We lived, ere yet this robe of flesh we wore. Thou wert a spirit, to this nether sphere Sentenced for some more venial crime to grieve; Did'st moan, then spring to meet Heaven's quick reprieve, While we wept idly o'er thy little bier! SONNET. TO A FRIEND WHO ASKED HOW I FELT WHEN THE NURSE FIRST PRESENTED MY INFANT TO ME. CHARLES! my slow heart was only sad, when first I scanned that face of feeble infancy! For dimly on my thoughtful spirit burst All I had been, and all my child might be! But when I saw it on its mother's arm, And hanging at her bosom (she the while Bent o'er its features with a tearful smile) Then I was thrilled and melted, and most warm Impressed a father's kiss: and all beguiled Of dark remembrance and presageful fear, I seemed to see an angel form appear― "Twas even thine, beloved woman mild! So for the mother's sake the child was dear, And dearer was the mother for the child. THE VIRGIN'S CRADLE HYMN. COPIED FROM A PRINT OF THE VIRGIN, IN A ROMAN CATHOLIC VILLAGE IN GERMANY. DORMI, Jesu! Mater ridet Quæ tam dulcem somnum videt, Si non dormis, Mater plorat, Inter fila cantans orat, Blande, veni, somnule. ENGLISH. SLEEP, sweet babe! my cares beguiling; EPITAPH ON AN INFANT. TS balmy lips the infant blest IT Relaxing from its mother's breast, And such my infant's latest sigh! STRETCHI MELANCHOLY. A FRAGMENT. TRETCHED on a mouldered Abbey's broadest wall, Where ruining ivies propped the ruins steep- The dark green adder's tongue was there; That pallid cheek was flushed: her eager look And her bent forehead worked with troubled thought. Strange was the dream TELL'S BIRTH-PLACE. IMITATED FROM STOLBERG. I. ARK this holy chapel well! MAR The birth-place, this, of William Tell. Here, where stands God's altar dread, Stood his parents' marriage-bed. II. Here, first, an infant to her breast, Him his loving mother prest; And kissed the babe, and blessed the day, And prayed as mothers use to pray. III. "Vouchsafe him health, O God! and give IV. God gave him reverence of laws, Yet stirring blood in Freedom's cause- The eye of the hawk, and the fire therein! V. To Nature and to Holy Writ Alone did God the boy commit: Where flashed and roared the torrent, oft VI. The straining oar and chamois chase On wave and wind the boy would toss, VII. He knew not that his chosen hand, A CHRISTMAS CAROL. I. THE shepherds went their hasty way, Where the Virgin-Mother lay: And now they checked their eager tread, For to the Babe that at her bosom clung, A mother's song the Virgin-Mother sung. II. They told her how a glorious light, Blest Mother! thou shalt sing the song The Heavens sang :-Messiah's birth! III. She listened to the tale divine, And closer still the Babe she prest; Joy rose within her, like a summer's morn; IV. Thou Mother of the Prince of Peace, Sweet music's loudest note, the poet's story,- |