Or e'er thy ancestors were named or known,

Here ruled those "Great" who called

World" their own,

"The

Here signed their mandates, and with easy sway
Commanded all to hear and to obey,

Enriched by Art, invincible in Arms,

And hallowed by the Poet's deathless charms!
Oh! who could careless come, to pass the hour
Unmoved, midst all these wrecks of Roman power,
Or fail, while wandering these vast crags between,
To gather inspiration from the scene!

Where'er thy Nation be, returning tell

All thou hast felt where Cæsars ruled and fell,

How, though their Name be nought, though once

Their very ruins seem to master Fate,

[so great, Where still such stubborn majesty appears,

In spite of Time and his Two Thousand years! Yet mount, and catch the distant scenes on high,

Of old reflected on the Cæsars' eye

With wide Campagna spreading far below,

And old Genaro purpled in the glow,

Whose glorious chain far stretching towards the

Bosomed Imperial Tibur's groves of yore. [shore,

But ah! returning near the Cæsars' home,

Let not thine eye unkindly look for Rome,

Rome, whose old splendour, in her noonday glare, Might e'en with Jove's own palaces compare! Where Cypress shrouds her ruins with its gloom, They seem that splendour's witness and its tomb, And Fancy deems, while mourning o'er decay, The Ancient City her own "Appian Way."

The lesson's short: None are too great to fall: Behold, again, "The Writing on the Wall:" Reflect how Rome's Great Nation ceased to shine, And pray thy God, "So may not perish mine!"

* The Street of Tombs, outside Old Rome.

LA SPERANZA.

(GUIDO.)

AIR Flower of Life! in Guido's softest form,

FA

What hallowed beauty blooms upon thy brow! Fain must the coldest stranger's heart grow warm, Gazing, with joy, on such a saint as thou.

In this rude world though thou must be beloved, Thy heart in Heaven its dearest object finds, And here thou shinest, not too far removed,

To nurse, bright Hope! our less angelic minds.

LA MADDALENA.

(Guino.)

WEET is the theme of mercy to the weak,

SWEET

Who from thy story twofold comfort learn, How none of frailty should too harshly speak, And how the wanderer may still return.

Softly He spake, Who came to save us all, Moving thy wounded heart to weep and pray, And thou didst turn, obedient to the call,

And heard that all thy sins were washed away!

T

L'ANNUNZIAZIONE.

(GUIDO.)

IS well! the graceful pencil here portrays

The chastity and meekness that were thine Nor crowns thy quiet brow with foreign bays,

Exalting thee from mortal to divine.

"Hail! highly favoured of the Lord art thou!" Such holy message did the angel give :

Before the Annunciation didst thou bow,

And broughtest forth the Christ, by Whom all

live!