VOICES OF THE NIGHT.

Πότνια, πότνια νύξ,

ὑπνοδότειρα τῶν πολυπόνων βροτῶν, Ἐρεβόθεν ἴθι· μόλε μόλε κατάπτερος ̓Αγαμεμνόνιον ἐπὶ δόμον· ὑπὸ γὰρ ἀλγέων, ὑπό τε συμφορᾶς διοιχόμεθ', οἰχόμεθα.

EURIPIDES.

HYMN TO THE NIGHT.

̓Ασπασίη, τρίλλιστος.

I HEARD the trailing garments of the Night Sweep through her marble halls!

I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light From the celestial walls!

I felt her presence, by its spell of might,
Stoop o'er me from above;

The calm, majestic presence of the Night,
As of the one I love.

I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight,

The manifold, soft chimes,

That fill the haunted chambers of the Night,
Like some old poet's rhymes.

From the cool cisterns of the midnight air

My spirit drank repose;

The fountain of perpetual peace flows there,-
From those deep cisterns flows.

O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear
What man has borne before !

Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care,
And they complain no more.

Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer! Descend with broad-winged flight,

The welcome! the thrice-prayed for! the most fair! The best-beloved Night!

A PSALM OF LIFE.

WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN SAID TO THE PSALMIST.

TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.