Till broad and fierce the star came forth on

*

Ely's stately fane,

And town and hamlet rose in arms o'er all the
boundless plain ;

Till Belvoir's* lordly terraces the sign to Lin-
coln sent,

And Lincoln sped the message on o'er the wide
vale of Trent; * *

Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burnt on
Gaunt's* embattled pile,

And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the bur-
ghers of Carlisle.*

70

PARADISE AND THE PERI.-Moore.

THOMAS MOORE (1779-1852), the most popular of Irish poets, was born in Dublin. Chief poems: Lalla Rookh (Tulip-Cheek), a brilliant series of Oriental tales, published in 1817. It became very popular from its rich colouring and Oriental spirit. The Irish Melodies, which are remarkable for their beauty and simplicity. Moore also wrote the Life of Byron.

Of life within, like music flowing,
And caught the light upon her wings
Through the half open portal glowing,
She wept to think her recreant
Should e'er have lost that glorious place.
"How happy," exclaimed this child of air,
"Are the holy spirits who wander there,

race

Mid flowers that never shall fade or fall!
Though mine are the gardens of earth and sea,
And the stars themselves have flowers for me,

*

One blossom of heaven outblooms them all!
Though sunny the lake of cool Cashmere,*
With its plane-tree isle reflected clear,

And sweetly the founts of that valley fall-
Though bright are the waters of Sing-su-hay,
And the golden floods* that thitherward stray—
Yet, oh! 'tis only the blest can say

How the waters of heaven outshine them all!
Go, wing thy flight from star to star,
From world to luminous* world, as far

As the universe spreads its flaming wall :

5

10

15

20

25 Take all the pleasures
* of all the spheres,
And multiply each through endless years,-
One minute of heaven is worth them all!"
The glorious angel who was keeping
The gates of light beheld her weeping;
30 And, as he nearer drew and listened
To her sad song, a tear-drop glistened
Within his eyelids, like the spray

35

From Eden's fountain, when it lies On the blue flower,* which, Bramins * say, Blooms nowhere but in Paradise. "Nymph of a fair but erring * line," Gently he said,-"One hope is thine: 'Tis written in the Book of Fate, The Peri yet may be forgiven 40 Who brings to this Eternal Gate

45

*

The Gift that is most dear to Heaven.
Go, seek it, and redeem thy sin-
'Tis sweet to let the pardoned in!"
Cheered by this hope, she bends her thither;-
Still laughs the radiant eye of heaven
Nor have the golden bowers of Eden
In the rich west begun to wither,
When, o'er the vale of Balbec * winging
Slowly, she sees a child at play,
50 Among the rosy wild-flowers singing,
As rosy and as wild as they-
Chasing, with eager hands and eyes,

The beautiful blue damsel-flies
That fluttered round the jasmine stems,
55 Like winged flowers or flying gems.
And near the boy, who, tired with play,
Now nestling 'mid the roses lay,
She saw a wearied man dismount

From his hot steed, and on the brink 60 Of a small imaret's* rustic fount

65

Impatient fling him down to drink.
Then swift his haggard * brow he turned
To the fair child, who fearless sat,
Though never yet hath day-beam burned
Upon a brow more fierce than that*-
Sullenly fierce; a mixture dire,

Like thunder-clouds, of gloom and fire;
In which the Peri's eye could read
Dark tales of many a ruthless* deed :
70 The ruined maid-the shrine profaned-
Oaths broken-and the threshold stained

*

All the pleasure, &c.,

one moment's happiness in heaven is worth an eternity of earthly pleasures.

Blue flower, the Bramins believe that the blue Campac flowers only in Paradise. Bramin, an Indian priest.

Nymph, a fabled female being inhabiting the earth and the waters.

Erring, going wrong. Redeem, to make atonement for.

Balbec, a ruined city of Syria, north of Damascus, in the valley of the Lebanon,

Damsel flies, aspecies of beautiful insects whose graceful and elegant appearance has procured for them the name of Damsels.

Imaret, a place where pilgrims are lodged and nourished for three days without charge.

Haggard, careworn.

Upon a brow, &c., his countenance showed that he had led a very wicked life.

Ruthless, cruel, with. out pity.

Shrine, an altar, or a sacred place.

Eblis, Lucifer.

With blood of guests.* There written, all
Black as the damning drops that fall
From the denouncing angel's pen,
Ere Mercy weeps them out again.
Yet tranquil now that man of crime
(As if the balmy evening time
Softened his spirit) looked and lay,
Watching the rosy infant's play :
Though still, whene'er his eye by chance
Fell on the boy's, its lurid glance
Met that unclouded, joyous gaze,
As torches, that have burned all night
Through some impure and godless rite,*
Encounter morning's glorious rays.
But hark! the vesper-call * to prayer,
As slow the orb of daylight* sets,
Is rising sweetly on the air

*

From Syria's thousand minarets.*
The boy has started from the bed
Of flowers, where he had laid his head,
And down upon the fragrant sod

Kneels, with his forehead to the south,
Lisping the eternal name of God

From purity's own cherub mouth,
And looking, while his hands and eyes
Are lifted to the glowing skies,
Like a stray babe of Paradise,
Just lighted on that flowery plain,
And seeking for its home again.

*

Oh! 'twas a sight-that heaven, that child—
A scene, which might have well beguiled
E'en haughty Eblis* of a sigh
For glories lost and peace gone by.
And how felt he, the wretched man
Reclining there, while memory ran
O'er many a year of guilt and strife,
Flew o'er the dark flood of his life,
Nor found one sunny resting-place,
Nor brought him back one branch of grace?
"There was a time," he said, in mild
Heart-humbled tones, "thou blessed child,
Haply, perhaps, it When, young and haply* pure as thou,

Memory ran, &c., looking back upon his past life, he could not recollect having done one good action since the days of his child

hood.

may be.

I looked and prayed like thee; but now".
He hung his head-each nobler aim
And hope and feeling, which had slept
From boyhood's hour, that instant came
Fresh o'er him, and he wept-he wept!

120

Blest tears of soul-felt penitence!
In whose benign,* redeeming flow
Is felt the first, the only sense

Of guiltless joy that guilt can know.

Benign, kindly, favourable.

"There's a drop,"* said the Peri, "that down There's a drop, the

from the moon

Falls through the withering airs of June
125 Upon Egypt's land, of so healing a power,
So balmy a virtue, that e'en in the hour
That drop descends, contagion * dies,
And health reanimates* earth and skies.
Oh! is it not thus, thou man of sin,

130

The precious tears of repentance fall?
Though foul* thy fiery plagues within,

One heavenly drop hath dispelled them all."
And now behold him kneeling there
By the child's side, in humble prayer,

135 While the same sunbeam shines upon
The guilty and the guiltless one;

miraculous drop, supposed to falls in Egypt precisely on St. John's day in June is thought to have the effect of stopping the plague. Contagion, a catching sickness, a plague. Reanimates, to give back life.

Though foul, &c., the soul of even the greatest sinner may be purified by a sincere repentance.

And hymns of joy * proclaim through heaven Hymns of joy, &c.,

The triumph of a soul forgiven.

'Twas when the golden orb* had set,

140 While on their knees they lingered yet,
There fell a light, more lovely far
Than ever came from sun or star,
Upon the tear that warm and meek
Dewed that repentant sinner's cheek.
145 To mortal eye this light might seem
A northern flash* or meteor * beam;
But well the enraptured Peri knew
'Twas a bright smile the angel threw
From heaven's gate, to hail that tear
150 Her harbinger of glory near.

*

Joy, joy for ever! My task is done-
The gates are passed, and heaven is won!"

THANATOPSIS.-W. C. Bryant.

the angels rejoice
upon the conversion
of the sinner.
Golden orb, the sun.

Northern flash,

Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. Meteor, a fiery body passing quickly through the atmosphere.

Harbinger, messenger.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT (1794- ), one of the most eminent poets of America, was born in Massachusetts. His poems are noted for their national spirit, tenderness, grace, and beauty of description. Chief works: Thanatopsis; or, Thoughts on Death, and The Ages, a survey of the experience of mankind.

To him who in the love of nature holds
Communion with her visible * forms, she

speaks

*

Communion, to hold intercourse, fellowship.

Visible, that which may be seen.

Various,

unlike each other.

different, A various language; for his gayer hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile
And eloquence of beauty; and she glides
Into his darker musings,* with a mild
And healing sympathy,* that steals away
Their sharpness, ere he is aware.
thoughts

Musings, moments of
thought.
Sympathy, compas-

sion.

Last bitter hour, the

time of death.

Blight, to wither up,

decay.

When

Of the last bitter hour *
come like a blight
Over thy spirit, and sad images

5

*

ΙΟ

to cause a thing to Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,
And breathless darkness, and the narrow
house,*

Narrow house, the grave.

Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart—
Go forth, under the open sky, and list

To Nature's teachings, while from all around- 15
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air-
Comes a still voice— Yet a few days,* and thee
The all-beholding sun shall see no more
In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,
Where thy pale form is laid with many tears,
Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist

Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall
claim

Thy growth, to be resolved* to earth again
And, lost each human trace, surrendering * up
Thine individual being, shalt thou go

To mix for ever with the elements
To be a brother to the insensible rock,
And to the sluggish clod, which the rude

Turns with his share,* and treads upon. The

oak

20

25

Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy 30 mould.

Yet not to thine eternal resting-place

Shalt thou retire alone-nor couldst thou
wish

Couch *

more magnificent.* Thou shalt lie
down

With patriarchs of the infant world *—with
kings,

The powerful of the earth-the wise, the 35
good,

Fair forms, and hoary seers,* of ages past,
All in one mighty sepulchre.-The hills
Rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun-the
vales