Whole hosts may hail him with deserved acclaim, And say—This chief transcends his father's fame; While, pleased amidst the general shouts of joy, His mother's conscious heart o'erflows with joy."

He spoke and, fondly gazing on her charms, Restored the pleasing burden to her arms. Soft on her fragrant breast the babe she laid, Hushed to repose, and with a smile surveyed: The troubled pleasure soon chastised with fear, She mingled with the smile a tender tear. The softened chief with kind compassion viewed And dried the falling drops, and thus pursued :— “Andromache! my soul's far better part, Why with untimely sorrows heaves thy heart? No hostile hand can antedate my doom, Till fate condemn me to the silent tomb! Fixed is the term of all the race of earth ; And such the hard condition of our birth. No force can then resist, no flight can save : All sink alike, the fearful and the brave. No more !—but hasten to thy tasks at home; There guide the spindle and direct the loom. Me glory summons to the martial scene; The field of combat is the sphere for men: Where heroes war, the foremost place I claim, The first in danger, as the first in fame."

Thus having said, the undaunted chief resumes
His towery helmet, black with shady plumes.
His princess parts, with a prophetic sigh—
Unwilling parts, and oft reverts her eye,

That stream'd at every look; then, moving slow,
Sought her own palace, and indulged her woe.
There, while her tears deplored the god-like man,
Through all her train the soft infection ran;
The pious maids their mingled sorrows shed,
And mourned the living Hector as the dead.

In England the supreme government,—that is, the power of making and enforcing laws,—is divided into two branches; the one legislative, consisting of king, lords, and commons; the other executive, consisting of the king alone.

The executive or regal office is hereditary on certain conditions; but the right of inheritance may be changed or limited by act of parliament. The principal duty of the king is to govern the people according to the laws; "but although the king," says Lord Bacon, "is the fountain of justice, and is intrusted with the whole executive power of the law, yet he hath no power to change or alter the laws which have been received and established in these kingdoms, and are the birthright of every subject; for it is by those very laws that he is to govern." The king owns no superior but God and the laws. It is a maxim of the constitution, that the king in his political capacity can do no wrong, because he acts only by officers responsible to the law. The king never dies; that is, the executive authority never ceases to exist. The king is head of the English Church, but he cannot alter the established religion. He is also generalissimo of all the forces, but he cannot raise an army without the consent of parliament, nor can he maintain it without that consent being renewed from

year to year. He has the power of coining money, but he cannot alter the standard. He is the sole representative of his people with foreign states, having the power of sending ambassadors, concluding treaties of alliance, and making peace or war. The king has the power of summoning, proroguing, or dissolving the parliament; but he is bound to summon a new parliament at least every seven years. He is also bound to administer justice in the established course in his courts of law, not as a free gift, but as the due of his people. The king is the fountain of mercy; he alone can pardon all public offences, either absolutely or conditionally; and of honour, as the constitution has intrusted him with the sole power of conferring titles, dignities, and honours. He is also intrusted with the immense patronage of the church, the army, the navy, the excise, and the colonies. As first magistrate of a great and free people, he is invested with many other splendid marks of regal dignity and pre-eminence, all intended by the constitution to be employed for the good of the people.

The legislative authority is vested in a parliament, consisting of the king, the lords spiritual and temporal, and the Commons. The House of Lords consists of the two archbishops and twenty-four bishops, and of all the peers of the realm who are entitled to a seat either by inheritance, creation, or election. The House of Commons consists of 652 persons, who are returned by the counties, cities, and boroughs, possessing the right of election. Of these, 489 are returned by England, 103 by Ireland, and 60 by Scotland. Though delegated by particular places, they are bound as members of parliament to act for the general good of the country. Their principal duties are to check and reform abuses of the administration-to redress public and private grievances-to watch over the public expenditure-to enforce by their power of inquiry and impeachment a pure administration of justice in all departments to assist in framing wise laws-and, finally, to preserve and promote, by every constitutional means, the freedom

and prosperity of the great body of the people. The powers and privileges of this part of the legislature are commensurate with its great importance in the government. The Commons possess the sinews of war; they are the keepers of the public purse; all grants, subsidies, and taxes must originate with them; for it is a constitutional maxim that taxation and representation go hand in hand, and that the people only have a right to tax themselves. By the power of withholding supplies they have a strong control over the executive ; and by the constitution they enjoy all the privileges necessary to their dignity and independence, and the unbiassed discharge of their high functions. Though new laws may be proposed by any member of either House, the consent of all the three constituent parts of the legislature is necessary to make them binding on the subject; and though any part of the legislature may, by withholding its consent, prevent the enactment of a law, it requires the agreement of all the three to repeal an existing statute.

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Thus," as observed by Blackstone, "the true excellence of the British government consists in all its parts forming a mutual check upon each other. The legislature cannot abridge the executive power of any rights which it now has by law without its own consent. The people are a check upon the nobility, and the nobility are a check upon the people, by the mutual privilege of rejecting what the other has resolved; while the king is a check upon both; which preserves the executive power from encroachment. And this very executive power is again checked, and kept within due bounds, by the two houses, through the privilege they have of inquiring into, impeaching, and punishing the conduct, not indeed of the king (which would destroy his constitutional independence), but, which is more beneficial to the public, of his evil and pernicious counsellors.

"The same laws that secure to the king his crown and prerogative, secure to the meanest subject those rights which are emphatically styled the birthright of Britons. These are

principally the right of personal security, of personal liberty, and of private property. They are asserted, first, by the Great Charter obtained, sword in hand, from King John, and afterwards confirmed in parliament by Henry III. Next, by a multitude of corroborating statutes, and, after a long interval, by the Petition of Right, the Habeas Corpus Act, and the Bill of Rights. And, lastly, these liberties were again asserted in the same act (the Act of Settlement) that limits the crown to the present royal family. The Great Charter, declaratory of these rights, states: 'That no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, but by the lawful judgment of his equals, or by the law of the land:' and the Petition of Rights; That no person shall be imprisoned or detained without cause shown, to which he may answer according to law.'”

Know

ye

THE LAND OF THE SUN.

BYRON.

the land where the cypress and myrtle

Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime? Where the rage of the vulture, the love of the turtle, Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime?

Know ye the land of the cedar and vine,

Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine—
Where the light wings of Zephyr, oppressed with perfume,
Wax faint o'er the gardens of Gul in her bloom—
Where the citron and olive are fairest of fruit,

And the voice of the nightingale never is mute

Where the tints of the earth and the hues of the sky,
In colour though varied, in beauty may vie,

And the purple of ocean is deepest in dye-
Where the virgins are soft as the roses they twine,
And all, save the spirit of man, is divine ?—

"Tis the clime of the East, 'tis the land of the sun :

Can he smile on such deeds as his children have done?

Oh, wild as the accents of lovers' farewell

Are the hearts which they bear, and the tales which they tell!