Victoria men, to scare, stifle, or tame,
Ye quarter-deck monsters are too impotent;
The Southern Cross will float again the same,
UNITED Britons, ye are OMNIPOTENT.
Chorus.
Thus I had spanned the strings of my harp, but the strain broke them
asunder in the gaol.
Chapter LXXXIII.
Initium Sapientie Est Timor Domini.
There are circumstances in life, so inexplicable for the understanding;
so intricate for the counsel; so overwhelming for the judgment; so
tempting for the soul; so clashing with common sense; so bewildering for
the mind; so crushing for the heart; that even the honest man cannot help
at moments to believe in FATE. Hence the 'sic sinuerunt Fata,' will dash
the fatalist ahead, and embolden him to knock down friend or foe, so as
to carry out his conceit. If successful, he is a Caesar; if unsuccessful,
ignominy and a violent grave are the reward of his worry.
If this be true, as far as it goes, whilst
Through living hosts and changing scenes we rove,
The mart, the court, the sea, the battle-plain,
As passions sway, or accident may move;
it holds not true in a gaol. There you must meet yourself, and you find
that you are not your God. Hence these new strings in my harp.
TO THE POINT.
I.
Gay is the early bloom of life's first dawn,
But darker colours tinge maturer years;
Our days as they advance grow more forlorn,
Hope's brightest dreams dissolve away in tears
Which were the best, to be or not to have been?
The question may be asked, no answer can be seen.
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