In rich confusion. Now the air is fill'd With thousand odours, sigh'd by blossoms bent In closing beauty, where the dew distill'd From Evening's airy urns their purple lips has chill'd.

Twilight has come in saffron mists embower'd, For the broad sun on the Atlantic surge, Now sparkling in the fiery flashes shower'd From his swift wheels-the forest vapours urge Their solemn wings above-white stars emerge From the dark east, like spires of mountain snows Touch'd by the light upon th' horizon's verge; Just rising from her sleep, the young Moon shows, Supine upon the clouds, her cheeks suffused with rose.

This is the loveliest hour of all that Day Calls upwards through its kingdom of the air.The sights and sounds of earth have died away; Above, the clouds are roll'd against the glare Of the red west-high volumed waves, that war Against a diamond promontory's side, Crested with one sweet, solitary star, That like a watch-fire trembles o'er the tide, Bright'ning with every shade that on its surge doth ride.

CROLY.

THE WINTER ROSE.

HAIL, and farewell, thou lovely guest,
I may not woo thy stay,
The hues that paint thy glowing vest
Are fading fast away,
Like the retiring tints that die
At evening on the western sky,
And melt in misty gray.

It was but now thy radiant smile
Broke through the season's gloom,
As, bending, I inhaled a while
Thy breathing of perfume;

And traced on every silken leaf
A tale of summer, sweet and brief,
And sudden as thy doom.

The morning sun thy petals hail'd
New from their mossy cell,
At eve his beam, in sorrow veil'd,
Bade thee a last farewell;
To-morrow's ray shall mark the spot
Where, loosen'd from their fairy knot,
Thy withering beauties fell.

Alas! on thy forsaken stem

My heart shall long recline, And mourn the transitory gem,

And make the story mine;"
So on my joyless winter hour
Has oped some fair and fragrant flower,
With smile as soft as thine.

Like thee, the vision came and went,
Like thee, it bloom'd and fell,
In momentary pity sent
Of fairer climes to tell,

So frail its form, so short its stay,
That naught the lingering heart could say
But, Hail, and Fare thee well!

ANON.

ON THE STARRY FIRMAMENT.

I GAZE upon yon orbs of light

The countless stars that gem the sky; Each in its sphere serenely bright,

Wheeling its course-how silently! While in the mantle of the night

Earth, and its cares and troubles lie.

Temple of light and loveliness,
And throne of grandeur, can it be
That souls, whose kindred loftiness

Nature hath framed to rise to thee,
Should pine within this narrow space,

This prison of mortality?

What madness from the path of right

For ever leads our steps astray,
That, reckless of thy pure delight,

We turn from this divine array,
To chase a shade that mocks the sight-
A good that vanisheth away.

Awake, ye mortals! raise your eyes
To these eternal starry spheres ;
Look on these glories of the skies,

And see how poor this world appears,
With all its pomps and vanities-

With all its hopes and all its fears. Who can look forth upon this blaze

Of heavenly lamps, so brightly shining Through the unbounded void of space

A hand unseen their course assigningAll moving with unequal pace,

Yet in harmonious concord joining : Who sees the silver chariot move

Of the bright moon; and, gliding slow, The star whose influence from above

Sheds knowledge on the world below; And the resplendent Queen of Love

All bright and beautifully glow:

Or, where the angry God of War

Rolls fiercely on his bloody way, And near the mild majestic star

That o'er the gods of old held sway; That beams his radiance from afar,

And calms the heavens beneath his ray:

Where Saturn shows his distant beam,
God of the golden days of yore;
Or where the countless stars, that seem
Thick as the sand upon the shore,
From their eternal seats a stream

Of glory and of radiance pour:

Who that hath seen these splendours roll,
And gazed on this majestic scene,
But sigh'd to 'scape this world's control,

Spurning its pleasures poor and mean,
To burst the bonds that bind the soul,
And pass the gulf that yawn'd between?
ANON.

HUMAN LIFE.

THE lark has sung his carol in the sky;
The bees have humm'd their noontide lullaby;
Still in the vale the village bells ring round,
Still in Llewellyn-hall the jests resound:
For now the caudle-cup is circling there,
Now, glad at heart, the gossips breathe their prayer,
And, crowding, stop the cradle to admire
The babe, the sleeping image of his Sire.

A few short years, and then these sounds shall hail
The day again, and gladness fill the vale :
So soon the child a youth, the youth a man,
Eager to run the race his fathers ran.
Then the huge ox shall yield the broad sirloin;
The ale, new brew'd, in floods of amber shine;
And basking in the chimney's ample blaze,
'Mid many a tale told of his boyish days,
The nurse shall cry, of all her ills beguiled,
""T was on these knees he sat so oft, and smiled."

And soon again shall music swell the breeze;
Soon, issuing forth, shall glitter through the trees

Vestures of nuptial white; and hymns be sung, And violets scatter'd round; and old and young, In every cottage-porch, with garlands green, Stand still to gaze; and, gazing, bless the scene; While, her dark eyes declining, by his side Moves in her virgin-veil the gentle bride.

And once, alas! not in a distant hour,
Another voice shall come from yonder tower:
When in dim chambers long black weeds are seen,
And weepings heard where only joy had been;
When by his children borne, and from his door
Slowly departing, to return no more,
He rests in holy earth with them that went before.
And such is human life; so gliding on,
It glimmers like a meteor, and is gone!

ROGERS.

TO TWILIGHT.

FRIEND of the pensive wand'rer, Twilight, hail!
I joy to see thee roll thy sea of clouds
Athwart the crimson throne
Of the departing sun.

For then, what various objects, dimly seen,
By wonder-working Fancy touch'd, acquire
An awe-inspiring air,

And urge Fear's hurried step.

Lo! thine attendant, the low-sailing bat,
Flaps his brown wing, begins his circling flight;
E'en Midnight's tuneful bird,

To hail thee, pours her strain.

I love thy simple garb: no brilliant stars
Adorn thy dusky vest, unlike to that
Worn by thy sister Night,

Save when she reigns in storms.