“I REMEMBER, I REMEMBER.”

I

REMEMBER, I remember,
The house where I was

born,
The little window where the

sun Came peeping in at morn. He never came a wink too soon,

Nor brought too long a day; But now I often wish the night

Had borne my breath away!

I remember, I remember

The roses, red and white, The violets, and the lily-cups,

Those flowers made of light! The lilacs where the robin built,

And where my brother set The laburnum on his birthday,

The tree is living yet!

I remember, I remember

Where I was used to swing,
And thought the air must rush as fresh
To swallows on the wing:

G

My spirit flew in feathers then,

That is so heavy now,
The summer pools could hardly cool

The fever on my brow!

I remember, I remember

The fir-trees dark and high;
I used to think their slender tops

Were close against the sky.
It was a childish ignorance,

But now 'tis little joy
To know I'm farther off from heaven

Than when I was a boy.

- Thomas Hood, ODE ON THE DEATH OF A

FAVOURITE CAT

Drowned in a tub of gold fishes

'T

WAS on a lofty vase's side,
Where China's gayest art

had dyed
The azure

flowers that

blow; Demurest of the tabby kind, The pensive Selima, reclined,

Gazed on the lake below.

Her conscious tail her joy declared;
The fair round face, the snowy beard,

The velvet of her paws,
Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,
Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,

She saw; and purred applause.

Still had she gazed; but ’midst the tide
Two angel forms were seen to glide,

The Genii of the stream;
Their scaly armour's Tyrian hue
Through richest purple to the view
Betrayed a golden gleam.

The hapless nymph with wonder saw
A whisker first and then a claw;

With many an ardent wish,
She stretched in vain to reach the prize.
What female heart can gold despise ?

What Cat's averse to fish?

Presumptuous maid! with looks intent Again she stretched, again she bent,

Nor knew the gulf between. (Malignant Fate sat by and smiled) The slippery verge her feet beguiled,

She tumbled headlong in.

Eight times emerging from the flood
She mewed to every wat’ry god

Some speedy aid to send.
No Dolphin came, no Nereid stirred;
No cruel Tom nor Susan heard.

A fav’rite has no friend!

From hence, ye Beauties, undeceived,
Know one false step is ne'er retrieved,

And be with caution bold.
Not all that tempts your wand'ring eyes
And heedless hearts is lawful prize,
Not all that glitters gold.

- Thomas Gray.

THE LOST PLEIAD

Like the lost Pleiad seen no more below.-Bryon.

ND is there glory from the

heavens departed ? A

O void unmarked !-thy sis

ters of the sky

Still hold their place on high, Though from its rank thine orb so long

hath started, Thou that no more art seen of mortal

eye!

Hath the night lost a gem, the regal

night? She wears her crown of old magnifi

cence, Though thou art exiled thenceNo desert seems to part those urns of

light, Midst the far depths of purple gloom

intense.

They rise in joy, the starry myriads

burningThe shepherd greets them on his mountain free;