Christian Sappho she, whose verse Holy loving souls rehearse

That a benediction seek

Pontiffs have not grace to speak;

For her bosom temple sweet
Charity did make complete;
Human passions lost their pride
Ranged before the gentle-eyed;
Sword of meekness pierceth deep,
Bitterest chide the eyes that weep;

And her anger humbled most
Through her pity, never lost.

Sister, whose fair lot is cast Where the shadows of the past And the sunshine of to-day Interlace on God's highway, None of all thy joys I'd ask, Harnessed gladly to my task, But the parting kiss she gave, And the pause beside her grave.

Scatter lilies from the skies,
Shower tears from angels' eyes,
Who forget not that their joy
Our contentment doth destroy.
Nought of earth so good and fair
That beside her may compare ;
Nought of heaven too purely blest

To infold her sinless rest!

THE PRICE OF THE DIVINA COMMEDIA.

GIVE,

-you need not see the face,

But the garment hangeth bare;

And the hand is gaunt and spare

That enforces Christian grace.

Many ages will not bring

Such a point as this to sight,

That the world should so requite

Master heart and matchless string.

Wonder at the well-born feet
Fretting in the flinty road.

Hath this virtue no abode?

Hath this sorrow no retreat?

See, beneath the hood of grief,
Muffled bays engird the brow.

Fame shall yield her topmost bough

Ere that laurel moult a leaf.

Give it is no idle hand
That extends an asking palm,

Tracing yet the loftiest psalm
By the heart of Nature spanned.

In the antechamber long

Did he patient hearing crave:

Smiles and splendors crown the slave,

While the patriot suffers wrong.

Could the mighty audience deign,
Meeting once the inspired gaze,

They should ransom all their days

With the beauty of his strain.

With a spasm in his breast,

With a consummate love alone,

All his human blessings gone,

Doth he wander, void of rest.

Not a coin within his purse,

Not a crust to help his way,

Making yet a Judgment Day

With his power to bless and curse.

Give; but ask what he has given:

That Posterity shall tell,

All the majesty of Hell;

Half the ecstasy of Heaven.