Ay! Asia's wisest knelt around,
Forgetting Fame's too earthly dream,
While, bright upon the hallowed ground,

Their golden gifts-a mockery-gleam.
There vainly too, their censers breathed;
Oh! what were incense-gems—to Him,
Around whose brow a glory wreathed,

That made their sun-god's splendor dim!

To Him o'er whose blest spirit came
The fragrance of celestial flowers,
And light from countless wings of flame

That flashed thro' heaven's resplendent bowers! To "kneeling Faith's" devoted eye,

It shines that "star of promise,” now,
Fair, as when, far in Asia's sky,
It lit her sage's lifted brow'

No sparkling treasure we may bring,
Nor "gift of gold," nor jewel-stone:
The censer's sweets we may not fling,

For incense round our Savior's throne:
But when, o'er sorrow's clouded view,
That planet rises to our prayer,
We, where it leads, may follow too,
And lay a contrite spirit there!

A FRAGMENT.

Oн, do believe me, Julian! woman's heart,-
A true, proud, loving, woman's, ne'er was won
By that most worthless bubble, Flattery.

Your thoughtless words betray their own light falsehood,
For we are very sure, when lips o'er praise,
The mind must undervalue our true worth,
And wrong our intellect,-deeming we try,
With child-like eagerness and love, to catch
Your bribe for hearts,—your rainbow-lit illusion.
Why, 't is a heartless insult! that doth call
For all a woman's spirit to resist!—
Now-in our injured cause,-I dare ye all!-
And fling our gauntlet proudly at your feet;-
But once o'erstep Truth's pure and holy limit,
And from that hour, your eloquence is lost-
Your worship scorned-your sweetest whispers vain,
As the fair eastern fruit that looks so rich,

And tempts the lip, with its bright nothingness.

31

ANNA PEYRE DINNIES.

MRS. DINNIES, hitherto known as a poet under the name of "Moina," was born in Georgetown, South Carolina. Her father, Judge Shackleford, an eminent lawyer in that state, removed to Charleston when Anna was a child. She was there educated at the Female Seminary of the Miss Ramsays, daughters of the celebrated Doctor David Ramsay. Miss Shackleford gave early promise of genius, and of a poetical talent, which she inherited from her father. He was a distinguished scholar, and his influence in forming the literary taste of his daughter was very happily and effectually exerted.

In May, 1830, Miss Shackleford married John C. Dinnies, a gentleman of New-York, but then settled at St. Louis, Missouri, where Mrs. Dinnies has ever since resided. Her published poetry has chiefly been written since her marriage, and breathes the tender, trusting and devoted feeling of conjugal love, in a manner which is very flattering to her husband. He must be worthy of esteem, to engross so deeply the imagination and heart of one familiar in domestic life. The circumstances attending their union were romantic, and it would seem that, in this case, the romance has proved a happy reality. They became engaged in a literary correspondence, which continued more than four years. The result was their marriage, though they never met

till one week before their nuptials. The contract was made long before, entered into solely from the sympathy and congeniality of mind and taste. That in their estimate of each other they have not been disappointed, we may infer from the tone of her songs; for there cannot be domestic confidence, such as these portray, unless both are happy. We have ventured to give this pleasant picture of Love and the Muse at home, as a hint to our young men and maidens, that to insure a happy marriage, higher requisites than personal beauty and bank stock are necessary. There must be intellectual charms and moral wealth, to insure that sentiment which will

"Live on through each change, and love to the last."

The poetry of Mrs. Dinnies is characterized by vigor of thought, and delicate tenderness of feeling. There is something exceedingly fascinating in the display of intellectual power, when it seems entirely devoted to the happiness of others. It is genius performing the office of a guardian angel. There is a fervidness in the expressions of this writer, which goes to the heart of the reader at once, and exalts the strain, no matter what the theme may be. In the regions of imagination she does not soar far or often; the wild and mysterious are not her passion; but the holy fire of poesy burns pure and bright in her own heart, and she cherishes it to illumine and bless her own hearth. The genius that has warmed into summer beauty a frozen "Chrysanthemum," that "peerless picture of a modest wife," should be cherished and encouraged; for this "beauty-making power" it is which most essentially aids religious truths to refine and purify social and domestic life.

WEDDED LOVE.

COME, rouse thee, dearest!-'t is not well
To let the spirit brood

Thus darkly o'er the cares that swell
Life's current to a flood.

As brooks, and torrents, rivers, all,
Increase the gulf in which they fall,
Such thoughts, by gathering up the rills
Of lesser griefs, spread real ills,
And with their gloomy shades conceal
The land-marks Hope would else reveal.

Come, rouse thee, now-I know thy mind,
And would its strength awaken;

Proud, gifted, noble, ardent, kind—

Strange thou shouldst be thus shaken!

But rouse afresh each energy,

And be what Heaven intended thee;

Throw from thy thoughts this wearying weight,
And prove thy spirit firmly great:

I would not see thee bend below
The angry storms of earthly wo.

Full well I know the generous soul
Which warms thee into life,

Each spring which can its powers control,
Familiar to thy Wife-

For deemest thou she had stooped to bind
Her fate unto a common mind?
The eagle-like ambition, nursed
From childhood in her heart, had first
Consumed, with its Promethean flame,
The shrine-than sunk her so to shame.