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Shoots downward, glittering through the pure serene,
Into the depth of clouds that veil thy breast-
Thou too again, stupendous Mountain! thou
That as I raise my head, awhile bowed low
In adoration, upward from thy base

Slow travelling with dim eyes suffused with tears,
Solemnly seemest like a vapoury cloud

To rise before me— –Rise, O ever rise,

Rise like a cloud of incense from the Earth!
Thou kingly Spirit throned among the hills,
Thou dread ambassador from Earth to Heaven,
Great hierarch! tell thou the silent sky,

And tell the stars, and tell yon rising sun,

Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God.

S. T. Coleridge.

CLXXVIII.

FREE AND UNITED ITALY,

(FROM 'FAZIO.')

ICH and royal Italy,

Dominion's lofty bride!

Earth deemed no loss of pride

To be enslaved by thee.

From broad Euphrates' bank,

When the sun looked through the gloom,

Thy eagle's golden plume

His orient splendour drank.
And when at eve he set

Far in the chambered west,

That bird of brilliance yet
Bathed in his gorgeous rest.

Sad and sunken Italy,

The plunderer's common prey!
When saw the eye of day
So very a slave as thee?

Long, long a bloody stage
For petty kinglings tame,
Their miserable game
Of puny war to wage.

Or from the northern star

Come haughty despots down, With iron hand to share

Thy bruised and broken crown.

Fair and fervid Italy,

Lady of each gentler art!

Yet couldst thou lead the heart In mild captivity.

Warm Raphael's Virgin sprung
To worship and to love :
The enamoured air above
Rich clouds of music hung.
Thy poets bold and free

Did noble wrong to time,
In their high-rhymed majesty
Ravishing thy clime.

Loose and languid Italy!

Where now the magic power

That in thy doleful hour

Made a queen of thee?

The pencil cold and dead,

Whose lightest touch was life ;

The old immortal strife

Of thy high poets fled !
From her inglorious urn

Will Italy arise?

Will golden days return

'Neath the azure of her skies?

This is done, oh, this is done,

When the broken land is One.

Cas.

This shall be, oh, this shall be,
When the slavish land is Free.

CLXXIX.

TO BLOSSOMS.

H. H. Milman.

AIR pledges of a fruitful tree,
Why do ye fall so fast?

Your date is not so past,

But you may stay yet here awhile
To blush and gently smile,
And go at last.

What, were ye born to be,

An hour or half's delight,

And so to bid good-night?
'Twas pity Nature brought ye forth,
Merely to show your worth
And lose you quite.

But you are lovely leaves, where we
May read, how soon things have
Their end, though ne'er so brave:
And after they have shown their pride,

Like you, awhile, they glide

Into the grave.

CLXXX.

JULIUS CÆSAR.

R. Herrick.

ACT IV. SCENE III.-Camp near Sardis. BRUTUS's Tent.

Enter BRUTUS and CASSIUS.

HAT you have wronged me doth appear in

this:

You have condemned and noted Lucius Pella
For taking bribes here of the Sardians;

Wherein my letters, praying on his side,
Because I knew the man, were slighted off.

Bru. You wronged yourself to write in such a case, Cas. In such a time as this it is not meet That every nice offence should bear his comment. Bru. Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself Are much condemned to have an itching palm; To sell and mart your offices for gold

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You know that you are Brutus that speak this,
Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last.
Bru. The name of Cassius honours this corruption,
And chastisement doth therefore hide his head.

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Bru. Remember March, the ides of March remember : Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake? What villain touched his body, that did stab, And not for justice? What, shall one of us, That struck the foremost man of all this world But for supporting robbers, shall we now Contaminate our fingers with base bribes, And sell the mighty space of our large honours For so much trash as may be graspéd thus ? I had rather be a dog and bay the moon, Than such a Roman.

Cas.

Brutus, bay not me;

I'll not endure it: you forget yourself,
To hedge me in; I am a soldier, I,
Older in practice, abler than yourself
To make conditions.

Bru.

Cas. I am.

Go to; you are not, Cassius.

Bru. I say you are not.

Cas. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself;

Have mind upon your health, tempt me no further.
Bru. Away, slight man!

Cas. Is't possible?

Bru.

Hear me,

for I will speak.

Must I give way and room to your rash choler?
Shall I be frighted when a madman stares ?

Cas. O ye gods, ye gods! must I endure all this? Bru. All this! ay, more: fret till your proud heart break;

Go show your slaves how choleric you are,

And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge?
Must I observe you? must I stand and crouch
Under your testy humour? By the gods,
You shall digest the venom of your spleen,
Though it do split you; for, from this day forth,
I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter,
When you are waspish.

Cas.

Is it come to this?

Bru. You say you are a better soldier :

Let it appear so; make your vaunting true,

And it shall please me well: for mine own part,

I shall be glad to learn of noble men.

Cas. You wrong me every way; you wrong me, Brutus ; I said, an elder soldier, not a better :

Did I say 'better'?

Bru.

If you did, I care not.

Cas. When Cæsar lived, he durst not thus have moved

me.

Bru. Peace, peace! you durst not so have tempted

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Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love;

I may do that I shall be sorry for.

Bru. You have done that you should be sorry for.

There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats,

For I am armed so strong in honesty

That they pass by me as the idle wind,

Which I respect not. I did send to you

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