Though whence they sprang, and what they meant, he knew not:

But they were good, and that was all to him,

Who wonder'd why it was so sweet to weep;
Nor would he quit his humble attitude,
Nor cease repeating fragments of that lesson,
Thus learnt spontaneously from lips whose words
Were almost dearer to him than their kisses,
When on his lap the old man dandled him,
And told him simple stories of his mother.

Thus beautiful and innocent, engaged

In the same worship with himself. His heart
Leap'd at the sight: he flung away despondence,
While joy unspeakable and full of glory

Broke through the pagan darkness of his soul.
He ran and snatch'd the infant in his arms,
Embraced him passionately, wept aloud,

And cried, scarce knowing what he said,-"My son !
My son there is a God! there is a God!”—
"And, oh! that I may love Thee too!" rejoin'd

The child, whose tongue could find no other words

Than prayer;-" for if Thou art, Thou must be good.""He is! He is and we will love him too!

Yea, and be like Him,-good, for He is good!"
Replied the ancient father in amazement.

Then wept they o'er each other, till the child
Exceeded, and the old man's heart reproved him
For lack of reverence in the excess of joy :
The ground itself seem'd holy! heaven and earth.
Full of the presence-felt, not seen—of Him,
The Power above all power, the Light above
All light, the Name above all other names;
Whom he had call'd upon, whom he had found,
Yet worshipp'd only as "the Unknown God,"--
That nearest step which uninstructed man

Can take from Nature up to Deity.

To Him again, standing erect, he pray'd;

And, while he pray'd, high in his arms he held
That dearest treasure of his heart, the child
Of his last dying daughter,-now the sole
Hope of his life, and orphan of his house.

He held him as an offering up to heaven,

A living sacrifice unto the God

Whom he invoked :-" Oh! Thou who art!" he cried,

"And hast reveal'd that mystery to me,

Hid from all generations of my fathers,

Or, if once known, forgotten and perverted;
I may not live to learn Thee better here;
But, oh! let this my son, mine only son,
Whom thus I dedicate to Thee ;-let him,
Let him be taught thy will, and choose
Obedience to it ;-may he fear thy power,
Walk in thy light, now dawning out of darkness;
And, oh!—my last, last prayer,-to him reveal

The unutterable secret of thy Name!"

He paused; then, with the transport of a seer,

Went on "That Name may all my nation know;
And all that hear it worship at the sound,

When thou shalt with a voice from heaven proclaim it!
And so it surely shall be."-

"For Thou art;

And if Thou art, Thou must be good!" exclaim'd
The child, yet panting with the breath of prayer.

They ceased; then went rejoicing down the mountains, Through the cool glen, where not a sound was heard, Amidst the dark solemnity of eve,

But the loud purling of the little brook,

And the low murmur of the distant ocean.

Thence to their home beyond the hills in peace

They walk'd; and, when they reach'd their humble threshold,

The glittering firmament was full of stars.

-He died that night; his grandchild lived to see

The Patriarch's prayer and prophecy fulfill'd.

Here ends my song; here ended not the vision:

I heard seven thunders uttering their voices,
And wrote what they did utter; but 'tis seal'd
Within the volume of my heart, where thoughts,
Unbodied yet in vocal words, await

The quickening warmth of poesy to bring
Their forms to light,-like secret characters,
Invisible till open'd to the fire;

Or like the potter's paintings, colourless

Till they have pass'd to glory through the flames.
Changes more wonderful than those gone by,
More beautiful, transporting, and sublime,
To all the frail affections of our nature,
To all the immortal faculties of man :
Such changes did I witness; not alone
In one poor Pelican Island, nor on one
Barbarian continent, where man himself
Could scarcely soar above the Pelican :
-The world as it hath been in ages past,
The world as now it is, the world to come,
Far as the eye of prophecy can pierce ;—
These I beheld, and still in memory's rolls
They have their pages and their pictures: these,
Another day, a nobler song may show.

Vain boast another day may not be given ; This song may be my last; for I have reach'd That slippery descent, whence man looks back With melancholy joy on all he cherish'd, Around with love unfeign'd on all he's losing, Forward with hope that trembles while it turns To the dim point where all our knowledge ends. I am but one among the living; one Among the dead I soon shall be, and one Among unnumber'd millions yet unborn; The sum of Adam's mortal progeny, From Nature's birthday to her dissolution: -Lost in infinitude, my atom-life Seems but a sparkle of the smallest star Amidst the scintillations of ten thousand, Twinkling incessantly; no ray returning To shine a second moment where it shone Once, and no more for ever:-so I pass. The world grows darker, lonelier, and more silent, As I go down into the vale of years;

For the grave's shadows lengthen in advance,
And the grave's loneliness appals my spirit,
And the grave's silence sinks into my heart,
Till I forget existence in the thought
Of non-existence, buried for a while
In the still sepulchre of my own mind,
Itself imperishable :-ah! that word,

Like the archangel's trumpet, wakes me up
To deathless resurrection. Heaven and earth
Shall pass away, but that which thinks within me
Must think for ever; that which feels must feel:
-I am, and I can never cease to be.

O thou that readest! take this parable Home to thy bosom; think as I have thought, And feel as I have felt, through all the changes Which Time, Life, Death, the world's great actors, wrought, While centuries swept like morning dreams before me, And thou shalt find this moral to my song:

-Thou art, and thou canst never cease to be:

What then are time, life, death, the world to thee?

I may not answer;-ask Eternity.

THE MEMORY OF THE JUST.

STRIKE a louder, loftier lyre ;

Bolder, sweeter strains employ ;
Wake, Remembrance !—and inspire

Sorrow with the song of joy.