HYMN III. 1.

6. 0 Thou! whom earth and stars pro- Impress'd by lines of mystic flame, claim

The wond'rous image lives in man, The sire of this resplendent Whole, And song spontaneous hymns the fame But chief on Man hast set thy name Of thy creation's endless plan. And shed thy glory round the soul;

7. 2.

Oh! Source divine, and Life of all, Beneath thy Heaven, with spheres The Fount of Being's fearful sea, alive,

Thy depth would every heart appal, The heart expands as wide as they ; That saw not love supreme in Thee. Devotion's failing wings revive, And joyful soar their upward way.

8.

We shrink before thy vast abyss, 3.

Where worlds on worlds eternal brood! Soon breaks the dawn in golden glow, We know thee truly but in this, The rays thou giv'st the breast in- That thou bestowest all our good!

spire, And human thoughts from thee that

9. flow,

And so 'mid boundless time and space, Are blent amid those beams of fire. Oh! grant us still in Thee to dwell.

And through thy ceaseless web to trace, 4.

Thy presence working all things well. This world of ours is opening round, In lines obscure, reflecting Thee ;

10. Where, kindling cloud, and wave, and Nor let thou life's delightful play ground,

Thy truth's transcendent vision hide; Thy sovran glance in all we see. Nor strength and gladness lead astray,

From Thee our nature's only guide. 5. Thy pillar'd halls, the mountains, rise,

11. Of Thee thy living waters tell ; Bestow on every joyous thrill And fields, and woods, that drink the Thy deeper tone of reverent awe; skies,

Make pure thy creature's erring will, With thine abundance teem and swell. And teach his heart to love thy law.

Hymn IV.

1.
O Thou ! sole Sire ! pervading Lord of all,
Who spread'st thy fulness round this earthly ball ;
You teach me still in every face to see
An ampler mould than all the skies of Thee.

2.
By Passion wrench'd and darken'd, torn by Hate,
By Sin dethroned from all our heavenly state,
Thy spirit stain'd, defaced, and scarr’d with shame,
Still shows on each thy noblest creature's name.

3.
Though changed, how far! from all thy will commands,
And bruised and maim'd by Evil's rending hands ;
While Life, and Thought, and Soul, and Sense are ours,
Still lasts the wreck of more than earthly powers.

4.
Renew-thou only canst, O God!—the plan
Of truth and love, so blurr'd and crush'd in man-

That good, design'd for all, to all unknown,
Till set before our eyes in One alone.

5.
From Him, so full of Thee, the Father's mind,
The Father's holy love to all our kind,
Oh, teach us Thou to draw whate'er of best
Restores to Thee the self-bewilder'd breast !

6.
Amid our waste be He a living spring,
Amid our lawless wars a peaceful king ;
In our dark night be He a dawning star,
In woe a friend, to aid us come from far.

7.
And thus, that we his help and hope may share,
Our hearts, o'erthrown by sin, do Thou repair,
And so in chambers purified by Thee,
His peace may dwell, and there his Spirit be.

8.
O Thou ! whose will has join'd us each to all,
And made the lonely heart itself appal ;
Who art the vital bond that knits in one
Thy countless myriads born beneath the sun ;

9.
Thou aid us, Heavenly Sire I that each for each
May live, as He for all, in deed and speech;
And so do Thou for us, paternal Lord,
Make bright, like His, the face, and pure the word.

10.
Like us, a man, He trode on eartbly soil,
He bore each pang, and strove in weary toil;
He spake with human words, with pity sigh’d;
Like us He mourn'd, and fear'd, and wept, and died.

11.
Yet all thy fulness, Father, dwelt in Him,
In whom no shadow made thy glory dim;
Such strength, O God! from Him to us derive,
And make, by life from Him, our death alive.

a

HYMN V. 1.

Thin shades arise from far below, Amid the gay and noisy throng, Where boils a secret gulf of madness. Around me fluttering, wheeling, shining,

4. My ears are fill'd with shout and song, A quivering cheek, a faltering glance, But yet my soul is still repining. One throb, onė sigh, the whole re

vealing; 2.

In all the flashing, whirling dance, In every face around I see

I see a world to shipwreck reeling. Some heart-felt curse in silence work

5. Each eye reflects my

sins on me, And shows me all within me lurking.

And while I fain (would pause and

think, 3.

Me too the tumult onward presses ; "Mid bounding joy and passion's glow, In vain I strive, in vain I shrink; 'Mid sportive bursts of mutual glad. My breast the hour's vague fiend ness,

ing;

6.

Where all is calm, and deep, and 'Mid wreaths and gems, 'mid masks grave, and crowns,

With a full soul's mature sedateness. 'Mid brows austere, or smooth from sorrow,

11. On all alike one ruin frowns,

By Him subdued to thought and peace, And bodes for all one fearful morrow. The crowd no more in tumult wander,

The sounds of surging riot cease, 7.

And hearts high swollen devoutly And 'tis the worst despair to know,

ponder. By pangs within my bosom aching, How deep in each the root of woe,

12. How many a heart is slowly breaking.

By his mild glance and sober power 8.

Renew'd to tranquil aspiration, But while my sad bewilder'd view

My soul escapes the reckless hour, The wide confusion vainly traces,

And learns his spirit's pure elation. One look I see serenely true, Among the false and loveless faces.

13.

To thee, O God! a man redeem'd, 9.

With all a world to thee returning, Like

yon blue sky, when first it shows We own the light from Him that The storm-tost ship how Heaven hath beam'd, pity ;

In Him its source for ever burning. Or some pure mountain breeze that blows

14. Its healing o'er a plague-struck city. So ʼmid our stormy griefs and joys

May He still teach unforced devo10.

tion, A voice not loud, like wind or wave, Recall our shaken being's poise, A look made low by conscious great And clear and deepen all emotion.

ness,

a

2.
The mountain ridge against the purple sky
Stands clear and strong with darken'd rocks and dells,
And cloudless brightness opens wide on high
A home aërial, where thy presence dwells.

3.
The chime of bells remote, the murmuring sea,
The song of birds in whispering copse and wood,
The distant voice of children's thoughtless glee,
And maiden's song, are all one voice of good.

4.
Amid the leaves' green mass, a sunny play
Of flash and shadow stirs like inward life;
The ship’s white sail glides onward far away,
Unhaunted by a dream of storm or strife.

5.
Upon the narrow bridge of foot-worn plank,
The peasant stops where swift the waters gleam,
And broods as if his heart in silence drank
More freshening draughts than that untainted stream,

6.
The cottage roof, the burn, the spire, the graves,
All quaff the rest of seasons hush'd as this,
And earth enjoys, while scarce its foliage waves,
The deep repose and harmony of bliss.

7.
O Thou! the primal fount of life and peace,
Who shedd'st thy breathing quiet all around,
In me command that pain and conflict cease,
And turn to music every jarring sound.

8.
How longs each gulf within the weary soul
To taste the life of this benignant hour,
To be at one with thine untroubled Whole,
And in itself to know thy hushing power.

9.
Amid the joys of all my grief revives,
And shadows thrown from me thy sunshine mar;
With this serene to-day dark memory strives,
And draws its legions of dismay from far.

10. Prepare, O Truth Supreme ! through shame and pain A heart attuned to thy celestial calm ; Let not reflection's pangs be roused in vain, But heal the wounded breast with searching balm.

11.
So, firm in steadfast hope, in thought secure,
In full accord to all thy world of joy,
May I be nerved to labours high and pure,
And Thou thy child to do thy work employ.

12.
So might in many hearts be kiridled then
The lambent fire of faith not rashly strong-
So might be taught to souls of doubtful men
Thy tranquil bliss, thy love's divinest song.

13.
In One, who walk'd on earth a man of woe,
Was holier peace than e'en this hour inspires ;
From Him to me let inward quiet flow,
And give the might my failing will requires.

14.
So this great All around, so He, and Thou,
The central source and awful bound of things,
May fill my heart with rest as deep as now
To land, and sea, and air, thy presence brings.

ON TITIAN AND VENETIAN PAINTING.

While the works of Michael An- through the operation of emotion and gelo and Raphael, in their peculiar or passion, the legitimate and distinguishiessential characteristics, announce the ing end of all the arts—presents one influence and operation of different diversified evolution. This is the view constituents of the mind, a third, and under which it should be regarded, in very distinct portion of its perceptions, attempting to discriminate the char. furnishes the foundation and reference acter of different periods, schools, and of those of Titian, which occupy a masters, The primary distinctions in station at once elevated and degraded every art must be sought for, and -elevated by the extent of their re- found, in the relation which their lation or reference, and the exemplifi- separate productions hold with the cation of power or genius which they different elements of the mind : not in present-degraded (to use the general reference to the necessary and obvious language in respect to the sphere of exercise of these—the condition of mind or being to which they will be every intelligential act, from the simpfound to belong) in their basis and lest to the most complex-but by their final tendency.

being immediately manifested or exBut it is only by a discrimination poned in different combinations, which of those ultimate qualities with which should be recognised to constitute the the greater names in art should be ultimate distinctions of signification seen to be synonymous, that those and style. distinctions which we have already Of this manifestation, the works of made in regard to Michael Angelo Titian are among the most prominent and Raphael,* and in this instance examples. They originate from, and shall endeavour to establish in respect are addressed to, one great range of to Titian, may be arrived at and ap- perception. The sphere to which he prehended. Surrounded, as all the belongs, by its engrossing influence, masters of the great era of Italian “ contends for mastery” with that of painting were, by an almost common Michael Angelo and that of Raphael, atmosphere, mental and physical ; to neither of which it is inferior in exand each confessing the influence of ‘tent; but the nature of the tendency those prevailing peculiarities, both of of his works separates him by a wide thought and style, which run through gulf from both. out every department of art; with Venetian painting, of which Titian the same data or materials, and in a must be considered to be the great great measure with a like overt or representative, has been designated professed purpose in their exercise, the school of colour. Thus, as in the (setting aside all consideration of their instance of the Roman and other general bond of unity--the nature of schools, the method of using or adoptthe art itself,) there is necessarily ing a particular portion of the matemuch which is common among them. rial, or means of signification, has been But beyond this common surface, held to be ultimately distinctive of its (dependent upon their being of one character. The spirit--the vivida vis time, and the similarity of the subjects animi-which distinguishes different of their works,) lying beneath the im- periods and different schools of art, mediate effect of those influences from one from the other, has been placed in the combination of which the pecu- lines and in tints; and its law, which liar animus of revived civilisation led to the adoption or rejection, the sprung, there are radical distinctions, selection and combination ofthese_has which are not to be apprehended or remained unnoticed. Its vehicula, like characterised without a reference to the cover of an Egyptian two thousand the constitution of the mind ; of which years dead, have been looked to for painting, in carrying forward its pur- all that was to characterise it-the pose-the explication or reproduction chrysalis shell mistaken for the liv. of the amassed tendencies of life ing psyche, which floated unobserved