THE MADONNA AND CHILD.

Typical of universal Motherhood, this color-plate is taken from the great picture in the Dresden Gallery, originally painted by RAPHAEL as an altar-piece, and entitled the Madonna di San Sisto. It is deservedly ranked as RAPHAEL'S greatest picture, produced at his very prime, when about thirty-five years of age, and said to have been painted directly upon the canvas, with no preliminary study-sketches.

POEMS OF HOME.

I.

ABOUT CHILDREN.

THE BABY.

ON parents' knees, a naked, new-born child,
Weeping thou sat'st when all around thee smiled:
So live, that, sinking in thy last long sleep,
Thou then mayst smile while all around thee weep.

From the Sanscrit of KALIDASA.

Translation of SIR WILLIAM JONES.

BIRTH.

JUST when each bud was big with bloom,
And as prophetic of perfume,

When spring, with her bright horoscope,
Was sweet as an unuttered hope;

Just when the last star flickered out,
And twilight, like a soul in doubt,
Hovered between the dark and dawn,
And day lay waiting to be born;