Ye that were born to lend the sunbeam gladness,
And the wind's fragrance, wandering where they list,
—Oh! it were breathing words too deep in sadness
To say-earth's human flowers not more are miss'd.

Brilliants.

DAWN.

By this the northern waggoner had set His sevenfold team behind the steadfast star, That was in ocean's waves yet never wet, But firm is fixed and sendeth light from far To all that in the wide deep wandering are; And cheerful chanticleer, with his note shrill, Had warned once that Phoebus' fiery car In haste was climbing up the eastern hill Full envious that Night so long his room did fill. SPENSER.

TAIRIES.

Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room
Throng numberless, like that Pygmean race
Beyond the Indian mount: or faery elves,
Whose midnight revels, by a forest side
Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,
Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon
Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth

Wheels her pale course: they, on their mirth and dance
Intent, with jocund music charm his ear;

At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.

ECHO.

MILTON.

It seem'd as if every sweet note that died here,
Was again brought to life in an airier sphere,
Some heaven in those hills, where the soul of the strain,
That had ceased upon earth, was awaking again.

MOORE.

THE SKY.

The deep sky, full-hearted with the moon.

LOWELL.

A BRIDAL.

It was the custom then to bring away

The bride from home at blushing shut of day,
Veil'd, in a chariot, heralded along

By strewn flowers, torches, and a marriage song.

KEATS.

TIME.

And that fair flower of beauty fades away,
As doth the lily fresh before the sunny ray.
Great enemy to it and all the rest

That in the garden of fair nature springs
Is wicked TIME, who, with his scythe address'd,
Doth mow the flowering herbs and goodly things,
And all their glory to the ground down flings,
Where they do wither and lie foully marr'd;
He flies about and with his flaggy wings
Beats down both bud and leaf without regard,
Ne ever pity may relent his malice hard.

SPENSER.

JESTERS.

Methinks these fellows, with their ready jests,
Are like to tedious bells, that ring alike

Marriage or death.

BEDDOES.

EVENING.

Look out, my beautiful, upon the sky!
Evening puts on her jewels. Look! she sets,
Venus upon her brow. I never gaze
Upon the evening but a tide of awe,
And love, and wonder, from the Infinite,
Swells sweet within me, as the running tune
Grows in the creeks and channels of a stream,
Until it threats its banks.

ALEXANDER SMITH.

Ye that were born to lend the sunbeam gladness,
And the wind's fragrance, wandering where they list,
-Oh! it were breathing words too deep in sadness
To say-earth's human flowers not more are miss'd.

Brilliants.

DAWN.

By this the northern waggoner had set His sevenfold team behind the steadfast star, That was in ocean's waves yet never wet, But firm is fixed and sendeth light from far To all that in the wide deep wandering are; And cheerful chanticleer, with his note shrill, Had warned once that Phoebus' fiery car In haste was climbing up the eastern hill Full envious that Night so long his room did fill. SPENSER.

TAIRIES.

Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room
Throng numberless, like that Pygmean race
Beyond the Indian mount: or faery elves,
Whose midnight revels, by a forest side
Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,
Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon
Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth

Wheels her pale course: they, on their mirth and dance
Intent, with jocund music charm his ear;

At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds.

ECHO.

MILTON.

It seem'd as if every sweet note that died here,
Was again brought to life in an airier sphere,
Some heaven in those hills, where the soul of the strain,
That had ceased upon earth, was awaking again.

MOORE.

THE SKY.

The deep sky, full-hearted with the moon.

A BRIDAL.

LOWELL.

It was the custom then to bring away

The bride from home at blushing shut of day,
Veil'd, in a chariot, heralded along

By strewn flowers, torches, and a marriage song.

KEATS.

TIME.

And that fair flower of beauty fades away,
As doth the lily fresh before the sunny ray.
Great enemy to it and all the rest

That in the garden of fair nature springs

Is wicked TIME, who, with his scythe address'd,
Doth mow the flowering herbs and goodly things,
And all their glory to the ground down flings,
Where they do wither and lie foully marr'd;
He flies about and with his flaggy wings
Beats down both bud and leaf without regard,
Ne ever pity may relent his malice hard.

SPENSER.

JESTERS.

Methinks these fellows, with their ready jests,
Are like to tedious bells, that ring alike

Marriage or death.

BEDDOES.

EVENING.

Look out, my beautiful, upon the sky!
Evening puts on her jewels. Look! she sets,
Venus upon her brow. I never gaze
Upon the evening but a tide of awe,
And love, and wonder, from the Infinite,
Swells sweet within me, as the running tune
Grows in the creeks and channels of a stream,
Until it threats its banks.

ALEXANDER SMITH.

CONTENTMENT.

If thou indeed derive thy light from heaven,
Shine, Poet, in thy place and be content!
The star that from the zenith darts its beams,
Visible though it be to half the earth,

Though half a sphere be conscious of its brightness,
Is yet of no diviner origin,

No purer essence, than the one that burns,
Like an untended watchfire, on the ridge

Of some dark mountain; or than those which seem
Humbly to hang, like twinkling winter lamps,
Among the branches of the leafless tree.

WORDSWORTH.

NIGHT.

How beautiful is night!

A dewy freshness fills the silent air :
No mist obscures, nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain,
Breaks the serene of heaven:

In full orb'd glory yonder moon divine
Rolls through the dark blue depths ;
Beneath her steady ray

The desert circle spreads

Like the round ocean girdled with the sky.
How beautiful is night!

SOUTHEY.

DE MORTUIS, &c.

Ay, aye, "Good man, kind father, best of friends." These are the words that grow, like grass and nettles, Out of dead men, and speckled hatreds hide,

Like toads, among them.

A WOOD.

The nunneries of silent nooks,
The murmur'd longing of the wood.

BEDDOES.

LOWELL.