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A PRAYER.
HORACE, BOOK III. ODE 29.
Bending before thee, let our hymn go up wards, Bright as the sunshine breaking from the darkness, Thee we implore to guard us on our journey, Lord God Almighty. Guard us in toil when fainting in the noon day, Guard us reposing under evening shadows, Guard us when midnight walks abroad in heaven, Lord God Almighty. If the dread foe assail us with temptation, Hear us, O Lord, and save us from his danger; Oh, keep us pure, oh, lead us to thy presence, Lord God Almighty. Glory to thee, O Father Everlasting, Glory to thee, O Son and Holy Spirit, One in Three Persons, Infinite, Unchanging, Lord God Almighty. John Duke Coleridge. FROM CATULLUS. [This liberal version of the six lines beginning "Si quicquam mutis gratum acceptumve sepulchris " was written by Lord Justice Coleridge upon Lord Denman's request for a translation of them.] If aught of solace to the silent dead Spring haply from the pious tears we shed, Tender regrets which ancient loves renew, And tears unchecked which long-lost friends pursue; Sure in thy love there 's joy that overpays The pang she felt for intercepted days. Blest Faith, that takes the sting from sharp est grief, And soothes the widowed heart with sure relief; Faith that immortal makes the earthly tie, Reveals communion sweet beyond the sky, And tells us that our consecrated tears May gem the glorious crown an angel wears. John Taylor Coleridge.
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Sprung from Etruria's royal line, Maecenas! at thy friend's abode There is a cask of virgin wine, Roses, and perfume that has flowed Erst o'er thy locks,— no more delay! — Let CEsula's soft-sloping brow, And Tibur bathed in constant spray, For other scenes release thee now; Thy glut of grandeur leave awhile, The massive wall and cloud-capped dome, Nor flatter, with unceasing smile, The smoke and wealth and noise of Rome.
Change,— not unpleasing to the great, — A poor man's scant but cleanly fare, With no proud pomp of purple state, May smooth the anxious brow of care. The sun glares forth with scorching eye, The dog star burns the sultry plain, The lion rages in the sky, The summer days are come again; The weary swain to welcome shades Drives his faint flock to streams and groves, — While not one wandering breath invades The silence of the bank he loves. • . . . . Thomas Denman.
SIMEON'S SONG. Blessed Creator, who before the Birth Of Time, or ere the Pillars of the Earth Were fixt or form'd, didst lay that great Design Of Man's Redemption, and didst define In thine Eternall Councels all the Scene Of that stupendious Business, and when It should appear; and though the very day Of its Epiphany concealed lay Within thy mind, yet thou wert pleas'd to show Some glimpses of it unto Men below In Visions, Types and Prophesies, as we Things at a distance in Perspective see :
