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I chose this humbleness divine,
Borne out of fault, should not be thine,

Preferring prayers elate with pride
To sin with penitence allied."

JAMES FREEMAN CLARKE.

AIRY NOTHINGS.

FROM "THE TEMPEST," ACT IV. SC. 1.

OUR revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

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SHAKESPEARE.

CLOUD-VISIONS.

A step,

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A single step, that freed me from the skirts Of the blind vapor, opened to my view Glory beyond all glory ever seen By waking sense or by the dreaming soul! The appearance, instantaneously disclosed, Was of a mighty city, - boldly say A wilderness of building, sinking far And self-withdrawn into a boundless depth, Far sinking into splendor, - without end! | Fabric it seemed of diamond and of gold, With alabaster domes, and silver spires, And blazing terrace upon terrace, high Uplifted; here, serene pavilions bright, In avenues disposed; there, towers begirt With battlements that on their restless fronts Bore stars, - illumination of all gems!

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thee!

But O, what solemn scenes on Snowdon's height | Avaunt! and quit my sight. Let the earth hide
Descending slow their glittering skirts unroll?
Visions of glory, spare my aching sight!
Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul!

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Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold;
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes,

Which thou dost glare with!

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Puck. How now, spirit, whither wander you? FAIRY. Over hill, over dale, Thorough bush, thorough brier, Over park, over pale, Thorough flood, thorough fire, I do wander everywhere, Swifter than the moon's sphere; And I serve the fairy queen, To dew her orbs upon the green : The cowslips tall her pensioners be; In their gold coats spots you see; Those be rubies, fairy favors, In those freckles live their savors: I must go seek some dewdrops here, And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

Midsummer Night's Dream, Act ii. Sc. 1

SHAKESPEARE.

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And, listening fearfully, he heard once more
The low voice murmur "Rhocus!" close at hand:
Whereat he looked around him, but could see
Naught but the deepening glooms beneath the
oak.

Then sighed the voice, "O Rhocus! nevermore
Shalt thou behold me or by day or night,
Me, who would fain have blessed thee with a love
More ripe and bounteous than ever yet

Filled up with nectar any mortal heart;
But thou didst scorn my humble messenger,
And sent'st him back to me with bruised wings.
We spirits only show to gentle eyes,

We ever ask an undivided love.

And he who scorns the least of Nature's works Is thenceforth exiled and shut out from all. Farewell for thou canst never see me more." J. R. LOWELL,

Rhacus.

And though the hand is thronged again, Strange sadness triches all that go

O Sea,

with thee.

The small birds flaming note, the wild, sharp call, spirite it is sadness all!

Share thine own

How dark & Stein

the

waves

looks down

привет

виду

steep

огром
Yonder tool bleff! _ be with the brow crow,
And see! Those sable times along the st
5 join thy requiem, gloomy deap

Une come

to

Like stoled monks they stand & chant the diges
Over the dead with they low-beating surge..

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POEMS OF TRAGEDY

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