finer in poetic quality. They have some of the elements of imaginative vision, lucid diction, musical expression, without which a poem cannot be, in any sense, a masterpiece. No collection of poetry would be complete, as a reflection of human life, which did not find a place for at least a few of these lofty and tranquil verses which breathe man's longing and his love toward the Highest, the Holiest, the Eternal.

HENRY VAN DYKE.

ELEGIES AND POEMS ON DEATH

DEATH THE LEVELLER

From The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses.
THE glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against Fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings:
Sceptre and Crown

Must tumble down,

And in the dust be equal made

With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

Some men with swords may reap the field,
And plant fresh laurels where they kill:
But their strong nerves at last must yield;
They tame but one another still:
Early or late

They stoop to fate,

And must give up their murmuring breath, When they, pale captives, creep to death.

The garlands wither on your brow,

Then boast no more your mighty deeds; Upon Death's purple altar now

See where the victor-victim bleeds.
Your heads must come

To the cold tomb:

Only the actions of the just

Smell sweet and blossom in their dust.

1659.

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James Shirley.

FRIENDS DEPARTED

THEY are all gone into the world of light!
And I alone sit ling'ring here;
Their very memory is fair and bright,

And my sad thoughts doth clear.

It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast,
Like stars upon some gloomy grove,
Or those faint beams in which this hill is drest
After the sun's remove.

I see them walking in an air of glory,

Whose light doth trample on my days: My days, which are at best but dull and hoary, Mere glimmering and decays.

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!

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