AMERICA.

America, our lovely nation,
Offspring of th' eternal day,
Why should not the whole creation
Homage to thy virtues pay?

Now in the field in heat of battle,
On the deep where cannons roar,
Firm united and undaunted
Banish tyrants from your shore!

Long has liberty laid sleeping,
Wrapt in darkness, bound in chains,
The nation independance seeking,
Rouse to arms your rights regain.
High exalted rode the eagle,
Glorious as the morning star.
Nature smiles and seems delighted,

Freedom's voice is heard afar.

Liberty thou here shalt flourish

On the soil that gave thee birth.
All your sons your rights shall nourish,
Blest with festive joy and mirth.
While the nations of the world.
Tot'ring, shiv'ring in despair,
Mourn their organizeing victims,
Cries of death ascend the air

Long live the constitution!

Long live Republican!
Long live America!

It was by you it first began.

LIBERTY'S BEACON.

What towering beacon light is this
That points an Eagle starry sky?
Tis the Flag, the Flag, impress a kiss!
Long may it wave its banners high!

Liberty-gleaming in the soul

Will rise assert its mandate power,
Its triple thunders grasp the goal,
Will calm each threatening lurid hour.

Ah! brightest, fondest, noblest page
Whose altars lure a heavenly sky,
Our gallant sons through every age
Will consecrate its temples high.

Tis Freedom! Stars and Stripes unite,
The reflex of our Country's all;

And ever may their trident light

Unnerve the arms who seek their fall.

It might reasonably be expected that in so large a mass of manuscript, sent in from so numerous and such widely separated places, there would be a plentiful sprinkling of those forms of bad English which have been christened Americanisms, in the spirit of the London shopkeeper who, as Boswell tells us, supposed the Earl of Marchmont, a highly educated Scotch nobleman, to be an American, "because, sir," said he, "you speak neither English nor Scotch, but something different from both, which I conclude is the language of America." But I have been able to discover only the following instance among all the manuscripts which have come into my hands.

The land that invites all the oppressd. of the earth
To its bossom so open and free,

My country; I love thee, no human can tell
The love that I bear unto thee.

But the following stanza from another hymn is of interest as containing an entirely new contribution to the "American" language. The author directs no special attention to it; but uses it quite in a matter of course way.

Then let us hand in hand,

Join in this Noble Band,

The Whole of our Nation in.unionity Join,
to stand by the union,

and old constitution till

The last of the treators be Glad to give in.

Of quite a different cast from the songs that we have just been considering are the following homely verses; which might be called rude, were it not that their tenderness of sentiment is matched with a certain simple charm of language and sweetness of rhythm. The author, whom I conjecture to be a private soldier, stationed at one of our Western forts, writes, with frankness and modesty, "Please correct this if you think it is worth printing. I am no scholar." He is not indeed: he does not even know how to spell, and does not always rhyme; but I venture to say that he adds to a warm, true heart a genuine poetic temperament. His request I have complied with gladly; but only, it will be seen, as to orthography; and I do not envy any man who can read his crude and artless verses without emotion.

THE AMERICAN FLAG, OR BANNER.

Unfurl your banners, let them fly,
And wave in triumph to the sky!
O'er the ocean, o'er the sea,
O'er the land of liberty;

Chorus. O'er the land that God hath made
For the gentle and the brave.

O'er a land oppressed with strife,
And o'er a nation dear as life:
O'er a people deep in love

With their country and their God.

O'er a mother's heart that mourns
For her country and her wrongs:
O'er a father's heart so brave,
Gently let it ever wave.

O'er a sister's gentle love,

And o'er a brother's, true and brave:

O'er a wife so kind and true,

And o'er the ocean, deep and blue.

O'er the home that God hath bless'd,

And o'er the land of heavenly peace:

O'er our children let it wave

When we are slumbering in our grave.

Of origin and appearance quite as unpromising as its predecessor, is the following significant composition; to be deterred from reading which by its bald rusticity will be to neglect a most characteristic national production; one which could have come out of no other country than our own, and from no other

than a man of English race, who had been reared in the American Republic.

UNITED STATES NATIONAL HYMN, L. N.

TUNE-Yarmouth.

BY JONATHAN

I.

God bless United States; each one
Has government, the people's own;
The people rule, their rulers are
Elected servants, to take care
Of what is for the public good;
And the best men be chosen should;
And often changed, that surely we
May prosper, and be ever free.

II.

Foundation of our Union, find
On education, talent, mind;
God's Book, religion's only guide;
The supreme law, in all, reside,
Nor can majority oppress

Minority, but all confess

That each has Rights, which all must see

Respected in their purity.

III.

The Union, and the Nation, stand
A Government, o'er all the land;
Best, freest, strongest, wisest one,
Was, is, will be, beneath the sun;
The greatest numbers' greatest good;
And all protected, as we should;
Intelligence, ability,

For rulers, the best quality.