LINES SENT TO ELIA,

AFTER READING HIS ESSAY ON ROAST PIG, WITH A TRIBUTARY

BASKET.

ELIA! thro' irony of hearts the mender,

May this pig prove like thine own pathos - tender.
Bear of thy sageness, in its sage, the zest;
And quaintly crackle, like thy crackling jest.
And-dry without-rich inly—as thy wit,
Be worthy thee-as thou art worthy it.

PS.

Beside the sty-born finding room to spare,
Begs kind acceptance of himself—a hare.
And since, being sylvan, he but ill indites,
Hopes he may eat much better than he writes.

THE GODS OF GREECE.

PARAPHRASED FROM SCHILLER.

YE Gods of Greece! Bright Fictions! when Ye ruled, of old, a happier race,

And mildly bound rejoicing men

In bonds of Beauty and of Grace;

When worship was a service light,

And duty but an easy bliss,

And white-hued fanes lit every height;

Then-what a sparkling world was this.

Creation, then but newly born,

Felt all the glowing trust of youth;

And pulses, yet, were all unworn,

And poesy was very truth;

And Gods were spread thro' earth and air,

And looked or spoke, in sight or sound; And who but loved to worship there,

Where they were mingling all around?

Not then was yonder radiant sun
Mere globe of fire, as now they say;
But Phœbus urged his chariot on,

A guiding God!-and made the day.
Each hoary hill, each thymy mount,
Some fond presiding Oread tended ;

And Naiads bent by every fount

From which a gushing stream descended.

'Twas Daphne's voice-so taught the creedThat murmur'd from yon laurel tree;

'Twas Syrinx from the hollow reed

Out-sighed her plaintive melody.

No bird sent forth that fervent trill;

'Twas Philomel the song supplying;

And Venus wept, on yonder hill,

O'er young Adonis, gored and dying.

And then, if perfumed airs came breathing *,
At eve, from off th' Egean shore,

While little waves, their white foams wreathing,
The green-hued deeps were fleecing o'er;

From mountain-cave, beneath the rock, 'Twas Zephyrus out-sped the breeze ;

'Twas Proteus-leading forth his flock To feed along the verdant seas.

The Gods--not then they held it scorn
To mate with old Deucalion's race;

And many a Demigod was born,
Fit progeny from such embrace.

*This stanza is not in the original.

And deeper faith-intenser fire

Fed Sculptor's chisel-Poet's pen; What nobler themes might Art require Than Gods-on earth, and God-like Men?

Yea! Gods then watched with loving care,

(Or such, at least, the fond belief)

E'en lifeless things of earth and air,

The cloud-the stream-the stem-the leaf.

Iris-a Goddess!-tinged the flower

With more than merely rainbow hues ;

Great Jove himself sent down the shower,

Or freshened earth with healing dews.

L'en Beauty's self more beauteous seemed,
When Ganymede a God could thrall ;
And Youth, to fancy, youthlier beamed,
And Souls were more heroical.