A storm of passion shook his mind, Anger, and shame, and love combined; But love prevailed, and, bending low, He bared his shoulders to the blow.

"I smite you," said the clansman true; Forgive me, chief, the deed I do!

66

For by yon Heaven that hears me speak, My dirk in Evan's heart shall reek."

But Evan's face beamed hate and joy;
Close to his breast he hugged the boy :
"Revenge is just, revenge is sweet,
And mine, Lochbuy, shall be complete."

Ere hand could stir, with sudden shock,
He threw the infant o'er the rock;
Then followed with a desperate leap,
Down fifty fathoms to the deep.

They found their bodies in the tide ;
And never till the day she died

Was that sad mother known to smile :

The Niobe of Mulla's isle.

They dragged false Evan from the sea,
And hanged him on a gallows tree;
And ravens fattened on his brain,
To sate the vengeance of Maclaine.

THE EXILE OF CLOUDLAND.

I.

WHEN I was a dweller in Cloudland
I dwelt in a rich and a proud land;
I was lord of the clime,

I was king of the time:

And the sun and the shower,

The leaf and the flower,

All came to my bidding in Cloudland.

II.

I

was monarch supreme

in Cloudland, my

I was master of fate in that proud land;

I would not endure

That a grief without cure,
A love that could end,

Or a false-hearted friend,

Should dwell for an instant in Cloudland.

My Cloudland, my

III.

beautiful Cloudland,

I made thee a great and a proud land:

With skies ever bright,

And with hearts ever light;—

Neither sorrow nor sin

Found a harbour within,

And Love was the law of my Cloudland.

IV.

But, alas for myself and my proud land!
There came Revolution in Cloudland ;
My people, untrue,

Broke my sceptre in two,
And, false to their vow,

Took the crown from my brow,

And banished me far from my Cloudland.

V.

My Cloudland, my beautiful Cloudland,
How happy was I in that proud land!
All the wisdom I've won

Since my realm was undone,
Is but poor to repay
What I lost in the day

When I turned my last looks upon Cloudland.

VI.

Oh, ye thoughts and ye feelings of Cloudland!
Ye died when I quitted that proud land!
I wander discrowned,

On a bare chilly ground;

An exile forlorn,

Weary, weary, and worn,

Never more to revisit my Cloudland !

160

YOUTH'S WARNING.

I.

BEWARE, exulting youth, beware
When life's young pleasures woo,
shrive your heart,
That ere you yield you
And keep your conscience true.
For sake of silver spent to-day
Why pledge to-morrow's gold?
Or in hot blood implant Remorse
Το grow when blood is cold?
If wrong you do, if false you play,

In summer among the flowers,
shall repay,

You must atone, you

In winter among the showers.

II.

To turn the balances of Heaven

Surpasses mortal power;

"For every white there is a black,

For every sweet a sour."

For every up there is a down,

For every folly, Shame;

And Retribution follows Guilt,

As burning follows flame.

If wrong you do, if false you play,

In summer among the flowers, shall repay,

You must atone, you

In winter among the showers.

THE LEGEND OF THE WILLOW-WEED.

THE Willow-weed, or Willow-herb (Epilobium), beautiful alike in its wild state and as an ornament to the garden, begins to drop its purple flowers towards the end of August. Its pod opens at the top, and displays the seeds, each attached to a little car or balloon of the most delicate down, which at the slightest breath of wind are dispersed over the country. There is a fanciful notion attached to the down of the Willow-weed, as also to that of the Thistle and the Dandelion, that if blown into the air by a lady, it will sail away in the direction inhabited by him who is most truly attached to her.

I

THE Willow-weed displayed no more
To summer suns its purple crown,
But on its fainting forehead bore

Its waving plumes of feathery down.

The rosy-cheeked and black-eyed Nell,
As beautiful as she was kind,

Broke off the flower to try a spell,
And spread it smiling to the wind.

"Fly, feathery down!" she said, and blew
"To North or South, to East or West;
But travel sure, and tell me true,

Where dwelleth he that loves me best."