Illustrations to Sonnet CCXLVII.

"Nos quoque floruimus: sed flos erat ille caducus,

Flammaque de stipulâ nostra brevisque fuit."-OVID. “ ουκ ἡμῖν τὰ καλὰ πράτοις καλὰ φάινεται ἦμες,

οι θνάτοι πελόμεσθα, τὸ δ ̓ ἀύριον οὐκ ἐσορῶμες.”

THEOCRITUS.

"The life of man,' said he, "on this earth, in comparison to that space of time which is unknown to us, is like to that which may happen when you with your nobles and attendants are seated at supper, in the winter season, and when a fire is lighted in the midst, and the room is filled with the genial heat, whilst the whirlwind rages, the rain beats, and the snow falls outside, and a sparrow flutters quickly in at one door, and flies hastily out at the other. During the brief period that it is within the room, the chill of winter does not touch it; but in an instant the serenity it has enjoyed in its flight has disappeared-and as you look upon it, it has flashed from the darkness of winter at one door, into the darkness of winter in which it disappears at the other-such, too, is the brief measure of human existence, We know not what went before, and we are utterly ignorant as to what shall follow."-Beda.

"All those things are passed away like a shadow, and as a post that hasted by

"And as a ship that passeth over the waves of the water, which when it is gone by, the trace thereof cannot be found, neither the pathway of the keel in the waves;

"Or as when a bird hath flown through the air, there is no token of her way to be found, but the light air being beaten with the stroke of her wings, and parted with the violent noise and motion of them, is passed through, and therein afterwards no sign where she went is to be found;

"Or like as when an arrow is shot at a mark, it parteth the air, which immediately cometh together again, so that a man cannot know where it went through:

"Even so we in like manner, as soon as we were born, began to draw to our end, and had no sign of virtue to shew; but were consumed in our own wicked

ness.

"For the hope of the ungodly is like dust that is blown away with the wind; like a thin froth that is driven away with the storm; like as the smoke which is dispersed here and there with a tempest, and passeth away as the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day."-WISDOM, ch. v. vs. 9—14.

Quam cito purpureos deperdit terra colores."-TIBullus.
"Yon rolling Heavens at which we gaze bewildered
Are but the image of a magic lanthorn;

The sun is the candle, the world the shade

And we the images that flit therein*."-OMAR KHAYYAM.

*These magic lanthorns are common enough in the East. They are made of a tale cylinder with figures of men and animals cut out and pasted on it. The cylinder is suspended on an axis, round which from its lightness it easily turns. A hole is cut near the bottom, and the part cut out fixed at an angle, so as to form a vane. When a candle is placed under, a current of air is produced, which keeps the cylinder revolving.

“ ου ταυτον εἶδος φάινεται τῶν πραγμάτων

πρόσωθεν ὅντων, ἔγγυθεν δ ̓ ὀρωμένων.”EURIPIDES. "The story of the world and this whole life of ours

Is a dream and a vision, an illusion and a breath."-OMAR KHAYYAM.

ὅρω γὰρ ἤμας ὄυδεν ὄντας ἄλλο πλὴν

ειδωλ, ὅσοιπερ ζῶμεν, ή κούφην σκίαν.”—SOPHOCLES.

« There's nothing in this world can give me joy ;

Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale

Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.”—SHAKESPEARE. “ τὰς γὰρ ἡδονὰς

ὅταν προδώσιν ἄνδρες, ου τίθημ ̓ ἐγὼ ζῆν τοῦτον, ἀλλ ̓ ἔμφυχον ἡγοῦμαι νεκρόν· πλουτει τὲ γὰρ κατ ̓ οἶκον, ἐι βουλει, μεγά, και ζῆ τυραννον σχῆμ ̓ ἔχων· ἐαν δ ̓ ἀπῇ τούτων τὸ χάιρειν, τἄλλ ἐγώ καπνου σκιᾶς οὐκ ἂν πριάιμήν ἀνδρὶ πρὸς τὴν ἡδόνην.”—SOPHOCLES. "Nec violæ semper nec hiantia lilia florent,

σε

Et riget amissa spina relicta rosa.”OVID.

“ πῶς τις ἀνεὺ θανάτου σε φύγοι, βίε ; μύρια γὰρ σοῦ
λύγρα· και οὔτε φυγείν εὔμαρες, ουτε φέρειν·
ήδεα μὲν γαρ σου τα φύσει κάλα, γάια, θάλασσα,
ἄστρα, σεληνάιης κύκλα και ἡελιοῦ,

τἄλλαδε πάντα φόβοι τε και ἄλγεα· κ ην τι πάθῃ τὶς
ἔσθλον, ἀμοιβάιην ἐνδέχεται Νέμεσιν.”Asor.

"My mirth is lost, my comforts are dismayed,
And unto sad mishaps their place do yield,

My knowledge represents a bloody field,

Where I my hopes and helps see prostrate laid;
So plaintful is life's course which I have run

That I do wish it never had begun."-DRUMMOND.

"There still are many rainbows in your sky;

But mine have vanished. All, when life is new,
Commence with feelings warm and prospects high,

But Time strips our illusions of their hue,

And, one by one, in turn, some grand mistake

Casts off its bright skin yearly like the snake."-BYRON.

τὸ ῥόδον ἀκμάζεν βάιον χὴονον ήνδε παρέλθῃ,

ζητῶν ἐυρήσεις ου ρόδον, ἀλλὰ βάτον.”UNCERTAIN.

"Whither is fled the visionary gleam?

Where is it now, the glory and the dream ?” WORDSWORTH.

Lost Aims.

Vestigia nulla retrorsum."-VIRgil.

“Oublier ala maniere de la nature, qui ne se connait point de passé, qui recommence a toute heure les mysteres de ses infatigables enfantiments."

I will not conjure up each erring aim,
Contrasting mournfully, without avail,

What is with that which might have been; a tale
Of selfish wilfulness, sighs, sin, and shame,
Heart-branded, sear'd in characters of flame.
Let the Dead bury their Dead-I will not quail
At Memory's haggard ghosts, sad-eyed, and pale,
Nor look back, jibe they, beckon, shout my name ! 1
Shoot o'er again, if thy first arrow stray

And so find both,-quoth our old forest-craft,-
By watching well the second's tell-tale flight
But I have shot my quiver-full away,
Bolt after bolt, nor found a single shaft,

Searching, tear-blinded, till my hair is white.

2

1. See the tale of The Singing Bird and the Golden Water, in the Arabian Nights.

2. In my schooldays when I had lost one shaft,

I shot his fellow in the same self same flight,
The self same way, with more advized watch,
To find the other forth, and by adventuring both
I oft found both!-SHAKESPEARE.

Compensations.

3

For

""Tis light translateth night; 'tis inspiration
Expounds experience; 'tis the west explains
The east; 'tis time unfolds eternity."-FESTUS,

"Tanto es lo de mas, como lo de menos."-SPANISH PROVERB.
“ πάν πράγμα δύας ἔχει λάβας.”—ΕPICTETUS.

"Had we no winter, summer would be thought
Not half so pleasing, and if tempests were not,
Such comforts from a calm would not be brought,

For things save by their opposites appear not."-WITHER.

“ οὐκ ἂν γενοῖτο χωρὶς ἔσθλα και κάκα,

ἀλλ ̓ ἔστι τις σύγχρασις ὠστ ̓ ἔχειν καλῶς.”EURIPIDES.

“ αλλ' ἐστάτω μοι και δέος τι κάιριον,
και μὴ δοκῶμεν δρῶντες ἂν ἡδωμεθα,
ουκ ἀντιτίσειν ἀνθις ἂν λυπώμεθα,
ἕρπει παράλλαξ ταυτα.”—SOPHOCLES.

every joy, a sorrow: for each bane,

Its antidote good, evil: darkness, light:

For labour, rest: troubles, for wealth and might :
For each excess, defect: for loss, its gain :
For every sin, remorse: for pleasure, pain :
For folly, wit: for bitter, sweet: wrong, right:
Heat, cold for matter, spirit: day for night:
For motion, rest: ebbing, for flowing main :
Attraction, for repulsion: for the male,

The female strength, for weakness: peace, for war:
For crime, its retribution: its reward,

For abstinence: for plenty, dearth: for sale,
Purchase for Time, Eternity :—what more ?—
For Devils, the Archangel's flaming sword!

Self-The Future.

"Due fontane

Che de diverso effetto hanno liquore.”—ARIOSTO.

Birds fill the forests, silent else, with song:
Stars touch with flame the sooty vault of Night :
Trees lift a tent-shade against heat and light:
Vales wind each stony mountain-foot along :
And flowers upon their rocky summits throng.
Thus side by side hath God vouchsafed to write
In chequer'd characters the dark and bright,
The barren and the fruitful, weak and strong.
'Tis ever thus-The founts of human joy
Rise
up beside the bitter waves of woe:
So leaping from his boat, the tisher-boy
Scoops with his hollow-palm the shallow sand
By the salt breakers on the Ocean strand,
And drinks the fresh sweet waters as they flow.