"Now, on my soul the rising vision warms, But mingled in a thousand lovely forms! Methinks I see Australian landscapes still, But softer beauty sits on every hill: I see bright meadows, decked in livelier green, The yellow corn-field, and the blossomed bean: A hundred flocks o'er smiling pastures roam, And hark! the music of the harvest home! Methinks I hear the hammer's busy sound, The cheerful hum of human voices round; The laughter and the song that lightens toil, Sung in the language of my native isle! The vision leads me on by many a stream; And spreading cities crowd upon my dream, Where turrets darkly frown, and lofty spires Point to the stars and sparkle in their fires! Here Sydney gazes, from the mountain side, Narcissus-like upon the glassy tide! O'er rising towns Notasian commerce reigns, And temples crowd Tasmania's lovely plains! The prospect varies in an endless range; Villas and lawns go by, in ceaseless change: And wafted on the gale from many a dell, Methinks I hear the village Sabbath bell! Faith upward mounts, upon devotion's wings, And, like the lark, at heaven's pure portal sings; From myriad tongues the song of praise is poured, And o'er them floats 'the spirit of the Lord!'"[140] FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 137: Mr. Samuel Bate, after exercising the functions of judge at Port Phillip (1803), returned home, and received the appointment, many years after, of inspector of excise, at Port Jackson.] [Footnote 138: _Par. Pap._ 1812.] [Footnote 139: The following may be considered almost unparalleled in the history of modern colonies, and in this has never been repeated. The government of Sorell was rather patriarchal than despotic; and compared with the mass of newly arrived emigrants he was the old inhabitant. Many who had never seen official men, but at an awful distance, were charmed with the affability and kindness of the governor, and his recall seemed the withdrawal of a liberal patron:-- "AT A PUBLIC MEETING of the Landholders, Merchants, and Free Inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land, by public advertisement assembled, at the Court House, in Hobart Town, the 30th day of October, 1823, JOHN BEAMONT, Esq., Provost Marshal of Van Diemen's Land, in the chair;