"THE SOUL, SECURED IN HER EXISTENCE, SMILES AT THE DRAWN DAGGER."-ADDISON.

22

"A GOOD MAN'S FORTUNE MAY GROW OUT AT HEELS. -SHAKSPEARE.

THE SOUL'S ERRAND.

Tell Fortune-of her blindness;

Tell Nature-of decay;
Tell Friendship-of unkindness;
Tell Justice of delay.
And if they will reply,
Then give them all the lie.

Tell Arts-they have no soundness,

But vary by esteeming ;

Tell Schools-they want profoundness,
And stand so much on seeming.
If Arts and Schools reply,

Give Arts and Schools the lie.

Tell Faith-it's fled the city;
Tell how the Country erreth ;
Tell-Manhood shakes off pity;
Tell-Virtue least preferreth.
And if they do reply,
Spare not to give the lie.

So when thou hast, as I
Commanded thee, done blabbing,
Because to give the lie

Deserves no less than stabbing,

Stab at thee who that will,

No stab the soul can kill.

[Sir WALTER RALEIGH. This has also been ascribed to JOSHUA SYLVESTER, born 1563, died 1618.]

66

FORTUNE AT SOME HOURS-TO ALL IS KIND."-DRYDEN.

"WISDOM CONCLUDES THAT, WHERESOEVER GOD CORRECTS, HE LOVES."-QUARLES.

"BLEST SILENT GROVES! OH, MAY YE BE, FOR EVER MIRTH'S BEST NURSERY!"-RALEIGH.

"WITH SPOTS OF SUNNY OPENINGS, AND WITH NOOKS

TO LIE AND READ IN, SLOPING INTO BROOKS."-LEIGH HUNT.

"THE LIGHT, GOLDEN AND GREEN, SOFT-SHOWERING THROUGH THE LEAVES."-ALEX. SMITH.

"AH! BITTER CHILL IT WAS; THE OWL, FOR ALL HIS FEATHERS, WAS A-COLD."-KEATS.

"THEN COMES THE FATHER OF THE TEMPEST FORTH."-THOMSON.

24

A WINTER SONG.

Seeking the food he eats,

And pleased with what he gets,

Come hither, come hither, come hither:

Here shall he see

No enemy

But winter and rough weather.

[W. SHAKSPEARE, born 1564, died 1616. This exquisite song is sung by Amiens, a character in the play of "As You Like It."]

"Alone, and WARMING HIS FIVE WITS, THE WHITE OWL IN THE BELFRY SITS."-TENNYSON.

WW

A WINTER SONG.

HEN icicles hang by the wall,

And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,

And milk comes frozen home in pail;
When blood is nipped, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tuwhoo!

Tuwhit! tuwhoo! a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel* the pot.

When all around the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian's nose looks red and raw;
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tuwhoo!

Tuwhit! tuwhoo! a merry note,

While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

[W. SHAKSPEARE. This song occurs in the play of "Love's Labour's Lost."]

* Skim.

AND WINTER, Ruler of THE INVERTED YEAR."-COWPER.

"WHAT HID'ST THOU IN THY TREASURE-CAVES, O SEA, THOU HOLLOW-SOUNDING AND MYSTERIOUS MAIN?"-HEMANS.

"O THOU VAST OCEAN! EVER-SOUNDING SEA!

A SEA DIRGE.

25

"AND NOW THE THOUSAND FOAMY EYES O' THE SEA HITHER AND THITHER GLIMMERED VISIBLY."-R. BUCHANAN.

[W. SHAKSPEARE. From the play of "The Tempest."]

THOU SYMBOL OF A DREAR IMMENSITY!"-B. W. PROCTER.

"SUCH MUSIC SWEET THEIR HEART AND EARS DID GREET, AS NEVER WAS BY MORTAL FINGER STROOK."-MILTON.

"THE MUSIC FLOWING FROM TH' ILLIMITABLE YEARS."-TENNYSON.

26

MUSIC AND MOONLIGHT.

MUSIC AND MOONLIGHT.

JOW sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!

Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony.

Look how the floor of heaven

Is thick inlaid with patines* of bright gold;
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st
But in his motion like an angel sings,+
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.

The poet

Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods; ‡
Since nought so stockish, hard, and full of rage,
But music for the time doth change his [its] nature.
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;
The motions § of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted.

[WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.

* Small plates.

From "The Merchant of Venice."]

Pythagoras and his followers taught that the planets performed their
revolutions to the sound of majestic music-the music of the spheres-
which originated in themselves.

According to the Greek mythology, the skill of Orpheus in music was
so remarkable that he could make even trees and rocks to follow him.
This story is beautifully told by Virgil. A similar fancy is related of
Amphion, and has been celebrated by Tennyson in a graceful ballad.
Older readers are also referred to Horace, in his "Epis. Ad Pisonem."
§ Conceptions, or ideas.

"THE MOON, ENCIRCLED WITH A ZONE of Love."-WILSON.

"IN FULL-ORBED GLORY YONDER MOON DIVINE ROLLS THROUGH THE DARK-BLUE DEPTHS."-SOUTHEY.