In livid and obdurate gloom he darkens down at last;

A shapely one he is, and strong, as e'er from cat was cast.

O trusted and trustworthy guard, if thou hadst life like me, What pleasures would thy toils reward beneath the deep green sea!

O deep sea-diver, who might then behold such sights as thou? The hoary monster's palaces! me

thinks what joy 'twere now To go plumb plunging down amid

the assembly of the whales, And feel the churned sea round me boil beneath their scourging tails!

Then deep in tangle-woods to fight the fierce sea-unicorn,

O lodger in the sea-king's halls! couldst thou but understand Whose be the white bones by thy side, -or who that dripping band,

Slow swaying in the heaving wave, that round about thee bend, With sounds like breakers in a dream, blessing their ancient friend ;O, couldst thou know what heroes glide with larger steps round

thee,

Thine iron side would swell with pride, thou'dst leap within the sea!

Give honor to their memories who left the pleasant strand

To shed their blood so freely for the love of father-land,

Who left their chance of quiet age and grassy churchyard grave So freely, for a restless bed amid the tossing wave!

O, though our anchor may not be all I have fondly sung,

Honor him for their memory whose bones he goes among!

SAMUEL FERGUSON.

THE ICE PALACE.

LESS worthy of applause, though more admired,

Because a novelty, the work of man, Imperial mistress of the fur-clad Russ,

Thy most magnificent and mighty freak,

The wonder of the North. No forest fell

When thou wouldst build; no quarry sent its stores

To enrich thy walls; but thou didst hew the floods,

And make thy marble of the glassy

wave.

Silently as a dream the fabric rose; No sound of hammer or of saw was

there:

Ice upon ice, the well-adjusted parts Were soon conjoined, nor other cement asked

Than water interfused to make them one. Lamps gracefully disposed, and of all hues,

Illumined every side: a watery light Gleamed through the clear transparency, that seemed

Another moon new risen, or meteor fallen

From Heaven to Earth, of lambent flame serene.

So stood the brittle prodigy: though smooth

And slippery the materials, yet frostbound Firm as a rock.

Nor wanted aught

within, That royal residence might well befit, For grandeur or for use. Long wavy wreaths

Of flowers, that feared no enemy but warmth,

Blushed on the panels. Mirror needed none

Where all was vitreous; but in order

due

Convivial table and commodious seat, (What seemed at least commodious seat,) were there; Sofa and couch and high-built throne august.

The same lubricity was found in all, And all was moist to the warm touch; a scene

Of evanescent glory, once a stream, And soon to slide into a stream again. COWPER.

THE SOLDIER'S DREAM. OUR bugles sang truce; for the night-cloud had lowered,

And the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky;

And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered,

The weary to sleep, and the wounded to die.

When reposing that night on my pallet of straw,

By the wolf-scaring fagot that guarded the slain,

At the dead of the night a sweet vision I saw,

And thrice ere the morning I dreamt it again.

Methought from the battle-field's dreadful array

Far, far I had roamed on a desolate track: