The Enchanted Isle Of The Sea.

The joyous day was drawing to a close , And list ' ning fairies twirled themselves in rows . " This day of joy , clear friends , is nearly o ' er , Ere long Ave part , I hope , to meet once

more , Ancl yon fair child the earth wdl soon receive , Let her fear not , nor let her spirit grieve ; I shall protect her till I cease to reign , And to this court , each year , she'll come again . "

To Earth ' s kind Queen our greetings UOAV Ave send , And to the Princes , this Princess commend ; The English Court—Victoria ' s Family—Above all else receive fidelity . Her Sons are good , Her Daughters more

than fair , And all arc bountiful beyond compare , The happy unions Avith the Danish Rose And Russia ' s FloAver , sweet harmony disclose , And every Prince and Princess in the

Realm , With loyal love the people ovenvhelin . And this fair child our Avishes will convey , To England ' s Queen , and Empress , this I say : —

" The World is surel y blest with thee and thine . And may your Indian dynasty loug shine . " But there are things connected with the sea , That somehoAV happen terrible to me

; The ships UOAV lost , the Ironclads gone doAvn , A blemish give to Albion ' s renoAvn . The sore distress made b y the Captain ' s

loss—The human sacrifice—the ship was dross—We sympathized with , and by command , The ship and creAV were buried in the sand , And then again the Vanguard ' s recent fate , Has not received a full and fair debate ;

In time of ' * Men o' Avar , " such things Avere rare , And Nelson and Napier their honours Avear , Still first in seamanshi p , as in the fi ght , Aye ready for their Country , King , ancl Right .

The Byzantine And Turkish Empires.

THE BYZANTINE AND TURKISH EMPIRES .

THE following extract , translated from a chapter of Professor Paparrigopulo ' s "History of the Hellenic Nation , " pointhtg to the contrast betAveen the depth of misery wrought by four centuries of misrule and the capacity of the Provinces forming tlie Turkish Empire to recover under a more humane administration , may interest some of our readers just UOAV : —

" With regard to revenue , we may boldly say that the Byzantine Empire obtained results such as feAV countries iu the world have been able to effect . When at the beginning of the 13 th century , the Latins captured Constantinople , it Avas

said by them that BaldAvin , Avho Avas made Emperor of the East , had a daily income of 30 , 000 gulden . Hope , who takes this to be the allowance for the Palace , doubts the truth of it ; but it is obvious that the question is not about Palace alloAvances ,

as 30 , 000 gulden daily are equal to about 6- £ millions sterling per annum , and it is most probable that the question is about the annual income of the Emperor Bald-Avin ; and , considering that BaldAvin did not succeed but to one-fourth of the whole Empire , it follows that the revenue of this Empire must be put down , approximately , at about 26 millions sterling . This amount

seems at first sight extraordinary , especially as the coin had greater value in those times , and those 26 millions would at the present day have the value of 130 millions . Neither England , nor France , nor North America , have such revenues

even in our day , when the resources oi the people have been multiplied , and Avhen the economical administration has been perfected to such an extent . Moreover , the authority on Avhich Ave based ourselves in fixing that amount belongs to the

beginning of the 13 th century ; and at that period the Byzantine Empire had not the extent of territory Avhich it possessed during the ninth and tenth centuries . The greatest part of Asia Minor had been occupied by the Mahomedana ; Lower Italy had been seized by the Normans ; the Crusades had brought about catastrophes Avhich could not but tend to reduce