Little Ellie sits alone,

And the smile she softly uses,

Fills the silence like a speech,

While she thinks what shall be done, And the sweetest pleasure chooses

For her future within reach.

Little Ellie in her smile
Chooses . . ." I will have a lover,
Riding on a steed of steeds!
He shall love me without guile,
And to him I will discover

The swan's nest among the reeds.

"And the steed shall be red-roan, And the lover shall be noble,

With an eye that takes the breath.
And the lute he plays upon

Shall strike ladies into trouble,

As his sword strikes men to death.

"And the steed it shall be shod

All in silver, housed in azure,

And the mane shall swim the wind; And the hoofs along the sod Shall flash onward and keep measure, Till the shepherds look behind.

"But my lover will not prize All the glory that he rides in, When he gazes in my face.

He will say, 'O Love, thine eyes Build the shrine my soul abides in, And I kneel here for thy grace.'

66

Then, ay, then he shall kneel low, With the red-roan steed anear him,

THE ROMANCE OF THE SWAN'S NEST.

Which shall seem to understand

Till I answer, 'Rise and go!

For the world must love and fear him
Whom I gift with heart and hand.'

"Then he will arise so pale,
I shall feel my own lips tremble
With a yes I must not say;
Nathless maiden-brave, Farewell,'
I will utter, and dissemble —
'Light to-morrow with to-day.'

"Then he'll ride among the hills
To the wide world past the river,
There to put away all wrong;
To make straight distorted wills,
And to empty the broad quiver

Which the wicked bear along.

"Three times shall a young foot-page
Swim the stream and climb the mountain
And kneel down beside my feet
'Lo, my master sends this gage,
Lady, for thy pity's counting!

What wilt thou exchange for it?'

"And the first time, I will send
A white rosebud for a guerdon –
And the second time a glove;
But the third time — I may bend
From my pride, and answer, ‘Pardon,
If he comes to take my love.'

"Then the young foot-page will run,
Then my lover will ride faster,
Till he kneeleth at my knee:
'I am a duke's eldest son!
Thousand serfs do call me master
But. O Love, I love but thee!'

183

"He will kiss me on the mouth Then, and lead me as a lover

Through the crowds that praise his deeds;
And, when soul-tied by one troth,

Unto him I will discover

That swan's nest among the reeds."

Little Ellie, with her smile Not yet ended, rose up gayly,

Tied the bonnet, donned the shoe, And went homeward, round a mile, Just to see, as she did daily,

What more eggs were with the two.

Pushing through the elm-tree copse,
Winding up the stream, light-hearted,
Where the osier pathway leads,
Past the boughs she stoops — and stops.

Lo, the wild swan had deserted,

-

That swan's nest among the reeds!

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.

Without and Within.

M

Y coachman, in the moonlight there,

Looks through the side-light of the door;

I hear him with his brethren swear,

As I could do, but only more.

--

WITHOUT AND WITHIN.

Flattening his nose against the pane,
He envies me my brilliant lot,
Breathes on his aching fists in vain,
And dooms me to a place more hot.

He sees me in to supper go,

A silken wonder by my side,
Bare arms, bare shoulders, and a row
Of flounces, for the door too wide.

He thinks how happy is my arm

'Neath its white-gloved and jeweled load; And wishes me some dreadful harm,

Hearing the merry corks explode.

Meanwhile I inly curse the bore
Of hunting still the same old coon,
And envy him, outside the door,
In golden quiets of the moon.

The winter wind is not so cold

As the bright smile he sees me win,

Nor the host's oldest wine so old

I

As our poor gabble sour and thin.

envy

him the ungyved prance

By which his freezing feet he warms, And drag my lady's-chains, and dance The galley-slave of dreary forms.

Oh, could he have my share of din,
And I his quiet! - past a doubt

'T would still be one man bored within,
And just another bored without.

185

JAMES RUSSELL Lowell.

The Cock and the Bull.

You see this pebble-stone? It's a thing I bought

Of a bit of a chit of a boy i' the mid o' the day –

I like to dock the smaller parts-o'-speech,

As we curtail the already cur-tailed cur

(You catch the paronomasia, play o' words ?) —
Did, rather, i' the pre-Landseerian days.
Well, to my muttons. I purchased the concern,
And clapped it i' my poke, and gave for same
By way, to wit, of barter or exchange --
"Chop" was my snickering dandiprat's own term
One shilling and fourpence, current coin o' the realm.
O-n-e one and f-o-u-r four

Pence, one and fourpence-you are with me, sir?
What hour it skills not: ten or eleven o' the clock,
One day (and what a roaring day it was!)

In February, eighteen sixty-nine,

Alexandrina Victoria, Fidei —

Hm-hm-how runs the jargon?-being on throne.

Such, sir, are all the facts, succinctly put, The basis or substratum — what you will

Of the impending eighty thousand lines.

"Not much in 'em either," quoth perhaps simple Hodge. But there's a superstructure. Wait a bit.

Mark first the rationale of the thing:

Hear logic rivel and levigate the deed.

That shilling and, for matter o' that, the pence

I had o' course upo' me--wi' me say —

(Mecum's the Latin, make a note o' that)

When I popped pen i' stand, blew snout, scratched ear,
Sniffed-tch! - at snuff-box; tumbled up, he-heed,
Haw-hawed (not hee-hawed, that's another guess thing):
Then fumbled at, and stumbled out of, door,