At park or play, by night or day,
They follow me about;

Riding or walking, singing or talking,
At revel, mask, or rout!

My father thinks it very hard,

That out of all the beaux,

Who come to dine, and drink his wine,
None of them will propose.

Yes, it is very singular,

I've half a mind to pout;

Of all the beaux, none will propose-
What do they dream about?
However, now my mind 's resolved:
In poetry or prose,
Whate'er ensue, or false or true,
One of them shall propose.

Ex. LXXXIX.-BERNARDO AND ALPHONSO.

LOCKHART.

ALL in the center of the choir Bernardo's knees are bent; Before him, for his murdered sire, yawns the old monument. His kinsmen of the Carpio blood are kneeling at his back, With knightly friends and vassals good, all garbed in weeds of black.

He comes to make the obsequies of a basely-slaughtered man, And tears are running down from eyes whence ne'er before they ran.

His head is bowed upon the stone; his heart, albeit full sore, Is strong as when in days bygone he rode o'er Frank and

Moor;

And now between his teeth he mutters, that none his words can hear;

And now the voice of wrath he utters in curses loud and clear.

He stoops him o'er his father's shroud, his lips salute the bier; He communes with the corse aloud, as if none else were near. His right hand doth his sword unsheathe, his left doth pluck his beard;

And while his liegemen held their breath, these were the words they heard :—

"Go up, go up, thou blessed ghost, into the hands of God; Go, fear not lest revenge be lost, when Carpio's blood hath flowed;

The steel that drank the blood of France, the arm thy foe that shielded,

Still, father, thirsts that burning lance, and still thy son can wield it."

66

Ex. XC.-THE LEPER.

WILLYS

"Room for the leper! room!" And as he came,
The cry passed on-"Room for the leper! room!"
And aside they stood,

Matron, and child, and pitiless manhood-all
Who met him on his way-and let him pass.
And onward through the open gate he came,
A leper with the ashes on his brow,
Sackcloth about his loins, and on his lip
A covering, stepping painfully and slow,
And with a difficult utterance, like one
Whose heart is with an iron nerve put down,
Crying, "Unclean!-unclean!"

Day was breaking

When at the altar of the temple stood

The holy priest of God. The incense-lamp
Burned with a struggling light, and a low chant
Swelled through the hollow arches of the roof,
Like an articulate wail; and there, alone,
Wasted to ghastly thinness, Helon knelt.

The echoes of the melancholy strain

Died in the distant aisles, and he rose up,

Struggling with weakness, and bowed down his head

Unto the sprinkled ashes, and put off

His costly raiment for the leper's garb,

And with the sackcloth round him, and his lip

Hid in a loathsome covering, stood still,

Waiting to hear his doom:

"Depart! depart, O child

Of Israel, from the temple of thy God,
For he has smote thee with his chastening rod,
And to the desert wild

From all thou lov'st away thy feet must flee, That from thy plague his people may be free.

"Depart! and come not near

The busy mart, the crowded city, more;
Nor set thy foot a human threshold o'er.
And stay thou not to hear

Voices that call thee in the way; and fly
From all who in the wilderness pass by.

"Wet not thy burning lip

In streams that to a human dwelling glide; Nor rest thee where the covert fountains hide, Nor kneel thee down to dip

The water where the pilgrim bends to drink, By desert well, or river's grassy brink.

"And pass not thou between

The weary traveler and the cooling breeze,
And lie not down to sleep beneath the trees
Where human tracks are seen;

Nor milk the goat that browseth on the plain,
Nor pluck the standing corn, or yellow grain.

"And now depart! and when

Thy heart is heavy, and thine eyes are dim,
Lift up thy prayer beseechingly to Him,
Who, from the tribes of men,

Selected thee to feel his chastening rod-
Depart, O leper! and forget not God!"

And he went forth-alone! not one of all
The many whom he loved, nor she whose name
Was woven in the fibers of the heart

Breaking within him now, to come and speak
Comfort unto him. Yea, he went his way,
Sick and heart-broken, and alone—to die!—
For God had cursed the leper!

It was noon, And Helon knelt beside a stagnant pool In the lone wilderness, and bathed his brow, Hot with the burning leprosy, and touched The loathsome water to his fevered lips, Praying that he might be so blessed-to die!

Footsteps approached, and, with no strength to flee,
He drew the covering closer on his lip,

Crying, "Unclean! unclean!" and in the folds
Of the coarse sackcloth shrouding up his face,
He fell upon the earth till they should pass.

Nearer the stranger came, and bending o'er
The leper's prostrate form, pronounced his name—
"Helon!" The voice was like the master-tone
Of a rich instrument-most strangely sweet;
And the dull pulses of disease awoke,
And for a moment beat beneath the hot
And leprous scales with a restoring thrill.
"Helon! arise!" and he forgot his curse,
And rose and stood before him.

Love and awe
Mingled in the regard of Helon's eye,
As he beheld the stranger. He was not
In costly raiment clad, nor on his brow
The symbol of a princely lineage wore;
No followers at his back, nor in his hand
Buckler, or sword, or spear-yet in his mien
Command sat throned serene, and if he smiled,
A kingly condescension graced his lips,
The lion would have crouched to in his lair.

His garb was simple, and his sandals worn;
His stature modeled with a perfect grace;
His countenance, the impress of a God,
Touched with the open innocence of a child;
His eye was blue and calm, as is the sky
In the serenest noon; his hair, unshorn,
Fell to his shoulders; and his curling beard
The fullness of perfected manhood bore.

He looked on Helon earnestly awhile,

As if his heart was moved; and, stooping down,
He took a little water in his hand

And laid it on his brow, and said, "Be clean!"
And, lo! the scales fell from him, and his blood
Coursed with delicious coolness through his veins,
And his dry palms grew moist, and on his brow
The dewy softness of an infant's stole.
His leprosy was cleansed, and he fell down
Prostrate at Jesus' feet, and worshiped him.

Ex. XCI.-SALATHIEL TO TITUS.

CROIT.

SON of Vespasian, I am at this hour a poor man, as I may in the next be an exile or a slave: I have ties to life as strong as ever were bound round the heart of man: I stand here a suppliant for the life of one whose loss would imbitter mine! Yet, not for wealth unlimited, for the safety of my family, for the life of the noble victim that is now standing at the place of torture, dare I abandon, dare I think the impious thought of abandoning the cause of the City of Holiness.

Titus! in the name of that Being, to whom the wisdom of the earth is folly, I adjure you to beware. Jerusalem is sacred. Her crimes have often wrought her misery-often has she been trampled by the armies of the stranger. But she is still the City of the Omnipotent; and never was blow inflicted on her by man, that was not terribly repaid.

The Assyrian came, the mightiest power of the world: he plundered her temple, and led her people into captivity. How long was it before his empire was a dream, his dynasty extinguished in blood, and an enemy on his throne?-The Persian came from her protector, he turned into her oppressor; and his empire was swept away like the dust of the desert! The Syrian smote her: the smiter died in agonies of remorse; and where is his kingdom now?—The Egyptian smote her: and who now sits on the throne of the Ptolemies? Pompey came: the invincible, the conqueror of a thousand cities, the light of Rome; the lord of Asia, riding on the very wings of victory. But he profaned her temple; and from that hour he went down-down, like a millstone plunged into the ocean! Blind counsel, rash ambition, womanish fears, were upon the great statesman and warrior of Rome. Where does he sleep? What sands were colored with his blood? The universal conqueror died a slave, by the hand of a slave! Crassus came at the head of the legions: he plundered the sacred vessels of the sanctuary. Vengeance followed him,. and he was cursed by the curse of God. Where are the bones of the robber and his host? Go, tear them from the jaws of the lion and the wolf of Parthia,—their fitting tomb! You, too, son of Vespasian, may be commissioned for the punishment of a stiff-necked and rebellious people. You may scourge our naked vice by force of arms; and then you may return to your own land exulting in the conquest of the fiercest enemy of Rome. But shall you escape the common fate