festive multitudes, and even the gentle melody by moonlight, are all, without the hope of immortality, only the idle employment of the summer morn, refreshed under various forms. We too are wanderers, that sit beside the stream of time, ever flowing swiftly by us, and sad and heathenish indeed is our state, if to watch the transient bubbles of the world's pleasures be our highest occupation, and the summer hour of life be spent on vanities that will soon disappear for ever.

The same grace of diction marks the description of Arista and Ianthé,

"The sisters of my heart! Their long locks twining

With roses bright; or votive chaplets wreathing,

For some wood-temple 'mid the laurels shining,

Haunted by Nymph or Faun: whose flute-notes, breathing
Of peaceful mirth, came floating on the breeze,

While answering zephyrs fanned the waving trees!"

To these associations of rural scenery and pleasant music, are added those of noble sculpture, in the picture of Evadné, kneeling with full brow at the altar of Dian.

"Or in the mazes of the graceful dance;

Or, in her hands, the sacred baskets bearing:
Yet, amid all, in mein and countenance,

A gentle but majestic beauty wearing;

Pure as some godlike form of breathing stone,
Amid the din of life she moved alone."

But the description of Palmyra, near the close of the poem, is perhaps the fullest illustration of that secret charm, which flows from the choice of words happily suggestive of all noble and beautiful associations.

"Once, as I wandered o'er the desert plains,
Afar I saw a green and palmy wood.

I hastened on: and there, with all its fanes
Bathed in the evening light, a city stood,
Glorious as 'twere a city seen in dreams,

Tower, arch, and column, bright with rainbow gleams.

The palm and cypress cast a pleasant shade
Around and many a silvery fount was there
With murmuring voice, and many a long arcade
Lending a shelter from the noon-tide glare.
It was an isle of beauty, placed apart

From common earth in that wide desert's heart.

Stillness was o'er the plains: a silent gloom
Brooded above them. But, within the town,
All breathed of life and youth, and joy and bloom,
As if the dwellers in it had cast down

All worldly cares, all grief, all dark dismay,
Making their life one sunny holiday.

City of Palm-Trees, fare thee well! How oft
Doth memory turn to thee, as if that thou
Hadst been a place I loved: and, in her soft
Dissolving hues, she paints thee, till a glow
Hangs round thee, lovely, even as thine own,
When sunset girds thee with a golden zone!

Such descriptions as these, radiant with sunny beauty, may seem perhaps to some persons to minister only to the luxury of thought, and thus to be useless or even hurtful to the Christian. Doubtless the abuse is possible, and will be sure to arise, when the indulgence of refined taste is made a substitute for simple faith, or an excuse for the neglect of plain and simple duties. But the sense of beauty, in all its forms, is a Divine gift ; and when it is sanctified by the word of God and by prayer, will minister, like all such gifts, to the happiness and holiness of those who receive it, and to the glory of the all-bountiful Giver. It is well to be recalled from the debasing and trivial association of thought, which are ever weaving their meshes around us, to others purer and more refined, whether suggested by the objects of nature, or the scenes of ancient history, by sweet woodland music, or the city of Palm-trees, rising, an oasis of beauty and grandeur amidst the lonely desert. It is the privilege of true poetry, thus to purify and elevate the association of thought; to render

all nature instinct with meaning; all history, alive with scenes of joy or sorrow, and all things around us in this lower world, fertile in mysterious truths, and which light them up with a secret anticipation of the good things to come. As Hagar was driven out by Sarah, a harsh and narrow piety may banish poetical taste from the home of true religion, and it may then wander like a benighted and houseless pilgrim, in deserts of a fallen world, where the creature is proving itself, at every turn, a subject to vanity, and no living waters can be found, to slake the thirst of the immortal spirit. But where the religion of the heart is gentle and loving, as well as pure, the hand-maid will return to her natural mistress, and the invocation of our great poet to the heavenly muse, though clothed in the terms of fiction, will assume a deep and real significance.

"The meaning, not the name I call, for morn
Nor of the muses here, nor on the top

Of old Olympus dwells; but heavenly born
Before the hills appeared, or fountains flowed,
Thou with eternal Wisdom didst converse,
Wisdom, thy sister, and with her didst play
In presence of the Almighty, others pleased
With thy celestial song."

A taste for poetry thus explained, and moulded by the truths of the gospel, will only be another term for that perpetual discipline and purification of the association and habits of thought, by which they are purged from the trivial, the mean and the impure, and laid open to all variety of sweet influences, in nature, in providence, and in the deep history of the human heart, which may raise the spirit out of the bondage of sense, and lift it upwards nearer and nearer continually to God and heaven.

WORKS OF LOVE.

66

BESIDES the great societies and their important, everwidening spheres of action, many small streams of christian love are silently, through our land, relieving unobtrusive want. We are sometimes asked to bring these before our readers, and can find no more appropriate title under which to group them, than that of Works of Love. They are peculiarly interesting, when they have reference to those to whom education has given a refinement and sensitiveness which would make the application for relief most painful, while circumstances often render it painfully necessary. Two such have lately been brought before us :-The first sent as a Hint," we cordially recommend to the notice of our readers. We know by pleasant experience, how gladly any such help will be received by the excellent woman, whose energies are devoted to the service of the labourers in her Lord's vineyard. We would also suggest, that duplicate copies of books, pamphlets, &c., may often be a valuable acquisition to poor clergymen, who have mind to enjoy, but not money to procure them; and how pleasant a task it might be to the younger members of a wealthy Christian family, to store up treasures of this kind, till enough were collected to fill a box that should diffuse joy in some poor clergyman's family. We lose half the luxury of life for want of quickness, in seizing occasions of doing good and spreading happiness.

A HINT.

THE lamented Charlotte Elizabeth stated two or three years since, that she had received a box of half-worn clothing from some kind lady, which had caused her great perplexity, as to proper disposal of the various articles.

Many of the readers of the Christian Lady's Magazine, may have felt somewhat of the same difficulty; not wishing to encourage a taste for dress, either in servants or amongst the lower orders, and yet having no friend of higher rank in straightened circumstances to which such things might be a valuable boon.

They may not be aware that there is a good channel open for rendering such contributions most acceptable. It is Miss Lamb's Clothing Society for poor clergymen and their families.

Many a poor Curate with a large family and scanty means, to meet the expences of frequent sickness, and misfortune, is not able to procure suitable clothing for his daughter going out to school, or as governess, nor yet for his sons, and sometimes scarcely for himself. To meet such cases, Miss Lamb thankfully receives any kind of clothing which may be sent to Messrs. Seeley's, London, addressed to Miss Lamb; for the Clergy Clothing Society. She has several agents in different parts of the country whose names are in her published report.

By availing themselves of this hint, Ladies may at once rid themselves of an incumbrance, and confer a great benefit on those who ought to be cared for. 1 Cor. ix. 11.

The other object brought before us is one of peculiar interest to Christian ladies; it is a temporary residence