THE KING'S GIFT.

CAPRERA.

I.

TERESA, ah, Teresita!

Now what has the messenger brought her,
Our Garibaldi's young daughter,

To make her stop short in her singing?
Will she not once more repeat a

Verse from that hymn of our hero's,
Setting the souls of us ringing?
Break off the song where the tear rose?
Ah, Teresita!

II.

A young thing, mark, is Teresa.
Her eyes have caught fire, to be sure, in
That necklace of jewels from Turin,

Till blind their regard to us men is.
But still she remembers to raise a

Shy look to her father, and note,

'Could she sing on as well about Venice,

Yet wear such a flame at her throat?
Decide for Teresa.'

III.

Teresa, ah, Teresita!

His right hand has passed on her head. 'Accept it, my daughter,' he said,

'Ay, wear it, true child of thy mother,

Then sing, till all start to their feet, a
New verse even bolder and freer!
King Victor's no king like another
But verily noble as we are,
Child, Teresita l'

OVER the dumb campagna-sea,

Out in the offing through mist and rain, St. Peter's church heaves silently

Like a mighty ship in pain,

Facing the tempest with struggle and strain.

II.

Motionless waifs of ruined towers,

Soundless breakers of desolate land!

The sullen surf of the mist devours

That mountain-range upon either hand,
Eaten away from its outline grand.

III.

And over the dumb campagna-sea

Where the ship of the Church heaves on to wreck, Alone and silent as God must be

The Christ walks!-Ay, but Peter's neck

Is stiff to turn on the foundering deck.

IV.

Peter, Peter, if such be thy name,

Now leave the ship for another to steer, And proving thy faith evermore the same Come forth, tread out through the dark and drear, Since He who walks on the sea is here!'

V.

Peter, Peter!-he does not speak—
He is not as rash as in old Galilee.
Safer a ship though it toss and leak,
Than a reeling foot on a rolling sea!

-And he's got to be round in the girth, thinks he.

VI.

Peter, Peter!-he does not stir

His nets are heavy with silver fish:

He reckons his gains, and is keen to infer,

.."The broil on the shore, if the Lord should wish,— But the sturgeon goes to the Cæsar's dish.'

VII.

Peter, Peter, thou fisher of men,

Fisher of fish wouldst thou live instead,Haggling for pence with the other Ten, Cheating the market at so much a head, Griping the Bag of the traitor Dead?

VIII.

At the triple crow of the Gallic cock

Thouweep'st not, thou, though thine eyes be dazed: What bird comes next in the tempest shock? ..Vultures! See,-as when Romulus gazed,To inaugurate ROME for a world amazed!

THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH.

(HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN'S VISIT TO ITALY MAY, 1861.)

I.

"Now give us lands where the olives grow," Cried the North to the South,

"Where the sun with a golden mouth can blow Blue bubbles of grapes down a vineyard-row!" Cried the North to the South.

"Now give us men from the sunless plain," Cried the South to the North,

"By need of work in the snow and the rain Made strong, and brave by familiar pain!" Cried the South to the North.

II.

"Give lucider hills and intenser seas,'

Said the North to the South,

"Since ever by symbols and bright degrees Art, childlike, climbs to the dear Lord's knees," Said the North to the South.

"Give strenuous souls for belief and prayer," Said the South to the North,

"That stand in the dark on the lowest stair, While affirming of God, 'He is certainly there," Said the South to the North.

III.

"Yet oh, for the skies that are softer and higher!" Sighed the North to the South,

"For the flowers that blaze, and the trees that

aspire,

And the insects made of a song or a fire!”
Sighed the North to the South.

"And oh, for a seer, to discern the same!"
Sighed the South to the North,

"For a poet's tongue of baptismal flame,
To call the tree and the flower by its name!"
Sighed the South to the North.

IV.

The North sent therefore a man of men
As a grace to the South,—

And thus to Rome came Andersen:
"Alas, but must you take him again?"
Said the South to the North.