They rise in joy, the starry myriads burning,
The shepherd greets them on his mountains free;
And from the silvery sea
To them the sailor's wakeful eye is turning, -
Unchanged they rise, they have not mourned for thee.
Couldst thou be shaken from thy radiant place,
E'en as a dew-drop from the myrtle spray
Swept by the wind away?
Wert thou not peopled by some glorious race,
And was there power to smite them with decay?
Why, who shall talk of thrones, of sceptres riven?
Bowed be our hearts to think of what we are,
When, from its height afar,
and yon majestic heaven
Shines not the less for that one vanished star!
CORONACH.*- Sir W. Scott.
He is gone on the mountain,
He is lost to the forest,
Like a summer-dried fountain,
When our need was the sorest.
The fount, reäppearing,
From the rain-drops shall borrow,
But to us comes no cheering,
To Duncan no morrow!
The hand of the reaper
Takes the ears that are hoary,
But the voice of the weeper
Wails manhood in glory;
The autumn winds, rushing,
Waft the leaves that are serest,
But our flower was in flushing
When blighting was nearest.
Fleet foot on the corei,*
Sage counsel in cumber,
Red hand in the foray,
How sound is thy slumber!
Like the dew on the mountain,
Like the foam on the river,
Like the bubble on the fountain,
Thou art gone, and forever!
THE PAUPER'S DEATHBED.-Mrs. Southey.
TREAD Softly,bow the head,
In reverent silence bow,
No passing bell doth toll,
Yet an immortal soul
Is passing now.
Stranger! however great,
With lowly reverence bow;
There's one in that poor shed,
One by that paltry bed,
Greater than thou.
Beneath that beggar's roof,
Lo! Death doth keep his state;
Enter! no crowds attend;
Enter! no guards defend
This palace-gate.
The hollow side of the hill, where game usually lies.
That pavement damp and cold
No smiling courtiers tread;
One silent woman stands,
Lifting with meagre hands
A dying head.
No mingling voices sound,
'An infant wail alone;
A sob suppressed, — again
That short, deep gasp, and then
The parting groan.
O wondrous change!
Burst are the prison-bars;-
This moment there, so low,
So agonized, and now
Beyond the stars!
SWEET flocks, whose soft, enamelled wing
Swift and gently cleaves the sky,
Whose charming notes address the spring
With an artless harmony;
Lovely minstrels of the field,
Who in leafy shadows sit,
And your wondrous structures build,
Awake your tuneful voices with the dawning light,
To nature's God your first devotions pay,
Ere you salute the rising day;-
'Tis He calls up the sun, and gives him
Serpents, who o'er the meadows slide,
And wear upon your shining back
Numerous ranks of gaudy pride,
Which thousand mingling colors make;
Let the fierce glances of your eyes
Rebate their baleful fire;
In harmless play, twist and unfold
The volumes of your scaly gold;
That rich embroidery of your gay attire
Proclaims your Maker kind and wise.
Insects and mites of mean degree,
That swarm in myriads o'er the land,
Moulded by Wisdom's artful hand,
And curled and painted with a various dye;
In your innumerable forms
Praise Him that wears the ethereal crown,
And bends his lofty counsels down
To despicable worms.
TO THE EVENING WIND. - Bryant.
SPIRIT that breathest through my lattice, thou
That cool'st the twilight of the sultry day,
Gratefully flows thy freshness round my brow;
Thou hast been out upon the deep at play,
Riding all day the wild blue waves till now, Roughening their crests, and scattering high their
And swelling the white sail. I welcome thee
To the scorched land, thou wanderer of the sea!
Nor I alone; a thousand bosoms round
Inhale thee in the fulness of delight;
And languid forms rise up, and pulses bound
Livelier, at coming of the wind of night;
And, languishing to hear thy grateful sound,
Lies the vast inland stretched beyond the sight.
Go forth into the gathering shade; go forth,
God's blessing breathed upon the fainting earth!
Go, rock the little wood-bird in his nest,
Curl the still waters, bright with stars, and roue
The wide old wood from his majestic rest,
Summoning from the innumerable boughs
The strange, deep harmonies that haunt his breast ;
Pleasant shall be thy way where meekly bows
The shutting flower, and darkling waters pass,
And 'twixt the o'ershadowing branches and the grass.
The faint old man shall lean his silver head
To feel thee; thou shalt kiss the child asleep,
And dry the moistened curls that overspread
His temples, while his breathing grows more deep;
And they who stand about the sick man's bed
Shall joy to listen to thy distant sweep,
And softly part his curtains to allow
Thy visit, grateful to his burning brow.
but the circle of eternal change,
Which is the life of nature, shall restore,
With sounds and scents from all thy mighty range, Thee to thy birthplace of the deep once more;
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