A bright-haired child ; and that, when these he left
To dwell within a monstrous city's heart,
The trees were gazing up into the sky,
Their bare arms stretched in prayer for the snows.
When first we met his book was six months old,
And eagerly his name was buzzed abroad ;
Praises fell thick on him. Men said, “ This Dawn
Will widen to a clear and boundless Day;
And when it ripens to a sumptuous west
With a great sunset ’t will be closed and crowned."
Lady! he was as far 'bove common men
As a sun-steed, wild-eyed and meteor-maned,
Neighing the reeling stars, is 'bove a hack
With sluggish veins of mud. More tremulous
Than the soft star that in the azure east
Trembles with pity o'er bright bleeding duy,
Was his frail soul; I dwelt with him for years ;
I was to him but Labrador to Ind;
His pearls were plentier than my pebble stones.
He was the sun, I was that squab—the earth,
And basked me in his light until he drew:
Flowers from my barren sides. Oh! he was rich,
And I rejoiced upon his shore of pearls,
A weak enamoured sea. Once did he say
“My friend ! a Poet must ere long arise,
And with a regal song sun-crown this age,
As a Saint's head is with a halo crowned ;-
One, who shall hallow Poetry to God
And to its own high use, for Poetry is
The grandest chariot wherein king-thoughts ride ;-
One, who shall fervent grasp the sword of song
As a strong sword's-man grasps his keenest blade,
To find the quickest passage to the heart.
A mighty Poet whom this age shall choose
To be its spokesman to all coming times,
In the ripe full-blown season of his soul,
He shall go forward in his spirit's strength,
And grapple with the questions of all time,
And wring from them their meaning. As King Saul
Called

up

the buried Prophet from the grave To speak his doom, so shall this Poet-King Call the dead Past from its awful grave To tell him of our future. As the air Doth sphere the world, so shall his heart of loveLoving mankind, not peoples. As the lake Reflects the flower, tree, rock, and bending heaven, Shall he reflect our great humanity: And as the young spring breathes with living breath On a dead branch, 'till it sprouts fragrantly Green leaves and sunny flowers, shall he breathe life

up

Through every theme he touch, making all Beauty
And Poetry for ever like the stars.”
His words set me on fire; I cried aloud,
“Gods! What a portion to forerun this soul!"
He grasped my hand—I looked upon his face-
A thought struck all the blood into his cheeks,
Like a strong buffet. His great flashing eyes
Burned on mine own. He said.“ A grim old king,
Whose blood leapt madly when the trumpets brayed
To joyous battle 'mid a storm of steeds,
Won a rich kingdom on a battle-day;
But in the sunset he was ebbing fast,
Ringed by his weeping lords. His left hand held
His white steed, to the belly splashed with blood,
That seemed to mourn him with its drooping head
His right a broken brand; and in his ear
His old victorious banners flap the winds.
He called his faithful herald to his side-
“Go! tell the dead I come!” With a proud smile,
The warrior with a stab let out his soul,
Which Aed and shrieked through all the other world,
“ Ye dead! my master comes !”

And there was pause Till the great shade should enter. Like that herald, Walter, I'd rush across this waiting world

“ He comes !”

And cry,

FROM THE SAME.

LADY.

Wouldst thou, too, be a poet ?

WALTER

Lady, ay !
A passion has grown up to be a King,
Ruling my being with as fierce a sway
As the mad sun the prostrate desert sands,
And it is that.

LADY.

Hast some great cherished theme?

WALTER.

Lovely in God's eyes, where, in barren space,
Like a rich jewel hangs his universe,
Unwrinkled as a dew-drop, and as fair,
In my poor eyes, my loved and chosen theme
Is lovely as the universe in His.

LADY.

Wilt write of some young wanton of an isle
Whose beauty so enamoured bath the sea,
It clasps it ever in its summer arms
And wastes itself away on it in kisses ?
Or the hot Indes, on whose teeming plains
The seasons four knit in one flowery band
Are dancing ever? Or some older realm ?

WALTER.
I will begin in the oldest; far in God.
When all the ages, and all suns, and worlds,
And souls of men and angels lay in Him
Like unborn forests in an acorn cup.

LADY.

And how wilt thou begin it?

WALTER.

With old words! With the soliloquy with which God broke The silence of the dead eternities. At which most ancient words, O beautiful! With showery tresses like a child from sleep, Uprose the splendid-mooned and jewelled night, The loveliest boon of God.

LADY.

Then your first chorus Must be the shoutings of the morning stars! What martial music is to marching men Should Song be to Humanity. In song The infant ages born and swathed are. A beauteous menial to our wants divine, A shape celestial tending the dark earth With light and silver service like the moon, Is Poesy; ever remember thisHow wilt thou end it ?

WALTER.

With God and Silence ! When the great universe subsides in God, Even as a moment's foam subsides again Upon the wave that bears it.

FROM THE SAME.
A BRAVE soul is a thing which all things serve;
When the great Corsican from Elba came,
The soldiers sent to take him, bound or dead,
Were struck to statues by his kingly eyes :
He spoke-they broke their ranks, they clasped his knees,
With tears along a cheering road of triumph
They bore him to a throne. Know when to die!
Perform thy work and straight return to God.
Oh! there are men who linger on the stage
To gather crumbs and fragments of applause
When they should sleep in earth—who, like the moon,
Have brightened up some little night of time,
And 'stead of setting when their light is worn,
Still linger, like its blank and beamless orb,
When day-light fills the sky.

[A child runs past ; Walter looks after her.
O thou bright thing, fresh from the hand of God,
The motions of thy dancing limbs are swayed
By the unceasing music of thy being !
Nearer I seem to God when looking on thee.
'T is ages since he made his younger star.
His hand was on thee as 't were yesterday,
Thou later Revelation !

To set this Age to music--the great work
Before the Poet now-I do believe
When it is fully sung, its great complaint,
Its hope, its yearning, told to earth and heaven,
Our troubled

age
shall

pass, as doth a day
That leaves the west all crimson with the promise
Of the diviner morrow,

which even then
Is hurrying up the world's great side with light.

*

The sun is dying like a cloven king
In his own blood; the while the distant moon,
Like a pale prophetess, whom he has wronged,
Leans eager forward, with most hungry eyes,
Watching him bleed to death, and, as he faints,
She brightens and dilates; revenge complete,

She walks in lonely triumph through the night.
VOL. XCV,

Ν Ν

INDE X.

[N.B. The figures within Crotchets refer to the History.] ACCIDENTS--Colliery accident at New BURMAH — The war;, excursions of

Cottam, 10; to a life-boat, 11; eight predatory chiefs, [313]; attack on persons burnt to death at Llanfihan Mea-Toon's stockade repulsed ; but it gel Tal-y-llyn, 19; explosion of two is captured by a second expedition ; steam-boats, 37; colliery explosion successful operations in Bassein, [314]; near Newport, 38; near Wigan, at termination of the war officially prothe Arley mine, 43; at the Dublin claimed, (315). Exhibition building, 51 ; on board Burmese War — Gallant capture of a H.M.S. London, 72; at Brent Grange stockade in the Aeng Pass, 45. Colliery, Oldham, 79; to two Eng. lish Tourists in Switzerland, 98; CAPE OF GooD HOPE-Termination of gun accident at Portsmouth, 105; the Caffre war, (311); proclamation accident at the Crystal Palace, Sy. of General Cathcart, (312); confer. denham, 107; fall of a house in the ence with the Caffre chiefs, [313]; Strand, 119; death of Mr. H. E. the Constitution promulgated, (313). Strickland in a railway tunnel, 123; Census of 1851, 415; machinery of, accident at Preston by the giving 416; numbers of inhabitants, 417; way of a floor, 129; a railway station religious worship, 421 ; religious Forknocked down, 134; shocking acci ship (Scotland), 433. dent on the river Medway, 30 persons Chobham, the Camp at Grand military drowned, 137; fatal boiler explosion maneuvres, 77. at Blackburn, 144; singular case of Colliery Explosions and Accidents-At suffocation at Elsecar, 153. [See also New Cottam coalpit, near Sheffield; RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.]

at Leasingthorn colliery, Bishop Acts, LIST OF, 16 & 17 VICT.-Public Auckland, 10; at the Risca Vale

General Acts, 352; Local and Per colliery, Newport, ten lives lost, 33; sonal Acts, declared public, 357 ; Pri. at the Arley Mine, near Wigan, fifty. vate Acts, printed, 367; Private Acts, eight lives lost, 43; at Brent Grange not printed, 369.

colliery, Oldham, seventeen lires AUSTRIA-Attempt by Libeny to assas lost, 79.

sinate the Emperor, [226] 23 ; execu CORN, HAY, STRAW, CLOVER; tion of the assassin, [227].

BUTCHERS' MEAT — Average Prices

of, 407. BANKRUPTS, TABLE OF, 408. BELGIUM — Marriage of the Duke of DEATHS — Acland, lady, 258; Adam,

Brabant to the Archduchess Maria adm. sir C. 257; Adam, gen. sir F. of Austria, [225] 109; the King's 241; Adeane, miss M. A. M. 254 ; Speech to the Chambers, [225].

Adeane, R. J. 275; Alexander, N. Births, 172.

206; Allan, major-gen. J. 213; Allen, BIRTAS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATAs, Tables adm. 232; Allen, capt. H. 252 ; Anof, 408.

derson, lord, 261; Anglesey, march. Burglaries and Robberies-At Heaton of, 237; Arago, 259; Arbuthnot, gen.

Lane, 19; daring burglary at Mac sir R. 227; Arnold, rev. T. K, 219; clesfield, 24; at Manchester, 26; near Arrighi, gen. duke of Padua, 221; Newcastle, 34; at the seat of Lord Arrow, capt. r.n. 246; Arthur, mrs. Denman, 108; attack on, and plun 241; Aston, quarter-master, 235. der of, a gold escort at Melbourne, Bailey, R. 225; Bain, sir W. 254; 126; burglaries frustrated at Glas Baker, sir R. 231; Baker, J. 217; gow and Manchester, 127; daring Bantry, countess of, 238; Baring, lady burglary and assault near Penrhyn, A. 206; Barlow, hon. mrs. 206 ; Bar162.

ton, gen. sir R. 220; Bateman, R. T.

AND