by the attendance of his rival, Edward; and his corpse was afterwards conveyed to France, and interred with those of his predecessors, in the abbey of St. Denis." — History of France. "In mine own land the sun shines bright, The morning breeze blows fair; I must not look upon that light, I must not feel that air. The chain is heavy on my heart, It was King John lamented thus, - Comfort and sweet relief, So he spake softly to the king, "Now cheer thee, noble friend!" he said; Thine honour is untarnished: Thou art a stainless knight. 66 I grant thee one full year," he said But if thy ransom they refuse, And do not heed thy pain, Our realm must not its captive lose Thou must return again. "So pledge me now thy royal word, That thou, the captive of my sword, The king he pledged his royal faith- Then did these generous foes embrace When the good ship o'er the waters flew, With eager hope his heart beat high Ere one brief month was o'er. They told of wasted revenues, And when their words did not refuse, As closed the winter drear; And when the rose proclaim'd the spring, For the year was gliding fast away, And now the summer-noon is bright, The warm breeze woos the scent "Paris, farewell, thou stately town! Trim, trim the bark, and hoist the sail, I have found that loyal faith may fail These bitter words spake good King John; Thou standest yet on thine own good land, We'll answer with the sword." But the good King John spake firm and bold; On each heart's memory: "Were truth disown'd by all mankind, Again the good ship cleaves the sea Before a favouring air, But it beareth to captivity, And not to freedom fair. Yet when King John set foot on land, Sad he could scarcely be, For the Black Prince took him by the hand, To Savoy Castle he was brought, Did on his pleasure wait. Of treaty and of ransom then The prince and he had speech; Like friends and fellow-countrymen, Great was the love of each; 1 Savoy Castle, in London. No angry thought—no gesture proud, In Savoy Castle died King John And grief through all the land is gone And the prince was wont to say this thing, "He was a warrior, and a king Whose word was never broken." Emblem of eternity, Unbeginning, endless sea! Let me launch my soul on thee. Sail, nor keel, nor helm, nor oar, Need I, ask I, to explore Thine expanse from shore to shore. Eager fancy, unconfined In a voyage of the mind, Sweeps along thee like the wind, Where the billows cease to roll, See, by Greenland cold and wild, Yet the mother loves her child. 1 Next on lonely Labrador 1, Let me hear the snow-falls roar, But a brighter vision breaks These my spirit soon forsakes, Where our fathers once were free, Pennsylvania 2, while thy flood Like the Hesperides 3 of old, Trees of life, with fruits of gold! No-a curse is on the soil; Coasting down the Mexique bay; Stretch their limbs, unclose their eyes, Gliding through Magellan's straits 4, The immense Pacific 5 smiles Labrador, on the eastern coast of N. America, a part of the Hudson's Bay territory. 2 Pennsylvania, one of the divisions of the United States. It obtained its name from its founder, Penn, a Quaker, and sylva, a wood. 3 Hesperides, see note 1., page 76. tagonia and Tierra-del-Fuego. Discovered in 1520, by Ferdinando Magellan, a Portuguese, in the service of Spain. 5 Magellan, after tossing about in the straits, on entering the comparatively quiet open sea, gave it the name of the Pacific Ocean. |