I strolled one morning in that bower of blooms
Called Covent Garden. It was early Spring,
And country odours filled the Avenue;
When, suddenly, I heard a piteous cry;

I turned my head; a girl, whose scattered flowers
Lay on the pavement, tried in vain to fly

From one whose garb bespoke the gentle-bred,
But whose vile bearing all belied the man.

I started, stared, for there, so wan and pale,
With such a look of sorrow in her eyes,
Stood trembling in her tears, lost Violet !
A moment-on his back the fopling lay';
And Violet-long sought-for Violet-
Leaped to my arms.

So was my quest at end: And oft-times, when in commune with myself, Although I know the proof but lies with Him Who holds all secrets-yet, am strong in FaithThat, as the child once answered artlessly

To idle question asked one summer morn,

God guides my feet to where His flowerets grow." So had He led me by mysterious means To save my brother's child; and when I gave The ample wealth he left, to her in dower, Believed that he-repentant ere he died— Had made atonement, and had been absolved.

THE Soul of Earth was troubled, and her cry Went out to Heaven. All her valleys groaned, Her mighty mountains, ice be-diademed, reeled, And every trembling forest whispered "Woe."

EARTH.

Great King! Thy purple robe of space,
Encircling every quivering star,

Veils the vast grandeur of Thy face,

Removed from wandering worlds so far.

I ask for aid. Thy creature, Man,
Ungrateful offspring of my womb,
Although his days are but a span,

Complains from cradle to the tomb.
He wearies me with futile prayers,

To change the laws which rule so well,
And even in his folly dares

To draw the line 'twixt heaven and hell;
Though Nature opes for him her book,
He passes with averted eyes,

Not caring on the page to look,

But fills the ambient air with sighs. In Thy great pity, grant her speech, That hearing, he may understand,

And learn the lesson she would teach

That nought but good springs from Thy hand.

NATURE.

He commands, and I speak: O creature frail,
As sunshine mingles with rushing hail,
The bass of my thunder, echoing low,
Blends with harmonious notes which flow
From throats of Seraphim, soft and slow.
Daylight and Darkness, Pleasure and Pain,
Life and Death, in one glorious strain,
Are singing in concert,-sing they in vain?

EARTH.

O manifold spirit! He trembles and fears :
Only thy terrible tones he hears,

All melody marring,

Discordantly jarring

The sweetest strain of thy voice appears.

MAN.

Ever the sound of thunder,
Rolling across the sky,
Storm-wrack bursting asunder,
Wild winds wailing on high;
Joy, ever dark with sorrow,
Peace, ever dim with fears,
Lord! in dread of the morrow,
I flood the world with tears.
Point with Thy mighty finger,
Drive these shadows away,
How long shall cold night linger?
Grant me Thy perfect Day.
I am weak and spent with toiling,
Let this fierce warfare cease;
Dire Sin my soul is soiling,

Grant me Thy perfect Peace.

EARTH.

So murmurs he, this creature of a soul,
Clothing himself with robe of discontent,
Or drowning in Lethean poison-bowl,
The cares which God to test his courage sent.
Sing to my birds and beasts, and they rejoice
To join their choirs with thine immortal song ;
But Man, alone, is deaf to thy grand voice,
And all his pleasures palling last not long.
For when he ate the fair forbidden fruit
Of God's great tree of knowledge, half-unripe,
Its acid changed his nature, and the brute
Was happier than he, his Maker's type.

For ape-like in his greed, he gulped it down,
Not tasting of the sweet for what was sour,
And from a king became a very clown,

Lashed, like a thieving hound, from Eden's bower.
And yet he prates of wisdom, boasts of brain,
This creature blinder than the burrowing mole;
And seeks to alter God's wise laws in vain,
Defining right and wrong and joy and dole.
Give other utterance, Nature, to thy will,
So Light and Shade may sing in simpler song,
That Man may comprehend how good and ill
On one great pulsing life-stream float along.

DAY.

Gaily gleaming, brightly beaming,
Gild I all the world with gladness;
While my rosy banners streaming,
Drive away the night's dark sadness.
Oceans dashing, wild streams plashing,
Shine bejewelled with my glory;
Birds are singing, heavenward flashing
From the gloomy forests hoary.
Spectres sighing, sorrows dying,
Hie them trembling from my glances;
Direful dreams in vapour flying,

Vanish when my power advances.

Clouds gleam whiter, skies beam brighter,
Azure-tinted with my beauty;

All the air is purer, lighter;

Man I wake to work and duty.