"The Mighty Hour, in which our hearts shall leap "As at a trumpet, from their Pagan sleep; "And light shall burst into our souls, that we 66 May know the faith which bids God's images be free! "For this at morn,--ere the exulting sun "Flush o'er the Eastern heav'n-as the grey light "Toils up the rear of Darkness;-hath begun "My solemn orison-for this, the Night "Hath by a thousand shadows, dreams, and signs, "Fill'd my stern heart with Hope, whose truth it now divines! "Yea, ere I loved thee, Zoe-ere I asked, "Ev'n if the love of women were for me, "There was one Shape, one Queen, for whom I tasked "When chaf'd beneath the pomp, the power, the gaud, "Which the dup'd Many deck with hollow laud, 66 Mydeep soul sickened that fair face to see, "Truth from the womb of Time did answer Liberty!" "And now she calls me with an angel's voice "Homeward, o'er land and ocean to her cause; "And my blood burns within me, that the choice "Of hour and clime, in which His loftiest laws "HE rights our God hath cast, albeit in strife, She look'd upon that brow so fair and high, Which dreamt not of the blindness glooming near. Soft and more soft-until, as clouds pursue "Come, then, my Zoe, on this pilgrimage, 66 My hope in youth, my haven in my age! "Come, if the world forsake, or Fate control, "Come-though from marble domes, and orange bowers"Come to a humble roof, a northern sky; "Love's fairy halls and temples shall be our's, "And our heart's sun the ice of earth defy, “Trust me, though Fate may turn each hope to gall, "Thou at thy choice, belov'd, shalt ne'er repine; "Trust me, whatever storm on me may fall, "My breast shall ward the blast, the bolt, from thine! "Yes! as the bird on yonder oak which breathes "Soul into night, thy love shall be to me! "Yes! I will be that oak which ever wreathes "Its boughs, though leafless, into bowers for thee! "And when the sunshine of thy life be set, "And beams, and joy, and pomp, and light depart, "There is one shelter that will shield thee yet, "Thy nest, my bird-thy refuge in my heart!" He ceased; and drew her closer to his breast; From fairest fount or tree, their homes who singled Last of their order doom'd to haunt the place, And bear sweet being interfused and mingled, Draw through their life the same delicious breath, And fade together into air in death! Oh! what then burned within her, as her fond And pure lips yearn'd to breathe the' enduring vow? All was forgot, save him before her now— A blank, a non-existence, lay beyond All was forgot-all feeling, thought, but this- The voice just stirs her lip-what sound is there? The night-bird rustling through the startled tree?— With a wild, yet stifled cry, Sprang Zoe from her lover. "Can it be?— 66 Mercy, oh Heav'n !" END OF PART II. MILTON. PART III. argue not Against Heaven's hand or will-nor bate a jot MILTON'S SONNET TO CYRIAC SKINNER. I. LONG years have flown!-and where the Minstrel now?Manhood hath set in clouds upon his brow! Midnight is past—the solitary lamp Burns in his cell-and o'er his cheek the ray Doth like the dim smile of a sick man play Pale is his lordly front, and toil and thought Wrung from the frame which fails the' unconquered will, A A |