And earnest thoughts within me rise,
When I behold afar,

Suspended in the evening skies,
The shield of that red star.

O star of strength! I see thee stand
And smile upon my pain;

Thou beckonest with thy mailéd hand,
And I am strong again.

Within my breast there is no light,
But the cold light of stars;

I give the first watch of the night
To the red planet Mars.

The star of the unconquered will,
He rises in my breast,
Serene, and resolute, and still,
And calm, and self-possessed.
And thou too, whosoe'er thou art
That readest this brief psalm,
As one by one thy hopes depart,
Be resolute and calm.

O, fear not, in a world like this,

And thou shalt know ere long,
Know how sublime a thing it is,
To suffer and be strong.

LONGFELLOW.

XXI. VENUS.

(A REPLY TO LONGFELLOW ON

MARS.")

"I READ in the Scriptures the praises of meekness. But when I see a man meek or patient of injury through tameness, or insensibility, or want of self-respect, passively gentle, meek through constitution or fear, I look on him with feelings very different from veneration. It is the meekness of principle; it is mildness replete with energy; it is the forbearance of a man who feels a wrong, but who curbs anger, who though injured resolves to be just, who voluntarily remembers that his foe is a man and a brother, who dreads to surrender himself to his passions, who in the moment of provocation subjects himself to reason and religion, and who holds fast the great truth, that the noblest victory over a foe is to disarm and subdue him by equity and kindness, it is this meekness which I venerate, and which seems to me one of the divinest virtues. It is moral power, the strength of virtuons purpose, pervading meekness, which gives it all its title to respect.” Channing.

VENUS.

THOU lover of the blaze of Mars,
Come out with me to night,
For I have found among the stars
A name of nobler light.

Thy boast is of the unconquered mind,
The strong, the stern, the still ;
Mine of the happier heart, resigned
To wisdom's holy will.

They call my star by beauty's name,
The gentle Queen of Love;

And look! how fair its tender flame
Is flickering above.

Û star of peace, O torch of hope,
I hail thy precious ray

A diamond on the ebon cope
To shine the dark away.

Within my heart there is no light
But cometh from above,

I give the first watch of the night
To the sweet planet Love :

The star of charity and truth,
Of cheerful thoughts and sage,
The lamp to guide my steps in youth
And gladden mine old age!

O brother, yield: thy fiery Mars
For all his mailéd might,

Is not so strong among the stars
As mine, the Queen of night:

A Queen to shine all nights away
And make the morn more clear
Contentment gilding every day,-
There is no twilight here!

Yes; in a trial world like this

Where all that comes-is sent, Learn how divine a thing it is

To smile and be content!

235

TUPPER'S Ballads and Poems.

XXII. STANZAS WRITTEN ON A SPRING DAY. "MANKIND are always happier for having been happy; so that if you make them happy now, you make them happy twenty years hence, by the memory of it. A childhood past, with a due mixture of rational indulgence, under fond and wise parents, diffuses over the whole of life a feeling of calm pleasure, and in extreme old age, is the very last remembrance which time can erase from the mind of man. No enjoyment, however inconsiderable, is confined to the present moment. A man is the happier for life, from having made once an agreeable tour, or lived for any length of time with pleasant people, or enjoyed any considerable interval of innocent pleasure; and it is, most probably, the recollection of their past pleasures which contributes to render old men so inattentive to the scenes before them, and carries them back to a world that is past, and to scenes never to be renewed."-Rev. Sydney Smith.

Oн let me bask amid the beams
That gild the May-day sod,
For I am dreaming happy dreams
Of joy, and love, and God.

A soft and sunny day like this
Brings back a thousand things!
To dance again with elfin bliss
In memory's fairy rings.

As fond affection's words of might,
In secret fluid traced,

Exist unseen, till warmth and light
Before the scroll are placed;

So do the deep and mystic thoughts
Of pure devotion start,

Into rich flow, as Nature's glow
Of sunshine meets my heart.

I heard loud merry voices come
Of children out at play;
The music of that human hum,
Is earth's first poet-lay.

It yields the notes that call me back

To many a kindred scene,

When my young steps and my young track

Were just as gay and green,

I recked not then what fame or gold

The world might have to give ;

While balls were flung, and hoops were trolled,
'Twas boon enough to live.

MAN.

And while I hear glad shouting now
From childhood's parting lips,
As spring rays steal, with radiant brow,
From winter's dark eclipse;

I find my spirit's hope become
As gleaming and as vernal,
For child and flower, with holy power,
Say, "Beauty is eternal."

So let me bask amid the beams
That gild the May-day sod,

For they are bringing happy dreams
Of joy, and love, and God.

237

ELIZA COOK.

XXIII. MAN.

"In all inferior things from the grass on the house-top to the giant tree of the forest; from the gnats that swarm in its shade, and the mole that burrows amid its roots to the eagle which builds in its summits, and the elephant which browses on its branches, we behold -first, a subjection to universal laws by which each thing belongs to the whole, as interpenetrated by the powers of the whole; and, secondly, the intervention of particular laws by which the universal laws are suspended or tempered for the weal and sustenance of each particular class. Hence and thus we see too that each species, and each individual of every species becomes a system, a world of its own. If, then, we behold this economy everywhere in the irrational creation, shall we not hold it probable that by some analogous intervention a similar temperament will have been effected for the rational and moral? Are we not entitled to expect some appropriate agency in behalf of the presiding and alone progressive creature? To presume some especial provision for the permanent interest of the creature destined to move and grow towards that divine humanity which we have learned to contemplate as the final cause of all creation, and the centre in which all its lines converge."- Coleridge.

"The misery of man appears like childish petulance, when we explore the steady and prodigal provision that has been made for his support and delight on this green ball which floats him through the heavens. What angels invented these splendid ornaments? these rich conveniences? this ocean of air above? this ocean of water beneath? this firmament of earth between? this zodiac of lights? this tent of drooping clouds? this striped coat of climates? this fourfold year? Beasts, fire, water, stones, and corn, serve him. The field is at once his floor, his work-yard, his play-ground, his garden, and his bed.

"More servants wait on man

Than he'll take notice of.'

"Nature, in its ministry to man, is not only the material, but is also the process and the result. All the parts incessantly work into each other's hands for the profit of man. The wind sows the seed; the sun evaporates the sea; the wind blows the vapour to the field; the ice on the other side of the planet condenses rain on this; the rain feeds the plant; the plant feeds the animal; and thus the endless circulations of the Divine charity nourish man."- Emerson's Nature.

My God, I heard this day,

That none doth build a stately habitation,
But he that means to dwell therein:
What house more stately hath there been,
Or can be, than is Man? to whose creation
All things are in decay.

For man is every thing;

And more. He is a tree, yet bears no fruit.
A beast; yet is or should be more ;
Reason and speech we only bring.

Parrots may thank us if they are not mute;
They go upon the score.

Man is all symmetry,

Full of proportions, one limb to another,
And to all the world besides.

Each part may call the farthest brother:

For head with foot hath private amity;
And both, with moons and tides.

Nothing hath got so far,

But man hath caught and kept it, as his prey.

His eyes dismount the highest star;

He is, in little, all the sphere.

Herbs gladly cure our flesh, because that they

Find their acquaintance there.

For us the winds do blow,

The earth doth rest, heaven move, and fountains flow,

Nothing we see, but means our good;

As our delight, or as our treasure.

The whole is either our cupboard of food,

Or cabinet of pleasure.

The stars have us to bed:

Night draws the curtain; which the sun withdraws:

Music and light attend our head.

All things unto our flesh are kind,

In their descent and being; to our mind
In their ascent and cause.