APPENDIX.

The Laureate has seen fit to ignore many of his earlier productions. The one entitled "Hesperides " is too genuine a poem to be left out of his works, and it is placed here by the publishers of this volume because it is thought worthy of the bard of "Locksley Hall" and "The Lady of Shalott."

THE HESPERIDES.

"Hesperus and his daughters three,

That sing about the golden tree."-CoиUS.

THE North-wind fallen, in the new-starrèd night Zidonian Hanno, voyaging beyond

The hoary promontory of Soloë

Past Thymiaterion, in calmèd bays,

Between the southern and the western Horn,
Heard neither warbling of the nightingale,
Nor melody o' the Lybian lotus-flute

Blown seaward from the shore; but from a slope
That ran bloom-bright into the Atlantic blue,
Beneath a highland leaning down a weight
Of cliffs, and zoned below with cedar-shade,
Came voices, like the voices in a dream,
Continuous, till he reached the outer sea.

SONG.

I.

THE golden apple, the golden apple, the hallowed fruit,

Guard it well, guard it warily,
Singing airily,

Standing about the charmed root.

Bound about all is mute,

As the snow-field on the mountain-peaks,
As the sand-field at the mountain-foot.
Crocodiles in brinỳ creeks

Sleep and stir not: all is mute.

If ye sing not, if ye make false measure,
We shall lose eternal pleasure,
Worth eternal want of rest.

Laugh not loudly: watch the treasure
Qf the wisdom of the west.

In a corner wisdom whispers. Five and three
(Let it not be preached abroad) make an awful
mystery.

For the blossom unto threefold music bloweth ;
Evermore it is born anew;

And the sap to threefold music floweth,

From the root

Drawn in the dark,

Up to the fruit,

Creeping under the fragrant bark,

Liquid gold, honey-sweet, through and through.
Keen-eyed sisters, singing airily,
Looking warily

Every way,

Guard the apple night and day,

Lest one from the east come and take it away.

II.

Father Hesper, Father Hesper, watch, watch, ever

and aye,

Looking under silver hair with a silver eye.
Father, twinkle not thy steadfast sight;
Kingdoms lapse, and climates change, and races die;
Honor comes with mystery;

Hoarded wisdom brings delight.

Number, tell them over and number
How many the mystic fruit-tree holds,
Lest the red-combed dragon slumber
Rolled together in purple folds.

Look to him, father, lest he wink, and the golden apple be stolen away,

For his ancient heart is drunk with overwatchings night and day.