KING ROBERT OF SICILY. I am the King! Look, and behold in me This man, who wears my semblance to your eyes, Page 12. PREFACE. PERHAPS it would be difficult to over-estimate the importance to young minds of an early familiarity with good poetry. The foundations of courage, tenderness, fortitude, even heroism, are often laid in a character by acquaintance with noble verse, the ring of which catches the imagination of the child, while its sentiment finds a way to the heart. The vigour of Byron, the stirring manliness of Scott, the strength and simplicity of Wordsworth, the pathetic grace of Mrs. Hemans, all tell upon the soul of youth like winds blowing one way upon a sapling. Strong lines lay hold of the memory, to echo long in the mind above the uproar of the world's battles; vivid pictures of right and ruth, of valour and virtue, arise and line the walls |