A FRAGMENT.

DEEP in the earth, and far below

The reach that man's weak hand can go,

Many a hidden gem doth lie

Buried in obscurity;

It's form unseen, unblest by light,

It's beauty veiled from mortal sight;
So thus within the human breast

The mind may sleep, the genius rest,
And like the subterranean fire
Still moulder on, and then expire,

Nor ever break the bonds away

That keep it from external day.

THOUGH not a sound may pierce my ear again, Save misery's moan and slavery's iron chain, Though e'en, perhaps, this hour my doom is near,

'Tis not through fear I shed the bitter tear; But 'tis that grief which only they can tell,

Who, like me, have fondly loved too well;

Thus when the night winds round my prison

sweep,

Responsive to their cadence do I sigh and weep.

I

'Twas yesternight when madness seized my brain,
A short respite from sense of mortal pain,
Methought, with solace sweet, my false love came
To sooth my grief and raise my drooping frame;
But reason once again resumed her sway,

And flashed upon me with the glare of day,
And with the light of the returning beam

The phantom vanished like a midnight dream.
Then I awoke, with double force to feel

The rankling wound of jealousy's poisoned steel,
And then despair within me wildly grew
To fiend-like passions of the darkest hue.

What then I felt I have not power to name,
So black within my breast my thoughts became;
But, happily, remorse came to my aid,

And in my breast, low whispering, thus she said: "Hast thou forgot that Fortitude was given

To guard thy weakness? (a sacred gift from

Heaven ;)

And canst thou, lost to every sense of shame,
Stain with suicide thy sex's name ?

Hast thou forgot, when chased by vice and woe,

The virtues winged their flight to realms above, That Hope remained to soothe mankind below, And win by smiles the world to peace and love? Then live to hope a brighter sun may shine

To gild thy days and soften thy decline,

And think when fortune frowns-one joy is left

behind,

'Tis ever-smiling Hope, the rainbow of the mind."

TO THE ROBIN.

Of all birds in the sky

I love the Robin best,

With little bright black eye,

And red and shining breast.

I love to hear his note

So sweetly soft and mild, When from his little throat

He pours his music wild.