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THE QUEEN S ROSARY 
 
THE QVEEN'S ROSARY AN 
 ACROSTIC SIXTY SONNETS 
 CELEBRATING AN EVENT 
 OF EACH OF SIXTY YEARS 
 OF THE MOST GLORIOVS 
 REIGN IN HISTORY^ A^ ^ 
 BYALICE DAVIS V\N CLEVE 
 
 ) ^) 'd ' J 5 3) 
 
 NEW YORK FL.H. RVSSELL MCME 
 
 
 1^ t« 
 
 W - 
 
Copyright 1902 by Robert Howard Russell 
 
 THE LIBRAfTY Of 
 
 CONGRESS, 
 Two Copiiid R«ociva> 
 
 NOV. ' ^ t95? 
 COPY 8. 
 
 
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TO THE MEMORY 
 
 OF 
 QUEEN VICTORIA 
 
INDEX 
 
 V I The Accession 
 
 I II The Coronation 
 
 C III The Queen's Marriage 
 
 T IV Birth of H.R.H. the Princess Royal 
 
 V Birth of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales 
 R VI Visit to Scotland 
 
 1 VII In Arcady 
 A VIII In Arcady 
 
 D IX In Arcady 
 
 E X In Arcady 
 
 I XI The Queen to her King 
 
 G XII The Reply 
 
 XIII To Prince Albert 
 
 A XIV Opening of the Crystal Palace 
 
 T XV Building of Balmoral 
 
 I XVI Death of the Duke of Wellington 
 
 A XVII War with Russia 
 
 Q XVIII Battle of Balaklava 
 
 Li XIX Visit of Louis Napoleon and Victor Emanuel 
 
 E XX Birth of H.R.H. the Princess Beatrice 
 
 E XXI Massacre of Cawnpore 
 
 N XXII India transferred to the Crown 
 
 O XXIII Twenty vears Married 
 
 F ' XXIV Death of the Queen's Mother 
 
s 
 
 INDEX 
 
 G XXV Death of H.R.H. Prince Albert 
 
 f J^Xl jj^arriage of H.R.H. Prince of Wales i 
 
 E XXVII Suggested by **More Leaves*' ! 
 
 A XXVIII Death of Abraham Lincoln ^ 
 
 T XXIX Suggested by " More Leaves " 
 
 B XXX Opening of the Suez Canal 
 
 y YYv^T y^v^^l^^f of H.R.H. Prince Albert's Statue 
 
 1 XXXII Suggested by " More Leaves " 
 
 I yvvttJ ^.^^^Z'*^^ ^f H.R.H. the Princess Louise 
 
 T ^^X ^^^S^^ of the Empress Eugenie 
 
 w J^Yt Suggested by '* More Leaves " 
 
 JN XXXVI Suggested by " More Leaves *' 
 
 A XXXVII Death of Many Noted Men 
 
 S ^ vvvVv ^^'"'^S^J'l H.R.H. Duke of Edinborough 
 
 u XXXIX Suggested by " More Leaves '* 
 
 I XL Acrostic " Indiae Imperatrix " 
 
 R XLI Cyprus ceded to England 
 
 r Y^^TT S^^^u ""i ^•^•^- ^^^ Princess Alice 
 
 L XLIII Death of the Prince Imperial 
 
 M ^^y Death of Lord Beaconsfield 
 
 ^ vTxX Assassination of the Czar of Russia 
 
 u XLVI Suggested by the closing lines of " More Leave 
 
INDEX 
 
 E XLVII Death of Prince Leopold 
 
 M XLVIII Death of General Gordon 
 
 P XLIX Death of H.R.H. Prince Louis of Battenburg 
 
 R L Tennyson created a Peer 
 
 E LI Golden Jubilee 
 
 S LI I Death of the Emperor Frederick of Germany 
 
 S LIII To the Queen 
 
 LIV Suggested by the Labour Agitations 
 
 F LV Death of H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence 
 
 1 LVI To the Queen 
 
 N LVII Marriage of H.R.H. the Duke of York 
 
 D LVIII Birth of Prince Edward of York 
 
 I LIX To the Queen 
 
 A LX Acrostic, "Albert, Victoria" 
 
'ICTORIA! what quick pro- 
 phetic power 
 
 Inspired your sponsors, that the 
 chosen name 
 
 Compassed the rounded splen- 
 dour of a fame 
 I That proves oracular the 
 christ'ning hour ! 
 Of those green lands, wherein or court or tower 
 Rang ne'er to clank of alien steel since came 
 Invincible your Norman sires, you claim 
 A still unconquered nation as your dower. 
 Regal the heritage, yet more than pride 
 Ephemeral, of pomp and circumstance ; 
 Greater than rank or wealth, the gauds of chance, 
 Is virtue, crowned by length of days that glide 
 Noiseless, serene ; the just inheritance 
 Alone of those who in God's grace abide. 
 
 The Accession. 1837-1838. Acrostic, VICTORIA REGINA 
 
II 
 
 iT is the time when dewy English 
 bowers 
 And lanes, grown languorous 
 'neath the close caress 
 Of lingering June, breathe forth 
 their wreathed excess 
 Of fragrance from a luxury of 
 flowers : 
 
 And yet no rose, gem-crowned by gentle showers, 
 Lifts to the fanning air more loveliness 
 Than England's queen, the fresh May bloom excresce 
 From out the tree, whose grateful shade o'ertowers 
 Her peaceful isles ; whose roots, deep intergrown, 
 Absorb the essences, ethereal, fine. 
 Of patriot blood, spilled for its nourishment, 
 O'er every rood of English soil. Her throne 
 Is in her people's hearts, her right divine. 
 The loyal love that hails her Heaven-sent. 
 
 The Coronation. 1838-1839 
 
Ill 
 
 ROWNED triply, with the dia- 
 dem of state 
 And youth's slight silver fillet, 
 loosely wound 
 
 Beneath the coronal by Hymen 
 bound 
 About the blue- veined brows. No 
 rarer fate 
 
 Can life reserve, for lowly or for great, 
 Than love returned, and when, as here, 't is found 
 Joined with fruition of all hopes, hedged round 
 By constant truth, desire is satiate. 
 Most royal lovers ! Still your crescent heat 
 Waxed each towards each, till orbed into a sphere 
 Of temperate, changeless light, whose beams evolved 
 From deathless elements, can ne*er deplete 
 Till kingdoms, thrones, earth, heaven itself, are mere 
 Spent dust upon the drift of worlds dissolved. 
 
 The Queen's Marriage. 1839-1840 
 
IV 
 
 HE nightingale that, from a forest 
 tree, 
 
 Has trilled the tranced night to 
 calm profound, 
 Teaching her fledgling some 
 quaint trick of sound. 
 Knows not the silence of the 
 flower-strewn lea 
 Is tribute to her song's rare minstrelsy. 
 Through arched and blazoned casements, ivy-crowned. 
 Through half-closed cottage lattice, floats a sound 
 That wakes responsive to its melody 
 The hearts of English mothers. 'T is the sweet 
 Low crooned cradle-song, so long unheard 
 Within the palace walls ; and she, the good. 
 The gentle queen, like Philomel, replete 
 With rapture, dreams not how her realm is stirred. 
 While listening to that psalm of motherhood. 
 
 Birth of H.R.H. The Princess Royal. 1840-1841 
 
V 
 
 F opiate pleasures she has set 
 aside 
 ^The flagon from her lips, and 
 stoops, to slake 
 
 Her thirst, at rills of limpid joys 
 that wake 
 
 Among Arcadian glades, in rip- 
 pling tide ; 
 
 Pure, freshening springs, from which the lowliest bride 
 In Albion's briar-wreathed vales may take 
 Unstinted measure ; and calm pools, that make 
 Cool coverts where content and peace abide. 
 The violet shadows of her mantle rest, 
 In purple splendour, o'er the baby grace 
 Of England's heir. His soft curl's sunbeam hue 
 Is like the broom that waved o'er Geoffrey's crest 
 And, in the blush-rose fairness of his face 
 The warring roses their stilled strife renew. 
 
 Birth of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. 1841-1842 
 
VI 
 
 INGS out no more the slogan's 
 echo shrill, 
 
 No more war's blood-dyed portent, \ 
 meteor bright, 
 
 Flashes in lurid flame from height 
 to height : \ 
 
 But soft the pibroch's throbbing 
 notes from hill i 
 
 And distant glen, with wild, sweet welcome, thrill 
 The soul of hapless Mary's heir, who, light 
 Of heart, to her own clan returns. The rite 
 Of ancient custom greets her home, and still 
 More holy voice of kindred love that glows 
 Warm 'neath the tartaned breasts. Time's cleansing fire 
 Has seared the cankered wounds of ancient feud, 
 And joined, 'neath loyalty's close-welding blows. 
 The war-rent land, from Durness' humblest byre 
 To sombre, romance-haunted Holyrood. 
 
 Visit to Scotland. 1842-1843 
 
VII 
 
 N Eros' labyrinthine courts, 
 where aye 
 Throng ceaselessly the swift 
 succeeding guests, 
 O'er every couple such enchant- 
 ment rests 
 It seems a tranquil solitude 
 where they 
 Alone in blissful isolation stray. 
 Delicious spell ! that wild'ringly attests 
 Love's lore of tricksy cunning, while he vests 
 With such transcendent charm, the mortal clay, 
 It seems his very substance, and the twain. 
 In mingled homage, vassal each to each, 
 To his veiled power vicarious fealty own. 
 Here England's Queen kneels to her king, and fain 
 Would ever dwell within his realm, nor reach 
 For other glories than his heart enthrone. 
 
 In Arcady. 1843- 1844 
 
VIII 
 
 THWART the arching space 
 
 of heaven, belate, 
 The morning Twilight, idling, 
 felt the sting 
 
 Of Phoebus' lance ; and as a 
 bird with wing 
 
 Pierced by some swift-sped dart, 
 may palpitate 
 Long in the forest, so she lay. The implicate 
 Entwining boughs closed o'er her, prisoning 
 Her languid limbs, with many a close-meshed ring 
 Of lacing vines, and tendrils delicate. 
 There in the fastness of some highland wood 
 The royal lovers, straying, found the maid 
 And resting with her, soothed away her pain 
 With gentle touch and sweet solicitude, 
 Until at eve, refreshed and unafraid. 
 She spread her wings and skyward soared again. 
 
 In Arcady. 1844-1845 
 
IX 
 
 EEP dreamless hours in blissful 
 Arcady ! 
 Where, under quivering boughs, 
 the glittering rain 
 Of love's down-pouring rays 
 
 engrails the plain ; 
 While all across the dewy verdure 
 flee 
 
 And flit the phosphor fires of ecstasy. 
 Who 'neath such fadeless radiance has lain, 
 To watch the constant beams, nor wax, nor wane. 
 What need of orbing, lessening moon has she ? 
 Of fickle, faithless stars, that one by one 
 Desert the cloud-stormed citadel of night? 
 Nor cloud, nor storm, nor night can quench the glow 
 Of holy love ; immortal effluence spun 
 From filmy fancies to such flawless light 
 As from Empyreal orbs alone can flow. 
 
 In Arcady. 1845-1846 
 
X 
 
 LUSIVE, as some half- 
 forgotten air, 
 A timid visitant that oft- 
 times sighs 
 
 On memory's threshold, 
 though afar it flies 
 When wide we fling the 
 portal, are the fair 
 Unstable joys of life. Yet to this pair, 
 Blest of the gods, grave Clotho nought denies, 
 But swiftly, evenly, the distaff plies. 
 Spinning the rose-hued threads to texture rare. 
 As Lachesis twists, twining in the strand, 
 The gleaming argent of bright, childish smiles, 
 And Iris-tinted pleasures, power and state. 
 E'en palsy-shaken Atropos, her hand 
 Restrains in ruth: so true love oft beguiles 
 To tenderness, the arbiters of fate. 
 
 In Arcady. 1846-1847 
 
XI 
 
 CANNOT tell you how I love 
 you, dear, 
 
 But when you come the place is 
 sudden filled 
 With undefined light, like sun- 
 shine spilled 
 
 From out a rifted cloud. When 
 you are near 
 No night is dark, no clouded day is drear, 
 But ev'ry hour is to sweet uses willed. 
 My world becomes a cloister, hushed and stilled 
 To vesper quiet, where my thoughts appear 
 Like veiled nuns chanting the *' Magnificat, 
 Anima mea," oh my love! but thee, 
 With worship single as thy merits are, 
 
 From thy pressed palms such strange peace thrills through tth 
 As blest my childish prayers, and from afar 
 I feel the unvoiced '' Benedicite/' 
 
 The Queen to Her King. 1847-1848 
 
XII 
 
 RAND, lonely, sombre, seems 
 some storm-girt height 
 To him who, journeying o'er 
 
 a lowland plain, 
 Views, through the slanting 
 bars of distant rain. 
 Its peaks abrupt, round which 
 Jove's flashing light 
 Plays ceaselessly. Yet, ere another night, 
 When high o'er verdured slopes to nature's fane, 
 By pleasant paths, his eager steps attain, 
 Within the nave of arching trees, he quite 
 Forgets his awe, in reverence. My own ! 
 So I, beneath the veil of royalty, 
 Have found the holy temple of thy soul, 
 Where sinless thoughts, like acolytes intone 
 The cadenced offices in ministry 
 To him, who wears love's consecrated stole." 
 
 The Reply. 1848-1849 
 
XIII 
 
 ARE Prince ! Thine were a calm 
 
 and ordered mind, 
 A tranquil soul, a heart whose 
 
 rhythmic beat 
 Was timed to constancy's set 
 metre, sweet 
 ^Though grave. This equal trin- 
 ity combined 
 To form thy virile character, refined 
 By courtly grace to chivalry's complete 
 And realized ideal. Though the heat 
 Of fervent zeal for all that helps mankind, 
 For England's honour, and for England's queen, 
 Infused thy breast, it harboured not a thought 
 Of selfish, base ambition. Thine the free, 
 Unbiased counsels, passionless, serene, 
 That with Victoria's rare wisdom wrought 
 The present weal, the glory yet to be. 
 
 To Prince Albert. 1849-1850 
 
XIV 
 
 S o*er the war-worn world soft- 
 pinioned Peace 
 Broods, ever lightly poised, 
 with restless wing 
 Half stretched as if for flight, 
 should faintest sting 
 Of Discord's poisoned lance 
 her plumage crease ; 
 England would, undisturbed, prolong her lease 
 Of nesting time, that softly fluttering 
 Unfledged delights, her quickening warmth may bring 
 To such maturity that their increase 
 May fill and bless the earth. So, reverently 
 She rears unto her heavenly visitor 
 An altar glowing with exotics rare. 
 And lights, and gifts from far across the sea, 
 ^A^here all men, joined in homage, worship her 
 W^ho crowns with blessing e'en unanswered prayer. 
 
 Opening of the Crystal Palace. 1850-1851 
 
XV 
 
 HIS is a rare pavilion for the 
 tryst 
 
 Of majesty and simple joy, 
 hung o'er 
 And tapestried with Tyrian 
 from the store 
 Of lavish Nature. Here as 
 soft as list, 
 In dyes of varied violets, the mist 
 Droops like an arras to the purple floor, 
 Where gem-like gleam, the heather fronds strewn o'er, 
 Sarama's tears all turned to amethyst. 
 So glow with royalty's own hues the heights 
 And glens of bonny Scotland, where love's nest 
 Hangs like an eyrie underneath the dome 
 Of shelt'ring skies. Here sweet content invites 
 The queen and her loved lord to calmly rest 
 And prove the satisfying charms of home. 
 
 Building of Balmoral. 1851-1852 
 
XVI 
 
 iN London's vast cathedral, 
 hoar with rime 
 
 Of fateful centuries, a nation's 
 debt 
 
 Is paid in honours, tears and 
 vain regret 
 
 For him, whose fame shall be 
 the peer of Time. 
 As from the huddling sands the white shores climb 
 To rugged promontories, bulwarks set 
 Round Albion's coast, to break the jarring fret 
 Of restless seas, so rose his will sublime, 
 His purpose pure and steadfast. From those rocks 
 Recoiled to shattered spray, in impotence, 
 The mighty wave evolved from the abyss 
 Of fathomless ambition. Such power mocks 
 The angry tides of anarch insolence, 
 That, round the strength of nations, seethe and hiss. 
 
 Death of the Duke of Wellington. 1852-1853 
 
XVII 
 
 GAIN war's clamour startled, 
 to swift flight, 
 The gentle spirit who, so long 
 at rest. 
 Dwelt in the land, a loved 
 and welcome guest. 
 From the envenomed East, 
 the home of blight 
 And treachery, the fierce, ensanguined light. 
 Of ruthless carnage, roused the slumb'ring West, 
 Till, forth she sent her legions, o'er the crest 
 Of wild, encircling waves, to curb his might, 
 And humble him, who scrupled not to kill 
 The weak and helpless, yet to cloak his guilt, 
 Plead holy zeal for truth, and the pure cause 
 Of Christ, the Merciful. Britannia still 
 To honour true, grasped the sword's blood-stained hilt, 
 Avenging Justice, and her outraged laws. 
 
 War with Russia. 1853-1854 
 
XVIII 
 
 'UIVERS my harp, as tense- 
 drawn lute strings do, 
 Half audibly vibrating to the 
 roll 
 
 Of thrilling harmonies wrought 
 in the soul 
 Of some enthusiast, who earth- 
 ward drew 
 
 Celestial choirs, and bade their chords, anew. 
 Pulse from the deep-toned organ, to extol 
 The deeds of heroes, or bewail the dole 
 Of nations. Even yet, resounding through 
 The long receding aisle of arching years, 
 Peals clear the master's mighty requiem. 
 He sang the glory of the deathless dead 
 So wondrously, so tenderly, with tears 
 And grief and triumph blended, that for them 
 My faint lament is music echoed. 
 
 Battle of Balaklava. 1854-1855 
 
XIX 
 
 NTO the queen come monarchs 
 grave, perplexed 
 By questions intricate, for 
 counsels sage. 
 As erst in Greece, while yet 
 her golden age 
 
 Of fame was orbing, thronging 
 to the blest 
 Mysterious shrine at Delphi, eager pressed 
 The multitude ; King, Conqueror or Mage 
 Seeking for light upon some ciphered page, 
 That from the future's tome they fain would wrest 
 And read untimely. Weightier oracles, 
 From Pythian sybil's frenzied lips than fell. 
 Are those the calm-browed priestess of divine 
 Athene frames. No selfish passion dulls 
 Her quick perceptions, so no words excel 
 In pregnant thought her judgments keen and fine. 
 
 Visit of Louis Napoleon and Victor Emanuel. 1855-1856 
 
XX 
 
 VEN while clouds are tem- 
 pest-driven afar 
 Across the darkened sky, 
 while lightnings play- 
 In blinding flashes, and the 
 deaf 'ning fray 
 Of rolling thunder breaks 
 with hideous jar 
 Upon the awe-wrought nerves ; an azure bar 
 Of tranquil sky, near the horizon, may 
 Still hold, a little space, the fading day 
 Upon its shield, till Vesper's pallid star 
 Floats slowly upward. Every wind that blew 
 Across the southern ocean, bore war's mad, 
 Fierce tidings, yet this year was blest withal. 
 When gentle Beatrice was born to woo 
 The queen from anxious thoughts before the sad, 
 Dark night of grief, spread its all-shrouding pall. 
 
 Birth of H.R.H. the Princess Beatrice. 1856-1857 
 
XXI 
 
 NGLAND, e'en yet, bewails 
 her martyred dead, 
 Whose holy, guiltless blood's 
 
 deep crimson dye 
 Stained the white lintels o'er 
 the portals high 
 Of Liberty's unentered temple, 
 shed 
 
 Upon its very threshold. Thence it plead 
 With mute insistence, to the Empyry, 
 Piercing the ear of Justice with a cry. 
 Voiceless but potent, till swift Victory sped 
 To crown the English standards. Sacrifice 
 Of pure atonement, such as consecrate 
 All noble issues, was that holocaust 
 Of agonized innocence, the price 
 Of blood paid for the ransom of a state ; 
 Pure as the Christ's, without which. Heaven were lost. 
 
 Massacre of Cawnpore. 1857-1858 
 
XXII 
 
 EVER since Clive, in Arcot*s 
 crucial fire, 
 Purged from his god-like soul 
 all alloy base 
 
 Of human lust for power, of 
 greed for place, 
 Until it whitely glowed with 
 hot desire 
 
 That England's strength should draw from the foul mire 
 Of tyranny, a great but trampled race, 
 Had her sun of wise rule sought to efface 
 From India the shadow of empire. 
 Time-sanctioned through long centuries of crime 
 And slavery to custom. The fierce storm. 
 Brewed of mad fear, by its own force so cleared 
 The air, that high in heaven that disk sublime, 
 Dispelling every cloud or shade with warm 
 Creative heat, unveiled, for aye appeared. 
 
 India transferred to the Crown. 1858-1859 
 
XXIII 
 
 H perfect years ! twin decades 
 of delight, 
 ^That rest upon the depths of 
 memory 
 
 Girt by the past's steep, path- 
 less walls that she 
 May nevermore descend, but, 
 from whose height 
 May mark them flit, in varying shade and light. 
 Upon the wide, calm pool, as oft we see 
 The slow winged herons droop majestically 
 From far unfolding space, in pulseless flight 
 Down to a mountain tarn, sunk midst a space 
 Of circling precipices, stark and blank. 
 No veiling mists of Time obscure from view 
 Those years, whose dawning, full-orbed, passing grace 
 Her soul so loved that from the present's bank, 
 In dreams she sinks and floats with them anew. 
 
 Twenty years married. 1859-1860 
 
XXIV 
 
 IND England's love no votive 
 taper, hung 
 
 Before thy shrine throughout a 
 day's short space ; 
 Nor blue smoke curling towards 
 the holy place, 
 From the low flame in silver 
 censer swung, 
 To mark an hour's worship. Faint among 
 The glowing lights of feasts and holy days, 
 Its spark burned dimly ; but when darkness stays 
 And all is still, the evening office sung, 
 Joy's vot'ries gone, and down the ghostly line 
 Of lancelike windows slowly fades the light ; 
 Thy people's love, a sanctuary lamp. 
 With soft, unchanging radiance shall shine. 
 The while thine altar, through the lonely night. 
 Is veiled by sorrow's vapours, bleak and damp. 
 
 Death of the Queen's mother. 1860-1861 
 
XXV 
 
 OD only, in His deep com- 
 passion, healed 
 Her wounds, who, from such 
 
 dizzy heights of bliss, 
 Fell to the deepest slough of 
 grief's abyss. 
 To Him her cruel agony 
 appealed, 
 
 Till, in His wondrous love, He stood revealed. 
 As only unto those who humbly kiss 
 His chastening rod. He spread, to cicatrice 
 Her fevered wounds, a cooling balm, the yield 
 Of prayer and deep desire to leave undone 
 No task or plan, dear to the selfless heart 
 Of her lost consort. Thus she nerved her will 
 Obedient to her people's need. Rare one ! 
 In all thy line's long chronicle, thou art 
 In love, in grief, in courage, matchless still. 
 
 Death of H.R.H. Prince Albert. 1861-1862 
 
XXVI 
 
 ANG soft the wedding bells, 
 as when the air, 
 Upon some Sabbath eve, is 
 thick with rain 
 And far away and faint, the 
 deadened strain 
 Of vesper chime falls plain- 
 tively. As fair 
 As faith's bright rainbow arching grief's despair 
 With hope ; or as the light that, o'er the plain 
 Of midnight skies, streams from the icy main 
 Round Denmark's farthest isles; to England's heir 
 Came Alexandra, radiant and young 
 As fadeless Freya, whose fresh loveliness 
 Made the short summer of the northern years. 
 Though, with the pain of bliss recalled new wrung, 
 The Queen's heart bled, she raised her head to bless 
 Her children's joy and smiled amid her tears. 
 
 Marriage of H.R.H. Prince of 'Wales. 1862-1863 
 
XXVII 
 
 YES (whose deep wells of 
 patient calm are fed 
 By streams, that slowly filter 
 purified 
 Through cleansing sands of 
 
 resignation; tide, 
 Whose changeless source finds 
 a far fountain head 
 On sorrow's snow-crowned heights, shadowless spread 
 Beneath Heaven's thawing beams, that far and wide 
 Across their isolation changeless glide). 
 Unto your swollen lids cling tear-drops, freed 
 By sympathy's mild warmth, the while you con 
 Grief's tender idyl of pure love and loss; 
 The simple annals of those lonely years 
 Wherein the Queen, by thorn-strewn stages, won 
 Treading the blist'ring roadway of the cross, 
 To calm endurance of life's pain and fears. 
 
 Suggested by *'More Leaves." 1863-1864 
 
XXVIII 
 
 CROSS the Western wave, 
 all Europe hears, 
 In silent horror, borne the 
 mighty wail 
 
 Of a great nation's travail. 
 When the veil 
 Of discord's womb was rent, 
 and 'mid the tears 
 And sobs of agony, mingled with cheers 
 Of joy and thankfulness, that blending hail 
 The natal hour of peace; men shudd'ring quail 
 At Treachery's fierce cry, who darkly smears, 
 With Cain's red brand, war's honest, unshamed front. 
 Of this new birth of liberty the sire, 
 Like Christ's faint type, Prometheus, loving well 
 Mankind, long proved the pain of malice' blunt, 
 Unsated beak. The Titan drew Heaven's fire 
 To earth, but Lincoln raised a race from hell. 
 
 Death of Abraham Lincoln. 1864-1865 
 
XXIX 
 
 HE mournful, lagging months 
 so slowly flee, 
 They seem, of years, a very 
 passion week 
 Through which her soul, in 
 desolation meek. 
 Has trod the via crucis, 
 wearily. 
 
 From station unto station. Slowly she 
 Has trailed her sombre vestments down the bleak, 
 Cold isles of circumstance, that spot to seek 
 Where life's sole bliss hung crucified. If he 
 But for one hour, might step across the bourne 
 Of silence, touch her hand, some low words say 
 Breathing of hope and consolation, all 
 The world would seem a joyful Easter morn 
 While with his voice " Regina lactare ! *' 
 The Paschal Angelus in peace would fall. 
 
 Suggested by '' More Leaves." 1865-1866 
 
XXX 
 
 [IN DING, with shortened links, 
 
 the cable strong 
 [Of England's power, round all of 
 English blood. 
 Far scattered o'er the deeps 
 whose shoreward flood 
 Bears from the utmost earth her 
 children's song 
 Of loyalty. From reefs where days are long, 
 'Neath tropic suns, or where the bright stars stud 
 A night of changeful moons, her vessels scud 
 Back to her open ports, to join the throng 
 That press against her wharves. Man's genius bade 
 The Asian floods roll through the eastern gates. 
 Unlocked the portals of God's barricade 
 'Twixt sea and sea, and thereby wrought the glad 
 And mighty union of far severed states, 
 On Britain's strength irrevocably stayed. 
 
 Opening of the Suez Canal. 1866-1867 
 
XXXI 
 
 EPRINT of outward excel- 
 lence, alone, 
 [Yet mystically, sacramental 
 ties 
 
 Between the past and coming 
 years, arise 
 ^The statues of earth's heroes. 
 The cold stone. 
 Or mute, insensate bronze is overgrown 
 With such a vine of tangled memories. 
 Of noble thoughts, pure impulses, and wise 
 Achievement, that man's spirit falleth, prone, 
 In rev'rence of the virtue typified. 
 Your claim to honour from an age to be 
 Will strengthen with still lengthening lapse of time, 
 Great Prince ! who fostered Peace, till multiplied 
 Art, wisdom, science, her great progeny, 
 Shall rise in might and break the power of crime. 
 
 Unveiling of H. R. H. Prince Albert's Statue. 1867-1868 
 
XXXII 
 
 |N cool, refreshing glades 
 
 beneath the trees, 
 'O'er crag and eyrie, high- 
 land and wild glen 
 Reliving her lost years 
 with him, again 
 She wanders, wrapt in 
 tender reveries ; 
 Hearing his voice borne on the waking breeze, 
 Or fancying his step falls lightly when 
 Some slight twig crackles suddenly, and then 
 Is lonelier as the pain-wrought phantasies 
 Resolve into the silence whence they came. 
 Mnemosyne ! thy holiest, fairest shrines 
 Are those where nature and simplicity 
 Feed, with pure oils, the aromatic flame 
 Of constancy, that on thine altar shines. 
 Through days and nights, clear and unceasingly. 
 
 Suggested by " More Leaves." 1868-1869 
 
XXXIII 
 
 HOUGH love were dumb, 
 still had it eloquence 
 Rarer than that of words. Not 
 from the tongue 
 Out flows best, all its story, 
 though *t were hung 
 Tuneful as chiming temple 
 bells ; not thence 
 Its tender tones ring truest, with intense 
 Deep earnestness, for lightest thoughts are strung 
 Upon the thread of phrased speech. O, young 
 And happy lover, though, from the defense 
 Of modest lips, her vows steal timidly, 
 Unto the language of her soul thine ear 
 Is swift, and nought its keen sensation dulls : 
 A trembling sigh betrays her ecstasy, 
 A blush, a touch speaks rapture clarion clear, 
 For voiceless signs are aye truth*s oracles. 
 
 Betrothal of H. R. H. the Princess Louise. 1869-1870 
 
XXXIV 
 
 H Ci^SAR ! France ! had she 
 but rendered you! — 
 Only the penny bearing your 
 impress 
 
 In honest tribute to your king- 
 liness, 
 
 She still had kept your favour ; 
 but she threw 
 Her life's whole treasure freely as 'twere due, 
 Within your coffers. Her sad lips confess 
 Through sobs, her fault. To God belonged th' excess 
 She gave. Not hers the gold, but for a true 
 And faithful use 'twas lent. Now, lovingly. 
 Within the shelter of His holy place 
 He leads the gentle penitent, in sweet 
 And loving pity, while, ungratefully. 
 You stand apart with cold, averted face 
 And trample all her glory 'neath your feet. 
 
 Flight of the Empress Eugenie. 1870-1871 
 
XXXV 
 
 |N the mere name of Holy- 
 rood there lies 
 ^A magical enchantment, to 
 
 arouse 
 'The ardent chivalry of youth. 
 
 Sweet brows, 
 That found the crown too 
 heavy, lovely eyes. 
 That still through centuries, from romance* skies, 
 Shine like twin stars, your sadness so endows 
 Beauty with mystery, that as we drowse 
 O'er history's dim page from Paradise, 
 Your old sweet spell of fascination falls. 
 What Mary touched, the faded tapestry. 
 That once beneath her nimble needle glowed 
 Her trinkets, all are sacred, and these walls 
 Blackened and scarred by age, seem but to be 
 The roughened shell, wherein a pearl abode. 
 
 Suggested by " More Leaves." 1871-1872 
 
XXXVI 
 
 O more the earnest voice of 
 him who trod 
 The footsteps of his Master 
 e'er will send 
 
 Kind words of comfort to a 
 grieving friend. 
 His eyes are looking on the 
 face of God, 
 He hears the welcome, sees th' approving nod 
 That stamps his work '' Well done ! " who to the en* 
 Bore patiently the cross, strove to extend 
 The confines of Christ's earthly kingdom. Shod 
 With simple faith he walked above the waves 
 Of unbelief and sin, with steadfast gaze 
 Fixed on the Saviour's face, yet stooping oft 
 With the strong grasp of holy love that saves. 
 Some weak and drowning sufferer to raise, 
 Till death's strong pinions bore his soul aloft. 
 
 Suggested by " More Leaves." 1872-1873 
 
XXXVII 
 
 LL accident and disap- 
 pointment be 
 But artisans or architects 
 sublime, 
 Who slowly, on the cen- 
 otaph of Time, 
 Range sad event and 
 seeming casualty, 
 In just relation to the symmetry 
 Limned in the intricate but grand design. 
 Lay stone on stone, till they with all combine 
 Into the perfect whole our eyes shall see 
 When, from eternity's far vantage height. 
 Its marvellous proportions now concealed 
 By their immensity, we clearly view. 
 Then shall this block, so dull with loss, be bright 
 W^ith tracery of brilliant names, revealed 
 Upon the polished shaft, in varied hue. 
 
 Death of Many Noted Men. 1873-1874 
 
XXXVIII 
 
 jEVER before, had Russia's 
 
 eagles met 
 [The gaunt, lithe leopards on a 
 
 bloodless field, 
 ►Till love so quartered them upon 
 the shield 
 
 Of heraldry ; its glories boldly 
 set 
 
 Against the lofty outer parapet 
 Of Hymen's fairy palace. There revealed 
 To curious eyes, an augury they yield, 
 AA/'ith cabalistic symbols interfret, 
 Of that great day of peace so long deferred, 
 When lamb and lion shall lie side by side 
 In pleasant meadows ; when the longed-for birth 
 Of the new reign of God's most holy Word 
 Shall hatred, war, and malice over-ride. 
 And love, eternal love, shall rule the earth. 
 
 Marriage of H.R.H. Duke of Edinborough. 1874-1875 
 
XXXIX 
 
 ESERVINGLY, the Queen 
 her people's praise 
 And truest love has won, who, 
 tenderly, 
 
 How e'er so mean or lowly 
 their degree. 
 
 Stoops to their needs, when in 
 the darkened ways 
 Of life they, wandering, meet her gentle gaze 
 Bent on their grief with loving sympathy, 
 Knowing her heart aches for their agony. 
 And as she soothes, with kindly word and phrase, 
 Some aching heart whose only treasure lies 
 Hidden, the grass-meshed, humble mound, below ; 
 Whose joy is buried with the well loved dead ; 
 Beneath her lids they see the tear drops rise. 
 And feel her pain, the while she murmurs low, 
 " It is but for a time, be comforted/* 
 
 Suggested by *' More Leaves." 1875-1876 
 
XL 
 
 SSUE of power ! immortal 
 
 Wisdom ! sprung, 
 N ew clad with strength, from 
 
 turmoil riven thought, 
 D iffuse the lustre from thy 
 
 flame enwrought 
 iEgis, of tempered liberty, 
 among 
 
 I nert and wearied nations, tortured, stung, 
 M ade weak by tyranny, till the long sought 
 P alladium brought release. That vict'ry fraught 
 E ffigy, Britain bears, where e'er are hung 
 R ound vassal thrones, the ensigns of her might, 
 A nd, from the convex mirror of its shield, 
 T hrough error's blackest shades, without decrease, 
 R eflected shines the vitalizing light, 
 I ntense, as when o'er Calvary first revealed, 
 X t's mercy-tempered justice, and His peace. 
 
 Acrostic " Indae Imperatrix." 1876-1877 
 
XLI 
 
 OUND Cyprus* shores, Brit- 
 annia's fleets are moored, 
 [While curling waves caress 
 
 their guardian prows, 
 As once they laved the fragile, 
 
 pearly bows 
 ,Of Aphrodite's cradling shell. 
 Inured 
 
 To tyranny and shame, so long endured 
 'Neath Asian rule, to register their vows 
 And gratitude to Heaven, her men arouse. 
 From anxious fears by England reassured. 
 When with uneager counsels, threatened war 
 In the strong leash of honourable peace 
 Was bound, fair Cyprus was resigned to her, 
 Who held it feoff when Cceur de Lion bore 
 The English standards o'er the southern seas, 
 With hope to save the Holy Sepulchre. 
 
 Cyprus ceded to England. 1877-1878 
 
XLII. 
 
 fVER death's watchful angels, 
 shrouded, cower 
 Beyond the heavy curtain, 
 loosely swung 
 [Across the future's open door- 
 way, 'mong 
 
 Its waving folds secreted, till 
 the hour 
 
 When, suddenly, one stands revealed in power. 
 And with the wondrous magic of its tongue 
 Woos to immortal life some soul, still young. 
 As sunlight draws the moisture from a flower. 
 Sweet English Alice ! who to Paradise, 
 With homesick tears still heavy on your lids, 
 Lfike dew upon a broken lily, passed, 
 It may be that your spiritual eyes 
 Now gaze upon your father's face, who bids 
 You rest within his loving arms at last. 
 
 Death of H.R.H. Princess Alice. 1878-1879 
 
XLIII 
 
 IKE one who dries her own sad 
 tears, to aid 
 
 With kind unselfishness, a 
 sufferer 
 
 Less used to grief ; most gentle 
 comforter ! 
 
 Though in woe's sombre garments 
 still arrayed, 
 
 Thyself, through some sequestered Scottish glade. 
 In fancy we may see thee walk with her 
 Whose wondrous, radiant youth and beauty were 
 The glory of all France. Now in the shade 
 Of sorrow's gloomy courts, unlightened save 
 By the deep sympathy that from your eyes 
 Beams constantly, with broken heart she weeps. 
 Widowed, dethroned and lonely, o'er the grave. 
 Green 'neath the tearlike dews of English skies, 
 Where her sole hope in dreamless quiet sleeps. 
 
 Death of the Prince Imperial. 1879-1880 
 
XLIV 
 
 FTER life's fitful fever he 
 sleeps well!" 
 Who loved his country, la- 
 boured for his Queen, 
 Bore honour and defeat 
 with equal mien 
 Of dignity and courage. 
 While the spell 
 Of his rare eloquence o'er England fell, 
 While yet his smoothly polished blade of keen 
 Invective pierced the superficial sheen 
 Of fallacy's weak, gilded mail ; the knell 
 Of days accomplished, summoned him afar 
 From court and earthly parliament, to those 
 High councils of the just made blest. His grave 
 Is sweet with primrose blooms, beneath the star 
 Of his still waxing fame, that brightly glows 
 Above a land he would have died to save. 
 
 Death of Lord Beaconsfield. 1880-1881 
 
XLV 
 
 EVER on England's sod, plain, 
 vale or hill. 
 The venomous, soft hissing ser- 
 pent brood 
 Of anarchy has trailed its slime. 
 
 No wood. 
 Or fen so dismal, that its damps 
 distill 
 
 The poison dews, whereof such monsters fill 
 Themselves and thrive. When on her shores intrude 
 Their snaky forms, by subtle arts subdued, 
 About the charmed Caducean wand of will 
 She twines them lithely, and displays them there, 
 In token of Hermean power. She stands 
 Guardian of commerce, sets the boundary 
 Twixt state and kingdom, and, beyond compare, 
 Most prosperous of nations, to all lands 
 Proves by her strength, " The bond alone are free ! '* 
 
 Assassination of the Czar of Russia. 1881-1882 
 
I 
 
 XLVI 
 
 EAR hands ! so powerful, and 
 yet so white 
 And womanly, that never to a 
 line 
 
 Unjust or base, have set the 
 lawful sign 
 
 Of royal sanction; that within 
 their slight, 
 Soft palms have held all treasures that invite 
 Youth's ardour to ambition, or the whine 
 Of envy, aye all passions that combine 
 To spur man to success, found space to write. 
 Though cumbered by an empire's cares, a word, 
 In echo of your Master's praise of true 
 And honest stewardship. Each phrase serene. 
 Rebukes the pride that holds all gifts conferred 
 By humble love, as service paid and due. 
 Shamed by the gratitude of England's Queen. 
 
 Suggested by the closing lines of *' More Leaves." 1882-1883 
 
XL VI I 
 
 'EN while beneath our fin- 
 gers swell the chords 
 Of life's grand anthem ; while 
 about us stand 
 |The trained and sympathetic 
 
 little band 
 Of choristers, whose blended 
 strains, outpoured 
 In harmony, so wondrously accord ; 
 It may be, one rare singer from his hand. 
 Oppressed by the close organ-loft's unfanned 
 And stifling heat, drops his sweet score and toward 
 The outer air is fainting borne, then strange 
 Seems all the melody, and incomplete. 
 Our anxious thoughts would lead us where he lies, 
 But we must play our part from change to change. 
 Till, the song service done, that voice shall greet 
 Us, with familiar tones, to Paradise. 
 
 Death of Prince Leopold. 1883-1884 
 
XLVIII 
 
 ARTYR to duty ! worthily the 
 crown 
 
 Of martyrdom was his, who 
 to that goal 
 
 Bore on the blameless scutcheon 
 of his soul 
 iThe cross of his dear Saviour 
 whose renown, 
 "Whose glory, weighed his mind's nice balance down 
 Till vanity, by God's breath from the bowl 
 Of the light scale was blown. Nothing of dole 
 Is there in death like this, though grave brows frown 
 At the rank treachery that wrought the doom. 
 Such lives and their fruition are the sign 
 That holiness' immortal ichor flows 
 Yet purely from the roots of truth, to bloom 
 In beauty on the widely branching vine 
 Whose first strong shoots in Bethlehem uprose. 
 
 Death of General Gordon. 1884-1885 
 
XLIX 
 
 EACE lingered for thy coming, 
 fondly bent 
 Above thy cradle, blessed thy 
 
 forehead white. 
 Then towards the sphered moon 
 winged her swift flight. 
 Her handmaid, ever more thy 
 life was vowed 
 To her sweet services. When sorrow's cloud 
 Swept suddenly across the perfect night, 
 Eclipsing all its stars, the only light 
 To cheer the way was thy child smile. Endowed 
 With the rare gift of silent sympathy, 
 The melancholy queen found the cool touch 
 Of healing in the pressure of thy kiss. 
 Thine own young heart has known her agony. 
 Since at thy side he stood who loved thee much, 
 Yet left thee lonely, gentle Beatrice. 
 
 Death of H.R.H. Prince Louis of Battenburg. 1885-1886 
 
IGHTLY the Queen has hon- 
 oured him, whose verse 
 So honoured her, that none who 
 sing are heard 
 More clearly than a piping 
 meadow-bird, 
 While the glad carol of the 
 lark, immerse 
 In heaven, still floats to earth. 'Twas he who erse 
 The coy, sweet muse of poetry so stirred. 
 That, charmed, she ever hung upon his word 
 Enamoured, whisp'ring phrases quaint and terse. 
 Kissing his eyes till wondrous fancies crept 
 Beneath the ivory lids. She tried the strings 
 Of light and air, and harmony, till all 
 Rang true. The whole wide universe she kept 
 Attune for him, and then, with folded wings. 
 Dreamed with his dreams, or wakened at his call. 
 
 Tennyson created a Peer. 1886-1887 
 
LI 
 
 NGLAND exults in hon- 
 our to a Queen, 
 Beneath whose wise, Satur- 
 nian rule the state, 
 Through half a century, has 
 waxed so great. 
 Whose very name an ear- 
 nest, aye, has been 
 Of victories that girdled all the green- 
 Zoned earth with English homes ; and now, elate 
 With thankful joy, she would propitiate. 
 By royal pageantries, those powers unseen 
 W^ho frame the patents of all destinies ; 
 That if e'er touched by human sympathy. 
 Or, moved, they mark a nation's gratitude. 
 In gage thereof, to her blest ministries 
 They set a distant omega. Long be 
 Thy glorious reign, " Victoria the good ! " 
 
 Golden Jubilee. 1887-1888 
 

 LII 
 
 ORROW'S soft sandals ever 
 at the hem 
 
 Of joy's long, trailing festal 
 garments tread, 
 With the glad songs of praise 
 
 now blends overhead 
 ^This plaintive minor strain : " Dear 
 mother, stem 
 My griefs wild tide. Like you, the diadem 
 Of Empire I have worn, and now fate's dread, 
 Immutable decrees above it spread 
 The widow's veil, enshrouding every gem 
 Beneath its sombre folds. You, whose kind eyes 
 So oft, so sadly weep, oh ! comfort me. 
 Who never, till at this stern hour's behest 
 I waked to vision clear, could realize 
 Your life's long martyrdom, and tenderly 
 Soothe me, as when a child, upon your breast." 
 
 Death of the Emperor Frederick of Germany. i888-i88g 
 
 i 
 
LIII 
 
 ERENEST splendour fills the 
 quiet days 
 
 Of life's calm Autumn, while, with 
 laden hands. 
 
 Beneath the sunset hues of eve, 
 she stands, 
 ^Glory enwreathed about her like 
 the haze 
 
 Of Indian Summer. Every season's phase 
 Of beauty charms us ; when with varied bands 
 Of sprouting green. Spring streaks the meadow lands ; 
 When lovely languid Summer idling strays 
 Along the poppy reddened paths, yet each 
 Is perfect only as the harvest proves 
 Its promise. England, her vast storehouse piles 
 W^ith fruit of this long reign, whose bounties pleach 
 Round sun-bathed trellises, 'neath which still moves 
 The Queen, like Ceres, blessing where she smiles. 
 
 To the Queen. 1889-1890 
 
LIV 
 
 *VER the shifting sea, of man's 
 
 unrest, 
 ^Swiftly, the tireless Present 
 
 lightly skims, 
 Toward the shadowy, undefined 
 
 rims 
 Of life and death. Her low-poised 
 wings and breast, 
 Are flecked with spray, flung upward from the crest 
 Of deed and purpose. It begems or dims 
 Their plumage, as a crystal mirror limns. 
 Through changing atmospheres the hues impressed 
 Upon its tiny globe. When, at the far 
 Horizon's undulating line, she shakes 
 The moisture from her pinions, light winds bear 
 Its lustrate drops, o'er myriad isles that star 
 The deep, to fill some inland pool where slakes 
 Its thirst, a future age, yet nesting there. 
 
 Suggested by the Labour Agitations. 1890-1 891 
 
 i 
 
LV 
 
 OR him whose roseleaf touch 
 first stirred the deep 
 And wondrous springs of mother 
 love, fast flow 
 The tears of her who ne'er, since 
 
 long ago 
 When life's first lullaby soothed 
 to death's sleep 
 A. blessing disallowed, had bowed to weep 
 O'er one of her own children lying low 
 And silently upon the bier. None know, 
 rill o'er their lives the self-same shadows creep, 
 The hopeless anguish of those souls that stand 
 Mourning like Rachel for a first-born, lone, 
 Jjncomforted, apart from all joy's grace, 
 pod ! touch her eyes, that she, among the band 
 jDf happy saints may see him near the throne, 
 jJA/'ith those who, pure in heart, behold Thy face. 
 
 )eath of H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence. 1891-1892 
 
LVI 
 
 N eyes, whose depths are chal- 
 ices brimmed o'er 
 With holy tears, grief's conse- 
 crated wine, 
 
 Offered, in sacrifice, before the 
 shrine 
 
 Of Death, the ministering years 
 aye pour 
 
 New liquors from Fate's presses, from a store 
 Exhaustless as life's mysteries. The sign 
 Of inward grace, by which the Lord divine 
 Has stamped His Sacraments forevermore, 
 He sets on sorrow's sacred offices. 
 No voice has oftener intoned their chants. 
 Than thine, Victoria! whom husband, child. 
 And friend, have left in weary loneliness ; 
 Though oft times from the shadowy path, that slants 
 Twixt earth and Heaven, they turned to thee and smiled. 
 
 To the Queen. 1892-1893 
 
LVII 
 
 »OW that the dusk of eve has 
 
 hushed the lays 
 [That, in the sunlit morning of 
 her reign, 
 
 In tuneful chorus swelled the 
 glad refrain, 
 
 From golden poet-throats out- 
 poured, in praise 
 Of Albion's new crowned queen ; through the dim haze 
 Of Autumn twilight one delicious strain 
 Of that rare harmony still floats. Again 
 Its rhythmic beauty haunts the prayers men raise 
 For those who kneel before the sacred shrine 
 To breathe their marriage vows. While we recall 
 A hope fulfilled, from reverent hearts we pray : 
 "The blessings happy peasants have, be thine 
 Oh crowned Queen! ** and as she proved them all 
 Life's purest joys, may you, sweet English May! 
 
 Marriage of H.R.H. the Duke of York. 1893-1894 
 
LVIII 
 
 AWN of a glorious century, 
 the beams 
 
 Of thine unrisen splendour 
 are new spilled, 
 Through eve's long afterglow 
 with sunshine filled. 
 As, under Arctic skies, one 
 day but dreams 
 Upon the bosom of the next, while streams 
 The light of noon. Thy first faint rays distilled 
 Through mystery's slow lifting vapours, gild 
 An aureole, about the head that gleams. 
 In frolic playfulness, among the flower- 
 Grown glades of childhood ; whose sweet eyes may see 
 Thy future glory's unrevealed increase. 
 Whose valour lead all Britain at the hour 
 Of Armagheddon, or whose ministry 
 May dedicate " The thousand years of peace." 
 
 Birth of Prince Edward of York. 1894-1895 
 
LIX 
 
 DEAL Monarch ! prudent, 
 self-contained, 
 In all life's various attitudes 
 serene 
 And dignified, thy reign's long 
 
 scroll has been 
 The fairest page of history, 
 unstained 
 
 By faintest blot of shame. Thy will restrained, 
 Thy truth, thy justice, ever prone to lean 
 Towards pleading Mercy, make thee such a Queen, 
 That to the present's chorused praise unfeigned. 
 The age to come will voice. Amen ! in clear- 
 Toned thankfulness for broader liberty. 
 In homage to thine heirs, the throne, the state. 
 Beneath thy mild yet virile rule, each year 
 Grown firmer in the people's will, who see 
 And cherish power so tempered, wise, and great. 
 
 To the Queen. 1895-1896 
 
LX 
 
 S, through the beadsman's fin- 
 gers, slips the strand, 
 L oose held, of prayer's grace- 
 giving gems, while he, 
 Bowed in rapt vision o'er 
 
 each mystery. 
 Exhales his fervent soul's 
 wreathed incense, and 
 Reiterates, half consciously, the g-and 
 T riumphant words of praise ; so rev'rently, 
 Voiced o'er this linked sonnet rosary, 
 I s loyalty's grave "Ave." In her hand, 
 C aressing, long she holds this last carved bead, 
 T raced with their monograph, whose spotless fame 
 
 'erreached the stature of all simile; 
 Repeating still, as in th' initial creed, 
 
 1 nviolate faith in her, whose reign and name 
 Are honour's, love's, truth's full epitome. 
 
 Acrostic, Albert, Victoria. 1896-1897 
 
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