Dó I behold flitting shadows, escáp'd from the wéight of the body?

Or are they moonlight elves, thréading their áëry maze?

As, by the west wind crádled, the light smoke cúrls into Æther,

Géntly as tósses the bark, rock'd by the silvery

flood,

Móves the obédient foot, on the tide of Mélody bounding;

Póis'd on the warbling string, floáts the ethérial

frame.

Nów-as the links of the dance were forcibly bróken asúnder,

Dárts through the closest ranks, mádly, some swift whirling pair;

Instant, a pássage before them is made, then behind them has vanish'd

Séems as by mágical spell opens and clóses the

path.

Sée! now it fades from their sight-in wild confúsion around them,

Fálling in pieces, the world's béautiful fráme

dies away!

Nó! there exúltingly soár they alóft-the knots disentangle;

Only with varied charm, Order recóvers its sway. Ever destroy'd-yēt ever renéw'd, is the circling creation

Ever a fíx'd silent law guides the caprices of

change.

Sáy, how befalls it that fígures renéw'd are yet céaselessly shifting,

Hōw, that rést yet abīdes év'n in the form that

is mov'd?

Each man sélf-govern'd, frée, to his own heart only obédient;

Yét in Time's éddying course fínding his óne only road?

Wouldst thou the réason attáin ?—it is Harmony's pówerful Godhead,

Which to the sócial dance límits the maddening bound;

Némesis-like, with the golden brídle of rhythmical

measure,

Cúrbs the unruly desire, cháins the wild áppetite down.

And do they swéep o'er thy sénses in vain-thōse héavenly hýmnings?

Dóth it not raise thee-the full swéll of this mystical song?

Nór the extatic note that all béings are striking around thee?

Nór the swift whirling dance, whích through

unlimited space

Whirls swift revolving suns in bōld concéntrical circles?

-Thát which in spórt thou rever'st-MEASUREin trúth thou dost spurn.

Würden.

As in the Macht des Gesanges, so in this Poem also, the thought that lies beneath the surface rests almost wholly on comparison. "As the column of light gilds the waves of the brook, so shines on Man the lustre of earthly dignities. It is not itself that gleams, but the place through which it passes." This Poem is clearly of the allegorical class, like the Madchen aus der Fremde, &c. "Its beautiful epigrammatic turn of thought," says Humboldt, "has quite taken me by surprise."

WHEN the broad cólumn of light from the brook's clear wave is reflected,

Bríght gleams the märgin'd gold, as with its own proper glow.

Bút the swift stréam bears the wave in its course; through the glittering pathway

Urges another behind-sóon like the first to

escape.

Só doth the lustre of Honours irrádiate our mórtal existence.

"Tís not itself, but the place through which it passes, that shines.

Der Philosophische Egoist.

THE object of this little Poem is to set up the impulse of a disinterested affection against that unfeeling self-sufficiency which hardens itself upon rigoristic principles.

HAST thou the núrsling beheld, who yét of the love

unconscious,

Which both warms him and moves, sleeping,

from arm to arm

Pásses, until by Passion's call the youth is awáken'd, When the first dáwning of sense lights the whole

world to his view?

Hást thou the Mother behéld, when she buys for her darling sweet slumber

Ev'n at her own rest's price, ténderly watching its dreams

With her own breath maintains the flickering flame

of his taper,

And in the cáre she bestows finds the reward

of her care?

And canst thou slánder great Náture, who-whéther as infant or móther,

Whether she gives or receives, but by necessity

IS?

Sáy, wilt thou, self-sufficing, withdraw from the beautiful circle

Créature to créature that still links in its infinite

chain?

Wilt thou, poor Slánderer, stánd thus alóne, in thyself only center'd,

When but by mútual powers éven the endless endures?

Archimedes und der Schüler.

THE pure and disinterested nature of true Love of Science is that which is intended to be here shadowed forth, just as it presented itself to the mind of the Poet, and in unison with his sentiments with respect to the love of the sexes-both founded on the Platonic system, though it is remarkable that Schiller possessed very little, if any, knowledge of the writings of Plato. The Sambuca was the name of the machine employed by the Romans to batter the walls of Syra

cuse.

ONCE came to Archimedes a youth, whō thirsted for knowledge

"Dó but instruct me," he said, "Art's godlike féatures to trace;

Which to our Fatherland has fruit sō glórious rénder'd,

And Syracusa's walls 'gainst the Sambúca main

tain'd."

"Déemest thou Science divine?-She is so

ánswer'd the wise man

Só was she álso, my son, ére she gave

the state.

áid to

Ask'st thou her ónly for frúit such as mortal lífe

may engender?

Whóso a Goddess courts, hópes not a woman

to find."