Never fledged in Paradise :- "Colin Clout, O Colin Clout! Colin, can you never hear? Leading on to stranger shores And distant ports adventurous- Whose laughter has been soured by doubt, Who learn to hold our lives so dear That all their wealth has trickled out, Have driven homeless from the land "Colin Clout, O Colin Clout! Colin Clout, come home again!" Hark! I hear a shepherd's pipe I hear tumultuous gladness shake When all the earth will smell of may, As children's hearts are, 'gins to beat That we have lost our fear of death Then, Colin! then about your knees. Re-kindling the expiring glow Of serfdom's bowed and broken knee, Where one may cause the many pain To turn to weeds what should be flowers For evil must be still to cope When Colin Clout comes home again, This globe is frozen to good and ill; Colin! bring home the dream we lost And man reached forth to touch that goal Ah, Colin! 'tis a twice-told tale How that the woods were heard to wail, How birds with silence did complain, And fields with faded flowers did mourn, For we who wait on you, know this, As Hobbinol and Lucida And all the simple shepherd-train, What time they gathered and ran, a gay Across the sweetening meadow-hay Each calling other: "Come about! The time of waiting is run out, ELEANOR FARJEON. THE NORWEGIAN "VARDÖGR." THE idea of premonition or foreknowledge, that instinct by which one feels that something is about to happen without being able to give a definite reason for the belief, is not only familiar to most people, but has in recent years become a subject of serious study. If no very definite results have been reached, it is because the instances adduced, however authentic and numerous they may be, are usually of a very special character, depending upon combinations of persons and surroundings which cannot readily recur, and therefore have little of a common element in them. In most cases, the premonition has something of the extraordinary, and even uncanny, about it; in its commonest form it is of an unpleasant nature, and is the herald of some accident or misfortune. This is, in fact, indicated by one of the most usual names for such anticipations; they are "warnings" of mishap, or even of death. It is true that much more trivial instances do frequently occur, and many of these have also been recorded as contributions to the study of the subject. Their general character, however, does not differ materially from those of the more serious class. They are equally accidental, occur in some cases and are absent in others with no apparent reason, and do not help much, if at all, towards any solution of the problem. Nationality seems to make little difference in this respect, although in some countries, and among some peoples, instances may be more frequent than in others. In general, it appears to be the fact that persons in close contact with outward nature, especially when this is of a striking character, are specially subject to such impressions, as well as to others of a related kind; but even in such cases the premonitions are usually of an individual character, and associated with something out of the common order of things. To this, however, there is one exception which so far appears to have escaped the notice of those interested in psychical studies, and which is sufficiently remarkable to deserve their attention. In Norway, or at least in certain parts of it, there is a well-known phenomenon, instances of which are of frequent occurrence, known locally by various names, but in the east of the country commonly called vardögr (otherwise written vardöger or vardögre). By this term is understood a certain property, attaching itself to particular persons, by which their arrival at a particular place, most frequently their own home,. is announced beforehand by distinctive sounds, such as are usually or naturally |