An' sweetly I'd sleep an' sound. Come here to me, thou lass o' my luve!

Come here and kneel wi me!
The morn is fu' o' the presence o'
God,

And I canna pray without thee.

The morn wind is sweet 'mang the beds o' new flowers,

The wee birds sing kindlie and hie; Our gudeman leans o'er his kale vard dyke,

And a blythe auld bodie is he.
The Beuk maun be ta'en when the
carle comes hame,
Wi the holy psalmodie;
And thou maun speak o' me to thy
God,

And I will speak o' thee.

CUNNINGHAM.

VIRGINIA.

THIS knight a doughter hadde by his wif.

No children had he mo in all his lif. Faire was this maid in excellent beautee

Aboven every wight that man may

see:

For nature hath with soveraine dili-
gence
Yformed hire in so gret excellence,
As though she wolde sayn, lo, I
Nature,

Thus can I forme and peint a crea-
ture,
Whan that me list; who can me
contrefete?
Pigmalion? not, though he ay forge
and bete,
Or grave, or peinte: for I dare wel
sain,
Apelles, Xeuxis, shulden werche
in vain,

Other to grave, or peinte, or forge, or bete,

If they presumed me to contrefete. For he that is the Former principal, Hath maked me his vicaire general To forme and peinten erthly crea

And for my werk right nothing wol I axe;

My lord and I ben ful of one accord. I made her to the worship of my Lord. CHAUCER.

tures

Right as me list, and eche thing in my cure is Under the mone, that may wane and waxe.

My father had a daughter lov'd a

man,

As it might be, perhaps, were I a

woman,

I should your lordship.

She

Duke. And what's her history? Vio. A blank, my lord. never told her love, But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,

Feed on her damask cheek; she pin'd in thought;

And with a green and yellow melancholy,

She sat like patience on a monument,

Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed?

We men may say more, swear more; but indeed

Our shows are more than will; for still we prove

Much in our vows, but little in our love.

Duke. But died thy sister of her love, my boy? Vio. I am all the daughters of my father's house, And all the brothers too.

SHAKSPEARE.

OTHELLO'S DEFENCE.

MOST potent, grave, and reverend signiors,

My very noble and approved good masters,

That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter,

It is most true; true, I have married

her;

The very head and front of my offending

And therefore little shall I grace my

cause

In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,

I will a round unvarnished tale deliver

Hath this extent, no more. Rude am I in my speech, And little bless'd with the set phrase of peace.

For since these arms of mine had seven years' pith, Till now some nine moons wasted, they have used

Their dearest action in the tented field:

And little of this great world can I speak, More than pertains to feats of broil and battle;

Do likewise. Starting at the random word,

And dumb with trepidation, there I stood

Some seconds as bewitched; then I looked up,

And in her face beheld an orient flush

Of half-bewildered pleasure: from which trance

She with an instant ease resumed herself,

And frankly, with a pleasant laugh, held out

Her arrowy hand.

I thought it trembled as it lay in mine,

But yet her looks were clear, direct, and free,

And said that she felt nothing. Sidroc. - And what felt'st thou? Athulf. -A sort of swarming, curling, tremulous tumbling, As though there were an ant-hill in my bosom.

Sidroc, you

I said I was ashamed. sinile, If at my folly, well! But if you smile,

Suspicious of a taint upon my heart,
Wide is your error, and you never
loved.
HENRY TAYLOR.

THE ECSTASY.

WHERE, like a pillow on a bed,
A pregnant bank swelled up to

rest

The violet's declining head,

Sate we on one another's breast. Our hands were firmly cemented

By a fast balm which thence did spring,

Our eye-beams twisted, and did thread

Our eyes upon one double string, So to ingraft our hands as yet

Was all the means to make us one, And pictures in our eyes to get

Was all our propagation. As 'twixt two equal armies Fate Suspends uncertain victory, Our souls (which to advance our

state

Were gone out) hung 'twixt her and me.