THE HOMES OF ENGLAND.

THE stately homes of England,
How beautiful they stand,

Amidst their tall ancestral trees,
O’er all the pleasant land!

The deer across their greensward bound,
Through shade and sunny gleam ;

And the swan glides past them with the sound
Of some rejoicing stream. |

The ‘merry homes of England!
Around their hearths by night,

What gladsome looks of household love
Meet in the ruddy light!

There woman's voice flows forth in song,
Or childhood’s tale is told,

Or lips move tunefully along
Some glorious page of old.

Tne blesséd homes of England!
How softly on their bowers
Is laid the holy quietness
That breathes from Sabbath hours!
Solemn, yet sweet, the church-bell’s chirne
Floats through their woods at morn ;
All other sounds, in that still time,
Of breeze and leaf are born.

The cottage homes of England!
By thousands on her plains,

They are smiling o’er the silvery brooks, |
And round the hamlet fanes.

Through glowing orchards forth they peep,
Each from its nook of leaves;

And fearless there the lowly sleep,
As the bird beneath their eaves.

The free fair homes of England!
Long, long, in hut and hall,
May hearts of native proof be reared
To guard each hallowed wall !
And green for ever be the groves,
And bright the flowery sod,
Where first the child’s glad spirit loves
Its country and its God! —Mrs. HEMANS.
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