I looked upon the rotting sea,
And drew my eyes away;

I looked upon the rotting deck,
And there the dead men lay.

I looked to heaven and tried to pray;
But or ever a prayer had gusht
A wicked whisper came, and made
My heart as dry as dust.

I closed my lids, and kept them close,
And the balls like pulses beat;

For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky,

Lay like a load on my weary eye,
And the dead were at my feet.

Nor rot nor reek did they;

Doth close behind him tread.

Had never passed away.

Nor sound nor motion made;

Its path was not upon the sea, In ripple or in shade.

It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek,
Like a meadow-gale of spring, —

It mingled strangely with my fears,
Yet it felt like a welcoming.

Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,
Yet she sailed softly too;

Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze, —
On me alone it blew.

O dream of joy! is this indeed
The lighthouse top I see?

Is this the hill? is this the kirk?
Is this mine own countree?

We drifted o'er the harbor-bar,
And I with sobs did pray,
O; let me be awake, my God!
Or let me sleep alway.

The harbor-bay was clear as glass,
So smoothly it was strewn !
And on the bay the moonlight lay,
And the shadow of the moon.

The rock shone bright, the kirk no less,
That stands above the rock;

The moonlight steeped in silentness
The steady weathercock.

But soon I heard the dash of oars, I heard the pilot's cheer;

My head was turned perforce away, And I saw a boat appear.

The spell begins to break.

The curse is finally expiated;

And the ancient mariner beholdeth his native country.

And naught so reluctant but in it must go :
All which some examples more clearly will show.

The first thing he weighed was the head of Voltaire, Which retained all the wit that had ever been there. As a weight, he threw in the torn scrap of a leaf, Containing the prayer of the penitent thief; When the skull rose aloft with so sudden a spell That it bounced like a ball on the roof of the cell.

One time he put in Alexander the Great, With the garment that Dorcas had made for a weight;

And though clad in armor from sandals to crown, The hero rose up, and the garment went down.

1. long row of almshouses, amply endowed By a well-esteemed Pharisee, busy and proud, Next loaded one scale; while the other was pressed By those mites the poor widow dropped into the chest:

Up flew the endowment, not weighing an ounce, And down, down the farthing-worth came with a bounce.

By further experiments (no matter how)

He found that ten chariots weighed less than one plow;

A sword with gilt trapping rose up in the scale,
Though balanced by only a ten-penny nail;
A shield and a helmet, a buckler and spear,
Weighed less than a widow's uncrystallized tear.
A lord and a lady went up at full sail,
When a bee chanced to light on the opposite
scale;

Ter doctors, ten lawyers, two courtiers, one earl,
Ten counsellors' wigs, full of powder and curl,
All heaped in one balance and swinging from
thence,

Weighed less than a few grains of candor and sense; A first-water diamond, with brilliants begirt, Than one good potato just washed from the dirt; Yet not mountains of silver and gold could suffice One pearl to outweigh, 't was THE PEARL OF

GREAT PRICE.

THE NIGHTINGALE AND GLOW-WORM.

A NIGHTINGALE, that all day long Had cheered the village with his song, Nor yet at eve his note suspended, Nor yet when eventide was ended, Began to feel - as well he might The keen demands of appetite; When, looking eagerly around, He spied, far off, upon the ground, A something shining in the dark, And knew the glow-worm by his spark ; So, stooping down from hawthorn top, He thought to put him in his crop. The worm, aware of his intent, Harangued him thus, quite eloquent, "Did you admire my lamp," quoth he, "As much as I your minstrelsy, You would abhor to do me wrong, As much as I to spoil your song; For 't was the selfsame Power divine Taught you to sing, and me to shine; That you with music, I with light, Might beautify and cheer the night." The songster heard his short oration, And, warbling out his approbation, Released him, as my story tells, And found a supper somewhere else.

-

'Well, sixty sound eggs, I mean :

no, sound chickens, Of these some may die, -we 'll suppose seventeen. Seventeen! not so many, say ten at the most, Which will leave fifty chickens to boil or to roast.

--

"But then there's their barley: how much will they need?

Why, they take but one grain at a time when they feed,

So that's a mere trifle; now then, let us see,
At a fair market price how much money there'll be.

From blushing chambers of the rose,
And bowers the lily's buds enclose,
And nooks and dells of deep repose,
Where human sandal never goes,

The rabble poured its motley tide:
Some upon airy chariots rode,
By cupids showered from side to side,
And some the dragon-fly bestrode ;
While troops of virgins, left and right,
Like microscopic trails of light,
The sweeping pageant made as bright
As beams a rainbow in its flight!

It passed the bloom of purple plums
Was rippled by trumpets rallying long
O'er beds of pinks; and dwarfish drums

Struck all the insect world to song:
The milkmaid caught the low refrain,
The plowman answered to her strain,
And every warbler of the plain
The ringing chorus chirped again!

Beneath the sunset's faded arch,

It formed and filed within our porch, With not a ray to guide its march

Except the twilight's silver torch :
And thus she came from clouds above,
With spirits of the glen and grove,
A flower of grace, a cooing dove,
A shrine of prayer and star of love!

A queen of hearts! - her mighty chains
Are beads of coral round her strung,
And, ribbon-diademed, she reigns,

Commanding in an unknown tongue : The kitten spies her cunning ways, The patient cur romps in her plays, And glimpses of her earlier days Are seen in picture-books of fays.

To fondle all things doth she choose,

And when she gets, what some one sends, A trifling gift of tiny shoes,

She kisses both as loving friends;
For in her eyes this orb of care,
Whose hopes are heaps of frosted hair,
Is but a garland, trim and fair,
Of cherubs twining in the air.

O, from a soul suffused with tears

Of trust thou mayst be spared the thorn Which it has felt in other years,

Across the morn our Lord was born,
I waft thee blessings! At thy side
May his invisible seraphs glide;
And tell thee still, whate'er betide,
For thee, for thine, for all He died!

AUGUSTUS JULIAN REQUIER.

The roll which this reptile's long history records,
A treat to the sage antiquarian affords :
The sense by obscure hieroglyphics concealed,
Deep learning at length, with long labor, revealed.
The first thousand years as a specimen take,
The dates are omitted for brevity's sake:
"Crawled forth from some rubbish, and winked
with one eye;

Half opened the other, but could not tell why;
Stretched out my left leg, as it felt rather queer,
Then drew all together and slept for a year.
Awakened, felt chilly, - crept under a stone;
Was vastly contented with living alone.
One toe became wedged in the stone like a peg,
Could not get it away, had the cramp in my leg,
Began half to wish for a neighbor at hand
To loosen the stone, which was fast in the sand ;
Pulled harder, then dozed, as I found 't was no