the weak

And friendless sons of men ;

To write some earnest verse or line,

Which, seeking not the praise of

art,

Shall make a clearer faith and manhood shine

In the untutored heart.

He who doth this, in verse or

prose,

May be forgotten in his day, But surely shall be crowned at last with those

Who live and speak for aye.

RHŒCUS.

GOD sends His teachers unto every

age,

To every clime, and every race of men,

With revelations fitted to their growth

And shape of mind, nor gives the realm of Truth

Into the selfish rule of one sole race:

Therefore each form of worship

that hath swayed The life of man, and given it to grasp

The master-key of knowledge, reverence,

Infolds some germs of goodness and of right;

Else never had the eager soul, which loathes

The slothful down of pampered ignorance,

Found in it even a moment's fitful rest.

in vain,

But all things have within their hull of use,

A wisdom and a meaning which may speak

Of spiritual secrets to the ear
Of spirit; so, in whatsoe'er the heart
Hath fashioned for a solace to itself,
To make its inspirations suit its
creed,

And from the niggard hands of falsehood wring

Its needful food of truth, there ever is

A sympathy with Nature, which reveals,

Not less than her own works, pure gleams of light

And earnest parables of inward lore.

Hear now this fairy legend of old Greece,

As full of freedom, youth, and beauty still

As the immortal freshness of that grace

Carved for all ages on some Attic frieze.

Then Rhocus, with a flutter at the heart,

Yet, by the prompting of such beauty bold,

Answered: "What is there that can satisfy

The endless craving of the soul but love?

Give me thy love, or but the hope of that

Which must be evermore my nature's goal."

After a little pause she said again, But with a glimpse of sadness in her tone,

"I give it, Rhocus, though a perilous gift;

An hour before the sunset meet me here."

eyes

he could see