And in the hush that followed the prayer Was heard the old clock on the stair'For ever-never!

Never-for ever!'

All are scattered now and fled; Some are married, some are dead; And when I ask with throbs of pain, 'Ah! when shall they all meet again?' As in the days long since gone by, The ancient timepiece makes reply'For ever-never!

Never-for ever!'

Never here, for ever there,

Where all parting, pain, and care,
And death and time shall disappear-
For ever there, but never here!
The horologe of Eternity
Sayeth this incessantly-

'For ever-never!

Never-for ever!'

HYMN OF THE HEBREW MAID.
(SIR W. SCOTT.)

WHEN Israel, of the Lord beloved,
Out from the land of bondage came,1
Her father's God before her moved,

An awful guide in smoke and flame.2
By day along the astonished lands
The cloudy pillar glided slow;
By night Arabia's crimsoned sands
Returned the fiery pillar's glow.

There rose the choral hymn of praise,
And trump and timbrel answered keen;
And Zion's daughters poured their lays,
With priests' and warriors' voice between.
No portents 3 now our foes amaze,

Forsaken Israel wanders lone;

Our fathers would not know Thy ways,
And Thou hast left them to their own.

But present still, though now unseen!
When brightly shines the prosperous day,
Be thoughts of Thee a cloudy screen

To temper the deceitful ray.

1 Land of bondage, Egypt.

2 An awful guide in smoke and flame. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light; to go by day and night' (Exodus xiii. 21).

3 Portents, tokens or signs of God's presence.

And, oh when stoops on Judah's path,
In shade and storm, the frequent night,
Be Thou, long-suffering, slow to wrath,
A burning and a shining light.

Our harps we left by Babel's streams,'
The tyrant's jest, the Gentile's scorn;
No censer 2 round our altar beams,

And mute are timbrel, trump, and horn.
But Thou hast said,3 The blood of goat,

The flesh of rams, I will not prize;
A contrite heart, an humble thought,
Are mine accepted sacrifice.'

1 Our harps we left by Babel's streams. Referring to the captivity of the Jews in Babylon. See Psalm cxxxvii.

2 Censer, a vessel in which incense is burned.

3 Thou hast said. See Isaiah i. 11, and Psalm li. 16, 17.

THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT.

(ROBERT BURNS.)

Robert Burns-the national poet of Scotland-was born in Ayrshire in 1759. His father was poor, and could only give a scanty education to his children. The poet worked on a farm, taken by himself and his brother, till 1786, when, having thoughts of leaving his native country, he published a volume of poems. This at once made him famous, and changed the whole course of his life. He was welcomed and flattered by the highest society in Edinburgh. A second edition of his poems brought him 500l., with which he took the farm of Ellisland, in Dumfriesshire, and settled there. He died in Dumfries in 1796, in his thirty-eighth year. His writings chiefly consist of short poems and songs, which are known and read wherever the English language is spoken.

THE cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face,

1

They round the ingle 1 form a circle wide; The sire turns o'er, wi' patriarchal2 grace, The big ha' Bible-ance his father's pride; His bonnet reverently is laid aside,

His lyart haffets 3 wearing thin and bare;

Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide, He wales a portion with judicious care;

4

And 'Let us worship God!' he says, with solemn air.

They chant their artless notes in simple guise,
They tune their hearts-by far the noblest aim :
Perhaps Dundee's wild warbling measures rise,
Or plaintive Martyrs, worthy of the name;

1 Ingle, fireplace.

2 Patriarchal, fatherly.

3 Lyart haffets, the gray locks of hair, becoming thin, were exposing to view the sides of his head.

4 Wales, selects.

Or noble Elgin beats the heavenward flame,
The sweetest far of Scotia's holy lays;

Compared with these, Italian trills are tame :
The tickled ear no heartfelt raptures raise;
Nae unison hae they with our Creator's praise.

The priest-like father reads the sacred page,
How Abram was the friend of God on high ;
Or Moses bade eternal warfare wage

With Amalek's ungracious progeny; 1
Or how the royal Bard 2 did groaning lie
Beneath the stroke of Heaven's avenging ire;
Or Job's pathetic plaint and wailing cry;
Or rapt Isaiah's wild, seraphic 3 fire;

Or other holy seers that tune the sacred lyre.

Then, kneeling down to heaven's Eternal King,
The saint, the father, and the husband prays;
Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing,

That thus they all shall meet in future days;
There ever bask in uncreated rays,

No more to sigh, or shed the bitter tear;

Together hymning their Creator's praise,

In such society-yet still more dear;

While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere.

From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, That makes her loved at home, revered abroad :

1 Amalek's ungracious progeny.

The Amalekites attacked the Israelites soon after the latter crossed the Red Sea. 2 Royal Bard, King David (2 Sam. xii. 16). 3 Seraphic, angelic.