THE MOTHER.

There is a love whose faith shall never tire,
Till nature's lamp in darkness shall expire;
A passion that no misery can part

From its fond altar in the mother's heart;
There burns affection's unexhausting flame,
Ardent in joy-in wasting grief the same:
Which lives through scorn, or treachery, or woe,
The living type of heavenly love below!
"Tis her fond task of watchfulness to rear
The being to her bosom doubly dear-
O'er the fair brows of infancy to bend-

Childhood's first nurse, and manhood's latest friend;
And hers to watch for reason's dawning ray,
And lead the soul to virtue's heavenward way;
Point out the land whose promise never dies,
And tend the infant Christian to the skies;
Reveal to him the holiness of truth,

And lead to heaven the cherubim of youth.
Immortal passion! love that will not die,

Though storms surround the dear one's stormy sky!
Bright glows the flame by Nature's law imprest,
Unchill'd and fadeless in the mother's breast;
Warm from her heart love's orisons arise,

As in her arms reposing childhood lies.
On such, affection's early watch is cast;

On such, affection's star shall shine the last.

Earth holds for her no tie of dearer claim
Than his who shares her nature and her name;
Nor can the annals of the heart disclose

A holier friendship than her bosom knows :
Let all forsake her-still affection's light
Burns in her heart undimm'd through trial's night,
And though the clouds of sorrow she must share,
Grief cannot quench affection's fountain there.
Though cruel fate, in trouble's stormy reign,
May break the links of nature's strongest chain;
Or rend the sacred fibres of her heart,
And tear the mother from her child apart;
Love's bonds immortal Fate can ne'er undo,
Affection lives in sorrow doubly true;
Its source divine no diminution knows,
Deeper in grief the tide of feeling flows;
And though stern fate may bear her idol far,
No distance clouds her heart's unsetting star:
Its rays, unfaded by affliction's gloom,
Shall know no time of setting ere the tomb;
And when the flame of nature ebbs away,
Immortal truth expands its deathless ray,
And breathes in prayers of anxious hope above,
The last-best wishes of the mother's love!

MRS. INCE.

DONINGTON CHURCH, LINCOLNSHIRE.

Donington church exhibits specimens of the perpendicular and late decorated styles. It comprises a nave with north and south aisles, a chancel, and spire steeple on the south side adjoining the second bay from the west end of the south aisle.

The angles of the tower have buttresses divided by water tables and a string course into five stages, the last stage of each buttress terminating in a plain pediment. In the second stage is a niche with an ogee arch, crocketed and finialed. In the south wall is an arch with deeply-moulded jambs: the ancient door has, however, been removed, and a Tudor brick arch, with another door, inserted. Above is a niche, then a string course running entirely round the tower, from which rises a narrow loopholed window with a plain pointed arch. There is another string course under the belfry-window, which is divided into two lights, with trefoiled tracery, and a quatrefoiled recess. There is an embattled parapet above, with a projecting cornice ornamented with gurgoyles. The other parts of the tower are similar to this southern face, except that there is no entrance, and that they have an additional window in the lower division, of two lights, with a quatrefoiled recess.

The spire is octagonal. The four sides, which correspond with those of the tower, are each pierced with two windows: the other sides have one window each; and the whole terminates in a finial, from which rises the vane.

The west end of the south aisle has a window of four lights, with trefoiled tracery. The south wall is pierced by three windows of three lights, each trefoiled, and having trefoiled tracery. Between each window is a buttress of two stages, terminating in a moulded pediment. In the east wall is a window of four lights, trefoiled with transition tracery, having quatrefoiled recesses.

The north wall of the north aisle is divided by buttresses of two stages into seven equal bays: two are blank, a third has a door, and the others have windows of three lights. The west window is of four lights trefoiled, with quatrefoiled tracery: the east has four lights cinquefoiled, with perpendicular tracery trefoiled.

The west end of the nave has a door, with a small niche above. The window is of five lights, the arches cinquefoiled, and trefoiled perpendicular tracery. The clerestory on each side has seven windows of two lights each, cinquefoiled, with the tracery quatrefoiled, and a projecting embattled parapet, which extends over the east wall.

The north and south walls of the chancel are each divided into three bays: in the south are two windows of four lights trefoiled, and one of three lights; beneath which is a small entrance, with a pointed arch. The north wall has two windows of three lights each. The east wall has buttresses at the angles, in two divisions. Between these is a window of five lights with pointed arches cinquefoiled, from which rises perpendicular tracery, also cinquefoiled, with quatrefoiled recesses.

Above the entrance to the south aisle is a niche, containing a statue in good preservation. The interior is in good repair: the aisles are separated from the nave by seven pointed arches springing from five octagonal pillars, and stone corbels in the walls of the nave. At the west end of the south aisle is an octagonal font, with the sides carved. The rood stairs remain on the north side of the entrance to the chancel, which contains also sedilia and a lavatory in the south wall, also a recess in the north wall, and three stone steps worked in it.