English

II.

When the swift Hours had Darkness chas'd away,
When Sol his beamy Locks had spread,
And Jove arose from his ambrosial Bed,
To celebrate that happy Day,
In which he was redeem'd from being Saturn's Prey.
'Twas on that solemn Festival,
The Thund'rer in a Study sate,
Revolving in his Mind the Turns of Fate;

Take care oh Muse! this tow'ring Height review;

I grant 'tis noble, yet presumptuous too:
Compute thy utmost Powers first, and know
Thou wert not made to fly,
But humbly creep below.
Quell then thy Airy Hopes, nor vainly try
Beyond the Sphere of thy Activity.
Remember him, who gave the Sea a Name,
Nor aim too high, left thou descend with Shame.

SHELLEY. II .

That reason-born millennium,
He thought so near, shall surely come,
Shall come when days have longer grown,
And nights are longer too,
When bread from richer tilth is mown,
And all our powers are born anew:
Millions of years far off, may be,
Eons of ages, it shall come,
But then the Poet men may see
Shall throw all our poetics dumb.
For then, as now, the poet's lyre
Must shine with light as well as fire;
And he sings best whose clear plain song

SHELLEY. I .

The three words yet to dominate
This world with peace and love elate,
We rede upon the ruined wall Palatial,
Once the witless Bourbon's pride,
Words written large from side to side;
And on the pavement where we stood
Lay fratricidal blood.
What wonder then eyes fixed so far, —
Faith and to-day so coiled in war, —
Directest steps may go amiss?
Inspired speech be vague as his?

Yet shall these three words be one day,
Our full-grown manhood's rondelay,

BTRON .

H E was Childe Harold pacing there
The dark deck of that exile-ship,
When twenty years scarce fringed his lip,
Pacing in a boy's despair.

He was Don Juan, not too soon
Sent from the glimpses of the moon.

And had he lived a little longer,
He would have risen greater, stronger;
King of the Greeks, he had been then
Agamemnon, King of men.
Yet not the best of warriors he
Who crossed towards Troy the Ægean sea.

ORPHEUS .

Thy mother, Calliope, gave thee power
Over the heart of man, above the laws
Of savage nature: in the perilous hour
Over the triple Dog's dismembering claws;
Ixion leant a moment on his wheel,
And Tantalus forgot his thirst to feel,
When thy voice throughout hell began to peal:
But not the Nine, nor even the Gods, can save
Their best-beloved children from the grave.

SAPPHO .

Sisters ! sisters Nine and mine!
Take my latest lustral wine;
This lyre no more to be attuned by me,
I dedicate,
Alas, too late,
Brass-hearted Artemis, to thee;
And this, my weary body, to the sea.

CHATTERTON

O H cruel night, that closed those questioning eyes, —
Nay, kindly say, stars shine in darkening skies.

Oh cruel night, that stopped those wondering ears, —
Nay, kindly say, who knows what now he hears?

BURNS .

HIS COTTAGE AND MONUMENT .

T HIS is the cottage as it was of old,
The window four small panes, and in the wall
The box-bed where the first daylight did fall
Upon their new-born infant: narrow fold
And poor, when times were hard and winds were cold
As they were still to him. And now close by
Above Corinthian columns mounted high,
The famed Choragic Tripod shines in gold!

SOUTHEY .

ON READING " THE LIFE," BY PROFESSOR DOWDEN

Job heard a sweet sound, Job awoke,
And saw a faint white light,
He turned, he deemed the night was spent,
'Twas but the first watch of the night,
Day had not broke,
It was Jehovah's angel spoke,
Bright in the opening of the tent.

Job, the Lord hath heard your prayer,
And sends me here to thee, I bear
Your recompense, which shall it be,
Goodness or Greatness? say and see.