MEMORABILIA.

Ah, did you once see Shelley plain,
And did he stop and speak to you,
And did you speak to him again?
How strange it seems and new!

But you were living before that,
And also you are living after;
And the memory I started at—

My starting moves your laughter!

I crossed a moor, with a name of its own
And a certain use in the world no doubt,
Yet a hand's-breadth of it shines alone
'Mid the blank miles round about:

For there I picked up on the heather,
And there I put inside my breast
A moulted feather, an eagle-feather !
Well, I forget the rest.

ROBERT BROWNING.

Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
Loved the wood-rose, and left it on its stalk?
At rich men's tables eaten bread and pulse?
Unarmed, faced danger with a heart of trust?
And loved so well a high behavior

In man or maid, that thou from speech refrained,
Nobility more nobly to repay?

O, be my friend, and teach me to be thine!

Forbearance.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

Then how grace a rose? I know a way!
Leave it, rather.

Must you gather?

Smell, kiss, wear it at last, throw away!

A Pretty Woman.

ROBERT BROWNING.

In my own heart love had not been made wise
To trace love's faint beginnings in mankind,
To know even hate is but a mask of love's,
To see a good in evil, and a hope

In ill-success; to sympathize, be proud
Of their half-reasons, faint aspirings, dim
Struggles for truth, their poorest fallacies,
Their prejudice and fears and cares and doubts;
All with a touch of nobleness, despite

Their error, upward tending all though weak,
Like plants in mines which never saw the sun,
But dream of him, and guess where he may be,
And do their best to climb and get to him.

Paracelsus.

ROBERT BROWNING.

The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed :
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute of God himself,

And earthly power doth then show likest God's,
When mercy seasons justice.

The Merchant of Venice.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.

Who made the heart, 'tis he alone

Decidedly can try us;

He knows each chord,- its various tone;

Each spring,-its various bias :

Then at the balance let's be mute,

We never can adjust it;

What's done we partly may compute,

But know not what's resisted.

Address to the Unco Guid.

Burns.

ROBERT BURNS.

Let those who never erred forget
His worth, in vain bewailings;
Sweet soul of song! - I own my debt
Uncancelled by his failings!

But who his human heart has laid
To Nature's bosom nearer ?

Who sweetened toil like him, or paid
To love a tribute dearer ?

Through all his tuneful art, how strong
The human feeling gushes!

The very moonlight of his song

Is warm with smiles and blushes!

Give lettered pomp to teeth of Time,
So "Bonnie Doon" but tarry;
Blot out the Epic's stately rhyme,
But spare his Highland Mary!

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.

Judge not; the workings of his brain
And of his heart thou canst not see;
What looks to thy dim eyes a stain

In God's pure light may only be
A scar brought from some well-won field
Where thou wouldst only faint and yield.

Snow-bound.

ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER.

Where'er her troubled path may be,
The Lord's sweet pity with her go!
The outward, wayward life we see,
The hidden springs we may not know.

JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER.

To J. W.

Life is too short to waste
In critic peep or cynic bark,
Quarrel or reprimand:

'Twill soon be dark:

Up! mind thine own aim, and

God speed the mark.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

You groped your way across my room i' the drear dark dead of night;

At each fresh step a stumble was: but, once your lamp alight,

Easy and plain you walked again: so soon all wrong grew right!

What lay on floor to trip your foot? Each object, late

awry,

Looked fitly placed, nor proved offence to footing free - for why?

The lamp showed all, discordant late, grown simple symmetry.

Be love your light and trust your guide, with these explore my heart!

No obstacle to trip you then, strike hands and souls

apart!

Since rooms and hearts are furnished so,— light shows you,- needs love start?

Ferishtah's Fancies.

ROBERT BROWNING.

XV.

Trust and Prayer.

Behold, we know not anything;
I can but trust that good shall fall
At last, far off,- at last to all,
And every winter change to spring

In Memoriam.

ALFRED TENNYSON.

A thread of law runs through thy prayer
Stronger than iron castles are,

And love and longing toward her goal
Are pilots sweet to guide the soul.

Seen and Unseen.

DAVID ATWOOD WASSON.