214

66 TRUTH MAKES TRUE LOVE DOUBLY SWEET TO KNOW."-HUNT.

LEIGH HUNT.

About the light; then, when he saw the face,
Why he knelt down; and, lastly, how it was
That fare so poor as his detained him in the place.

The Sultan said, with a benignant eye,—
"Since first I saw thee come, and heard thy cry,
I could not rid me of the dread, that one
By whom such daring villanies were done

Must be some lord of mine-ay, e'en, perhaps, a son.
Whoe'er he was, I knew my task; but feared
A father's heart, in case the worst appeared.
For this I had the light put out; but when
I saw the face, and found a stranger slain,
I knelt, and thanked the sovereign Arbiter,
Whose work I had performed through pain and fear
And then I rose, and was refreshed with food,
The first time since thy voice had marred my solitude."

[From Leigh Hunt's "Miscellaneous Poems."]

"LESSONS RATHER, AND BROTHERLY PLEA; REVERENCE THE PAST, O BROTHERS, QUOTH HE;

666

REVERENCE THE STRUGGLE AND MYSTERY, AND FACES HUMAN, IN THEIR PAIN."-HUNT.

THE WARRIORS OF CAPTAIN PEN.
INDESTRUCTIBLE souls among men

ALL'

Were the souls of the line of Captain Pen;
Sages, patriots, martyrs mild,

Going to the stake, as child
Goeth with his prayer to bed;
Dungeon-beams from quenchless head;
Poets, making earth aware

Of its wealth in good and fair;
And the benders to their intent,

Of metal and of element;

Of fame the enlightener, beauteous;

And steam, that bursteth his iron house;

POTENT IS A CUSTOM EARLY TAUGHT."-LEIGH HUNT.

"GOOD IS AS HUNDREDS, EVIL AS ONE; ROUND ABOUT GOETH THE GOLDEN SUN!"-JAMES H. LEIGH HUNT.

"TRUTH IS FOR EVER TRUTH, AND LOVE IS LOVE;-(HUNT)

ON A LOCK OF MILTON'S HAIR.

And adamantine giants blind,

That, without master, have no mind.

Heir to these, and all their store,
Was Pen, the power unknown of yore;
And as their might still created might,
And each worked for him day and night,
In wealth and wondrous means he grew,
Fit to move the earth anew;
Till his fame began to speak.

Pause, as when the thunders wake,
Muttering, in the beds of heaven :
Then, to set the globe more even,
Water he called, and Fire, and Haste,
Which hath left old Time displaced;
And Iron, mightiest now for Pen,
Each of his steps like an army of men;
(Sword little knew what was leaving him then!)
And out of the witchcraft of their skill,
A creature he called to wait on his will-
Half iron, half vapour, a dread to behold—
Which evermore panted and evermore rolled,
And uttered his words a million fold.

Forth sprang they in air, down raining like dew,
And men fed upon them, and mighty they grew.
[From the poem of "Captain Pen and Captain Sword."]

ON A LOCK OF MILTON'S HAIR.

|T lies before me there, and my own breath
Stirs its thin outer threads, as though beside

The living head I stood in honoured pride,
Talking of lovely things that conquer death.

THE BIRD OF VENUS IS THE LIVING DOVE."-LEIGH HUNT.

215

"ALAS! TO PLEAD LOVE TO LOVING EYES, AND TO BEG FOR ITS LEAVE OF THE WORLDLY WISE."-HUNT.

OH, LITTLENESS GIVES HALF THEIR WORTH TO THE RAREST

THINGS ON EARTH:

216

THE LARK DWELLS LOWLY, READER, ON THE GROUND;

LEIGH HUNT.

Perhaps he pressed it once, or underneath
Ran his fine fingers, when he leant, blank-eyed,
And saw, in fancy, Adam and his bride

With their rich locks, or his own Delphic wreath.
There seems a love in hair, though it be dead.
It is the gentlest, yet the strongest thread
Of our frail plant,- -a blossom from the tree
Surviving the proud trunk;-as though it said
Patience and Gentleness is Power.
In me

Behold affectionate eternity.

[From Leigh Hunt's "Poetical Works."]

PEARLS ARE OCEAN'S PRETTIEST BIRTH.

BUT THE BIG ARE ROCKS."-LEIGH HUNT.

*

Catching your heart up at the feel of June,
Sole voice that's heard amid the lazy noon,
When even the bees lag at the summoning brass;t
And you, warm little housekeeper, who class
With those who think the candles come too soon,
Loving the fire, and with your tricksome tune
Nick the glad silent moments as they pass;

* "When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run

From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead:
That is the grasshopper's."

KEATS.

+ This alludes to the swarming of bees, when, under the leadership of a new queen, a part of the old hive set forth to found a new colony. Formerly, the bees were supposed to be assisted in this task by the clanging of cymbals or vessels of brass. To this custom Virgil refers in the Georgics, book iv., 64-66 :

Tinnitusque cie, et Matris quate cymbala circum.
..ipsae

Intima more suo sese in cunabula undent."

AND YET HIS SONG WITHIN THE HEAVENS IS FOUND.

"LITTLE PEOPLE, HEAR MY SONG: BEAUTY SHOWS MOST ART AND GRACE (LEIGH HUNT)

'FANCY'S THE WEALTH OF WEALTH, THE TOILER'S HOPE,-(HUNT)

Oh, sweet and tiny cousins, that belong,

One to the fields, the other to the hearth,

Both have your sunshine; both, though small, are strong
At your clear hearts; and both seem given to earth
To ring in thoughtful ears this natural song,-

Indoors and out, summer and winter, Mirth.
[From Leigh Hunt's "Poetical Works," Routledge, edit. 1860.

WHEN SHE WORKS IN LITTLE SPACE; 'TIS HER MOST PRAISEWORTHY CASE."-LEIGH HUNT.

A LEGEND OF FLORENCE.

[Agolanti, the husband of Ginevra, loves her with a jealous love, which
degenerates into a cold, severe cruelty. Under its oppression Ginevra, a
woman of spotless purity, gradually pines away, to the great grief of her
friends. The following very tender and touching scene reveals the opposite
characters of the husband and the wife.]

SCENE.-A chamber hung with purple, and containing a
cabinet picture of the Madonna, but otherwise little furnished.
GINEVRA discovered sitting at a window.

Ago.

Enter AGOLANTI.

VERY way she opposes me, even with arms
Of peace and love. I bade remove that picture

From this deserted room.

Can she have had it

Brought back this instant, knowing how my anger,
Just though it be, cannot behold unmoved
The face of suffering Heaven? O artifice
In very piety! 't were pity to veil it

From our discourse, and look another way.

[During this speech GINEVRA comes forward, and
AGOLANTI, after closing the cabinet doors over
the picture, hands her a chair, adjusting another
for himself, but continuing to stand.

Gin. [Cheerfully] The world seems glad after its hearty drink
Of rain. I feared, when you came back this morning,
The shower had stopped you, or that you were ill.

THE POOR MAN'S PIECER-OUT; THE ART OF NATURE."-LEIGH HUNT.

"THERE IS NO SORROW GREATER, ANSWERED SHE, THAN CALLING TO MIND JOY IN MISERY."-JAMES H. LEIGH HUNT.

218

WHERE'S THE MEAN SOUL SHALL HONOUR NOT THE TEARS

LEIGH HUNT.

Ago. You feared! You hoped! What fear you that I fear,

Gin.

Ago.

Or hope for that I hope for? A truce, madam,
To these exordiums and pretended interests,

Whose only shallow intent is delay,
Or to divert the sole dire subject-me.

Soh! you would see the spectacle! you, who start
At openings of doors, and falls of pins.

Trumpets and drums quiet a lady's nerves;
And a good hacking blow at a tournament

Equals burnt feathers or hartshorn for a stimulus
To pretty household tremblers.

I expressed

No wish to see the tournament, nor indeed
Anything, of my own accord, or contrary
To your good judgment.

Oh, of course not.

Wishes

Are never expressed for, or by, contraries;
Nor the good judgment of an anxious husband
Held forth as a pleasant thing to differ with.
Gin. It is easy as sitting in my chair,

To say I will not go; and I will not.
Be pleased to think that settled.
Ago.

Gin.

Ago.

Gin.

The more easily,

As 'tis expected I should go, is it not?
And then you will sit happy at receipt
Of letters from Antonio Rondinelli.
Returned unopened, sir.

How many?

Three.

Ago. You are correct, as to those three. How many
Opened! Your look, madam, is wondrous logical;
Conclusive by mere pathos of astonishment;
And crammed with scorn, from pure unscornfulness.
I have, 'tis true, strong doubts of your regard

SHED FOR A LOVER'S HOPES, A MOTHER'S FEARS?"-HUNT.

"HAD WE A FRIEND IN HEAVEN'S ETERNAL KING, WE WOULD BESEECH HIM KEEP THY CONSCIENCE CLEAR."-HUNT.