Joy to thee, Fay! thy task is done,
Thy wings are pure, for the gem is won-
Cheerily ply thy dripping oar,
And haste away to the elfin shore.

XXIII

He turns, and lo! on either side
The ripples on his path divide;

And the track o'er which his boat must pass

349

Is smooth as a sheet of polished glass.
Around, their limbs the sea-nymphs lave,
With snowy arms half swelling out,
While on the glossed and gleamy wave
Their sea-green ringlets loosely float;
They swim around with smile and song;
They press the bark with pearly hand,
And gently urge her course along,
Toward the beach of speckled sand;
And, as he lightly leapt to land,
They bade adieu with nod and bow,
Then gayly kissed each little hand,
And dropped in the crystal deep below.

XXIV

A moment staied the fairy there;

360

He kissed the beach and breathed a prayer,

Then he spread his wings of gilded blue,
And on to the elfin court he flew;
As ever ye saw a bubble rise,

And shine with a thousand changing dyes,
Till lessening far through ether driven,
It mingles with the hues of heaven:
As, at the glimpse of morning pale, 370
The lance-fly spreads his silken sail,
And gleams with blendings soft and
bright,

Till lost in the shades of fading night;
So rose from earth the lovely Fay-
So vanished, far in heaven away!

Many a time on a summer's night, When the sky was clear and the moon was bright,

They had been roused from the haunted ground,

By the yelp and bay of the fairy hound;
They had heard the tiny bugle horn,
They had heard the twang of the maize-
silk string,

When the vine-twig bows were tightly drawn,

And the nettle shaft through air was borne,

Feathered with down of the hum-bird's

wing.

And now they deemed the courier ouphe, Some hunter sprite of the elfin ground; And they watched till they saw him mount

the roof

That canopies the world around; Then glad they left their covert lair, And freaked about in the midnight air.

XXVII

Up to the vaulted firmament
His path the fire-fly courser bent,

421

Sudden along the snowy tide

470

That swelled to meet their footsteps' fall, The sylphs of heaven were seen to glide, Attired in sunset's crimson pall; Around the Fay they weave the dance, They skip before him on the plain, And one has taken his wasp-sting lance, And one upholds his bridle-rein; With warbling wild they lead him on To where through clouds of amber seen, Studded with stars, resplendent shone The palace of the sylphid queen. Its spiral columns gleaming bright Were streamers of the northern light; Its curtain's light and lovely flush Was of the morning's rosy blush, And the ceiling fair that rose aboon The white and feathery fleece of noon.

XXXI

But oh! how fair the shape that lay Beneath a rainbow bending bright, She seemed to the entranced Fay

The loveliest of the forms of light; Her mantle was the purple rolled

481

490

540

She was lovely and fair to see
And the elfin's heart beat fitfully;
But lovelier far, and still more fair,
The earthly form imprinted there;
Nought he saw in the heavens above
Was half so dear as his mortal love,
For he thought upon her looks so meek,
And he thought of the light flush on her
cheek;

Never again might he bask and lie

On that sweet cheek and moonlight eye, But in his dreams her form to see, 550 To clasp her in his reverie,

To think upon his virgin bride,

Was worth all heaven and earth beside.

XXXIV

“Lady,” he cried, "I have sworn to-night,
On the word of a fairy knight,
To do my sentence-task aright;
My honour scarce is free from stain,
I may not soil its snows again;
Betide me weal, betide me wo,

Its mandate must be answered now." 560
Her bosom heaved with many a sigh,
The tear was in her drooping eye;

But she led him to the palace gate, And called the sylphs who hovered there, And bade them fly and bring him straight

Of clouds condensed a sable car.

The star is yet in the vault of heaven,
But it rocks in the summer gale;
And now 'tis fitful and uneven,
And now 'tis deadly pale;
And now 'tis wrapp'd in sulphur smoke,
And quenched is its rayless beam,
And now with a rattling thunder-stroke
It bursts in flash and flame.

590

As swift as the glance of the arrowy lance That the storm-spirit flings from high, The star-shot flew o'er the welkin blue, As it fell from the sheeted sky.

As swift as the wind in its trail behind The elfin gallops along,

The fiends of the clouds are bellowing loud,

But the sylphid charm is strong; 600 He gallops unhurt in the shower of fire, While the cloud-fiends fly from the blaze;

He watches each flake till its sparks expire,

And rides in the light of its rays. But he drove his steed to the lightning's speed,

And caught a glimmering spark; Then wheeled around to the fairy ground, And sped through the midnight dark.

That, since all your critics are laid on the shelf,

Out of pure love for you, it is my kind intention

To take box No. 3, and turn critic myself.

Your ladies are safe-if you please you may say it,

Perhaps they have faults, but I'll let them alone;

1 For statement on the "Croaker Papers," see pages 626 to 628.

"Woodworth's Chronicle."-A periodical conducted by that popular poet for a brief period.

William Coleman.-The editor of the NewYork Evening Post. He died during the summer of 1829.

name

But, brother, I fear, though our cause is the same,

We shall quarrel like Brutus and Cassius.

Mrs. John Barnes appeared for the last time in Philadelphia, July 25, 1851, as Lady Randolph, which character she sustained with almost undiminished excellence.

5 Miss Catherine Leesugg, afterward Mrs. James H. Hackett, and Mrs. Barnes. As ladies and actresses, well meriting the poet's eulogiums, and highly estimated in public and private life. Olliff, etc.-Actors of merit in various departments of their profession.