Their corpse to perish, but their kind to last,
So much the deathless plant the dying fruit surpass'd.
Panting and pensive now she ranged alone,

And wander'd in the kingdoms once her own.
The common hunt, though from their rage restrain'd
By sovereign power, her company disdain'd,
Grinn'd as they passed, and with a glaring eye
Gave gloomy signs of secret enmity.

'Tis true she bounded by, and tripp'd so light,
They had not time to take a steady sight.
For truth has such a face, and such a mien,
As to be loved needs only to be seen.

Hind and Panther.

FAITH AND REASON.

DIM as the borrow'd beams of moon and stars
To lonely, weary, wandering travellers,

Is Reason to the soul and as on high,
Those rolling fires discover but the sky,
Not light us here; so Reason's glimmering ray
Was lent, not to assure our doubtful way,

But guide us upward to a better day.
And as those nightly tapers disappear,

When day's bright lord ascends our hemisphere,
So pale grows Reason at Religion's sight,
So dies, and so dissolves in supernatural light.

Religio Laici.

WHAT Weight of ancient witness can prevail,
If private reason hold the public scale?
But, gracious God, how well dost thou provide
For erring judgments an unerring guide!

Thy throne is darkness in the abyss of light,
A blaze of glory that forbids the sight.

Oh, teach me to believe thee thus conceal'd,
And search no farther than thyself reveal'd;
But her alone for my director take,

Whom thou hast promised never to forsake!
My thoughtless youth was wing'd with false desires;
My manhood, long misled by wandering fires,
Follow'd false lights; and, when their glimpse was gone,
My pride struck out new sparkles of her own.
Such was I, such by nature still I am :

Be thine the glory, and be mine the shame.
Good life be now my task; my doubts are done:
What more could fright my faith than three in one?
Can I believe eternal God could lie

Disguised in mortal mould and infancy?

That the great Maker of the world could die,
And after that trust my imperfect sense,
Which calls in question his omnipotence?
Can I my reason to my faith compel,

And shall my sight, and touch, and taste rebel?
Superior faculties are set aside:

Shall their subservient organs be my guide?
Then let the moon usurp the rule of day,
And winking tapers show the sun his way;
For what my senses can themselves perceive,
I need no revelation to believe.

Can they who say the Host should be descried
By sense, define a body glorified,

Impassable, and penetrating parts?

Let them declare by what mysterious arts
He shot that body through the opposing might
Of bolts and bars impervious to the light,
And stood before his train confest in open sight.

For since thus wondrously he pass'd, 'tis plain
One single place two bodies did contain.
And sure the same Omnipotence as well
Can make one body in more places dwell.
Let Reason then at her own quarry fly,
But how can Finite grasp Infinity? *

Hind and Panther.

A FAIRY BOWER.

Now turning from the wintry signs, the sun
His course exalted through the Ram had run,
And whirling up the skies, his chariot drove
Through Taurus and the lightsome realms of love;
Where Venus from her orb descends in showers,

To glad the ground, and paint the fields with flowers:
When first the tender blades of grass appear,

And buds, that yet the blast of Eurus fear,

Stand at the door of life, and doubt to clothe the year ;
Till gentle heat, and soft repeated rains,

Make the green blood to dance within their veins.
Then, at their call embolden'd, out they come,
And swell the gems, and burst the narrow room :
Broader and broader yet, their blooms display,
Salute the welcome sun, and entertain the day.
Then from their breathing souls the sweets repair
To scent the skies, and purge the unwholesome air:

The discerning reader will scarcely need to be reminded that the merit of these celebrated verses depends rather upon the beauty than the philosophy of the language. They strikingly illustrate the legiti mate sequence of the recognition of the principle of authority, and of the submission of reason to faith.

Joy spreads the heart, and, with a general song, Spring issues out and leads the jolly months along.

When Chanticleer the second watch had sung,
Scorning the scorner sleep, from bed I sprung;
And dressing by the moon, in loose array,
Pass'd out in open air, preventing day,

And sought a goodly grove, as fancy led my way.
Straight as a line in beauteous order stood.
Of oaks unshorn a venerable wood.

Fresh was the grass beneath, and every tree,
At distance planted in a due degree,

Their branching arms in air with equal space
Stretch'd to their neighbours with a long embrace;
And the new leaves on every bough were seen,
Some ruddy colour'd, some of lighter green.
The painted birds, companions of the spring,
Hopping from spray to spray, were heard to sing.
Both eyes and ears received a like delight,
Enchanting music, and a charming sight.
On Philomel I fix'd my whole desire,
And listen'd for the queen of all the quire:
Fain would I hear her heavenly voice to sing,
And wanted yet an omen to the spring.

Attending long in vain, I took the way,
Which through a path, but scarcely printed, lay;
In narrow mazes oft it seem'd to meet,
And look'd as lightly press'd by fairy feet.
Wand'ring I walk'd alone, for still methought

To some strange end so strange a path was wrought: At last it led me where an arbour stood,

The sacred receptacle of the wood.

This place unmark'd, though oft I walk'd the green, In all my progress I had never seen;

And seized at once with wonder and delight,
Gazed all around me, new to the transporting sight.
'Twas bench'd with turf, and goodly to be seen;
The thick young grass arose in fresher green:
The mound was newly made, no sight could pass
Betwixt the nice partitions of the grass;
The well-united sods so closely lay,

And all around the shades defended it from day;
For sycamores with eglantine were spread,
A hedge about the sides, a covering overhead :
And so the fragrant briar was wove between,
The sycamore and flowers were mix'd with green,
That nature seem'd to vary the delight,

And satisfied at once the smell and sight.
The master-workman of the bower was known
Through fairy-lands, and built for Oberon;
Who twining leaves with such proportion drew,
They rose by measure, and by rule they grew :
No mortal tongue can half the beauty tell,
For none but hands divine could work so well.*
Both roof and sides were like a parlour made,
A soft recess, and a cool summer shade;
The hedge was set so thick, no foreign eye
The persons placed within it could espy:
But all that pass'd without with ease was seen,
As if nor fence nor tree was placed between.
'Twas border'd with a field; and some was plain
With grass, and some was sow'd with rising grain :
That (now the dew with spangles deck'd the ground)
A sweeter spot of earth was never found.

* See the description of the palace of Cupid in the charming episode in the romance of Appuleius, which relates the sorrows and adventures of Psyche-the prototype of so many of our modern fairy tales.