PREFACE.

NUMEROUS as are the selections of Poetry published, the instructors of children have still to inquire almost vainly, for such an one as shall meet the mental wants of their pupils, between the ages of ten and fourteen, while it may be safely placed in their hands. In the present compilation I have endeavoured to keep both objects in view, carefully avoiding all puerile sentimentality, which can only vitiate the mind it imbues; and selecting, not mere rhymes, but what seemed to me true words of the Poet's tongue- words, that, in the common phrase, 'come from, and therefore, reach the heart," refining where they enter by means of the beauty they reflect; or giving strength and elevation through their nervous embodiment of high principle.

To those who have felt the charm and power of

poesy, it is needless to speak in its praise, as an educational agent-they will remember, how

"That which they garnered in their eager youth,
Became a long delight in after years."

and not a delight only, but ever active to vivify and strengthen the scorn of all meanness and oppression; the love of truth and beauty; the aspiration towards all things high and holy; which early and powerfully it aided to awaken.

I shall be happy to think that the contents of my little volume may allure those for whom it is designed into further aquaintance with our Poets; happier still, if that aquaintance prove to them something of what poetry has been to me- a source of exquisite and calm enjoyment-an ever gentle teacher in health, and a welcome substitute for the selfsustained thought, of which, in the wearisome days and nights of sickness, 1 have been incapable.

INTRODUCTION.

Oh! blest art thou whose steps may rove,
Through the green paths of vale and grove,
Or, leaving all their charms below,
Climb the wild mountain's airy brow.

And gaze afar o'er cultured plains,
And cities with their stately fanes,
And forests that beneath thee lie,
And ocean mingling with the sky.

For man can show thee naught so fair,
As nature's varied marvels are;
And, if thy pure and artless breast
Can feel their grandeur, thou art blest!

For thee the stream in beauty flows,
For thee the gale in summer blows;
And in deep glen and wood-walk free,
Voices of joy still breathe for thee.

viii.

INTRODUCTION.

But happier far, if then thy soul
Can soar to Him who made the whole,
If to thine eye the simplest flower
Portray His bounty and His power.
If in whate'er is bright or grand,
Thy mind can trace His viewless hand;
If nature's music bid thee raise
The song of gratitude and praise.

If heaven and earth with beauty fraught,
Lead to His throne thy raptured thought,
If there thou lov'st His love to read,
Then, wanderer, thou art blest indeed.

Mrs. Hemans.