224 THE MEN OF OLD. HYMN TO DIANA.-Jonson, born in 1574. QUEENE, and huntresse, chaste, and faire, Seated, in thy silver chaire, State in wonted manner keepe : Earth, let not thy impious shade Cynthia's shining orbe was made Lay thy bow of pearle apart, Give unto the flying hart Space to breathe, how short soever: I KNOW not that the men of old Of heart more kind, of hand more bold, I heed not those who pine perforce A ghost of Time to raise, As if they could check the course THE MEN OF OLD. 225 Still it is true, and over true, That I delight to close This book of life, self-wise and new, On all that humble happiness With rights, though not too closely scanned, Enjoyed as far as known, With will by no reverse unmanned, With pulse of even tone, They from to-day and from to-night Expected nothing more Than yesterday and yesternight Had proffered them before. To them was life a simple art A game where each man took his part, A battle whose great scheme and scope They little cared to know, Content, as men-at-arms, to cope Each with his fronting foe. Man now his virtue's diadem Puts on and proudly wears; Great thoughts, great feelings, came to them, Like instincts, unawares: Blending their souls' sublimest needs With tasks of every day, They went about their gravest deeds As noble boys at play. 226 THE WORTH OF HOURS. And what if Nature's fearful wound For that their spirits never swooned For that their love but flowed more fast, Their charities more free, Not conscious what mere drops they cast A man's best things are nearest him, It is the distant and the dim That we are sick to greet: For flowers that grow our hands beneath, We struggle and aspire,- Our hearts must die, except they breathe Yet, Brothers, who up Reason's hill O, loiter not! those heights are chill, And still restrain your haughty gaze, Remembering distance leaves a haze THE WORTH OF HOURS. — Milnes. BELIEVE not that your inner eye Can ever in just measure try The worth of Hours as they go by: For every man's weak self, alas! Makes him to see them, while they pass, THE WORTH OF HOURS. But if in earnest care you would Those surely are not fairly spent, 227 And more, though free from seeming harm, You rest from toil of mind or arm, Or slow retire from Pleasure's charm, If then a painful sense comes on Of something from your being's chain Upon your heart this truth may rise,— Suffices Man's just destinies: So should we live, that every Hour That every Thought and every Deed Esteeming Sorrow, whose employ ABOU BEN ADHEM (may his tribe increase !) "What writest thou?" The vision raised his head, And, with a look made all of sweet accord, Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord." And bowed the names whom love of God had blessed, WH THE VIOLET-GIRL. Milnes. Beney will continually rehearse Some al scene once present to the eye, "T is well to nculd it into gentle verse, That it mag hier on the spirit lie. Home yesterr. er 9 wearily returned, |