etc., are not only spirited, but also among the most beautiful in our language; and his humorous poems, including the One-Hoss Shay, Lending an Old Punch-Bowl, My Aunt, The Boys, and many others, are characterized by a vivacious and sparkling wit which makes their drollery irresistible. Dr. Holmes's prose works are written in a vein which proves him to be original not only in thought, but also in expression, and the succession of brilliant pictures with which he entertains the reader fills one with delight. His principal prose works are The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, originally contributed to the Atlantic Monthly; The Professor at the Breakfast-Table; Elsie Venner, a novel; The Guardian Angel, a novel; and The Poet at the Breakfast-Table,-all of which have been hailed with delight and enthusiasm. CRITICISM BY JOHN G. WHITTIER. DR. HOLMES has been likened to Thomas Hood; but there is little in common between them, save the power of combining fancy and sentiment with grotesque drollery and humor. Hood, under all his whims and oddities, conceals the vehement intensity of a reformer. The iron of the world's wrongs has entered into his soul. There is an undertone of sorrow in his lyrics. His sarcasm, directed against oppression and bigotry, at times betrays the earnestness of one whose own withers have been wrung. Holmes writes simply for the amusement of himself and his readers. He deals only with the vanities, the foibles, and the minor faults of mankind, good-naturedly and almost sympathizingly suggesting excuses for folly, which he tosses about on the horns of his ridicule. Long may he live to make broader the face of our care-ridden generation, and to realize for himself the truth of the wise man's declaration, that "A merry heart is a continual feast"! THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS. NOTE.-Dr. Holmes has said of this poem, "If you w.ll remember me by the 'Chambered Nautilus,' your memory will be a monument I shal think more of than any bronze or marble." I. THIS is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, The venturous bark that flings On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair. II. Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl, Wrecked is the ship of pearl! And every chambered cell, Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell, ANALYSIS.-1. Point out the figure in the line. poets feign. What kind of clause? 2. main. Parse this word. 3. Give the case of bark. 4 Why sweet summer? What figure? 5 siren sings. Explain the meaning of this. 6. Supply the ellipsis. What kind of adjective is bare? 7. What is the meaning of sea-maids? 8. What figure in the line? Parse more. 9 Why is this sentence reversed? 10. Point out the figure in the line. 11. Give the meaning of was wont. What figure in the line? 12. What is meant by the frail tenant? 10 Before thee lies revealed, Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed! III. Year after year beheld the silent toil That spread his lustrous coil; Still, as the spiral grew, He left the past year's dwelling for the new, Stole with soft step its shining archway through, Built up its idle door, Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more. IV. Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee, Child of the wandering sea, Cast from her lap forlorn! From thy dead lips a clearer note is borne Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn! While on mine ear it rings, Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings: V. Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, As the swift seasons roll! ANALYSIS.—14. irised ceiling. What is the meaning? What is the meaning of sunless crypt? 15. Dispose of Year after year. 17. Dispose of the word Still. Give a synonym of grew. 19, 20. Name the subject of Stole and Built. What is the meaning of idle here? 21. Explain the use of more as here used. 22 Parse Thanks. 23 In what case is Child? 24 Point out the figure in the line. Parse the word Cast. 26. Who was Triton? What is the effect of the accent-mark cver è in wreathed. 27. What does the line modify? 28. caves of thought. What figure? 29. How is thee governed? 30. What does the line modify? 15 20 25 30 Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea! ANALYSIS.-31. Point out the figure in the line. 32. What figure in the line? Parse nobler. 33. In what mode is shut? Complete the comparison with more. 34 Of what is this line a modifier? 34, 35. Mention the adjuncts of thou. 85 THE LAST LEAF. I SAW him once before The pavement-stones resound They say, that in his prime, Ere the pruning-knife of Time Not a better man was found Through the town. But now he walks the streets, |