When in the cool moon-dew went forth the imperial

revel,

Dolphins and pearl-shell cars, of the queen and the people of ocean ;

Whose sweet-undulant murmur the homeless mariner hearkened,

Over the undulant sapphire, and trembled in glad adoration.

How were ye voiced, ye stars, - how cheerily Castor and Pollux

Spoke to the quivering seaman, amid the outpouring of tempest:

With what a firm-set gaze on the belt triple-gemmed of Orion

Looked the serene Greek child, as he thought of the suffering giant,

Panting with sightless orbs for the dawn's miraculous

healing;

With what a sigh did he pass from the six proud deified sisters,

On to the fate of the fallen, and mourned for the love that dethroned her;

Not by elaborate charts did he read that book of the heavens,

For to his heart's fine ear it was taught by a heavenly

master.

Now from her window perchance may the maiden of desolate Hellas,

When with the woes of her love and her land her spirit is heavy,

Yearn to the white-bright moon, which over the curvéd

horizon,

Climbing the air still flushed with the flames of the opposite sunset,

Seems with affectionate eye to regard her, and weep to her weeping;

But it is now not as when, having pined for Endymion's kindness,

She with the mourners of love held personal sympathy

ever,

When in the sky's void chasms a wanderer, she to the

pilgrim,

Over the world's sick plain, was a dear companion in

sorrow.

Down through the blue-gray thyme, which roofs their courses with odor,

Rivulets, gentle as words from the lips of beauty, are flowing;

Still in the dusky ravine they deepen and freshen their waters,

Still in the thick-arched coves they slumber and dimple delighted,

Catching the full-swelled fig, and the deep-stained arbutus ruby,

Still to the sea's sand-brim, by royally gay oleanders, And oriental array of reeds, they are ever attended; But they are all dumb forms, unimpregnate with vital emotion,

Now from the pure fount-head, no nymph, her bosom expanding,

Dazzles the way worn wretch with a smile of bland benediction,

Giving the welcomed draught mysterious virtue and

savor;

Now no curious hind in the noontide's magical ardor, Peeps through the blossomy trellis, that over the pool's dark crystal

Guards the immaculate forms of the awful Olympian bathers;

Now at the wide stream-mouth never one, one amorous.

Triton

Breathes to the surge and the tall marsh-blooms euphonious passion.

These high temples around, the religiöus shade of the olive

Falls on the grass close-wove; in the redolent valley beneath us

Stems of the loftiest platan their crowns large-leavéd are spreading,

And the most motley of herds is adorning the calm of their umbrage;

Yet ye are gone, ye are vanished forever, ye guardian

beings!

Who in the time-gnarled trunks, broad branches, and summer enchantment

Held an essential life, and a power, as over your members,

Soothing the rage of the storm by your piteous moans

of entreaty,

Staying the impious axe in the paralyzed hand of the woodman.

Daphne, tremulous nymph, has fled the benignant

asylum

Which, in the shape of the laurel, she found from the heat of Apollo;

Wan Narcissus has languished away from the languishing flower;

Hyacinth dwells no more in his brilliant abode, and the

stranger

Reads the memorial signs he has left with a stolid amazement.

Thou art become, O Echo! a voice, an inanimate image; Where is the palest of maids, dark-tressed, dark-wreathéd with ivy,

Who with her lips half opened, and gazes of beautiful wonder,

Quickly repeated the words that burst on her lonely

recesses,

In a sad lovelorn voice, too deep-distracted to answer?

What must have been thy nature, O Greece! when marvellous-lovely

As it now is, it is only the tomb of an ancient existence ?

Lord Houghton.

THE GODS OF GREECE.

WHILST the smiling earth ye governed still,

WHILST

And with rapture's soft and guiding hand

Led the happy nations at your will,

Beauteous beings from the fable-land!

Whilst your blissful worship smiled around,

Ah! how different was it in that day! When the people still thy temples crowned, Venus Amathusia!

When the magic veil of poesy

Still round truth entwined its loving chain, Through creation poured life's fulness free,

Things then felt, which ne'er can feel again. Then to press her 'gainst the breast of love, They on Nature nobler power bestowed, All, to eyes enlightened from above, Of a god the traces showed.

There, where now, as we 're by sages told,
Whirls on high a soulless fiery ball,
Helios guided then his car of gold,

In his silent majesty, o'er all.

Oreads then these heights around us filled,
Then a dryad dwelt in yonder tree,
From the urn of loving naiads rilled
Silver streamlets foamingly.

Yonder Laurel once imploring wound,

Tantal's daughter slumbers in this stone; From yon rush rose Syrinx' mournful sound, From this thicket Philomela's moan. Yonder brook Demeter's tears received, That she wept for her Persephone,

From this hill, of her loved friend bereaved, Cried Cythera, fruitlessly!