He came against me, so it seemed, uprearing Who many lands ere now hath devastated. This with the threats which from her presence streamed That I no more to climb the summit dreamed. Driving me down by ever-shortening stages But lo, another sight my mind engages While yet I sank to that low depth's perdition, Of one whose voice seemed faint from lapse of ages. At Rome with good Augustus' empire dated, Anchises' pious son, who sailed hither When that proud Troy had sunk to ruin fated. But thou, unhappy, art returning whither? Where such woe vexed thee? lo the mountain blessed, Sole source and cause of joy: why climb not thither?' 'And art thou Virgil, thou that fount possessed Of such rich streams of eloquence o'erflowing?' 50 60 70 80 90 'Then thou another road shouldst seek the faster,' He neither lands nor filthy lucre heedeth, Love, wisdom, righteousness his sole ambition, For whom to death Camilla, virgin glorious, Despair, wherewith the spirits long tormented Whereunto to ascend shouldst thou endeavour. To lead thee, when my way from thine I sever; His citadel, his throne's exalted station : Blest whom he chooseth for such mansion's dower!" Then I, 'O poet, hear my supplication By that great God thou knewest not, in order 100 110 120 130 - MUSINGS OVER THE CHRISTIAN YEAR SECOND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS. SINGLE stanzas and couplets of this day's 'Pilgrim Song' are among the sweetest and most recurring echoes of the Christian Year, and yet as a connected whole, it is one of the most difficult to follow or understand. Perhaps we had better endeavour to outline, as it were, the under-current of thought. 'Can The first verse is the question of the sufferer in mind or body. wayward despondency be pardoned?' Surely it can, for God has listened to many a prayer since Hagar cried to Him in the wilderness. Surely He will, even as He gave water from the rock at the touch of Moses' Rod. And here, the wilderness becomes, as usual, the emblem of our lives, and the miseries of wanderers there stand for the sadder and drearier portions of human life, as the streams of water that gushed forth from the rock typify the 'water of life,' springing forth even in the midst of our sorrows from the Rock of Ages. The dry unfathomed deep of sand' would then be trying and weary monotony; the terrible sand-storm, 'when the scorching whirlwinds heap their waves in rude alarm,' would represent the moments of sharper anguish or danger; the delusive mirage, 'when o'er the horizon's silent line fond hopeless fancies cower,' the vain heart-sick imaginations that vex and tantalize one wearied by monotony; the bitter waters attained with so much toil, moments of keen disappointment. Yet a blessing is on all these. Even out of disappointment, joy and peace may be brought by the Cross, as the Waters of Mara were sweetened by the Wood. 'Thou wilt be there, and not forsake To turn the bitter pool Into a bright and breezy lake, The throbbing brow to cool; Till left awhile with Thee alone, The wilful heart be fain to own That He, by whom our bright hours shoñe, Our darkness best may rule.' Then, in contrast to the efforts made in vain to reach the shining mirage lake, or the salt bitter pools of the desert, both mere matters of sight not of faith, is set the sure instinct of the pelican flying securely, led by the Hand of God, to the water out of sight, not fearing to entrust her nest to His charge; and thus reproving thankless man, who must needs have his blessings in sight, and fears to journey on where he has them not close within his grasp, though he may be certain that they are full before him. And yet more, a Pilgrim has been before us, has endured the same woes, has left His marks to guide us, and 'Where on the sand Thy step appears, Thy crown in sight is hung.' Then follows a most tender and soothing invocation to that Pilgrim 'who did sit on Jacob's well, the weary hour of noon,' an invocation which it is hardly possible to refrain from quoting, even though we know it must be in the ears and hearts of all our readers. Thence we turn to a bright and beautiful meditation of the childless man, who loved and cherished children as the buds of the Church-upon St. Joseph, and his reverent guardianship of the Holy Child and His Mother, regarding the relationship in which that 'just man' stood to his ' dread nurse child,' as hallowing the whole connection between all who stand in parental relation, as sponsors, clergy, or nursing friends, to the young. It is so sweet and simple that there is no analyzing it-only by dwelling on it can it be appreciated. FIRST SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. THE scenery of these verses, which always seems like the first note of spring, coming as they do on one of the coldest and most wintry Sundays in all the year, is taken from the walk to Coln St. Aldwyn's, a small living held by Mr. Keble's father, about three miles from Fairford, on the banks of the river Coln, which is shaded with willow trees. The photograph of the 'streamlet' and its trees may be seen in 'Memorials of the Rev. J. Keble.' The island there is not, however, the snowdrop islet of 'Easter Tuesday,' which is on the Test. It is quite honour enough for the Coln to have suggested the 'lessons sweet of spring returning,' and perhaps the universal charm of these stanzas is partly owing to their having been the fruit of a scene commonplace to common-place eyes, but such as all may read. Mr. Ruskin has remarked that high poetry seems more apt to spring up amid landscapes of quiet smiling moderate beauty, than in the wilder, more rugged and astonishing splendours men go in search of-adducing Shakespeare as his primary instance; and Milton might also have been mentioned, great part of his youth having been spent in the same kind of scenery as surrounded Fairford. Indeed, we fully believe that tranquil beauty, brooded over and studied in all its aspects by a loving soul, is the meetest school of poetry, and inspires more deep thought than a hurried glance at more striking scenes. The willows of Coln then, by their brave little red budlets, preparing to open into silver studs, and by-and-by into soft golden palms, long ere the wintry season be over, advancing on every breath of spring, holding back, but unscathed, unblighted by recurring frost and blight, teach their lessons of content, 'Ready to give thanks, and live On the least that Heaven may give.' Then comes the walk along the stony vale, with the nightingales singing, as they seem to do by preference by the road side, loving, as the sociable birds seem to do, the neighbourhood of man, and stir of life, though never visible. Their example is summed up in the two concluding lines: 'So ye live in modest ways, Trust entire, and ceaseless praise.' This is the Sunday of the one Gospel of our Lord's childhood, the Gospel that gives us the lesson of obedience in His subjection to His parents; but there is another lesson drawn in the Lyra Innocentium, and one that every older generation feels in turn. No two hearts are ever exactly alike, in all-even where there is a hereditary likeness, and one character has been moulded on another. None then can thoroughly fathom another heart; and Trustworthiness' speaks to those who begin to find the young spirit they have hitherto guarded begin to reach beyond their ken, and to wander in regions they have not trodden. Glad may they be, and calm of heart,' who can be perfectly sure of the holiness, innocence, and devotion, of their child in whatever walk he chooses 'Who out of sight Know all is right, One guide for darkness and for light.' It was a thought that Mr. Keble always liked to dwell on, that the three days absence of her Holy Son was, as it were, an intimation to His blessed Mother, that He would not be as other women's sons, always hers and at her side-nay, that it served as a mysterious preparation for the three days that He would indeed be hidden from her sight; and that in like manner some little incident of child life, unnoted at the time, but perhaps laid up deep in a mother's heart, may be a training for the greater griefs and joys of after life by the impression it leaves on the soul. 'Prepare Thou still Our heart and will, Our friends' and ours for good or ill.' SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY. THE Wedding Feast of Cana is the subject of both the poems of this day; but while the one applies the saying, 'Thou hast kept the good wine until now' to the things of human life, the other reaches upwards, and reads in it a meditation upon things earthly and things divine. Turning first to the poem on the 'best kept to the last,' in human life, we find the scene opening with the picture of childish joy and mirth— |