Could I revive within me

Her symphony and song,

To such a deep delight t' would win me That, with music loud and long,

I would build that dome in air,

That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!

His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,

And drunk the milk of Paradise.

DEAD CALM IN THE TROPICS 1

THE fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;

We were the first that ever burst

Into that silent sea.

Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,

'Twas sad as sad could be;

And we did speak only to break

The silence of the sea!

All in a hot and copper sky,

The bloody Sun, at noon,

Right up above the mast did stand,

No bigger than the Moon.

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

1 from "The Ancient Mariner "

YOUTH AND AGE

VERSE, a breeze 'mid blossoms straying,
Where Hope clung feeding - like a bee—
Both were mine! Life went a-Maying
With Nature, Hope, and Poesy,
When I was young!

When I was young? - - Ah woful When !
Ah! for the change 'twixt Now and Then!
This breathing house not built with hands,
This body that does me grievous wrong,
O'er aëry cliffs and glittering sands
How lightly then it flashed along :

Like those trim skiffs, unknown of yore,

On winding lakes and rivers wide,

That ask no aid of sail or oar,

That fear no spite of wind or tide!

Naught cared this body for wind or weather When Youth and I lived in 't together.

Flowers are lovely; Love is flower-like;
Friendship is a sheltering tree;
O, the joys that came down shower-like,
Of Friendship, Love, and Liberty,

Ere I was old!

Ere I was old? Ah woful Ere,

Which tells me, Youth 's no longer here!
O, Youth! for years so many and sweet
'Tis known that Thou and I were one,
I'll think it but a fond conceit

It can not be, that Thou art gone
Thy vesper bell hath not yet tolled :
And thou wert aye a masker bold !
What strange disguise hast now put on
To make believe that thou art gone?

I see these locks in silvery slips,
This drooping gait, this altered size:
But Springtide blossoms on thy lips,

And tears take sunshine from thine eyes!
Life is but thought: so think I will
That Youth and I are housemates still.

Dewdrops are the gems of morning,
But the tears of mournful eve!
Where no hope is, life's a warning
That only serves to make us grieve
When we are old:

That only serves to make us grieve
With oft and tedious taking-leave,
Like some poor nigh-related guest
That may not rudely be dismissed,
Yet hath outstayed his welcome while,
And tells the jest without the smile.

THE GOOD GREAT MAN

"How seldom, friend, a good great man inherits
Honor and wealth, with all his worth and pains !

It seems a story from the world of spirits
When any man obtains that which he merits,
Or any merits that which he obtains."
For shame, my friend! renounce this idle strain!
What wouldst thou have a good great man obtain ?
Wealth, title, dignity, a golden chain?

Or heap of corses which his sword hath slain?
Goodness and greatness are not means, but ends.

Hath he not always treasures, always friends,

The good great man? Three treasures - love, and light,

And calm thoughts, equable as infant's breath;

And three fast friends, more sure than day or night -
Himself, his Maker, and the angel Death.

LAMB

1775-1834

CHARLES LAMB, essayist and humorist, was born in London, 1775, and died in 1834. His literary fame rests in the main upon his "Essays of Elia." The delicate grace and flavor of these papers can not be described. His style has the charm which comes from perfect ease and self-possession, and

his humor is of the ripest and richest kind. In all his writings there is great delicacy of feeling and happiness of expression. No other writer, save perhaps Goldsmith, enters so closely into his readers' hearts, and so warms them with his genial personality.

De Quincey says: "In the literature of every nation we are naturally disposed to place in the highest rank those who have produced some great