A Cedar amidst Palms; an Olive-tree
Budding forth fruit; and as a Cypress rare
That groweth to the clouds.. Even such is He.

Oh! Truth abideth with him every where;
And lovely is her brow, albeit too bright

For earthly eye, she veil her aspect fair,

-Lest bold vain men be blasted with its light,Beneath a diverse visage, now austere

Now lovely, suited to the gazer's sight.

He who upon her naked face might bear
To look, would know her heavenly and divine,
And Deity itself in her revere—

Thy Soul, oh Man! is her especial shrine;
There find her, thou unto thyself shalt wake,
And to thy God; for Heaven is her's and thine :

Seek her in youth, nor yet in age forsake."

III.

ETERNAL GENERATION.

Such was their talk in Paradise.

Now wake

A three-fold Chorus their loud harmonies,

And the three Worlds in all their echoes quake.

H

*I. 1. Man breaks Death's prison at his birth, and lies At mercy of his nurse in infancy,

And in his youth of all propensities,

Of indiscretion in maturity,

Or worse discretion, weakness in his age;
Then to Death's prison straight returneth he—

Or brave or beautiful, or learned or sage—

Then teems with births whose spawn enriches earth,
Whence food for life in each successive stage.

-And so, in progress of decay and birth,
The possibility of life proceeds,
Corruption-Generation-but no Dearth.

—And so revolve the heavens, wherein man reads
Philosophy and Science, written fair,

As in a book, to regulate his deeds.

The Day dies in the west, and Night is there—
'Tis born again—and Night dies in her turn-
And the Stars perish, glorious as they were.

-Appearance all! Men, ye have much to learn!
The stars are stedfast, and the sun endures;
He shineth still-but ye do not discern.

Death is not.

Life is all, and what obscures ?

Death is Life's shadow, and the Hours its span,
Ye are their measure, and its Maker yours!

This Chorus is a regular Ode, consisting of four Strophes

and four Epodes, as marked.

I. 2. Thy Generation when and how began,
Who shall declare? Thou Word Omnipotent!
In whom the expression of the Eternal Plan,

Alone, hath effable accomplishment;
Thyself ineffable, thy written Name

Not known on Earth, for Heaven too excellent!

Or ere the Heavens and Earths, or ere the frame
Of the mysterious universe was cast,

Ere Space and Time had measure and an aim,

Thou,.. Co-eternal with the Father,..wast,
And art, and aye shall be—when Time and Space,
And Earth and Heaven, shall perish and have past.

II. 1.Only-Begotten, full of Truth and Grace!
Thou saidst" Let Angels be!"-And Angels were,
And hadst provided them a dwelling-place.

-Awaked to gaze each winged wanderer,
First on the glories of the ethereal sky,
Then on his radiant brethren of the sphere,
And aye had stood transfixed amazedly,
Had not the Spirit divine infused the sense
Into their apprehensions audibly,

Intelligence implied Intelligence,

And Power and Being could proceed alone
From absolute Being and Omnipotence.

The lucid Truth, flashed from the Eternal Throne,
Spread quick, as o'er the steely battle-field

The lightning goeth propagating on,

Glancing from helm to helm, from shield to shield—
They tried their wings, and felt them made to soar,
Then, borne aloft, beheld their God revealed.

His Glory now they worship and adore,
Beatitude receiving from his sight,

And so in song their happy hearts outpour;

Thick as the stars harmoniously bright,
They break forth into singing as they shine,
In radiant ranks, the progeny of light.

II. 2. There Michael shone, conspicuous and divine,
Crowned with pure gold and amaranthine sheen;
His locks a wreath of beams did well entwine.

There Raphael smiled with graceful look serene,
And Gabriel towered in majesty revered,
And Uriel as the Eye of God was seen.

There also among the Blest his front he reared,
Whose name, since blotted from the Books of Life,
In holy heaven is now no longer heard;

But then unfallen, dwelling, free from strife,
In Holiness and Beauty,..types of those
Whose spring is in the Eternal Essence rife.

III. 1. There is the fount of Wisdom! thence it flows;
There the First Good and the First Fair abide,

Unseen by angels, in profound repose.

Yet they in Heaven are manifested wide,

And from Eternity together dwelt,
Triune, blest Sisters, lovingly allied;

And by the Minds of Power on Earth are felt,
And known in Sun, Moon, Stars, and Shadowy Bow,
Mountain and Vale, and Ocean's monstrous belt.

High as the eagle's soar, far as morn's glow;
At all times present, and in every place;
First-Last; One, yet all number, and aye now;
Thou art-before all time, beyond all space,
Above all heights; lower than all depths, in Hell ;-
Glorious in Heaven, on Earth how full of grace!

All light and life flow from thee, as a Well:
Thou spreadst the curtain of the firmament,
To make thy majesty endurable.

Thou dwellest in the sky as in a tent;

The beams of thy high chambers in the deep
Are laid-and under Earth the Floods are bent.

Thou badest them her keystone overleap,
And cover her as with a monstrous weed:

They stood above the hills, a massy heap!

III. 2. At thy rebuke they fled with instant heed,
And hasted, from the thunder of thy voice,
Away. Up by the mountains, lo, they speed;

Down by the valleys; with a rushing noise,
To their appointed region and wide home.
Therein the huge Leviathans rejoice :

And, like to them, there go the Ships; the foam
Yields to their queenly beauty, as they tread
The labouring surge, dividing as they come,