6

That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth,
May bear the gree, and a' that.
For a' that, and a' that,

It's coming yet, for a' that

That man to man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.

6 superiority.

Robert Burns (1759 — 1796).

THE ITALIAN ITINERANT.

1. Now that the farewell tear is dried,
Heaven prosper thee, be hope thy guide!
Hope be thy guide, adventurous boy;
The wages of thy travel, joy!

Whether for London bound-to trill
Thy mountain notes with simple skill;
Or on thy head to poise a show
Of plaster-craft in seemly row;
The graceful form of milk-white steed,
Or bird that soared with Ganymede!1
Or through the hamlets thou wilt bear
The sightless Milton, with his hair
Around his placid temples curled;
And Shakspeare at his side-a freight,
If clay could think and mind were weight,
For him who bore the world!
Hope be thy guide, adventurous boy!
The wages of thy travel, joy!

2. But thou perhaps (alert and free
Though serving sage philosophy)
Wilt ramble over hill and dale,
A vender of the well-wrought scale
Whose sentient tube instructs to time
A purpose to a fickle clime:

1 According to mythology, being the most beautiful of all mortals, he was carried away from the earth by the gods that he might fill the cup of Zeus (Jupiter). Some writers state that he was carried off by Zeus himself in the form of an eagle.

Whether thou choose this useful part,
Or minister to finer art;

Though robb'd of many a cherish'd dream,
And crossed by many a shatter'd scheme,
What stirring wonders wilt thou see
In the proud Isle of Liberty!

Yet will the wanderer sometimes pine

With thoughts which no delights can chase,
Recall a sister's last embrace,

His mother's neck entwine;

Nor shall forget the maiden coy

That would have loved the bright-hair'd boy!

3. My song, encouraged by the grace
That beams from his ingenuous face,
For this adventurer scruples not
To prophesy a golden lot;
Due recompense and safe return

To Como's1 steeps-his happy bourne !
Where he aloft in garden glade

Shall tend, with his own dark-eyed maid,
The towering maize, and prop the twig
That ill-supports the luscious fig;
Or feed his eyes in paths sun-proof
With purple of the trellis-roof,

That through the jealous leaves escapes
From Cadenabbia's2 pendent grapes.

William Wordsworth (1770 — 1850).

ASPIRATIONS OF YOUTH.

1. Higher, higher will we climb
Up the mount of glory,

1 A lake of Northern Italy, in the midst of mountains of from 1000 to 1300 ft. in elevation. It is the most celebrated of all the lakes of Italy.

2 A village on the W. shore of Lake Como, remarkable for the beauty of its situation and the grandeur of the numerous villas which surround it. One of these, the Villa Carlotta, contains works of Canova and Thorwaldsen.

That our names may live through time
In our country's story;
Happy, when our welfare calls,
He who conquers, he who falls.

2. Deeper, deeper let us toil

In the mines of knowledge;
Nature's wealth, and learning's spoil,
Win from school or college;
Delve we there for richer gems
Than the stars of diadems.

3. Onward, onward may we press
Through the path of duty;
Virtue is true happiness,
Excellence true beauty.

Minds are of celestial birth,
Make we then a heaven on earth.

4. Closer, closer let us knit

Hearts and hands together,
Where our fireside comforts sit,
In the wildest weather:

Oh! they wander wide who roam

For the joys of life from home.

James Montgomery (1771-1854).

NIGHT.

1. Night is the time for rest!-

How sweet, when labours close, To gather round an aching breast The curtain of repose,

Stretch the tired limbs, and lay the head

Down on our own delightful bed!

2. Night is the time for dreams!— The gay romance of life,

When truth that is, and truth that seems,

Mix in fantastic strife:

Ah! visions less beguiling far

Than waking dreams, by daylight, are!

3. Night is the time for toil!

To plough the classic field,
Intent to find the buried spoil
Its wealthy furrows yield;
Till all is ours that sages taught,
That poets sang, and heroes wrought.

4. Night is the time to weep!

To wet with unseen tears

Those graves

of memory, where sleep

The joys of other years,

Hopes, that were angels at their birth,

But died when young, like things of earth!

5. Night is the time to watch!—
O'er ocean's dark expanse,
To hail the Pleiades,1-or catch
The full moon's earliest glance;
That brings into the home-sick mind
All we have loved, and left behind!

6. Night is the time for care!--
Brooding on hours misspent,

To see the spectre of despair
Come to our lonely tent,-

Like Brutus, 'midst his slumbering host,
Summoned to die by Cæsar's ghost!2

7. Night is the time to think!—

When, from the eye, the soul

Takes flight, and, on the utmost brink
Of yonder starry pole,
Discerns, beyond the abyss of night,
The dawn of uncreated light!

1 Commonly known as The Seven Stars.

2 See Shakspeare's Julius Caesar, act iv. scene 3.

8. Night is the time to pray!-
Our Saviour oft withdrew
To desert mountains far away ;-
So will his follower do;

Steal from the throng to haunts untrod,
And commune there alone with God!

9. Night is the time for death!—
When all around is peace,

Calmly to yield the weary breath,-
From sin and suffering cease,-

-

Think of heaven's bliss-and give the sign
To parting friends.-Such death be mine!

James Montgomery (1771 — 1854).

THE SKYLARK.

1. Bird of the wilderness,

Blithesome and cumberless,
Light be thy matin o'er moorland and lea!
Emblem of happiness!

Bless'd is thy dwelling-place!

O to abide in the desert with thee!

2. Wild is thy lay and loud,

Far in the downy cloud;

Love gives it energy, love gave it birth.
Where, on thy dewy wing,

Where art thou journeying?

Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth.

3. O'er fell and fountain sheen,

O'er moor and mountain green,

O'er the red streamer that heralds the day;
Over the cloudlet dim,

Over the rainbow's rim,

Musical cherub, hie, hie thee away!