THE CLOUD. 199 and symmetrical. And as the eye is the best composer, so light is the first of painters. There is no object so foul, that intense light will not make beautiful. And the stimulus it affords to the sense, and a sort of infinitude which it hath, like space and time, make all matter gay. Even the corpse hath its own beauty. But besides this general grace diffused over Nature, almost all the individual forms are agreeable to the eye, as is proved by our endless imitations of some of them-as the acorn, the grape, the pine-cone, the wheat-ear, the egg, the wings and forms of most birds, the lion's claw, the serpent, the butterfly, sea-shells, flames, clouds, buds, leaves, and the forms of many treesas the palm."-Emerson. Clouds are masses of condensed vapour, suspended in the atmosphere; they are of the greatest importance to the earth, and they are the grand reservoir of the rains which descend and refresh the ground, and of the snows which clothe and keep it warm in winter. They also serve as a screen to protect the earth from the intense rays of the sun, and as a vehicle for the electric fluid. I BRING fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, I bear light shades for the leaves when laid From my wings are shaken the dews that waken When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, I wield the flail of the lashing hail, And whiten the green plains under; I sift the snow on the mountains below, While I sleep in the arms of the blast. In a cavern under is fettered the thunder- Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion, Lured by the love of the genii that move Over the rills, and the crags, and the hills, Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream, And I, all the while, bask in heaven's blue smile, The sanguine sunrise, with his meteor eyes, When the morning-star shines dead; As on the jag of a mountain crag, Which an earthquake rocks and swings, An eagle, alit, one moment may sit, In the light of its golden wings. And when sunset may breathe, from the lit sea beneath, Its ardours of rest and love, And the crimson pall of eve may fall From the depth of heaven above, With wings folded I rest, on mine airy nest, That orbed maiden, with white fire laden, Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor, May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roof, And I laugh to see them whirl and flee, When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent, Like strips of the sky fallen through me on high, I bind the sun's throne with a burning zone, The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim, Sun-beam proof, I hang like a roof, The mountains its columns be. The triumphal arch through which I march When the powers of the air are chained to my chair, The sphere-fire above its soft colours wove, While the moist earth was laughing below. HYMN OF NATURE. I am the daughter of earth and water, I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores; For, after the rain, when, with never a stain, And the winds and sunbeams, with their convex gleams, I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, And out of the caverns of rain, 201 Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, SHELLEY. XXI. HYMN OF NATURE. "To separate the Deity from His works or from His revelations, is to surrender our intellect to error and to evil, and not less to discomfort. Look, then, upon Nature as his intelligent and benevolent production; and enlarge your mind by surveying it in all its richness, grandeur, and diversity. This will make your ideas of Him more sublime, and your feelings to Him more grateful, affectionate, and duteous."- Turner's Sacred History. 66 Beauty is an all-pervading presence. It unfolds in the numberless flowers of the spring. It waves in the branches of the trees and the green blades of grass. It haunts the depths of the earth and sea, and gleams out in the hues of the shell and the precious stone. And not only these minute objects, but the ocean, the mountains, the clouds, the heavens, the stars, the rising and setting sun, all overflow with beauty. The universe is its temple, and those men, who are alive to it, cannot lift their eyes without feeling themselves encompassed with it on every side."- Channing. GOD of the earth's extended plains! The dark green fields contented lie; Where man might commune with the sky; The tall cliff challenges the storm That lours upon the vale below, Where shaded fountains send their streams God of the dark and heavy deep! The waves lie sleeping on the sands, Till the fierce trumpet of the storm Hath summoned up their thundering bands; Then the white sails are dashed like foam, Till calmed by thee, the sinking gale God of the forest's solemn shade! When, side by side, their ranks they form, Where summer breezes sweetly flow, The fierce and wintry tempests blow; How gloriously above us springs, Thy name is written clearly bright And every spark that walks alone Her incense fires shall cease to burn; But still her grand and lovely scenes Have made man's warmest praises flow; For hearts grow holier as they trace XXII. CLEON AND I. PEABODY. "THE charming landscape which I saw this morning is indubitably made up of some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke that, and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no man has, but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men's farms, yet to this their land-deeds give them no title."-. -Emerson. CLEON hath a million acres, Cleon hath a dozen fortunes, Yet the poorer of the twain is Cleon, true, possesseth acres, Half the charms to me it yieldeth Cleon harbours sloth and dulness, He in velvet, I in fustian, Cleon is a slave to grandeur, Death may come, he'll find me ready Cleon sees no charms in nature, In a daisy, I; Cleon hears no anthems ringing In the sea and sky; Nature sings to me for ever, Earnest listener I; State for state, with all attendants, Who would change ?-not I. CHARLES MACKAY. XXIII. THE DESERTED VILLAGE. "THE whole world is distracted with factions; and therefore, sure, the old time was much to be commended in tolerating, or rather giving occasion to some country May-games or sports, or dancing, piping, pageants, all which did serve to assuage the cruelty of man's nature, that, |