Some of the pieces contained in this Volume have already ap-
peared in “ All the Year Round,” “ The Englishwoman's Journal,”

&c.

66

HE lights extinguished; by the hearth

I leant,

Half weary with a listless discontent.
The flickering giant-shadows, gather-

ing near,

Closed round me with a dim and silent fear.

All dull, all dark; save when the leaping flame,
Glancing, lit up a Picture's ancient frame.
Above the hearth it hung. Perhaps the night,
My foolish tremors, or the gleaming light,
Lent power to that Portrait dark and quaint—
A Portrait such as Rembrandt loved to paint-
The likeness of a Nun. I seemed to trace

A world of sorrow in the patient face,

B