FOR CHILDREN. 125

I could have solved all mysteries
Of Egypt old and vast,

And read each hieroglyphic scroll,
From the first word to the last,

I should have known what cities
In the desert wastes were hid;

And have walked, as in my father’s house,
Through each great pyramid.

I might have sat on Homer's knees,
A little prattling boy,

And listened to the story strange
Of the ten years’ siege of Troy.

I might have walked with Plato
In the groves of Academe ;!

And have talked with him of sylvan Pan,
And the Naiads of each stream.

What joy to have climbed th’ Acropolis,?
With its stately Parthenon ;

And in after days to the seven-hilled Rome,
With eager steps to have gone!

To have stood by warlike Romulus,
In council and in fray,

And with his horde of robbers dwelt,
In reed-roofed huts of clay !

1 Academe—a garden in one of the suburbs of Athens,
laid out in walks shaded by trees, and adorned with statues
and fountains. It was a favourite resort of learned men.

2 Acropolis—a rocky eminence about 150 feet high, around
and at the foot of which Athens was built, and on whose.
summit stood the Parthenon or Temple of Minerva.

M2