370 O wherefore was my birth from Heaven foretold
twice by an Angel? who at last in sight
of both my parents all in flames ascended
from off the altar, where an offering burned,
as in a fiery column charioting

his god-like presence, and from some great act
or benefit reveal'd to Abraham's race.

Why was my breeding ordered and prescribed
as of a person separate to God,

design'd for great exploits? if I must die
betrayed, captived, and both my eyes put out,
made of my enemies the scorn and gaze,

to grind in brazen fetters under task

371 with this heaven-gifted strength? O glorious strength put to the labour of a beast, debased

lower than bond-slave! Promise was that I
should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver.-
Ask for this great deliverer now, and find him
eyeless in Gaza, at the mill with slaves,
himself in bonds under Philistian yoke.—
Yet stay, let me not rashly call in doubt
divine prediction. What if all foretold

had been fulfilled but through mine own default!
Whom have I to complain of but myself?
who, this high gift of strength committed to me,
in what part lodged, how easily bereft me,
under the seal of silence could not keep,
but weakly to a woman must reveal it,
o'ercome with importunity and tears.

J. MILTON

372

LIBERTY

EQUAL Nature fashioned us

all in one mould. The bear serves not the bear, nor the wolf the wolf: 'Twas odds of strength in

tyrants,

that plucked the first link from the golden chain
with which that THING OF THINGS bound in the world.
Why then, since we are taught by their examples
to love our liberty, if not command,

should the strong serve the weak, the fair deformed
ones?

or such as know the cause of things pay tribute

373

to ignorant fools? All's but the outward gloss
and politic form that doth distinguish us.

in burning frankincense and myrrh, he shows
his presence new, and opening to the sun
regenerated gloss of plumage, towers,
himself a species. So shall Athens rise,
bright from her ashes, mistress sole of Greece,
From long Piræan walls her wingéd power
shall awe the Orient and Hesperian worlds.

R. GLOVER

374 EVEN to the utmost I have been to thee

375

a kind and a good Father: and herein

I but repay a gift which I myself

received at other hands; for, though now old
beyond the common life of man, I still
remember them who loved me in my youth.
Both of them sleep together; here they lived,
as all their forefathers had done; and when
at length their time was come, they were not loth
to give their bodies to the family mould.

I wished that thou should'st live the life they lived.

GRIEF-MEDICINAL

HE that lacks time to mourn lacks time to mend.

Eternity mourns that. 'Tis an ill cure

for life's worst ills, to have no time to feel them.
Where sorrow's held intrusive and turn'd out,
there wisdom will not enter nor true powers
nor ought that dignifies humanity.

Yet such the barrenness of busy life!

From shelf to shelf Ambition clambers up,
to reach the naked'st pinnacle of all,

F. S. III

4

whilst Magnanimity, absolved from toil,
reposes self-included at the base.

H. TAYLOR

376

377

DAY AND NIGHT

ISCOMFORTABLE cousin! know'st thou not

behind the globe, that lights the lower world,
then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen,
in murders and in outrage, boldly here;
but when, from under this terrestrial ball,
he fires the proud tops of the eastern pines,
and darts his light through every guilty hole,
then murders, treasons, and detested sins,

the cloak of night being plucked from off their backs,
stand bare and naked, trembling at themselves?

CAN

W. SHAKESPEARE

LOVE-HOW TO BE WON

AN Love be pleased? Love is a gentle spirit; the wind that blows the April flowers not softer; she's drawn with doves to shew her peacefulness: lions and bloody pards are Mars's servants. Would you serve Love? do it with humbleness, without a noise, with still prayers and soft murmurs; upon her altars offer your obedience,

and not your brawls; she's won with tears, not terrors;

that fire you kindle to her deity

is only grateful when it's blown with sighs,

and holy incense flung with white-hand innocence.

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER

378 QUEEN MARGARET TO HENRY VI ON HUMPHREY

DUKE OF GLOSTER

AN you not see? or will ye not observe

With what a majesty he bears himself;
how insolent of late he is become,

how proud, how peremptory, and unlike himself?
We knew the time since he was mild and affable;

and, if we did but glance a far-off look,

immediately he was upon his knee.

379

380

381

But meet him now, and, be it in the morn,
when every one will give the time of day,
he knits his brow, and shows an angry eye.

ORESTES' SOLILOQUY

HARK! in the trembling leaves

W. SHAKESPEARE

mysterious whispers: hark! a rushing sound sweeps through yon twilight depth-e'en now they come,

they throng to greet their guest! and who are they rejoicing each with each in stately joy,

as a king's children gathered for the hour

of some high festival! Exultingly

and kindred-like, and godlike, on they pass,
the glorious wandering shapes! aged and young,
proud men and royal women! Lo my race,
my sire's ancestral race!

LOOK

F. HEMANS from Goethe

HAMLET TO HIS MOTHER

OOK here, upon this picture, and on this,-
the counterfeit presentment of two brothers.
See, what a grace was seated on this brow:
Hyperion's curls: the front of Jove himself;
an eye like Mars, to threaten and command;
a station like the herald Mercury,
new-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;
a combination and a form, indeed,
where every god did seem to set his seal,
to give the world assurance of a man:
this was your husband.

S%

W. SHAKESPEARE

ENEAS' REQUEST TO DIDO

much have I received at Dido's hands,
as, without blushing, I can ask no more:
yet, queen of Afric, are my ships unrigged,
my sails all rent in sunder with the wind,
my oars broken, and my tackling lost,
yea, all my navy split with rocks and shelves;
nor stern nor anchor have our maiméd fleet:
our masts the furious wind strook overboard:

382

which piteous wants if Dido will supply,
we will account her author of our lives.

C. MARLOWE

LONGING OF ORESTES FOR REPOSE

ONE

NE draught from Lethe's flood! reach me one
draught,

one last cool goblet filled with dewy peace!
soon will the spasm of life departing leave
my bosom free! Soon shall my spirit flow
along the deep waves of forgetfulness,
calmly and silently! away to you,

ye dead! Ye dwellers of the eternal cloud,
take home the son of earth, and let him steep
his o'er-worn senses in your dim repose

for evermore.

383

RICHES

F. HEMANS from Goethe

384

TILL to be rich is still to be unhappy;

STILL

still to be envied, hated and abus'd:

still to commence new law-suits, new vexations,
still to be carking, still to be collecting,
only to make your funeral a feast,

and hoard up riches for a thriftless heir:
let me be light in purse, and light in heart;
give me small means, but give content withal,
only preserve me from the law, kind Gods!
and I will thank you for my poverty.

PROMETHEUS-FURIES

R. CUMBERLAND

Fur. Wand disappointment, and mistrust, and hate,

are the ministers of pain and fear,

and clinging crime; and as lean dogs pursue

through wood and lake some struck and sobbing fawn,

we track all things that weep and bleed and live, when the great King betrays them to our will.

Pro. Oh! many fearful natures in one name,

I know ye; and these lakes and echoes know
the darkness and the clangour of your wings.