THREE SONNETS. BY MRS. FANNY KEMBLE. The Spirit of the Fair publishes three sonnets by Mrs. Kemble, with the following introduction :— "Lest any one, in reading the following noble sonnets, should have their pleasure marred, though but for a moment, by a misconception of their meaning, a word of explanation may not be out of place. "The first poem is intended to speak for the 'conservative' aristocracies-those who caught up and echoed the jeering cry of the London Times, The Great Republic is no more!' "The second is the wail of those true but faint hearts who, also accepting as inevitable the ruin of this country, see in her going down, not a triumph, but the quenching of that star of redemption' which they had prayed might one day shine over 'the whole earth,' bringing light into all its dark places. "In the last, the writer, like another Miriam, takes her timbrel in her hand' and answers both the sneer and the despair. "We need only add that Mrs. Kemble, in the letter enclosing her verses, says, that to rise to the occasion she should need the pen of both Milton and Wordsworth." ""> FIRST SONNET. SHE has gone down! They shout it from afar, Kings, Nobles, Priests-all men of every race, Whose lingering clogs Time's swift relentless pace. She has gone down! Our evil-boding star! Rebellion, smitten with Rebellion's sword, Anarchy, done to death by slaveryOf Ancient Right, arrogant enemy, Beneath a hideous cloud of civil war Have ye believed that the divine decree Of Heaven had given this people o'er to perish? Have ye believed that God would cease to cherish This great New World of Christian liberty? And that our light forever had departed? Nay-by the precious blood shed to redeem The nation from its selfishness and sin, By each true heart that burst in holy strife, Leaving its kindred hearts to break through life; By all the tears that will not cease to stream Forever, every desolate home within, We will return to our appointed place, First in the vanguard of the human race! London, January 20, 1864. FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY. I. FROM heaven I came, and heavenward is my road, Yet there, and only there, I do not dwell; Strife such as heathen slaughterers had ab- By me what passes human thought you know; horred. The lawless band, who would call no man lord, Spurning all wholesome curb, and dreaming free Her rabble rule's licentious tyranny, In the fierce splendor of her insolent morn, She has gone down-the world's eternal scorn! SECOND SONNET. She has gone down! all I cheer the mourner, and I lift the low; II. My dwelling is on earth, and there I own Woe for the world and My visits all delight to entertain; Its weary workers looking from afar Of Power decrepit, and of Rule outworn! Back on its path of progress sternly hurled! Land of sufficient harvests for all dearth, Home of all highest hopes-Time's richest birth; Woe for the promised land of the whole Earth! THIRD SONNET. Triumph not, fools, and weep not, ye fainthearted; III. Highest of gifts, and nearest to divine, I visit earth, but reign in heaven supreme; With God I dwell; in all his works I shine; He, the full Fountain; I, the flowing stream. Faith shall retire, Hope at length shall cease, Answer,-Love. POETRY.-Faith Militant, 242. The Emigrants, 242. An Invitation, 288. Longest and Shortest, 288. Disappointment, 288. Beginning to Walk, 288. SHORT ARTICLES.-Quinine and its Substitutes, 257. Origin of Brandy, 274. Disorder of Rome, 274. The Coliseum at Rome, 287. Mr. Banting's pamphlet on " Corpulency," 287. 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[Concluded from page 211.] GLANCING Over the series of public affairs which make up the history of these twenty years, the middle of the twelfth century, there are four main events that are distinctly prominent: The schism in the Papacy which followed on the death of Honorius, and which embroiled the south of Europe in war for eight years; the trial and condemnation of Abelard and Arnold; the suppression of the quasi-Protestant revolts in the south of France; and the preaching of the second Crusade. was fear, and yet a difficulty to escape, being cursed; for each pope attacks his adversary with all his might, and anathematizes him and his partisans most fatally. Thus cach, being prevented from accomplishing his purpose, seeks by his imprecations to enlist God on his side against his rival." Under this war of anathemas no land could long exist; no time was to be lost; and King Louis summoned a counsel to meet at Etampes to discuss the Papal election. Bernard was invited to attend with the bishops, to whom the question was committed. He set out in fear and trembling, but was cheered by visions and dreams on the road; and to his amazement found that the council had unanimously agreed, that a "business which concerned God should be intrusted to the man of God," and that his own poor judgment was to decide the assembly. This was the proudest moment of Bernard's life in his hands rested the determination of the French Church, and that would be equivalent to turning the scale. He prayerfully examined the whole question of the double election; and, finding an almost equal informality in both, the superior moral qualities of Innocent decided him. Bernard pronounced Innocent the legitimate pope: his voice was received as the Holy Ghost, and the council broke up with acclamations and thanksgivings. The first of these events brings Bernard before us as the champion of the Papacy. Once more Rome had become the arena of those scandalous contests for the vicarship of Christ which were the foulest disgrace of mediæval Christendom. Honorius II. died in 1130, and the turbulent scene which his election had witnessed was re-enacted at his death. Rome was filled by two armies of ferocious partisans; spiritual weapons and carnal were used in blasphemous confusion, and the city ran with blood. Peter Leonis, the wealthy grandson of a Jewish usurer, the candidate favored by the strongest party Having once engaged his whole soul in in the conclave; but the committee appointed the matter, Bernard's characteristic energy to conduct the election were against him. prompted him to take desperate measures to They proclaimed Innocent II.; Peter, under insure the success of his protégé. He went the style of Anacletus II., flew to arms, be- straight and alone to Normandy, where he sieged St. Peter's, plundered the churches, found Henry I., and the flower of the Engbought over the most powerful of his enemies, lish clergy and chivalry. His coming was and drove the orthodox pope out of the city. opportune. The monk soon convinced the Innocent dropped down the Tiber, landed at king, who was all but committed to the Pisa, and committed himself and his cause to cause of Anacletus. "Are you afraid," said the faithful of France and Northern Europe. Bernard, "of incurring sin if acknowlThe ancient and magnificent monastery of edge Innocent? Bethink you how to answer Cluny received him in great state-a circum-to God for your other sins; that one I will stance of good omen when it is remembered take and account for." Like Louis before that Anacletus had been a monk of Cluny. him, Henry now did homage. There only But the French bishops were still undecided; and every day the embarrassment occasioned by the rivalry for the supreme vicarship became greater. Ordericus Vitalis groans over it as follows: "In most abbeys two abbots arose; in the bishoprics two prelates contended for the see, of which one adhered to Anacletus and the other favored Innocent. In a schism of this kind one has reason to you The German remained the German Emperor Lothair; and |