SHELL ON FUND Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by J. E. TILTON & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of Massachusetts. ALVORD, PRINTER. TO THE QUEEN. REVERED, beloved-O you that hold A nobler office upon earth Than arms, or power of brain, or birth Could give the warrior kings of old, This laurel greener from the brows Of him that uttered nothing base; And should your greatness, and the care Then-while a sweeter music wakes, And thro' wild March the throstle calls, Where all about your palace-walls The sun lit almond-blossom shakes Take, Madam, this poor book of song; For tho' the faults were thick as dust Your kindness. May you rule us long, And leave us rulers of your blood As noble till the latest day! May children of our children say, "She wrought her people lasting good; "Her court was pure; her life serene; God gave her peace; her land reposed; A thousand claims to reverence closed In her as Mother, Wife, and Queen; "And statesmen at her council met Who knew the seasons when to take Occasion by the hand, and make The bounds of freedom wider yet "By shaping some august decree, Which kept her throne unshaken still, Broad based upon her people's will, And compass'd by the inviolate sea." MARCH, 1851. |