little more style would have well become so great an occasion. That malevolent old Moke--may his next thistle choke him!--disgraced us all with his jibbing--the ill-tempered old ass! Young Neddy is shaggy and shy, but not amiss, if he'd held his ears up, and not kept his eyes on the grass. Nothing is more je-june (I may say vulgar) than to seem anxious to eat when the crisis calls for public spirit, enthusiasm, and an elevated tone; And I wish, Brother Donkeys, I wish that all had felt as I felt, the responsibility of a March-Past the Throne! Respect and self-respect delicately blended; one ear up, and the other lowered to salute, as I passed the window from which we were seen (Unless I grievously misunderstood the young General this morning,) by no less a personage than her Most Gracious Majesty THE QUEEN. Sleep, Brother Donkeys, sleep! But I fancy you're sleeping already, for you make no reply; Not a quiver of your ears, not a sign from your motionless drooping noses, dark against the dusky night sky. As black and immovable as the silent fir-trees you solemnly slumber beneath, Whilst I wakefully meditate on a glorious past, and painfully ponder the future, as the dews fall over the Heath. [Footnote 6: Heath bed-straw (_Galium Saxatile_). This white-flowered bed-straw grows profusely on Hampstead Heath.] THE PROMISE. CHILD. Five blue eggs hatching, With bright eyes watching, Little brown mother, you sit on your nest. BIRD. Oh! pass me blindly, Oh! spare me kindly, Pity my terror, and leave me to rest. CHORUS OF CHILDREN. Hush! hush! hush! 'Tis a poor mother thrush. When the blue eggs hatch, the brown birds will sing-- This is a promise made in the Spring. CHILD. Five speckled thrushes In leafy bushes Singing sweet songs to the hot Summer sky. In and out twitting, Here and there flitting, Happy is life as the long days go by. CHORUS. Hush! hush! hush! 'Tis the song of the thrush: Hatched are the blue eggs; the brown birds do sing-- Keeping the promise made in the Spring. Published in _Aunt Judy's Magazine_, July 1866, with music by Alexander Ewing. CONVALESCENCE.