when, by the rout that made the hideous roar, his gory visage down the stream was sent, down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore? 1235 Weep no more, woful Shepherds, weep no more, for Lycidas your sorrow is not dead,

1236

sunk though he be beneath the watery floor.
So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed,

and yet anon repairs his drooping head,

and tricks his beams, and with new-spangled ore
flames in the forehead of the morning sky:

so Lycidas sunk slow, but mounted high,
through the dear might of Him that walked the waves,
where, other groves and other streams along,
with nectar pure his oozy locks he laves,
and hears the unexpressive nuptial song,
in the blest kingdoms 'meek of joy and love.
There entertain him all the saints above,
in solemn troops, and sweet societies,
that sing, and singing in their glory move,
and wipe the tears for ever from their eyes.
Now, Lycidas, the shepherds weep no more;
henceforth thou art the Genius of the shore,
in thy large recompence, and shalt be good
to all that wander in that perilous flood.

J. MILTON

ADAM'S VISION FROM THE MOUNT

N other part the sceptred heralds call

IN

to council, in the city-gates: anon

gray-headed men and grave, with warriors mix'd
assemble, and harangues are heard; but soon,
in factious opposition; till at last

of middle-age one rising, eminent

in wise deport, spake much of right and wrong,
of justice, of religion, truth and peace,

and judgment from above. Him old and young
exploded, and had seized with violent hands,
had not a cloud descending snatched him thence,
unseen amid the throng. So violence
proceeded, and oppression, and sword-law,
through all the plain, and refuge none was found.

J. MILTON

1237

PHONOS

AST of this route the savage Phonos went,

and when more age and strength more fierceness lent,

she taught him in a darke and desart wood
with force and guile poor passengers to slay,
and on their flesh his barking stomach stay,
and with their wretched blood his fiery thirst allay.
Ten thousand furies on his steps awaited,

some sear'd his harden'd soul with Stygian brand:
some with black terrors his faint conscience baited,
that wide he star'd, and starched hair did stand;
the firstborn man still in his mind he bore,
foully array'd in guiltlesse brother's gore,

which for revenge to heaven from earth did loudly

roar.

P. FLETCHER

1238

Ον

THE SUPPER OF BASIL

VER the joyous feast the sudden darkness descended.

All was silent without, and illuming the landscape

with silver

fair rose the dewy moon and the myriad stars; but within doors

brighter than these shone the faces of friends in the glimmering lamplight.

Then from his station aloft, at the head of the table, the herdsman

poured forth his heart and his wine together in endless profusion:

thus he spake to his guests, who listened, and smiled as they listened :

'Welcome once more, my friends, who so long have been friendless and homeless,

welcome once more to a home, that is better perchance than the old one!

Here no hungry winter congeals our blood like the rivers;

here no stony ground provokes the wrath of the farmer: smoothly the ploughshare runs through the soil, as a keel through the water:

all the year round the orange-groves are in blossom; and grass grows

more in a single night than a whole Canadian summer. Here, too, numberless herds run wild and unclaimed in the prairies;

here, too, lands may be had for the asking, and forests of timber

with a few blows of the axe are hewn and framed into houses.'

H. W. LONGFELLOW

1239 IT

1240

T was a lording's daughter, the fairest one of three, that liked of her master as well as well might be, till, looking on an Englishman the fairest that eye could see,

her fancy fell a turning.

Long was the battle doubtful, which love with love did fight,

to leave the master loveless or to kill the gallant knight,

to put in practice either, alas! it was a spight

unto the silly damsel!

But one must be refused, more mickle was the pain that nothing could be used to turn them both to gain; then of the two the trusty knight was wounded with disdain ;

alas she could not help it!

Thus art with arms contending was the victor of the
day,
which by a gift of learning did bear the maid away.
Then lullaby! the learned man hath got the lady gay,
and now my song is ended.

THENOT TO CLOE

IS not the white or red

'TIS

inhabits in your cheek that thus can wed
my mind to adoration; nor your eye,

though it be full and fair, your forehead high,
and smooth as Pelops' shoulder; not the smile

1241

1242

lies watching in those dimples to beguile
the easy soul; your hands and fingers long,
with veins enamelled richly; nor your tongue,
though it spoke sweeter than Arion's harp;
your hair woven into many a curious warp,
able in endless error to enfold

the wandering soul; not the true perfect mould
of all your body, which as pure doth shew
in maiden whiteness as the Alpen snow;
all these, were but your constancy away,
would please me less than a black stormy day
the wretched seaman toiling through the deep.
But whilst this honoured strictness you do keep,
though all the plagues that e'er begotten were
in the great womb of air were settled here,
in opposition, I would, like the tree,
shake off those drops of weakness, and be free
even in the arm of danger.

ACIS AND GALATEA

J. FLETCHER

HE is a sea-god's daughter, may not she

'O Acis, my sweet Acis! shepherd sweet
awake,' she said, but no voice answered her;
'Acis, sweet Acis!' still she cried on 'Acis,'
pausing to listen, but the echo went
dimmer and dimmer down the rocky shore
to snowy Naxos faintly and was lost.

'Acis,' she said, and still she cried on 'Acis,'
then stooping with her hand upon the stone
she whispered 'Acis,' till her heart grew sick,
to see the fair young limb gory and crusht,
and plashy drops of blood about the grass.

ACIS AND GALATEA

ACIS and Galatea whispering

T. ASHE

with honied words under the shadowy cliff;—

how pleasant was it in the sultry noon!
they lay upon a grassy gradual slope;
and starry creepers threaded all about

in the grass roots and deep-eyed violets

1243

of wealthy odour flushed the verdurous green;
and yellow lilies to the curving shore

and crisping ripple calms, a stone's throw off,
went sloping; while a fresh wind stole at ease
over the beach, along the fainting grass,
swaying the lilies; and the ivied cliff

made shadows cool and reared a lofty front
into the ambient air, a measureless height.
This was in Sicily, a wealthy coast,

three leagues from Etna southward looking east.

1244

T. ASHE

TRUST ME NOT AT ALL OR ALL IN ALL

IN

N Love, if Love be Love, if Love be ours, faith and unfaith can ne'er be equal powers: unfaith in aught is want of faith in all.

It is the little rift within the lute,

that by and by will make the music mute,
and ever widening slowly silence all.
the little rift within the lover's lute,
or little pitted speck in garnered fruit,
that rotting inward slowly moulders all.
It is not worth the keeping: let it go:
but shall it? answer, darling, answer, no.
And trust me not at all or all in all.

IT

VISION OF LOVE

A. TENNYSON

T was the spring, and newly risen day
peeped o'er the hamlets on the first of May;

my eyes too tender for the blaze of light,

still sought the shelter of retiring night,

when Love approached, in painted plumes arrayed;

the insidious god his rattling darts betrayed,

nor less his infant features, and the sly

sweet intimations of his threatening eye.

Such the Sigean boy is seen above

filling the goblet for imperial Jove;

such he, on whom the nymphs bestowed their charms,
Hylas, who perished in a Naiad's arms:
angry he seemed, yet graceful in his ire,
and added threats, not destitute of fire.