And in the same succession go And now the modern polished squire, With his gay train, appear, Who duly to the hall retire A season every year, And fill the seat with belle and beau, Perchance, all thoughtless as they tread Of that dark house of kindred dead, In turn receive to silent rest, The feather'd hearse and sable train Brought many a distant country through And when the race is swept away Still shall the mellow evening ray On damask cushion, set in fringe, Then streaming down the vaulted aisle, Outstretch'd together are expressed With hands uplifted on the breast, Set forth in order as they died, SPRING. I. P. Willis. THE Spring is here-the delicate footed May, With its slight fingers full of leaves and flowers; And with it comes a thirst to be away Wasting in wood-paths its voluptuous hours, A feeling that is like a sense of wings, Restless to soar above these perishing things. We e pass out from the city's feverish hum, To find refreshment in the silent woods. And nature that is beautiful and dumb, Like a cool sleep upon the pulses broodsYet even there a restless thought will steal, To teach the indolent heart it still must feel. Strange, that the audible stillness of the noon, The waters tripping with their silver feet, The turning to the light of leaves in June, And the light whisper as their edges meetStrange that they fill not with their tranquil tone The spirit walking in their midst alone. There's no contentment in a world like this, Save in forgetting the immortal dream; We may not gaze upon the stars of bliss, That through the cloud-rifts radiantly stream; Bird-like the imprisoned soul will lift its eye, And pine till it is hooded from the sky. MARCH. Britton. He stands like a warder stout and strong, Through the amber caves low under the waves, And it rolleth along the lands. The sprites of the fruits, and flowers, and leaves, They had long been out at play With the spirits that rule the mellow sheaves, In the ether halls, no mortal sees- But the stirring blast, that clarion cast, And they hurry home at their topmost speed, |