TO LADY ASHLEY.

LOVELY Lady, prithee tell me,
Whither stray those upward eyes?
Are they star-gazing?-Then spell me
Thy happy fortunes in the skies.

Call that deep ethereal blue

The stainless Heaven of thy mind; Those stars, that gleam and glitter through, The thousand fancies there enshrined.

Liken those planetary fires,

Moving in pomp around the sun,

To thy bright hopes and pure desires,
That in their path of duty run.

And what is that fine shooting light,
Bright for a moment-and now gone-
What but a bliss that took its flight
Ere we could say that it was born!

Do we regret that mists of Earth

At times o'er that fair dome are driven? Do we not rather hail their birth,

As messengers 'twixt Earth and Heaven

TO LADY ASHLEY.

The spirits of soft cloud-land, tending

The footsteps of their fair Queen MoonWreathing around her brow, and blending

Their forms, to heighten her full noon?

89

Such are the earth-bred hopes and fears
That float athwart thy mental sky,
Turning at last to sighs and tears,
That soften while they beautify.

Now, Lady, bid thy thoughts return;
Thy spirit's home is on the earth :-
However it may pant and yearn
To mingle in celestial mirth—

Travel on every air that blows,
Pay evening visits to the Moon,
Or make the stars its playfellows,-
It is at HOME on Earth alone.

D. L. 0.

TO FLUSH, MY DOG.

This dog was given to the Author by Miss Mitford, and is of the race which she has rendered famous among English readers.

LOVING friend, the gift of one,
Kindly who her faith hath run
Through thy lower nature;

Be my benediction said,
With my hand upon thy head,
Gentle fellow-creature.

Like a lady's ringlets brown,
Flow thy silken ears adown
Either side, demurely,

Of thy silver-suited breast
Shining out from all the rest
Of thy body, purely.

Underneath my stroking hand
Startled eyes of hazel bland

Kindling,-growing larger,
Upward, upward, dost thou spring,
Full of prank and curvetting,

Rearing like a charger!

TO FLUSH, MY DOG.

Leap! thy broad tail waves a light,—
Leap! thy slender feet are bright,
Glittering in their fringes;
Leap! those tasselled ears of thine
Flicker strangely, free and fine,
Down their golden inches.

Yet, O pretty, playful friend,
Little is't for such an end

That I praise thy rareness:
Other dogs may be thy peers
Haply in those tasselled ears,
And that glossy fairness;

But of thee it shall be said,
This dog watched beside a bed,
Day and night unweary;
Watched within a curtained room,
Where no sunbeam cleft the gloom
Round the sick and dreary.

Roses, gathered for a vase,
In that chamber died apace,
Beam and breeze resigning-

This dog, friend-like, waited on,
Knowing that, when light is gone,
Love remains for shining.

91

Other dogs, at sweep of horn, Barked along the shivering corn Till the game was started ;This dog only, all the day, Patient by a pillow lay, Watching the sad-hearted.

Other dogs of faithful cheer
Followed close the whistle clear,
Up the woodside hieing;—
This dog only watched in reach
Of a faintly uttered speech,
Or a louder sighing.

And if one or two quick tears
Dropped upon his glossy ears,
Or a sigh came double,
Up he sprang in eager haste,
Fawning, fondling, breathing fast,
In a tender trouble.

And this dog was satisfied

If a pale thin hand would glide

Stroking and reposing

Down his ears, and o'er his head, With an open palm, he laid

Afterward, his nose in.