September 14th; III. 'The Fallen One's Rcturn,' September 28th; IV. 'The Old Man's Relics,' October 19th; V. 'Marian's Sorrow,' October 26th; VI. 'My Father's Rest,' November 30th. 1835. "Song': "Give me old Music," January 3rd. 'Paganini,' September 12th. 1836. 'Hymn of the Old Discoverers,' January 30th. A Midsummer Song,' July 9th. 1837. New Year's Song,' December 30th. 1839. The Statue of Joan of Arc at Versailles,' January 19th. 1840. The Poor Poct to the New Year,' January 4th. 1847. 'The Song of the Besieged,' August 21st. The Avalanche,' November 6th. To Pasta,' November 13th. 'Isola Bella,' December 11th. 1848. The First Bright Day,' February 12th. 'The Ides of March,' March 4th. 'Thoughts for the Time,' March 18th. 'The Cell on Johannisberg,' March 25th. A Thought in the Sunshine,' October 7th. Thoughts for the Time,' 1854. Under the Olive Trees,' August 19th. 1857. 'Manin,' October 10th. 'Hymn of the Old Discoverers.' 1858. 'Havelock,' January 16th. From the Sea,' September 25th. The following are two of the above-mentioned poems : HYMN OF THE OLD DISCOVERERS. Weep not, ye loved ones, though ye say farewell Speak not of peril when your friends are gone- We will not fear, tossed on the ancient sea, When mighty winds, unchained, do scourge the waves To foaming madness—and the guilty flee To prayer too late—and dread of ocean graves Of quiet shaded churchyards far at home! God is our hope and refuge! We will not fear, though, shuddering at our feet, Earth yawn in boundless chasms-though rocks be rent Wide sudden lightnings swathe the firmament— God is our hope and refuge! We will not fear, albeit our way we thread Through some wood-wilderness, where all the night God is our hope and refuge Or in the sandy desert, with the sky Of tree, or tent, or fountain to bedew Parched lips; and when the silence-wearied ear God is our hope and refuge ! The hurricane is His-the ocean deeps Own Him their master-He the trackless woods And with His presence peoples solitudes : THE STATUE OF JOAN OF ARC AT VERSAILLES. They imaged thee, of old, in casque and plume, With its clear, warbling fountain, round thy heart, Or marks thine eye-unfaltering 'mid the haze Of glory's noon,-wide fields of trampled corn? Brave blood like water poured, fair homes forlorn, While thy heart sickens at those stormy days, The statue of 'Joan of Arc.' And the shrill cries of Anguish drown the lays And blear-eyed malice gibbering o'er thy grave, * The sculptor was the Duchess of Wurtemburg, whose death is referred to in the prefatory note to the poem. CHAPTER XII. JOHN FRANCIS, 1881-1882. THIS sketch of some of the work of the Athenæum has now been brought down to the date of the death of John Francis, who had been its publisher since October 4th, 1831. He had been the fortunate possessor of almost perfect health, and during the thirty years that the paper was published on Saturday morning at four o'clock he was absent only once on account of illness. It was not until the commencement of 1881 that the first signs of any permanent weakness appeared. He then found the daily journey to and from his house in the suburbs to be beyond his strength, and at once resolved, rather than give up the work he loved so well, to return to his old rooms above the office in Wellington Street. In March his illness had so increased that his friend Dr. Jones wished to have further advice, and at his suggestion Dr. Gowl VOL. II. 2 N |