THE ILLUMINATION OF THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH FLEETS AT PORTSMOUTH.

[ZaunköniG]

THE ILLUMINATION OF THE ENGLISH AND
FRENCH FLEETS AT PORTSMOUTH.

Thanks to those festal fires ! mankind shall be
All brothers now ! since France and England met,
The far-seen glow of their gi-eat amity
Hangs on the world's horizons : they have set
A glorious fashion ! On the illumined flood
Their two great navies, like some mighty raft,
Rode in their oneness ; without spleen or craft.
They met in light—God saw that it was good ;
And, oh ! those long-drawn rockets, how they climb'd,
To fill the very heaven with tricolors !
What healths we drank, by booming cannon timed !
And how the city swarm'd from all her doors
To greet the Frenchman on our English shores !
And how the bells of welcome peal'd and chimed !