but Wordsworth, Scott, and perhaps more than all Southey, are the English poets that kindled his flame and coloured his diction." But though it may be easily proved that Keble was more than a sacred poet, and that he is one of the few writers of sacred verse who are entitled to rank among the general poets, it is clear that his proper classification is with those who consecrate their powers to religious purposes and didactic ends. Dean Stanley pointed out how in his writings the poet is often broader than the churchman; but this is only another way of saying that the man was better than his creed, and this might well be where the man was so true and the creed so narrow. In the "Lyra Innocentium" there is a short poem on "The Death of the New Baptized." What purer brighter sight on earth, than when Hid in some nook from all but angels' ken, And with his radiance bathes it through and through Then into realms too clear for our frail view Exhales and draws it with absorbing love? And what if Heaven therein give token true Of grace that new-born dying infants prove, Just touched with Jesu's light, then lost in joys above? One saddens to think that were the rite of baptism but unperformed, according to Keble the doctrinaire, the simile of Keble the poet could not apply. But if this shows the narrowness of the churchman, the following verses from his poem, "The Waterfall," in the same work, will show the breadth of the poet : Go where the waters fall, Sheer from the mountain's height Mark how a thousand streams in one,- Now still as beast in lair. Now round the rock, now mounting o'er, They win their way, and find their rest From East, and weary West, From North and South they come. They rush and roar, they whirl and leap, Strange powers their course inform. Even so the mighty sky-born stream:- Yet in dim caves they haply blend, One their unfailing Guide. Keble was a true poet and a true man; and when he consecrated himself to the service of the Church he gave himself wholly man and poet to the culture of religious life. As a man he was primarily instrumental in bringing about one of the most remarkable of the religious revivals of the century, and as a poet he produced a large body of Christian verse which quickened the religious life of his time and which will, doubtless, long survive him as an impulse and an inspiration to generations which know him not. ALFRED H. MILES. 1827. JOHN KEBLE. 1.-MORNING. "His compassions fail not. They are new every morning." -LAMENTATIONS iii, 22, 23. H UES of the rich unfolding morn, That, ere the glorious sun be born, Around his path are taught to swell ;- Oh, timely happy, timely wise, Which evermore makes all things new! New every morning is the love Our wakening and uprising prove; Through sleep and darkness safely brought, New mercies, each returning day, Hover around us while we pray; New perils past, new sins forgiven, New thoughts of God, new hopes of Heaven. If on our daily course our mind New treasures still, of countless price, Old friends, old scenes will lovelier be, As for some dear familiar strain Such is the bliss of souls serene, When they have sworn, and stedfast mean, Counting the cost, in all t' espy Their God, in all themselves deny. Oh, could we learn that sacrifice, What lights would all around us rise! How would our hearts with wisdom talk We need not bid, for cloistered cell, Seek we no more; content with these, Only, O Lord, in Thy dear love II.-EVENING. "Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent."-ST. LUKE XXIV. 29. IS gone, that bright and orbèd blaze, TIS Fast fading from our wistful gaze; The traveller on his way must press, When with dear friends sweet talk I hold, And all the flowers of life unfold; |