7.

AS I LAYE A-THYNKYNGE.

(Last Lines of Thomas Ingoldsby.)

As I laye a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, Merrie sang the Birde as she sat upon the spraye; There came a noble Knyghte,

With his hauberke shynynge brighte,

And his gallant heart was lyghte,

Free and gaye;

As I laye a-thynkynge, he rode upon his waye.

As I laye a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge,
Sadly sang the Birde as she sat upon the tree!
There seemed a crimson plain,

Where a gallant Knyghte lay slayne,
And a steed with broken rein

Ran free.

As I laye a-thynkynge, most pitiful to see.

As I laye a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge,
Merrie sang the Birde as she sat upon the boughe;
A lovely Mayde came bye,

And a gentil Youth came nighe
And he breathed many a syghe

And a vowe;

As I laye a-thynkynge, her heart was gladsome now.

As I laye a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, Sadly sang the Birde as she sat upon the thorne; No more a Youth was there,

But a Maiden rent her haire,

And cried in sad despaire,

"That I was borne!"

As I lay a-thynkynge, she perished forlorne.

As I laye a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge,
Sweetly sang the Birde as she sat upon the briar;
There came a lovely Childe,

And his face was meek and milde,
Yet joyously he smiled

On his Sire;

As I laye a-thynkynge, a Cherub mote admire.

But I laye a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, And sadly sang the Birde as it perched upon a bier; That joyous smile was gone,

And the face was white and wan,

As the downe upon the Swan

Doth appear,

As I laye a-thynkynge - O! bitter flowed the tear!

As I laye a-thynkynge, the golden sun was sinking, Oh merrie sang that Birde as it glittered on her breast, With a thousand gorgeous dyes,

While soaring to the skies,

'Mid the stars she seemed to rise, As to her nest;

As I laye a-thynkynge, her meaning was exprest: "Follow, follow me away,

It boots not to delay,"

'Twas so she seemed to saye,

"HERE IS REST!"

-R. H. BARHAM.

8.

THE PALM-TREE AND THE PINE.

BENEATH an Indian palm a girl

Of other blood reposes;

Her cheek is clear and pale as pearl,

Amid that wild of roses.

Beside a northern pine a boy

Is leaning fancy-bound,

Nor listens where with noisy joy

Awaits the impatient hound.

Cool grows the sick and feverish calm,
Relaxt the frosty twine;

The pine-tree dreameth of the palm,
The palm-tree of the pine.

As soon shall nature interlace
Those dimly-visioned boughs,
As these young lovers face to face

Renew their early vows.

- LORD HOUGHTON.

9.

THE SANDS OF DEE.

"O MARY, go and call the cattle home,

And call the cattle home,

And call the cattle home,

Across the sands of Dee."

The western wind was wild and dank with foam,

And all alone went she.

The creeping tide crept up along the sand,

And o'er and o'er the sand,

And round and round the sand,

As far as eye could see.

The blinding mist came down, and hid the land:

And never home came she.

"Oh! is it weed, or fish, or floating hair

A tress of golden hair,

A drowned maiden's hair,

Above the nets at sea?

Was never salmon yet that shone so fair
Among the stakes on Dee."

They rowed her in across the rolling foam,

The cruel crawling foam,

The cruel hungry foam,

To her grave beside the sea :

But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home

Across the sands of Dee.

- CHARLES KINGSLEY.

IO.

KUBLA KHAN.

IN Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers were girdled round:

And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted

As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst

Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid those dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river,
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean :
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!

The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;

Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.

It was a miracle of rare device,

A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

A damsel with a dulcimer

In a vision once I saw :