reading I find, in Greek, Theocritus, the "Prometheus" of Æschylus, several of Plutarch's Lives, and the works of Lucian. In Latin, Lucretius, Pliny's Letters, the "Annals" and "Germany" of Tacitus. In French, the "History of the French Revolution" by Lacretelle. He read for the first time, this year, Montaigne's Essays, and regarded them ever after as one of the most delightful and instructive books in the world. The list is scanty in English works: Locke's Essay, "Political Justice," and Coleridge's " Lay Sermon," form nearly the whole. It was his frequent habit to read aloud to me in the evening; in this way we read, this year, the New Testament, "Paradise Lost," Spenser's Faery Queen," and "Don Quixote."

Poems Written in 1817

Poems Written in 1817

Marianne's Dream

I.

PALE dream came to a Lady fair, And said, A boon, a boon, I pray !

I know the secrets of the air,

And things are lost in the glare of day,

Which I can make the sleeping see,

If they will put their trust in me.

II.

And thou shalt know of things unknown,
If thou wilt let me rest between

The veiny lids, whose fringe is thrown
Over thine eyes so dark and sheen:

And half in hope, and half in fright,
The Lady closed her eyes so bright.

III.

At first all deadly shapes were driven
Tumultuously across her sleep,

And o'er the vast cope of bending heaven
All ghastly-visaged clouds did sweep,
And the Lady ever looked to spy

If the golden sun shone forth on high.

IV.

And as towards the east she turned,
She saw aloft in the morning air,
Which now with hues of sunrise burned,
great black Anchor rising there;
And wherever the Lady turned her eyes,
It hung before her in the skies.

A

V.

The sky was blue as the summer sea,

The depths were cloudless overhead,

The air was calm as it could be,

There was no sight or sound of dread,