66 Hail, universal Lord! Be bounteous still 41 A. MARVELL-Born, 1620; Died, 1678. Marvell was Assistant to Milton as Latin Secretary of Cromwell. He sat in Parliament after the Restoration. He was a man of great integrity. His fame as a wit, satirist, and poet has never equalled his real merit. THE GIRL DESCRIBES HER FAWN. WITH Sweetest milk and sugar first And as it grew, so, every day, It wax'd more white and sweet than they : It had so sweet a breath! and oft I blush'd to see its foot more soft And white, shall I say,-than my hand? It is a wondrous thing how fleet G With what a pretty skipping grace I have a garden of my own, And all the spring-time of the year Among the beds of lilies I Have sought it oft, where it should lie ; And its pure virgin limbs to fold We would now say lay. 42 HENRY VAUGHAN.-Born, 1621; Died, 1695. Vaughan was born in Wales; studied at Oxford, and then in London. Thence, he removed to Wales, when the civil war broke out, and studied medicine, of which he became an eminent practitioner in his native place. He did not write much, and the piece here quoted is, perhaps, his best. The image in the sixth verse is especially beautiful. FRIENDS DEPARTED. THEY are all gone into the world of light! It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast I see them walking in an air of glory, O holy hope! and high humility! High as the Heavens above! These are your walks, and you have show'd them me To kindle my cold love. Dear, beauteous Death; the jewel of the just Shining nowhere but in the dark; What mysteries do lie beyond thy dust, Could man outlook that mark! He that hath found some fledg'd bird's nest may know At first sight if the bird be flown; But what fair dell or grove he sings in now, And yet, as Angels in some brighter dreams So, some strange thoughts transcend our wonted themes, And into glory peep. 43 JOHN DRYDEN.-Born, 1631. Died, 1700. Dryden ranks as, perhaps, the first English poet of the second rank. His satires are exquisite, and there is no finer English than his prose. He wrote a number of tragedies, &c., but they were in rhyme, and followed the vicious taste of the day in their construction, so that they have fallen into neglect. The ode that follows is in praise of music, and describes its effects on the mind at a banquet supposed to have been given by Alexander the Great. ALEXANDER'S FEAST. 'Twas at the royal feast, for Persia won By Philip's warlike son;' Aloft in awful state, The god-like hero sate On his imperial throne: His valiant peers were placed around; Their brows with roses and with myrtle bound: 1 Alexander the Great. 2 desert, merit. The lovely Thais, by his side, In flower of youth, and beauty's pride. None but the brave, None but the brave, None but the brave, deserves the fair. 4 Timotheus, placed on high, Amid the tuneful choir, With flying fingers touch'd the lyre: The song began from Jove," Who left his blissful seat above- When he to fair Olympia" press'd, And stamp'd an image of himself—a sovereign of the world. The listening crowd admire the lofty sound: The monarch hears, 3 Thais, a lovely Athenian who accompanied Alexander to the East. • Timotheus, a famous musician and poet who lived in Alexander's day. 5 It flattered Alexander by tracing his parentage from Jupiter. 6 Olympias was the mother of Alexander. 7 rebound, echo back. |