"These noble lords have welcomed me; These fair dames give me greeting. What heavenly kingdom do I see With star-gleam, star-gleam meeting! Such splendor, pomp, and wealth allied, Desire must here rest satisfied, While Time forgets his speeding!" He pauses now; now strikes in song Full toned, of pleasing phrases. Each knight grows proud in look, and strong; Dames blush at fancied praises. The king, for whom the songs awake, As fair return the bard to make-- A golden chain upraises. "Oh give to me no gift of gold! Such to your knights deliver, Before whose faces, stern and bold, The foe's best lances shiver. Or let some chancellor of state This gift receive, a treasure mete, Fit token from wise giver. "I sing as some free wild bird sings, Among green branches swinging. The song that from the throat outrings Its own reward is bringing. But may I beg a gift of thine? Then give to me of rare old wine In golden beaker, brimming." They bring it in; he drinks it up. "O drink--sweet, strength-bestowing! O happy house--where one may sup With such wealth ever flowing! Thank God--you share with me a part! It stirs my brain; it warms my heart! I go with new life glowing." [Webster Historical Society Papers.] THE WEBSTER FAMILY. BY HON. STEPHEN M. ALLEN. I. The family of Webster, which settled on the easterly coast of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, became quite numerous, and emigrated to the various parts of western New Hampshire as early as 1763. Stephen Webster was one of the twelve pioneers of the town of Plymouth, N.H., in which, with other settlers of the backwoods, they had to endure great privations and hardships. The three Webster families which settled and remained in Plymouth always claimed Daniel and Ezekiel of Salisbury as first or second cousins. I quote from Moore Russell Fletcher, M.D., who was connected with the Webster family on both sides, the following narration. He says that Mrs. Stephen Webster and her sons and daughters, the youngest of whom was Mrs. Betsey Fletcher Webster,--the mother of the doctor, and who died in 1863, at the advanced age of eighty-one,--gave him much of his information.