Then muse not thus on present grief,
Indulge not melancholy;

But think alone of future bliss ;
How transient is a life like this!
Care will not make it seem more brief,

To lengthen it is folly.

SONNET.

JN. D. NEWMAN.

(AN IMITATION.)

OH, I have not forgotten the sad eve
When Luna's mellow light shone on the vale
Gently, and not a cloud could we see sail
Over heaven's arch so glorious.-Believe,
Ye who have own'd the mastery of love,
With what wild rapture my eye gazed on her
Who did on me her heart and hopes confer,-
Rich gift! all earthly guerdons far above!
We stood upon a rock ;—'neath us the sea
Roll'd murmuring;-in deepest thought we stood;
I saw our forms reflected on the flood,
And fancied fate had destined us to be
Together bound in love and life: and, lo!
(I did but dream)-oceans between us flow!

SONNET.

J. W. DALBY.

(SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN BY **
MARY! I loved thee truest, first and best
Of all, when many worshipp'd thy fair feet!-
But thou wert lost;-need I the tale repeat?
How calumny assail'd me--but the rest

Thou knowest' too well, and 'tis a tale unblest! Years have pass'd on ;-bright youth has pass'd away, And we are far advanced in life's mid-day;

Yet still its early passion warms my breast;
And still instructively my thoughts go back
To that once happy and untainted time

When love, and truth, and innocence were ours.
Oh, 'tis a dream unchanging and sublime
My soul delights to wander in that track,

And deems long days, thus spent all hallow'd hours.

J. W. DALBY.

THE LADY SPRITE: AN OLD TALE.
Concluded from page 158.

TIME wore away, and the gallant Sir Edward, and the fair Ella, grew every day more enamoured of each other. At length a day was fixed for their nuptials.When Oscar heard of this, after receiving a final repulse from Ella, and no encouragement from her father, whom he had secretly requested to use his paternal influence and authority over her in his behalf, he vowed the direst revenge on the innocent maiden and her lover. His castle lay several miles further up, on the banks of the same river, deeply embosomed in a gloomy wood of huge oak and elm trees. At the back lay a range of heathy hills, and in front was the river, which bere glided darkly among the trees that overshadowed it. The castle was known by the name of the "The Black Tower," not only on account of its gloomy appearance, but in allusion to the disposition

No. 53.

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of its owner, and the dark deeds which had there been transacted. Hither Oscar retired, and secluded himself from all intercourse with mankind, while he ruminated upon his disappointment, and planned his schemes of revenge.

In the mean time, at — Castle preparations for the intended solemnization of marriage were going on rapidly. Guests were invited, the domestics were provided with new liveries, and the great hall was decorated with all pomp and splendour suited to the occasion.

December was now arrived, in the middle of which the ceremony was to take place, and hitherto all had proceeded smoothly except with the gloomy Oscar.— The baron contemplated the coming event with entire satisfaction. He considered that by it his daughter would be united to a man who would make her happy through life, and serve in the place of himself as her protector, a situation which in the course of nature he must very soon resign. The gallant Sir Edward was all impatience for the day on which he could call the lovely maid his own; and she had nothing to interrupt the peaceful serenity of her mind, save that interesting Autter of thought which she felt when pondering upon the important yet desirable change to take place in her condition. A very short time, however, before the expected day, as she was returning from a solitary walk along the shore, she was met by Sir Edward, who perceiving her to look pale and alarmed, anxiously enquired the cause. She endeavoured for sometime to evade giving him the true answer, attributing her paleness to the coldness of the sea-breeze, and her alarm to a fear of not reaching home before the fall of night. On being further questioned, however, she informed him that the old grey-haired harper, who had arrived at the castle about a week before, had been the cause of her alarm. She had wandered out in the afternoon, to a considerable distance along the beach, so far as round the headland, where the cliffs commence, when she was suddenly startled by hearing a soft strain of music proceeding from the rocks at some distance. Mingling with the noise of the waves, and the hoarse raving of the breeze, it fell sweetly

wild and irregular at intervals upon her ear, and al most overpowered her with the emotion it caused in her feelings. Venturing forward, she soon discovered the old minstrel with his harp, reclined upon a rock. His eyes were intently fixed upon the vast assemblage of waters before him; yet they did not seem to occupy his thoughts. There was a kind of absence in his countenance, that indicated he was musing upon distant scenes or events long gone by; and heedless of the chilly north wind that blew his grey locks upon his fading cheek, he tuned his harp to the most pathetic and mournful strains. She approached him unperceived, and heard him speak the following words, which he slowly accompanied with the harp.

O feeble now is grown the hand,

That once could wield a mighty brand!

That hand but 'wakes the harp strings now!
My hair, once of the raven's hue,

Now white, the sea breeze whistles through,
And wrinkled is my brow.

My cheek and eye their fire have lost,
And now my faultering tongue,

That erst led on the warrior host,
Alas no other words can boast
Than lone complaint or song!

O memory, why dost thou recal
My early days, my native hall,
My battled mansion, fair that stoud,
Commanding hill and dale and wood,
And rivulet and plain,

And from its lofty mountain height,
The region of the eagle's flight,

Proud glancing o'er the main?

Far from that noble princely home
Fate willed that I should go,
In age another land to roam,
With footsteps weak and slow!

And O! whatever shall to me come

But poverty and woe,

Be peace to these, and let again

My harp renew another strain.

Ella listened with the deepest sympathy to the soli. loquy of the old man. When he ceased to speak, he changed the tone of his harp to a bold and warlike measure; but he soon fell into another deep reverie, in which he continued for some time. At length, he

all at once roused himself from the stupor into which he had fallen, his frame seemed animated with new life, his eye sparkled with fire, and he broke forth in the following prophetic strain:

Now shifted is the darkling cloud
That veils from man futurity;
Events unborn distinctly crowd
In visions on my dizzy eye;
And to the wave and rock aloud

I speak with tongue of prophecy.
For, though so true, would stranger hear
Unmixed with scorn what says the Seer?
A joyous bridal train I see

Move out from yonder towers;
And laughing mirth and gaiety
Have decked the band in flowers.

There is the bridegroom and the bride,
With many a lady fair;

And many a gallant steel-clad Knight
Attends upon the pair.

The pair is wed, and the feast is spread,
Within that bannered hall so wide;
The dance is led, and the wine blood red
Is quaffed to the health of the bonny bride,
But the laughter loud is changed to shrieks,
The sounds of mirth are o'er;

And many a blade with slaughter reeks,
And the hall is stain'd with gore.

The wild wind raves along the waves
That bear the bark of the bride;

And the moon riding high in the vaulted sky
Sees it whelmed beneath the tide;
And for many a day across the bay

Shall the ghost of that lady glide!

Here the Minstrel suddenly stopped, and Ella, terrified with the prophecy respecting herself, which he had just uttered, immediately turned towards home, when she was met by Sir Edward, as before related.

On hearing the cause of her fright, Sir Edward used his utmost efforts to efface the disagreeable impressions left on her mind by the old man. He succeeded partially by his smiles and ridicule and reasoning ; but could not wholly remove her dismal foreboding. There was still a cloud of sadness on her brow, a feeling of apprehension in her heart, and both gathered strength as the important day nearer approached. Neither was