VIRGINS.

Fairest of women! what is thy beloved
More than another, that thon thus art moved?
What better than another's dear is he,

That we receive so strict a charge from thee?

BRIDE.

Fair is he with his cheeks of ruddy hue,
Among ten thousand eminent to view.
With purest gold his faultless head compare;
Black as a raven floats his clustering hair.
His eyes like milk-white doves, that flock beside
The streamlet, bathing in the shallow tide;

His cheeks like garden-beds, which spice-flowers fill;
His lips like lilies, which sweet myrrh distil;

His hands like rings of gold, inlaid and bright
With the clear sparkle of the chrysolite;
His body like a frame of ivory made,
And with a blaze of sapphires overlaid.
His legs like marble pillars to behold,
And fitly set on pedestals of gold.
His goodly presence is like Lebanon,

And like the cedar-trees which grow thereon;
Sweet is the mouth, and sweets his words express;

And he is altogether loveliness.

This is my own beloved, my precious gem,

My partner, daughters of Jerusalem!

VIRGINS.

Fairest of women! whitherward went he?

Thy love, thy partner, will we seek with thee.

BRIDE (recollecting where he has probably retired).

He to his garden went, within the bowers

To feed, and from the beds to gather flowers.

I am all his; he dearly loveth me;

Among the garden lilies feedeth he.

BRIDEGROOM (who meets them going to the garden).

Fair as Jerusalem art thou to sight,

And beautiful as Tirzah, my delight;

And dazzling as an army's bright array,

With streaming banners marching on the way.

Oh, turn aside thy tender eyes, my fair;

They have o'ercome me; and thy clustering hair
With many a rich and glossy ringlet floats,
Thy head adorning, as a flock of goats,
In many a cluster hanging from the height,
Glistens on Gilead in the morning light.
Thy teeth are white and even, like the sheep,
Twin-bearing ewes, which from the wash-pool leap;
Thy cheeks from out thy tresses shine to view,
Rich in their tint as the pomegranate's hue.
A bloom of virgins in the palace shines,

And threescore queens and fourscore concubines;
But like my perfect one there is none other;

The only one, the choice one of her mother.

The virgins saw her, and pronounced her blest;
The queens and concubines her praise expressed-
"Who looks forth like the morning fresh and bright;
Fair as the moon; clear as the sun's pure light;
And shining like the starry hosts on high,

SCENE VI.

BRIDE, VIRGINS, Bridegroom, and his COMPANIONS.

BRIDE.

I to my sheltered garden went, to view
The fruits that in the happy valley grew;
To see if the pomegranate-buds were blown,
And the young tendrils of the vine were grown.
Ere I knew why I ran away in dread,—
The chariots of Aminadib so fled.

COMPANIONS.

Return, Salome! turn, that we may see
The bloom of loveliness that shines in thee.

BRIDE.

Why would you see Salome? why with song
And dance would ye attend her steps along?

VIRGINS (having withdrawn with the Bride into a pavilion, they begin to undress her).

How beautiful thy feet are in thy shoon!
What true proportions all thy limbs attune;
Set in their sockets-as a workman's care
Sets in their moulding jewels rich and rare.
Thy waist is like a goblet filled with wine;
Thy body like a heap of wheat, which twine
The freshest lilies; thy twin breasts appear
Like the twin fawns of the sequestered deer.
Thy graceful neck is to the gazer's eye
Like a fine tower of polished ivory;
The pools of Heshbon in a cloudless day
Shine clearly, and thine eyes are clear as they;
Thy nose, so beautifully formed, doth grace
With due proportion thy well-featured face,—
Like the conspicuous tower that stands upon
The jutting crest of lofty Lebanon,

Looking towards Damascus; on thy neck
Thy head is set like Carmel, which bedeck
Thy braided tresses, with their glossy die,
Rich as the royal purple canopy.

But while the beauties of his queen we sing,
Lo! in the antechamber waits the King.

BRIDEGROOM (entering the pavilion).
How fair art thou! how fashioned for delight!
In loveliness and grace how exquisite !
Like to a palm-tree is thy graceful shape;
Thy breasts are like the clusters of the grape.
I will the palm-tree in my clasp unfold,
And on its boughs will gently lay my hold.
And now thy breasts like clustering grapes will be;
Thy breath like blossoms of the citron-tree;
And thy soft speech, that trickles from thy mouth,
Like the sweet vintage of the gushing south.

BRIDE.

Let my speech ever flow for thee like wine,

Soft, sweet, and sparkling-I am wholly thine.
I am my love's, and evermore shall be;
And my desire is ever towards thee.
Love! let us now into the country hie,
And in the villages at night we'll lie;
And in the morning will inspect our vines,
minaa

And mark what blossom 'mid the green appears,
What budding promise the pomegranate bears.
With fruit delicious will I thee content,
And mandrake-apples of a pleasant scent.
New fruits and old are hanging near our door,
All which for thee have I laid up in store.
Oh, that thou wert e'en as a little brother,
Sucking the dear breasts of my tender mother!
Then would I go and find thee in the street,
Fearing no scorn, and give thee kisses sweet.
Then would I lead about my precious boy,
And to my mother's house conduct my joy.
Juice of pomegranates, and spice-flavoured wine,
The juice of fruits, my dearest, should be thine.
Under my head his left arm will he place,
Me with his right will tenderly embrace.
Stir not, ye virgins, lest his rest be shaken;
Stir not, I charge you, till himself awaken.

SCENE VII.

Bride, VirginS, BRIDEGROOM, Vine-dressers.

VIRGINS.

Who cometh from the wild in beauty's sheen,
That, as she walks, doth on her partner lean?

BRIDEGROOM.

When thou wert outcast, and none pitied thee,
I raised thee up beneath this citron-tree;
Here was it that I raised thee up again,
E'en where thy mother brought thee forth in pain.

BRIDE.

Oh! set me as a signet on thy heart,

And on thine arm-thence never more to part.

BRIDEGROOM.

Yea, love is strong as death, strong as the gates
Of Hades-never love its zeal abates;
The darts thereof are as the darts of fire;
Floods cannot quench this vehement desire.
If one for love would all he hath bestow,
He would be scorned-love is not bartered so.

BRIDE.

We have a little sister, small and lean,
In whom no budding womanhood is seen;
When she is spoken for, what shall we do,
When the contracted lover comes to woo ?

BRIDEGROOM.

She is a wall- and on it there shall be
Two towers of silver for all men to see;
She is a door, and shall be fitly graced
With plates of cedar carefully incased.

BRIDE.

I am a wall, provided with the towers;
Thine eye smiles on me, and my beauty flowers!
A vineyard in Baal-Hammon has the King;
He lets it out, and yearly doth it bring
A thousand silver shekels; mine i' the field
Before me shall to thee like profit yield..
A thousand shekels shall be kept for thee;
Two hundred more shall for the keepers be.

ONE OF THE VINE-DRESSERS.

Oh! thou in sweetness all the sweets excelling,
That art within the pleasant gardens dwelling;
The vine-dressers are listening to thy voice,
Oh! let me hear it, that I may rejoice.

BRIDE.

Make haste, my partner, hasten unto me;
Be like the fawn, and like the roebuck be,
That bounds upon the mountain-tops, where grow
The incense-trees, and where the spices blow.

No. VIII.

A SONG OF LOVES.

As the clear water from a shady spring,

Gush from my heart my love-thoughts of the King;
And as a ready writer's pen, my tongue
Sings Him for ever worthy to be sung.

Fairer than human! love and grace divine

Flow in thy mouth — God's blessing ever thine!
Most mighty! gird thy sword upon thy thigh;
Come with thy glory and thy majesty !

True, meek, and righteous, ride and prosper thou!
And on thy right hand place a Terror now!
Sharp are thine arrows- -sharp the Vengeance flies,
And smites before thee all thine enemies.
The sceptre of all power is thine alone;
Thy throne, O God! an everlasting throne.
Goodness thou lovest, good is thy delight,
And wickedness is hateful in thy sight;
Therefore on thee doth God, thy god, outpour,
Above thy fellows, gladness evermore.
From ivory palaces young Beauty showers
Odour of spice and quintessence of flowers;

Thy robes are fragrant from the sweets they fling,
And thou art glad because they love their King.
Daughters of kings attend thy royal state,
And in thy presence dutifully wait;

And on thy right hand sits thy chief delight,
The dove-eyed Queen in gold of Ophir bright.

Hearken, O daughter! for thy gracious spouse

Forget thy people and thy father's house.
So shall the King for thee his consort yearn,
Desire thy beauty, and thy love return.
He is thy lord, and thou with graces trim
From his free love derived, must worship Him.
The daughter of proud Tyre shall bring her gift;
In prayer to thee the rich their voices lift.

The daughter of the King is pure and true,

In golden garments radiant to the view.

Dressed in her robes with broidering needles wrought,

She with her virgins shall to thee be brought.

With gladness comes the pomp in royal state,

Enters, rejoicing, at the palace-gate.

From thee shall princely sons derive their birth,
The princes and the governors of earth.

THE RELIQUES OF FATHER PROUT, LATE PARISH PRIEST OF WATERGRASSHILL, IN THE COUNTY CORK, IRELAND. COLLECTED AND ARRANGED BY US; ILLUSTRATED AND LAMPLIGHTED BY ALFRED CROQUIS, ESQ. 2 VOLS. 8vo.

"An infallible cure for the Maw-worms.-Poti fortis quartum unum, rowlorum brownorum ad minimum tres: his addatur butyri culinaris quantum valeat duos denarios, cum bunsho radishorum vel WATERGRASSI."- SWIFT, Tripos, Act I. Scorr's Edition, vol. iv. p. 231.