Which though well soiled, yet thou dost know And as thou look'st, the wanton3 steer, For sports, for pageantry, and plays, 4 Com'-post, a mixture of various fertilizing substances for manure. From the Latin con, together, and pono, I place. 5 En-am'-elled, coated with a brilliant glossy surface, here used for painted, the green turf of the meadows being painted with daisies, buttercups, and other wild flowers. From the French en, in, or upon, and émail, a composition of melted material resembling glass and coloured by the introduction of colouring matter. 6 Kine, cattle. From the Saxon cy, cows. 7 Neat, an ox, or cow. From the Anglo-Saxon neat, a beast, from ne, not, and witan, wise, meaning devoid of reasoning power. 8 Wan'-ton, frolicsome, playful. From the Welsh gwantan, apt to run off. ΤΟ Thy wakes,' thy quintels, here thou hast ; And trace the hare in the treacherous snow; 9 Wakes, merrymakings or festivals, such as a country fair. From the Anglo-Saxon wacan, to be wakeful. Quin-tels, another word for quintains. The quintain was a pole with a transverse piece of wood with a broad board at one end, and a bag of sand at the other, working on a pivot. In the old English game, each person rode at the broad end of the quintain armed with a long pole, and made it turn by striking the board with the end of the pole. It was then necessary to stoop forward and pass on as quickly as possible to avoid getting a blow on the back from the sandbag, as the transverse beam whirled round on its pivot from the force of the blow. An old country pastime, consisting of a dance performed by young men in their shirts with coloured ribbons bound about them and bells on their legs. This was most frequently done on and about the first of May. 12 Cakes and ale were the customary fare at this season of the year, as hot cross buns are eaten on Good Friday. Whitsunday is the seventh Sunday after Easter, and commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles at the Jewish feast of Pentecost. The word means "Wise-Sunday," from the Anglo-Saxon witan, to know, in allusion to the miraculous gift of tongues. 15 An old English game, possibly like the boys' game of "fox and goose." 14 On the 6th of January, the 12th night after Christmas, the feast of the Epiphany, it was the custom to assemble and draw lots by means of a bean and pea placed in a cake to determine who should be king and queen of the company for the evening. 15 This word is used in the sense of cunning. From the Anglo-Saxon witan, to know. 16 The cock-rood or cock-rod was a kind of trap for snaring birds. Who all the day themselves do please, GOD BLESS THE DEAR OLD LAND. WILLIAM COX BENNETT, The author of "Queen Eleanor's Vengeance," "Our Glory Roll," and other poems, was born at Greenwich in 1820. His writings, as may be seen from the following stanzas, are extremely spirited, and marked by an earnest love of country, and pride in his nationality. He has, for some years, been seeking to produce a work of considerable national import"Ballad History of England and the States that have sprung from her," a collection of lyrics on the most striking events in the history of the British Empire from the earliest ages to the present time. ance, a [One hundred years ago the British Empire, practically speaking, was confined to the northern hemisphere; the patches of territory south of the equator, over which the British flag was then flying, being small, few, and unimportant. Her southern colonies at the antipodes, that were to counterbalance the approaching diminution of imperial soil in North America, were yet unfounded, still veiled in the fast approaching future that was to witness their establishment. Early in the seventeenth century, the Dutch, who had long been busy in the Eastern seas, sighted Australia, and about 1642 Tasman discovered New Zealand, and the island at the southern extremity of the Austra lian continent which now bears his name. The Dutch government, however, failed to claim the land, and utilize the discoveries made by their explorers, and for more than a century Australia and the neighbouring islands were left in the undisturbed possession of the aborigines. In 1769, the celebrated navigator, Captain James Cook, was sent to observe the Transit of Venus, at Otaheite, or Tahiti, in the Pacific Ocean. Sailing westward, he discovered the Society Islands, and visited New Zealand, New Guinea, and the Australian continent, landing on the eastern side, and taking formal possession of it, under the name of New South Wales, in behalf of his Majesty, King George III. This was in 1770. In the following year he returned to England, to give an account of the nature and capabilities of the country he had visited. His description of Botany Bay, an inlet about seven miles south of Port Jackson, on which now stands Sydney, the flourishing metropolis of our Australian colonies, subsequently induced the government to establish a penal settlement there, to which convicts might be sent from the mother country. This idea was carried out in 1788, when Captain A. Phillip, the first governor of New South Wales, sailed thither with 800 convicts, and laid the foundations of the new settlement and of our great southern colonies. Botany Bay was, however, not so well calculated for the site of the new town that was to be built as Port Jackson; and a few months after landing, the governor decided on moving to the shore of this inlet, where he founded Sydney. The new colony had to contend against many difficulties and hardships at first, but the little germ that was to become so great a country by God's will grew and strengthened in its growth, and before long began to see sister colonies springing up hard by and even to send forth offshoots from itself. And this was the order in which colony after colony, owing allegiance to the British crown, sprang into being in the Southern Seas. First, Van Diemen's Land, separated from Australia by Bass Strait, whose name has since been changed to Tasmania in honour of its discoverer, by desire of its inhabitants, was established as a second penal colony in 1805; but ceased to be so after an existence of 50 years. In 1829, the colony called the Swan River Settlement, but which from its geographical position on the continent is now called Western Australia, was founded by Captain Stirling, the lieutenant-governor, who settled at Perth on the banks of the Swan River. This colony is the only one where convicts are now received in Australia, the others, by desire of the inhabitants, having ceased to be so in 1853. In 1834, South Australia was added to the British colonies in the south, under Captain Hindmarsh, the first lieutenant-governor, who founded Melbourne in 1836. In 1840, New Zealand was made a colony, with Auckland as its chief town; and about the same year gold was discovered to exist in Australia, but it was not until 1851 that the discovery was utilized and the "gold fever set in. From this epoch the tide of prosperity may be said to have set in steadily on Australia. In this year, Victoria, formerly called Port Phillip, was separated from New South Wales, Mr. C. I. Latrobe being the first lieutenant-governor; and in 1859 the northern division of the first Australian settle ment, called from its chief town Moreton Bay, was re-named Queensland, and formed into an independent colony, Of the future of the Australian colonies none can speak with certainty; but it seems probable that the time is not far distant when they will form a source from which will come the chief meat supplies that will furnish wholesome food for hungry thousands in the mother country at a reasonable price.] A THOUSAND leagues below the line, 'neath southern stars and skies, 'Mid alien' seas, the land that's ours, our own new England, lies; From north to south six thousand miles heave white with ocean foam Between the dear old land we've left, and this our newfound home; Yet what though oceans stretch between, though here this hour we stand? Our hearts, thank God, are English still; God bless the dear old land! "To England," men, a bumper brim; up, brothers, glass in hand! "England," I give you" England," boys; "God bless the dear old land!" To some we see around us here, it may be, she was stern; It may be, in her far-off fields they scarce their bread could earn; But though we thought our mother hard, we know now she was wise To drive us out to this new land that every need supplies; We left her side with heavy hearts; we hardly thought that then We left her, soon with honest work to make us happy men; A'-li-en, foreign, belonging to another country. From the Latin alienus, belonging to another, another man's. 2 The reader must remember that as New Zealand is very nearly the antipodes of England, the distance between them is the half of a great circle on the earth's surface, or about 12,500 miles, and more by the ordinary sea route. |