To A Hummingbird [pp. 608]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
done this errand to Master Seymour, I will return to
thee in secret. And thou, Maud Gurton, wilt then no
longer refuse to share the fate of Arthur Evans-we
will together go abroad, and thou wvilt not languish even
in a foreign land, whilst all thy wishes can find a home
in a loving heart."
"Not while my Lady lives in a dying case, Arthur,
will I ever forsake her," said Maud, kindly but firmly;
"but whenever these melancholy affairs change, as
change they must, be it for the better, or the worsethen will Maud Gurton blend her lot with thine, and
thank God, with reason, that he hath not made her a
Priincess."
Some further conversation regarding their own interests, doubled the hour to which Evans had limited
his visit. The chinme of the hour separated the lovers
in haste and dismay, and Maud regained her chamber
undiscovered. Evans bore back to Seymour the melanclIoly forebodings of Maud-and they were destined to
be realized. Her Lady died in a state of miserable
derangement, far from a heart which loved her to the
last. Whatever might have been the pangs of that
heart, they were at least borne in silence, and William
Seymour again became a resident of England. Distinction, wealth, and fame, flowed in upon him. He
was again married, and he seemed to be happy; but
there were some who noted a change in his bearing.
To the heart of Maud, who, even as the wife of Arthur
Evans, continued faithful to the melancholy due her
Lady's memory, it sufficed that to herself alone did
the princely knight ever advert to his first unfortunate
attachment; and the undiminished fervor- of his devotion to that most gentle and beloved remembrance,
was manifested in the name he gave his child-the name
of his earliest love —" Arabella Stuart." T. H. E.
TO A HUMMING BIRD.
The Lady and her Lover sat together. He wished to speak
but could not; for his thoughts were flame, but his words were
ice. He prayed to Cupid for aid, when lo! at the open door a
Hummn)ing Bird flew in. He caught it, and laid it on the Lady's
bosom, that it might choose between that paradise and its native
fields of air.
Was it Cupid himself or but his messenger that thus appeared
to the Lover's prayer? It is not for mortal eyes to discern these
mysteries. It is only known that he who before was mute now
sung as follows:
Beautiful bird! thou smallest thing
That parteth air with feather'd wing!
Why cam'st thou in this spacious hall,
To this rude hand so soon to fall
An easy prey?
'Tis thine to sport in shady bower,
Buzzing around some open flower,
Or basking, where the rose expands,
Secure at least from mortal hands,
In sunny ray.
Perhaps some hawk in evil mood,
Hath marr'd thy gorgeous solitude,
And, trembling with instinctive fear,
Thy ready wing hath brought thee here,
To'scape from death.
And dost thou think to force thy way,
Where passeth yon translucent ray?
If so, thou art mistaken quite,
That crystal's pervious but to light —
So spare thy breath.
Innocent bird! so mild, so meek,
So beautiful, so frail, so weakUnfit for either good or evil,
And only born to sport and revel
In Flora's bowers:
Thy golden neck, thy lustrous crest,
The mingled hues upon thy breast,
Thy shlifting tints, thy gambols wild,
Proclaim thee nature's frolic clhild,
Berobed in flowers.
Innocent bird! it ill became
This hand of mine to grasp thy frame;
And yet I would not wound a feather,
For when I press thy wings together,
'Tis not for harnm.
Ah no! thy little throbbing heart,
As tho''twere armed with Cupid's dart,
Hath roused my bosom's sympathy,
And now I gladly set thee free,
The world to charm.
Yet stay: thy little heart must beat,
Where beats another heart more sweet,
More delicate, much more refined,
And subject to a nobler mind
Than rules o'er ours.
A heart that throbs within a breast,
Which nature in her pride hath blest,
Whose silent swell alone can move
The coldest heart to feel and love,
And own its powers.
There touch some sympathetic chord,
Or whisper there some happy word,
Which may that gentle form inspire
With purest love's congenial fir-,.:
Then fly away.
Ah! now indeed thy laughing eyes
Proclaim thee Cupid in disguise;
Then rest but'till thy work is done,
And when'tis finished as begun,
No longer stay.
King au(l Quteen, 1837.
AUTHORITIES ON ANTIQUITIES.
The best authorities on Antiquities are probably
Josephus, Marsham, D. Iken, Vossius, Lmelius Gyraldus, for Judeean-Hermannus Wilsius, for EgyptianBarnabas Brisson and Thomas Hyde, for Chaldan,
Babylonian, Persian and Median-Meursius Brunings
and John Potter, for Greekl —Nietipourt and Cantel, for
Latin —Gronovius, Grevius, Monfaucon, CayltLis, aind
WVinckelmann.
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