So we mend God's making, And so mar it for the most part : From the dust what seem'd the lost part Of our labour, suffer Fancy to sport with it and the Muses, That neglected our endeavour, turn its failure to her uses. Robert, Lord Lytton: born, 1831. (See page 24.) ABOU BEN ADHEM AND THE ANGEL. 'Love, sterling on earth, is current in heaven.'—R. P. S. 'What writest thou?'-The vision raised its head, The angel wrote and vanished. The next night Leigh Hunt: 1784-1859. James Henry Leigh Hunt was born at Southgate, and educated at Christ's Hospital. He was an essayist and poet. His literary work is graceful and pleasing,-not profound. In 1808 Hunt was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for a newspaper pasquinade on the Prince-Regent. But liberty to follow his own fancies was allowed him to an extent that made his captivity pretty comfortable; and in 1847 the Crown bestowed a pension upon him. THE CLOD AND THE PEBBLE. 'LOVE seeketh not itself to please, And builds a heaven in hell's despair.' So sung a little clod of clay, Trodden with the cattle's feet: Warbled out these metres meet 'Love seeketh only self to please, Joys in another's loss of ease, And builds a hell in heaven's despite.' William Blake. This poem presents two views of love. Love unselfish and sincere, deriving happiness from its own devotion and services to the object beloved, satisfied with poor return, and often meeting with the neglect to which the very meekness of its self-sacrifice renders it liable. . . and Love regarded only as a phase of selfishness, jealous and assuming, always unhappy because always unsatisfied, though every concession be made to its unreasonable exactions. THE POET'S AWAKENING. LONG had he been a thing of common clay, But, lo! an angel crossed his path one day, Silent was he: the angel came again, And as she passed along, She kissed his lips all lovingly, and then George Arnold: 1834-1865. (See also page 68.) An American editor and poet, author of the Mc Arone Papers. He has written many fugitive pieces, and some of his poems are of remarkable sweetness. He served with honour in the Union Army during the American Civil War, THE HAUNTED PALACE. [This fine allegory is little understood by general readers. It pictures the devastation that follows upon the loss of reason.] 1. IN the greenest of our valleys, 2. 3. Never seraph spread a pinion Banners-yellow, glorious, golden,- And every gentle air that dallied, In that sweet day, Along the ramparts plumed and pallid, Wanderers in that happy valley, Through two luminous windows saw To a lute's well-tuned law, Round about a throne where, sitting In state his glory well befitting, The ruler of the realm was seen. 1 Radiant palace-the human countenance. 2 Banners-waving locks of hair ramparts plumed-the forehead swept by the hair: dallied-played: pallid-fair, pale. 3 windows-the eyes: spirits-sweet thoughts and fancies : To a lute's well-tuned law-in harmonious obedience to Intellect, the ruler of the realm: Porphyrogene-Porphyry is a kind of granite, and the epithet porphyrogene, applied to throne, is intended to describe the former apparent security of the seat of reason. 4. 5. 6. And all with pearl and ruby glowing Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing, A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty Was but to sing, In voices of surpassing beauty, The wit and wisdom of their king. But evil things, in robes of sorrow, Is but a dim-remembered story Of the old time entombed. And travellers now within that valley, A hideous throng rush out for ever, And laugh-but smile no more. Edgar Allan Poe: 1809-1849. An American poet, adopted early in life, and educated by Mr. Allan, a Virginian planter. Edgar Poe's life was made a failure by his recklessness and dissipation. He died in a hospital at Baltimore, a victim to intemperance. Poe was a writer of remarkable genius: his Tales of Mystery and Imagination are well-known: his critical work is much admired. In poetry he is best known as the author of The Raven, and The Bells. His poems are melodious, but often morbid and gloomy in feeling. pearl, the teeth ruby, the lips: palace-door-the mouth: echoes-speech: their king-the intellect: ruby—a precious stone of fine red colour. 5 evil things-troubles. 6 vast forms-the expressions of vague fear, rage, and horror seen in the eyes of mad persons: fantastically-capriciously: discordant melody-thoughts without sequence or dependence on on each other: pale door-blanched lips: hideous throng-the incoherent and appalling utterances, and dreadful laughter of insanity discordant-out of tune. 1 A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. WHAT was he doing, the great god Pan,1 4 He tore out a reed, the great god Pan, Ere he brought it out of the river. High on the shore sat the great god Pan, And hacked and hewed as a great god can, He cut it short, did the great god Pan, Then drew the pith, like the heart of a man, And notched the poor dry empty thing In holes, as he sat by the river. 'This is the way,' laughed the great god Pan, (Laughed while he sat by the river,) 'The only way, since gods began To make sweet music, they could succeed.' 1 Fan-the god of shepherds and of rural life, fabled to be the inventor of the seven-reeded flute called Syrinx by the ancients, (the original of pan-pipes). Pan was represented with horns on the head, and with the legs, feet, and tail of a goat. limpid-clear, 2 ban-blight or death. 4 turbidly--thickly, muddily. 3 |