When the house doth sigh and weep, And the world is drown'd in sleep, Yet mine eyes the watch do keep, Sweet Spirit, comfort me.

When the passing-bell doth toll,
And the furies, in a shoal,

Come to fright my parting soul,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me.

When the priest his last hath pray'd, And I nod to what is said,

'Cause my speech is now decay'd, Sweet Spirit, comfort me.

When, God knows, I'm toss'd about,
Either with despair or doubt,
Yet before the glass be out,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me.

When the Tempter me pursu'th
With the sins of all my youth,
And half-damns me with untruth,
Sweet Spirit, comfort me.

When the flames and hellish cries Fright mine ears and fright mine eyes, And all terrors me surprise,

Sweet Spirit, comfort me.

When the judgment is reveal'd,
And that open'd which was seal'd,
When to Thee I have appeal'd,

Sweet Spirit, comfort me.

PRAYER FOR ABSOLUTION.

For those my unbaptized rhymes,
Writ in my wild unhallow'd times;
For every sentence, clause, and word,
That's not inlaid with Thee, my Lord,
Forgive me, God; and blot each line
Out of my book, that is not thine.

But if, 'mongst all, Thou find'st here one
Worthy thy benediction;

That one, of all the rest, shall be

The glory of my work and me.

1 In these lines he seems to refer to the licentious character of many of his poems.

HENRY VAUGHAN.

BORN 1614; DIED 1695.

THIS truly "sacred" poet was styled by himself and his contemporaries," the Silurist," from having been born on the banks of the Esk, in Brecknockshire, a part of Britain once inhabited by the Silures.

With less delicacy of feeling, as well as of intellectual perception, there is much in Vaughan not unworthy of George Herbert-the same fervour and tenderness of piety; the same concentrated earnestness, but expressed in a terser style. His principal works are, "Olor Iscanus, a collection of some select Poems;" "Silex Scintillans, or Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations," and "The Mount of Olives, or Salutary Meditations."

Vaughan is said, by those contemporary panegyrists, who admired not only the beauty of his verse, but the "charming rigour" of his subjects to have

"Restor❜d the golden age, when verse was law."

This praise, at least, is his-that he devoted his powers, without reserve, to the worthiest objects." O si sic omnes !"

1 Katherine Phillips.

HENRY VAUGHAN.

THE RAINBOW.

STILL young and fine! but what is still in view
We slight as old and soil'd, though fresh and new;
How bright wert thou, when Shem's admiring eye
Thy burning, flaming arch did first descry;
When Zerah, Nahor, Haram, Abram, Lot,
The youthful world's gray fathers, in one knot,
Did, with intentive looks, watch every hour
For thy new light, and trembled at each shower.
When thou dost shine, darkness looks white and
fair;

Forms turn to music, clouds to smiles and air;
Rain gently spends his honey-drops, and pours
Balm on the cleft earth, milk on grass and flowers.
Bright pledge of peace and sunshine! the sure

tie

Of thy Lord's hand, the object of his eye!
When I behold thee, though my light be dim,
Distant and low, I can in thine see Him,
Who looks upon thee from his glorious throne,
And minds the covenant betwixt All and One.