TO A FRIEND. WHEN we were idlers with the loitering rills, Of that sweet music which no ear can measure; Hartley Coleridge. THE DEATH-BED. WE watched her breathing through the night, As in her breast the wave of life Kept heaving to and fro. So silently we seemed to speak, As we had lent her half our powers Our very hopes belied our fears, Our fears our hopes belied We thought her dying when she slept, Hood. (1) Wisely doting-to dote, connected with the Dutch dutten, and the French, doter, radoter, probably meant originally to sleep, or dream, then to rave, to talk or act foolishly: hence the pointed antithesis, in the above phrase. (2) This beautiful line reminds us of Gray's expression (see p. 127)— "Where ignorance is bliss 'Tis folly to be wise;" and also of the exquisite story of Cupid and Psyche, as told by Apuleius (book iv. 28). Psyche was perfectly happy in the love of Cupid, or Eros, until her curiosity prompted her to try to ascertain who he was—and then he vanished for ever! NIGHT. NIGHT is the time for rest ;- Stretch the tired limbs and lay the head Night is the time for dreams ; The gay romance of life; When truth that is, and truth that seems, Blend in fantastic strife; Ah! visions less beguiling far Than waking dreams by daylight are! Night is the time for toil : To plough the classic field, Night is the time to weep;― The joys of other years; Hopes that were angels in their birth, But perished young, like things of earth. Night is the time for care ; Brooding on hours misspent, Come to our lonely tent; Like Brutus,' 'midst his slumbering host, (1) Like Brutus-in allusion to the phantom of Cæsar, which is said to have appeared to Brutus before the battle of Philippi. (2) Stalworth-from the Anglo-Saxon stal-weorth, worth stealing or taking, and therefore (says Richardson), by inference-brave, strong, daring. Jamieson derives its equivalent stalwart from the Anglo-Saxon stalferhth, steel mind or spirit-a much more probable derivation. M Night is the time to pray ;- Steal from the throng to haunts untrod, When all around is peace, Calmly to yield the weary breath, From sin and suffering cease; Think of heaven's bliss and give the sign To parting friends-such death be mine! Montgomery. DEATH OF AN INFANT.1 DEATH found strange beauty on that infant brow, Death gazed and left it there;-he dared not steal Mrs. Sigourney. EARLY RISING AND PRAYER.2 WHEN first thine eyes unveil, give thy soul leave (1) This subject has not often been more gracefully and tenderly handled than in the above lines. The picture here presented matches with that by the same elegant hand in p. 88. (2) The author of these striking lines was a Welsh private gentleman, who lived in the 17th century. It is rare to find so much meaning in so few words. The spirit's duty; true hearts spread and heave Yet never sleep the sun up; prayer should (1) The sun up-i. e. when the sun is up. (2) Prevent-from the Latin præ, before, and venire, to come or go-to go before. This is the primitive signification of the word, and was common in the 17th century and earlier, as is evident from the Liturgy:-" Prevent us, O Lord, by thy continual grace." (3) Heaven's gate, &c.-It is difficult to conceive of a more beautiful mode of suggesting the charms and benefits of early rising. Many a long poem on the subject is less eloquent than this one line. (4) Fellow-creatures-i. e. the trees, flowers, birds, &c., created by the same hand. (5) I Am-See Exodus iii. 14. (6) Go this way-i. e. do as they do-praise God early in the morning. (7) Who prevailed, &c.-See Genesis xxxii. 26. (8) Heaven-rhymes here, by a most extraordinary license, with sin. (9) Shroud in, &c.-are wrapt in, or symbolized by; as when we speak of the morning of the world, of the resurrection, &c. When the world's up, and every swain abroad, Keep well thy temper, mix not with each clay; Despatch necessities; life hath a load Which must be carried on, and safely may; Yet keep those cares without thee; let the heart Be God's alone, and choose the better part. Vaughan. CHANGES.1 THE lopped tree in time may grow again, The driest soil suck in some moistening shower. The roughest storm a calm may soon allay. Who least, hath some, who most, hath never all. Southwell. THE IDEA OF A STATE. IN IMITATION OF ALCEUS. WHAT Constitutes a State? Not high-raised battlement or laboured mound, Thick wall, or moated gate; Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned; Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride; (1) The pithiness of these lines countenances Pope's assertion that poetry is emphatically the language of brevity. They are of the same date as the last. (2) That-that which. |