"SWEET DROP OF PURE AND PEARLY LIGHT! IN THEE THE RAYS OF VIRTUE SHINE, ROGERS)

364

"SAY, WHAT REMAINS WHEN HOPE IS FLED?

SAMUEL ROGERS.

And armed ruffians, robbers from the deep,
Savage, uncouth, led on by Barberigo
And his six brothers in their coats of steel,
Are standing on the threshold! Statue-like

Awhile they gaze on the fallen multitude,
Each with his sabre up, in act to strike;
Then, as at once recovering from the spell,
Rush forward to the altar, and as soon
Are gone again—amid no clash of arms—-
Bearing away the maidens and the treasures.
Where are they now?-ploughing the distant waves,
Their sails outspread and given to the wind,
They on their decks triumphant.

Steering for Istria.......

On they speed,

Now hadst thou seen along that crowded shore
The matrons running wild, their festal dress

A strange and moving contrast to their grief;
And through the city wander where thou wouldst,
The men half armed and arming-everywhere
As roused from slumber by the stirring trump;
One with a shield, one with a casque and spear;
One with an axe severing in two the chain
Of some old pinnace. Not a raft, a plank,
But on that day was drifting. In an hour
Half Venice was afloat.

But long before,

MORE CALMLY CLEAR, MORE MILDLY BRIGHT, THAN ANY GEM THAT GILDS THE MINE."-ROGERS.

"DEATH, WHEN WE MEET THE SPECTRE IN OUR WALKS, AS WE DID YESTERDAY, AND SHALL TO-MORROW,

66 THE LARK WAS UP, AND AT THE GATE OF HEAVEN,

THE BRIDES OF VENICE.

365

Over the waters like a sea-bird flying!

Ha! 'tis the same; 'tis theirs! from stem to prow
Green with victorious wreaths, she comes to bring
All that was lost.

Coasting with narrow search
Friuli, like a tiger in his spring,

They had surprised the corsairs where they lay
Sharing the spoil in blinding security
And casting lots-had slain them one and all,
All to the last, and flung them far and wide
Into the sea, their proper element;

Him first, as first in rank, whose name so long
Had hushed the babes of Venice, and who yet,
Breathing a little,* in his look retained
The fierceness of his soul.

Lost and recovered.

Thus were the brides

[From Rogers' "Italy," illustrated edition.]

SOON GROWS FAMILIAR-LIKE MOST OTHER THINGS, SEEN, NOT OBSERVED."-SAMUEL ROGERS.

Christina Rossetti.

[MISS ROSSETTI belongs to a brilliant and remarkable family. Her father was Gabriele Rossetti, an Italian author of eminence, and the founder of a new school of interpretation of Dante, who died in London in 1854. Her brother Danté Gabriele Rossetti, born in London in 1828, has won distinction as an elegant translator of early Italian poetry, and as an artist of much original power: in conjunction with his brother William, he has edited Gilchrist's "Life of William Blake." He has also issued a volume of remarkable poetry, which has attracted the admiration both of critics and the public. William has edited the "Works of Shelley.' Christina Gabriella Rossetti was born about 1835 or 1836, and, as the author of "Goblin Market," "The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems," has attained a high rank among living poets.]

* "Paululum etiam spirans," &c.-Sallust, "Bell. Catalin."

SINGING, AS SURE TO ENTER WHEN HE CAME."-ROGERS.

366

66

'TO-DAY IS STILL THE SAME AS YESTERDAY,—(ROSSETTI)

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

WILL THE DAY'S JOURNEY TAKE THE WHOLE LONG DAY?

FROM MORN TO NIGHT, MY FRIEND."-ROSSETTI.

SUMMER.

INTER is cold-hearted;
Spring is yea and nay;
Autumn is a weathercock,
Blown every way:
Summer days for me,

When every leaf is on its tree,

When Robin's not a beggar,
And Jenny Wren's a bride,

And larks hang, singing, singing, singing,
Over the wheat-fields wide,

And anchored lilies ride,
And the pendulum spider
Swings from side to side,

*"That dim and undiscovered bourne

From which no traveller returns."-Shakespeare.

TO-MORROW ALSO EVEN AS ONE OF THEM."-C. ROSSETTI.

"LOOK UP, RISE UP; FOR FAR ABOVE OUR PALMS ARE GROWN, OUR PLACE IS SET;-(ROSSETTI)

WATCH WITH ME, BLESSED SPIRITS, WHO DELIGHT (ROSSETTI)

SUMMER.

And blue-black beetles transact business,

And gnats fly in a host,
And furry caterpillars hasten
That no time be lost,

And moths grow fat and thrive,
And ladybirds arrive.

367

"And ladybirds arrive."]
Before green apples blush,
Before green nuts embrown,
Why, one day in the country
Is worth a month in town--
Is worth a day and a year

Of the dusty, musty, lag-last fashion
That days drone everywhere.

ALL THROUGH THE LONG NIGHT TO WALK IN WHITE."-ROSSETTI.

THERE WE SHALL MEET, AS ONCE WE MET, AND LOVE WITH OLD FAMILIAR LOVE."-ROSSETTI.

"THERE IS NO TIME LIKE SPRING, WHEN LIFE'S ALIVE IN EVERY THING,-(CHRISTINA ROSSETTI)

WATCH WITH ME, JESUS, IN MY LONELINESS :-(ROSSETTI)

CHRISTINA ROSSETTI.

GONE FOR EVER.

HAPPY rosebud, blooming
Upon thy parent tree,-
Nay, thou art too presuming;
For soon the earth entombing
Thy faded charms shall be,
And the chill damp consuming.

["O happy skylark, springing up to the broad blue sky."]

O happy skylark, springing

Up to the broad blue sky,
Too fearless in thy winging,

THOUGH OTHERS SAY ME NAY, YET SAY THOU YES."-ROSSETTI.

BEFORE DEFT SWALLOWS SPEED THEIR JOURNEY BACK ALONG THE TRACKLESS TRACK."-ROSSETTI.