2 SELECT POETRI

Here, on the hills, He feeds his herds,
His flocks in yonder plains ;

His praise is warbled by the birds;
—0Oh could we! catch their strains,

Mount with the lark, and bear our song
Up to the gates of light !?

Or, with the nightingale, prolong
Our numbers through the night!

His blessings fall in plenteous showers
Upon the lap of earth,

That teems with foliage, fruits, and flowers,
And rings with infant mirth.

If God hath made this world so fair,
Where sin and death abound ;

How beautiful beyond compare,’
Will Paradise be found !

Montgomery.

 

THE VOICE OF SPRING.

I am coming, I am coming !—
Hark ! the little bee is humming ;4

1 Oh could we—oh that we could.

* Gates of Light—the part of the sky from which the
light issues in the morning, as if from opening gates.
Shakspere writes :—

‘Hark! hark ! the lark at heaven's gate sings.”

3 Beyond compare—beyond comparison.

* Humming—observe that many words descriptive of the
sounds made by animals are imitations of the sounds them-

eelves; thus the serpent and the goose hiss, bees hum, flies
buzz, rooks caw, &c,