In thy unfaltering visage well
Picturing forth the son of TELL,
When on his forehead, firm and good,
Motionless mark, the apple stood;
Guileless traitor, rebel mild,
Convict unconscious, culprit child!
Gates that close with iron roar
Have been to thee thy nursery door;
Chains that chink in cheerless cells
Have been thy rattles and thy bells;
Walls contrived for giant sin

Have hemmed thy faultless weakness in;
Near thy sinless bed black Guilt

Her discordant house hath built,

And filled it with her monstrous broodSights, by thee not understood

Sights of fear, and of distress,

That pass a harmless infant's guess!

But the clouds, that overcast Thy young morning, may not last; Soon shall arrive the rescuing hour That yields thee up to Nature's power;

Nature, that so late doth greet thee, Shall in o'erflowing measure meet thee.

She shall recompense with cost

For every lesson thou hast lost.

Then wandering up thy sire's loved hill,*
Thou shalt take thy airy fill

Of health and pastime. Birds shall sing
For thy delight each May morning.

'Mid new-yeaned lambkins thou shalt play,
Hardly less a lamb than they.

Then thy prison's lengthened bound
Shall be the horizon skirting round:

And, while thou fillest thy lap with flowers,
To make amends for wintry hours,

The breeze, the sunshine, and the place,
Shall from thy tender brow efface
Each vestige of untimely care,

That sour restraint had graven there;

And on thy every look impress
A more excelling childishness.

So shall be thy days beguiled,
THORNTON HUNT, my favourite child.

BALLAD.

FROM THE GERMAN.

THE clouds are blackening, the storms threatening, And ever the forest maketh a moan;

*Hampstead.

Billows are breaking, the damsel's heart aching,
Thus by herself she singeth alone,
Weeping right plenteously.

"The world is empty, the heart is dead surely,
In this world plainly all seemeth amiss ;
To thy breast, holy one, take now thy little one,
I have had earnest of all earth's bliss,
Living right lovingly."

DAVID IN THE CAVE OF ADULLAM.

DAVID and his three captains bold

Kept ambush once within a hold.
It was in Adullam's cave,

Nigh which no water they could have,

Nor spring, nor running brook was near

To quench the thirst that parched them there.
Then David, king of Israel,

Straight bethought him of a well,
Which stood beside the city gate,

At Bethlem; where, before his state.

Of kingly dignity, he had

Oft drunk his fill, a shepherd lad;

But now his fierce Philistine foe
Encamped before it he does know.
Yet ne'er the less, with heat opprest,
Those three bold captains he addrest;
And wished that one to him would bring
Some water from his native spring.
His valiant captains instantly

To execute his will did fly.

The mighty Three the ranks broke through Of armed foes, and water drew

For David, their beloved king,

At his own sweet native spring.

Back through their armed foes they haste,
With the hard-earned treasure graced.
But when the good king David found
What they had done, he on the ground
The water poured. Because," said he,

“That it was at the jeopardy

Of your three lives this thing ye did,
That I should drink it, God forbid."

SALOME.

ONCE on a charger there was laid,
And brought before a royal maid,

As price of attitude and grace,
A guiltless head, a holy face.

It was on Herod's natal day,
Who o'er Judea's land held sway.
He married his own brother's wife,
Wicked Herodias. She the life

Of John the Baptist long had sought,
Because he openly had taught
That she a life unlawful led,

Having her husband's brother wed.

This was he, that saintly John, Who in the wilderness alone Abiding, did for clothing wear A garment made of camel's hair; Honey and locusts were his food, And he was most severely good. He preached penitence and tears, And waking first the sinner's fears, Prepared a path, made smooth a way, For his diviner Master's day.

Herod kept in princely state

His birth-day. On his throne he sate, After the feast, beholding her

Who danced with grace peculiar ;