to whom it was said, in words more appropriate, surely, to her than to Oldham: "Thy generous fruits, though gathered ere thy prime, Still showed a quickness, and maturing time But mellows what we write to the dull sweets of Rime.' "That mellow sweetness was all that Toru lacked to perfect her as an English poet, and of no other Oriental who has ever lived can the same be said. When the history of the literature of our country comes to be written, there is sure to be a page in it dedicated to this fragile exotic blossom of song." OUR CASUARINA TREE. Like a huge python, winding round and round No other tree could live. But gallantly Whereon all day are gathered bird and bee; With one sweet song that seems to have no close, When first my casement is wide open thrown A gray baboon sits statue-like alone Watching the sunrise; while on lower boughs And to the pastures wend our sleepy cows; Therefore I fain would consecrate a lay Unto thy honor, Tree, beloved of these Who now in blessed sleep, for aye, repose; Dearer than life to me, alas! were they! Mayst thou be numbered when my days are done With deathless trees-like those in Borrowdale, Under whose awful branches linger pale Fear, trembling hope, and death, the skeleton, And Time the shadow; and though weak the verse That would thy beauty fain, oh! fain rehearse; May love defend thee from Oblivion's curse. -From Sonnets. FRANCE-1870. Not dead-oh, no-she cannot die! Help, Samaritan! None is nigh; Who shall stanch me this sanguine flood! 'Range the brown hair-it blinds her eyne; Dash cold water over her face! Drowned in her blood, she makes no sign, Head of the human column, thus Ever in swoon wilt thou remain ? Thought, Freedom, Truth, quenched ominous, Plunged in the darkness all again? No! She stirs! There's a fire in her glance- Attila's own exultant horde! Lo, she stands up,-stands up e'en now, -From a selection in The Century Magazine. THE MESSAGE. (After Heine.) To horse, my squire! To horse, and quick Fly to the château on the plain, Glide 'mid the steeds, and ask a groom, And if he tell thee 'tis the brown, Come shortly back and let me know; And as thou comest, faithful squire, -From a Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields. DUYCKINCK, EVERT AUGUSTUS, an American critic and essayist, born in New York City, November 23, 1816; died there August 13, 1878. He was the son of Evert Duyckinck, a publisher. He was educated at Columbia College, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. After travelling for a year in Europe, he returned to New York, and in 1840, in conjunction with Cornelius Mathews, he established a monthly periodical entitled Arcturus, a Journal of Books and Opinion, which was continued for two years. In 1847 he became the editor of The Literary World, which with an interval of about a year was carried on by him and his brother, George L. Duyckinck, until the close of 1853. They now began a Cyclopedia of American Literature, which was published in 1856. Ten years later a supplement was added by E. A. Duyckinck, who besides contributing to periodicals, also published The Wit and Wisdom of Sydney Smith, with a memoir (1855); Memorials of John Allen (1864); Poems Relating to the American Revolution, with memoirs (1865); History of the War for the Union (1861–65); National Portrait Gallery of Eminent Americans (1866); History of the World (1870); and Memorials of Francis L. Hawks (1871). GEORGE LONG DUYCKINCK, brother of Ev ert, born in New York City, October 17, 1823; died there, March 30, 1863. He was educated at Geneva College, N. Y., and at the University of the City of New York. He was associated with his brother in the editorship of the Literary World and in the preparation of the valuable Cyclopædia of American Literature (1856). He was also the author of biographies of George Herbert and Bishops Kerr, Latimer, and Jeremy Taylor. "Here," says his brother Evert in a Supplement to the Cyclopædia of American Literature, "here I must pause, with a brother's testimony to the manly sincerity of his character and the great worth of his example; the lesson of his life in the discharge, with rare self-devotion, of every private, social, and Christian duty. I owe much, more than I can express, to his constant affection, his principles, and his active virtues." THE DEATH OF JOSEPH WARREN. It was understood that on the eighteenth of the month, Gage would take possession of Charlestown, the peninsula to the north of Boston, on which stood Bunker's and Breed's Hill. The latter, nearest to the town, was the scene of the great conflict, though its more inland neighbor has carried off the honor of the name. On the fifteenth, the Committee of Safety resolved to establish a position on Bunker Hill. William Prescott, the grandfather of the historian, was placed in command of a thousand men, and the next night, that of the sixteenth, marched, as he conceived the instructions, to Breed's Hill. A redoubt was marked out, and an entrenchment raised by the extraordinary energy of the band, between midnight and dawn, when the work was first discovered by the British. How well that earthwork and its adjoining fence matted with hay were defended through the sultry noon by the body of unrefreshed, night-worn farmers, with what death to the invaders, is matter of history. As the news spread VOL. IX.-3 |