15 20 Triumphal arches gleaming swell His breast with thoughts of boundless sway : What recked the Roman what befell A paltry province far away, In the solemn midnight Centuries ago ! Within that province far away Went plodding home a weary boor : A streak of light before him lay, Fall’n through a half-shut stable door Across his path. He passed-for naught Told what was going on within ; How keen the stars ! his only thought ; The air how calm and cold and thin, In the solemn midnight Centuries ago ! 25 30 35 O strange indifference !low and high Drowsed over common joys and cares : The earth was still—but knew not why ; The world was listening-unawares ; One that shall thrill the world for ever ! Centuries ago ! 40 45 It is the calm and solemn night! A thousand bells ring out, and throw Their joyous peals abroad, and smite The darkness, charmed and holy now! The night that erst no name had worn, To it a happy name is given ; For in that stable lay new-born The peaceful Prince of Earth and Heaven, În the solemn midnight Centuries ago. A. DOMETT. 50 5 5 338 The hill-side 's dew-pearled ; R. BROWNING, 339 When—where- If fortune fixed her as my lady there, (Hist!—said Kate the queen ; But 'Oh '—cried the maiden, binding her tresses, 'Tis only a page that carols unseen, Crumbling your hounds their messes ! ') Is she wronged ?-To the rescue of her honour, 10 My heart ! Is she poor?—What costs it to be styled a donor ? Merely an earth to cleave, a sea to part. her ! , ! 'Tis only a page that carols unseen, Fitting your hawks their jesses ! ') R. BROWNING, 340 THE LOST LEADER Just for a handful of silver he left us, Just for a riband to stick in his coatFound the one gift of which fortune bereft us, Lost all the others she lets us devote; 15 6 10 They, with the gold to give, doled him out silver, So much was theirs who so little allowed : How all our copper had gone for his service ! Rags—were they purple, his heart had been proud ! Wethathad loved himso, followed him,honoured him, Lived in his mild and magnificent eye, Learned his great language, caught his clear accents, Made him our pattern to live and to die ! Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us, Burns, Shelley, were with us,-they watch from their graves ! He alone breaks from the van and the freemen, He alone sinks to the rear and the slaves ! 16 We shall march prospering, -not thro' his presence; Songs may inspirit us, -not from his lyre ; Deeds will be done, while he boasts his quiescence, Still bidding crouch whom the rest bade aspire : Blot out his name, then, record one lost soul more, Onetask more declined, one more footpath untrod, One more devils’-triumph and sorrow for angels, One wrong more to man, one more insult to God! Life's night begins : let him never come back to us ! There would be doubt, hesitation, and pain, 26 Forced praise on our part—the glimmer of twilight, Never glad confident morning again ! Best fight on well, for we taught him,-strike gallantly, Menace our heart ere we master his own ; Then let him receive the new knowledge and wait us, Pardoned in heaven, the first by the throne ! R. BROWNING. 30 341 HOME-THOUGHTS, FROM ABROAD Oh, to be in England now that April's there, And whoever wakes in England sees, some morn ing, unaware, 4 That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf In England-now! 12 And after April, when May follows, And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows ! Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge Leans to the field and scatters on the clover Blossoms and dewdrops—at the bent spray's edgeThat's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice .; over, Lest you should think he never could recapture The first fine careless rapture ! And though the fields look rough with hoary dew, All will be gay when noontide wakes anew 16 The buttercups, the little children's dower -Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower ! R. BROWNING. 342 HOME-THOUGHTS, FROM THE SEA Nobly, nobly Cape Saint Vincent to the North-West died away ; Sunset ran, one glorious blood-red, reeking into Cadiz Bay; Bluish mid the burning water, full in face Trafalgar lay ; In the dimmest North-East distance, dawned Gibraltar grand and grey ; · Here and here did England help me : how can I help England ?'-say, Whoso turns as I, this evening, turn to God to praise and.pray, While Jove's planet rises yonder, silent over Africa. R. BROWNING. 5 5 343 MISCONCEPTIONS Making it blossom with pleasure, Fit for her nest and her treasure. Oh, what a hope beyond measure Was the poor spray's, which the flying feet hungto,So to be singled out, built in, and sung to ! This is a heart the Queen leant on, Thrilled in a minute erratic, Meet for love's regal dalmatic. Oh, what a fancy ecstatic Was the poor heart's, ere the wanderer went on--Love to be saved for it, proffered to, spent on ! R. BROWNING. 10 344 5 A WOMAN'S LAST WORD Strive nor weep : -Only sleep! I and thou Hawk on bough! While we speak ! Cheek on cheek! False to thee ? Shun the tree 10 15 |