206 SELECT POETRY

Nor torch nor taper longer may

Eke out! a blithe but stinted* day !

The hours have passed with stealthy flight ;
We needs must part; good night, good night

The lady in her curtained bed,

The herdsman in his wattled shed,?

The clansman‘ in the heathered hall,®
Sweet sleep be with you, one and all ;
We part in hopes of days as bright

As this gone by; good night, good night !

Sweet sleep be with us, one and all !

And if upon its stillness fall

The visions of a busy brain,

We'll have our pleasure o’er again,

To warm the heart, to charm the sight !

Gay dreams to all! good night, good night!
Miss Baillie.

 

CONSTANTINOPLE

Wuenre the Thracian channel® roars
On lordly Europe’s eastern shores,
Where the proudly jutting land
Frowns on Asia’s western strand,

1 Eke out—lengthen,

* Stinted—limited—too short.

2 Wattled-shed—a shed, the walls of which are made of
twigs and sticks twisted or woven together,

+ Clansman—a member of a clan, or family—here a de-
pendent member, whose place is in the hall.

5 Heuthered hall—strewn with heath to lie on.

© Thracian channel—the Straits of Constantinople.