TALBOT, K.C.B. I tell of old Virginian ways; And who more fit my tale to scan Than you, who knew in far-off days The eager horse of Sheridan; Who saw the sullen meads of fate, The tattered scrub, the blood-drenched sod, Where Lee, the greatest of the great, Bent to the storm of God?

'Tired in their silver, they move, And circling, whisper and say, Fair are the blossoming meads of delight Through which we stray.

Other sweet herbs are cultivated for purposes of medicine and perfumery: they are most grateful both to the organs of taste and smelling; and to the aroma derived from them is due, in a great measure, the sweet and exhilarating fragrance of our "flowery meads."

With dignity and elegance she passed As moves the mountain partridge through the meads; Her tresses richly falling to her feet, And filling with perfume the softened breeze.

So when past Pangbourne's verdant meads, by Clieveden's mossy stems, You see a barge all white-and-gold come gliding down the Thames, With tow-rope spun from coloured silks and snow-white horses three, Which stop beside your river houseyou'll know the bargee's me.

The benignant Christ Who divides the sheep and the goats; the healthy ripe-lipped Saints and Fathers who assist at the tribunal and have never a line of age or experience on their blooming cheeks; the monks and nuns, just risen from their graves, who embrace each other in the meads of paradise with such fervourthese have much of the charm of little flowers.

Now the stern partner of Pizarro's toils, Almagro, lur'd by hope of golden spoils, To distant Chili's ever-verdant meads, Thro' paths untrod, a band of warriors leads; O'er the high Andes' frozen steeps they go, 5 And wander mid' eternal hills of snow:

190 "Soon as some friendly hand, in mercy leads "My aged father, safe to Chili's meads; "Death shall for ever, seal the nuptial tie, "The heart belov'd by thee is fix'd to die.

Now, o'er the barren desert, Zamor leads Aciloe, and her sire, to Chili's meads: There, many a wand'ring wretch, condemn'd to roam By hard oppression, found a shelt'ring home: 320 Zamor to pity, tun'd the vocal shell, Bright'ning the tear of anguish, as it fell.

July "Maed monath," the meads being then in their bloom.

2 No more shall flowers the meads adorn, Nor sweetness deck the rosy thorn, Nor swelling buds proclaim the spring, Nor parching heats the dog-star bring, Nor laughing lilies paint the grove, When blue-eyed Ann I cease to love.

Ye rocky heightsye violet-meads appearing Once fairer to my gaze than poet's dream Now all your golden light to gloom is veering, And every floweret laves in Lethe's stream.

Hills, valleys, meads, no changes ye are mourning; 'Tis to the hopeless every star appears Like lamps in dark sepulchral vistas burning And every dew-tipp'd flower is gemm'd with tears!

His wonted course, the sea has overflow'd, The meads were floated with a weeping spring, And frighten'd birds in woods forgot to sing: The strong-limb'd steed beneath his harness faints, And the same shivering sweat his lord attaints.

And thou, De Burgh, from Erin's isle, Whom Eth O'Connor leads, Love's tear shall soon usurp his smile In Ulster's emerald meads.

Every wild flower that enlivens our English meads grew here luxuriantly, while the two streams crept along on either side like silver threads bordering a jewelled carpet.

At length, where yon translucent tide, Meanders slow the meads among: Reclining on its sedgy side, Thus to her sleeping babe she sung: "Sweet cherub!

Free as the doe upon the meads is she, Her hand and lips, as though I'd never been, Freely let her bestow, and if it be The Swede Karl Gustaf, I commend her choice.

Now shall the alien, seeking to bow down Our shoulders 'neath his yoke, be crushed; and, free, The man of Brandenburg shall take his stand Upon the mother soil, for it is his The splendor of her meads alone for him!

How all hearts bound As to the ground First are brought forth the Fian steeds, Then those from Luimnea's sunny meads.

Glossy trees, Resplendent meads and variegated flowers Flash in the sun and flutter in the breeze And now with dreaming eye the poet sees Fair shapes of pleasure haunt romantic bowers, And laughing streamlets chase the flying hours.

The sun shone; the smoke of the embers floated against it, across the boat, on the gentlest of breezes; the food was coarse, but they were hungry; the water motionless, but Mr. Mortimer's talk seemed to put a current into it, calling them southward and to high adventuressouthward where no smoke was, and the swallows skimmed over the scented water-meads.

Then up with the sun, and away where it leads, High over the mountains and down through the meads!

And when night comes, his spirits with chill feet, Winged with white mirth and noiseless mockery, Across men's pallid windows peer and fleet, And smiling silverly Draw with mute fingers on the frosted glass Quaint fairy shapes of icèd witcheries, Pale flowers and glinting ferns and frigid trees And meads of mystic grass, Graven in many an austere phantasy.

This passion has transformed his nature: he is a better and stronger man than ever before, ready to forgive his enemies and to undergo any physical privations; winter is to him as the cheerful spring, ice and snow as soft lawns and flowery meads.