7.  Leviathan.  This name is applied in the Old Testament to some huge water animal.  In some cases it appears to mean the crocodile, but in others the whale or a large sea serpent.

LII.  MY MOTHER.

1.  Often into folly straying,
     O, my mother! how I’ve grieved her! 
   Oft I’ve heard her for me praying,
     Till the gushing tears relieved her;
   And she gently rose and smiled,
   Whispering, “God will keep my child.”

2.  She was youthful then, and sprightly,
     Fondly on my father leaning,
   Sweet she spoke, her eyes shone brightly,
     And her words were full of meaning;
   Now, an autumn leaf decayed;
   I, perhaps, have made it fade.

3.  But, whatever ills betide thee,
     Mother, in them all I share;
   In thy sickness watch beside thee,
     And beside thee kneel in prayer. 
   Best of mothers! on my breast
   Lean thy head, and sink to rest.

LIII.  THE HOUR OF PRAYER.

Felicia Dorothea Hemans (b. 1794, d. 1835) was born in Liverpool, England.  Her maiden name was Browne.  Her childhood was spent in Wales.  Her first volume of poems was published in 1808; her second in 1812.  In 1812 she was married to Captain Hemans, but he left her about six years after their marriage, and they never again lived together.  She went, with her five sons, to reside with her mother, then living near St. Asaph, in North Wales.  Mrs. Hemans then resumed her literary pursuits, and wrote much and well.  Her poetry is smooth and graceful, and she excels in description.  Many of her poems are exceedingly beautiful.

1.  Child, amid the flowers at play,
   While the red light fades away;
   Mother, with thine earnest eye,
   Ever following silently;
   Father, by the breeze at eve
   Called thy harvest work to leave;
   Pray!  Ere yet the dark hours be,
   Lift the heart, and bend the knee.

2.  Traveler, in the stranger’s land,
   Far from thine own household band;
   Mourner, haunted by the tone
   Of a voice from this world gone;
   Captive, in whose narrow cell
   Sunshine hath not leave to dwell;
   Sailor, on the darkening sea;
   Lift the heart and bend the knee.

3.  Warrior, that from battle won,
   Breathest now at set of sun;
   Woman, o’er the lowly slain
   Weeping on his burial plain;
   Ye that triumph, ye that sigh,
   Kindred by one holy tie,
   Heaven’s first star alike ye see;
   Lift the heart, and bend the knee.

LIV.  THE WILL.

Characters.—­Swipes, a brewer; Currie, a saddler; Frank Millington; and
Squire drawl.

Swipes.  A sober occasion, this, brother Currie.  Who would have thought the old lady was so near her end?