Black prophets of a sadder day,
By Dante's tortured creatures sent

To lure the weary sin-sought heart
O'er Charon's silent stream away;
Filled with a sudden discontent

Through fell enchantment's mystic art.
Here in the twilight's gilded gray
I watch you shyly flitting past,

While vesper shadows creep a-near
And cowled friars kneel to pray-
Dream-elfins from the long-lost past,

Who guard my heart from doubt and fear.
How demon-like your antics seem!
What ghoulish awe your pranks provoke!

Damp incense is your clammy breath,
Chill with imagination's dream
That turns hot passions fires to smoke,

And brings wild thoughts of after-death.
Why linger longer tempting here?
To dusky sheol take your flight,

Where is your own Elysium free.
Haste, haste! Back to your native sphere-
My soul is dark enough to-night,
Your presence has no charms for me.

JEAN LA RUE BURNETT. --Californian, April, 1893.

MALONE, WALTER. Narcissus and Other Poems, Phila

dephia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1893. 16mo, gilt, gilt edge, cl., pp. 118.

Narcissus is an imaginative poem musically woven. RILEY, JAMES WHITCOMB. Green Fields and Ruuning Brooks.

Indianapolis: Bowen-Merrill Co., 1882. 16mo, gilt, gilt top, cl., pp. 224. $1.25.

In Green Fields and Running Brooks, Mr. Riley, always a favorite, has enclosed some gems of delicate pathos and quaint humor stamped with his old charm. Foss, SAM WALTRR. Back Country Poems. Illustrated. Boston: Potter Publishing Co., 1892. 12mo, gilt, cl., pp. 275. $1.50.

As the title suggests this is a collection of poems on common themes, but Mr. Foss has shown himself a true poet in his ability to illuminate the com. mon. SHERWOOD, KATE BROWNLEE. Dream of the Ages. Illus

trated. Washington, D. C.: The National Tribune, 1893. 8mo, gilt, cl., pp. 80.

Mrs. Sherwood's verse is notable for its beauty of style and this poem is a graceful, vivid song dream of the Columbian epoch. A souvenir. The poem is attractively illustrated with original drawings by J. E. Kelly and George W. Breck.

NOTES

A PORTRAIT.

I hold before me, in weak, trembling hands,

The fading portrait of a woman's face

A picture not of young or girlish grace, But one upon whose sacred head the sands Of Time had dripped, until the gleaming strands

Shone wan with sprinkled white.—A band of lace

Circles the wrinkled throat in fond embrace E’en as these boyish arms, years gone, their bands Of love clasped round the then fair neck of her As softly rained her lullaby upon

My drowsy ear in dreamland's golden drips, And as I scan that face, now, thro’ the blur Of manhood's tears, I hear a voice long gone Soft crooning thro’ the portal of lost lips!

KIMBALL CHASE TAPLEY.

->
BOOK NOTES.

PoE. “The Raven." This unique and most original of poems first appeared in Colton's American Review for February, 1845, as by “Quarles.” It was at once reprinted in the Evening Mirror, and in a few weeks had spread over the whole of the United States, calling into existence parodies and imitations innumerable. Mrs. Whitman informs us that, when “The Raven " appeared, Poe one evening electrified the gay company assembled at a weekly reunion of noted artists and men of letters, held at the residence of an accomplished poetess in Waverly Place, by the recitation, at the request of his hostess, of this wonderful poem. After this, it was of course impossible to keep the authorship secret. Willis reprinted the poem with the author's name attached, remarking that, in his opinion, it was “the most effective single example of fugitive poetry ever published in this country, and is unsurpassed in English poetry for subtle conception, masterly ingenuity of versification, and consistent sustaining of imaginative lift.” It carried its author's name and fame from shore to shore; drew admiring testimony from some of the first of English poets, and finally made him the lion of the season. And for this master-piece of genius—this poem which has probably done more for the renown of American letters than any other single work—it is alleged that Poe, then at the height of his renown, received the sum of ten dollars, that is, about two pounds.

J. H. I.

WILSTACH, JOHN AUGUSTINE. The Angel and the King and

Other Poems. Buffalo: Charles Wells Moulton, 1893. 16mo, gilt, gilt top, cl., pp. 441.

A complete collection of Mr. Wilstach's Original Verses, including Earlier Poems, Satires, Ballads, Sonnets, and Humorous and Miscellaneous Poems.

IBID. “Lenore" was first written under the title of "The Pæan,” a juvenile poem. He subsequently improved the poem and republished it

nder its present title. It was undoubtedly first inscribed to Mrs. Helen Stannard, the mother of a schoolmate, who had been very kind to the orphan boy.

EDITOR. BOHAN. Sherman.” During an encampment of the G. A. R. in Milwaukee, Wis., this poem was presented to Gen. Sherman by Mattie, the eightyear-old daughter of Mrs. Bohan. The souvenir was printed in blue, on white satin ribbon, enclosed in padded covers, with an illuminated hand-painted title, decorated with sprays of forget-me-nots, the entire work having been done by the author of the poem, Mrs. Bohan.

EDITOR. SMITH. “O'Donoghue's Return." “ Once every seven years, on a fine morning, before the first rays of the sun have begun to disperse the mists from the bosom of the lake, the O'Donoghue comes riding over it on a beautiful snow-white horse, intent upon household affairs, fairies hovering before him and strewing his path with flowers. As he approaches his ancient residence everything returns to its former state of magnificence. Before the sun has risen the O'Donoghue recrosses the water and vanishes."

F. M. O. S. Key. “The Star Spangled Banner.” One afternoon in September, 1814, a party of Baltimore gentlemen, grieved at the defeat of the American troops at North Point, met together in an old house at Upper Marlborough, and there formed a plan for capturing some of the British soldiers, who would pass through the village that night. Meanwhile the main body of the British army had gone on to a point some distance beyond Their plans were so well laid that they actually took over twenty men prisoners and put them in “durance vile.” News of this attack was, however, carried to the British fleet beyond by one man who contrived his escape, and the tables were unexpectedly turned. A detachment of Britishers descended on the village, compelled the liberation of the English soldiers, and took as their prisoners the gentlemen who had planned the capture.

Angered by what they considered a violation of the rules of war, the British colonel in command refused to allow the gentlemen, who were all asleep in their beds, even time to dress. They were placed on horseback and carried to a british ship, hooted and jeered at, Dr. Beans, with whom the idea of the capture had originated, being especially insulted. A day or two later all but the poor doctor were set free, but he was detained as a valuable prize worthy of taking back to England.

Meanwhile his friends in Baltimore went to work with a hearty will to obtain his release, and as he had been known on more than one occasion to have treated wounded British soldiers with great kindness, his niece, a girl of eighteen, ventured herself to write a strong appeal to the English officer in command of the fleet. She succeeded in persuading a Mr. Francis Key to take the letter with a flag of truce, and the young man, procuring a small boat and permission to use the white flag, set out. He boarded the admiral's vessel in safety, but found preparation for the bombardment of Fort McHenry in full swing, and, as a consequence, he was detained by Admiral Cockburn's orders.

It was a moment of most critical importance, for with the fall of McHenry, Baltimore's doom was sealed, and we can easily fancy Mr. Key's feelings as from the English flag-ship he watched during the long hours of that day and night the furious onslaught upon the fort. So long as daylight lasted, he could hardly take his eyes from the flag floating from the fort, and with feverish anxiety he hailed the “dawn's early light." The first break of day showed him his country's flag proudly floating to the breeze, and in the first “enthusiasm of rapture," as he told a friend, he wrote the verses dear to every American heart, “The Star Spangled Banner.”

H. Y. P. DWIGHT. " Columbia was written during the author's service as an army chaplain in 1777-78.

PALMER. "Stonewall Jackson's Way.” Mr. William Gilmore Simms tells us that this poem, stained with blood, was found on the person of a dead soldier of the Stonewall brigade after one of Jackson's battles in the Shenandoah Valley. Its authorship, long unknown, has been discovered by Mr. Francis N. Browne.

G. C. E. BRADBURY. “Marching Along." During the Civil War this song was frequently sung upon the march by the soldiers of the Army of the Potomac. Except “When this Cruel War is Over," and the doggerel about “John Brown's Body," there was scarcely any song so often heard. The name of the leader was changed, from time to time, to accord with the facts.

G. C. E. BARTON. “The Women Who Went to the Field.” This poem was given by Miss Barton at the Farewell Reception and Banquet by the Ladies of Potomac Corps, at Willard's Hotel, Washington, D. C., Friday evening, November 18, 1892, in response to the toast, “The Women Who Went to the Field.” At the words “Your Cheers for her, comrades! Three cheers for her now," as by one impulse, every man in the room sprang to his feet, and led by Gen. W. W. Dudley, gave three rousing cheers, while Mrs. Logan, with her beautiful white head bent low vainly sought to staunch the fast falling tears; the air was white with the sympathetic 'kerchiefs of the ladies, and the imposing figure of Clara Barton standing with uplifted arm, as if in signal for the cheers, so grandly given, completed the historic and never-to-be-forgotten scene.

IBID. “Brassards”—the insignia and arm-band of the Red Cross worn on the field.

EDITOR. REXDALE. “Lawrence Barrett." This poem, in memory of the dead tragedian was read by the author at the Elks' benefit in Boston Theatre, April 9, 1891.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

BROWNING, ELIZABETH BARRETT. Poetical Works. New York: T. Y. Crowell & Co., 12mo, pp. 520.

DAMON, FRANCES B. D. Miscellaneous Poems. BIGELOW, LETTIE S. Miscellaneous Poems.

Вону, , ELIZABETH BAKER. Miscellaneous Poems.

FARMER, Lydia Hort. Miscellaneous Poems.

McCONIHE, ISABELLA WILSON. Miscellaneous Poems.

Barrows, JOHN OTIS. Miscellaneous Poems. McCABE, ANDREW. Miscellaneous Poems. SHALER, CLARENCE A. Miscellaneous Poems. HOPE, JAMES BARRON. Miscellaneous Poems. SMITH, FRANCES M. O. Miscellaneous Poems.

BASKETT, N. M., M. D. Visions of Fancy. St. Louis, Mo.: The Commercial Printing Co., 1884. 12mo, pp. 109.

HOLDER, PHEBE A. Miscellaneous Poems. Poole, Fanny H. R. Miscellaneous Poems. HAGER, LUCIE C. Miscellaneous Poems. WOLVERTON, SARAH. Miscellaneous Poems. JOHNSON, GERTRUDE Tracy. Miscellaneous Poems.

WINTERMUTE, MARTHA. Eleven Women and Thirteen Men, and Other Works. Newark, Ohio: Lyon & Ickes, 1887. 8vo, pp. 360 & 2.

CLARKE, MARY H. Gray. Miscellaneous Poems.

COLERIDGE, SAMUEL TAYLOR. Poetical Works. New York: John W. Lovell, 1881. 16mo, pp. 667.

WORKS CONSULTED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS

NUMBER OF "THE MAGAZINE OF POETRY."

THE EDITOR'S TABLE.

For engravings in this number of The MAGAZINE OF POETRY, the editor acknowledges the courtesy of the Buffalo Electrotyping and Engraving Co., Buffalo, N. Y.

LARCOM, Lucy. An Idyl of Work. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1875. 12mo, pp. 183.

IBID. The Poetical Works. With illustrations. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1886. 12mo, pp. 8 & 321.

IBID. Easter Gleams. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1890. 24mo, pp. 46.

CHARLES, Emily THORNTON. Hawthorn Blossoms. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1876. 12mo, pp. 165.

IBID. Lyrical Poems. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1887. 8vo, pp. 270.

DIEUDONNÉ, FLORENCE C. Miscellaneous Poems.

For copyright poems and other selections, the editor returns thanks to W. J. Widdleton, New York; A. Williams & Co., Boston; James R. Osgood & Co., Boston; Houghton, Miffin & Co., Boston; J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; T. Y. Crowell & Co., New York; The Commercial Printing Co., St. Louis, Mo.; Lyon & Ickes, Newark, O.; John W. Lovell, New York.