Page 105 - The model orator, or, Young folks' speaker : containing the choicest recitations and readings from the best authors for schools, public entertainments, social gatherings, Sunday schools, etc. : including recitals in prose and verse ...

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS.

I L O O K E D far bade into other years, and lo J in bright array,
I saw its in a dream, the forms of ages passed away,
Jt w."H a stately convent, with its old and lofty walls,
And gardens with their broad green walks, where soft, the footstep falls:
And o'tv the antique dial stone the creeping shadow oossed,
And all :i roc rid the noonday sun a drowsy radiance cast.
No sound of busy life was heard, save from the cloister dim,
Tlie tinkling of the silver bdl, or the sisters' Indy hymn.
And there live noble maidens sat bcneaLh Lhe orchard trees,
In that first budding spring of youth, when all its prospects please;
Arid little reck’ed they, when they song, or kr.elt at the vesper prayers,
That Scotland knew nopro.idcr names— held none more dear than theirs;
And little even tlie loveliest thought, before the holy shrine,
'.){ royal blood and high descent from the ancient Stuart line !
Calmly her happy days flew on, uncounted in their flight,
And, as they llew. they left behind a long-continuing light.
W> * D O O
Tile scene was changed. It was the court, the gay court of Bourbon,
And ’neath a thousand silver lamps a thousand courtiers Lhrong;
A r d proudly indies Henry's eye -wei! pleased, I ween, to .see
The land assemble ah its wealth of grace nnd chivalry,
that fairer far than a'd the rest who bask on fortune's tide,
ElT.ilgent in the light of youth, is she, the new-made bride !
The homage oi a thousand hearts— tlie tend, deep love oi one—
The hopes that dance around a life whose charms are but began—
They lighten up her chestnut eye, they mantle o’er her cheek,
They sparkle on her o;ien brow, and high-souled joy bespeak.
A h ! who shall blame, if scarce that day, through all its briTant hours,
She thought of that quiet convent’s charm, its sunsh:ne and i'.:s lloiv^P'1

The scene was changed. It was a bark that slowly held its way,
A nd o'er its lee the coast of France ir i he ligld of evening lay ;