VI. He heard and with a frantic yell THE COMET. BY EDWARD W. COX, ESQ. AUTHOR OF THE "OPENING OF THE SIXTH SEAL," &c. I. THOU of the fiery face, Where is thy dwelling-place? Whence, thou mysterious one, whence is thy roaming? Why, on thy red-flame wings, Thus in thy wanderings, Over the way of our world art thou coming? II. Oh! art not thou the sign Symbol of wrath divine— Say, fearful minister of the Most High; Being of mystery! Heedless of Him whose dread home is the sky? III. Far doth thy flag of flame To trembling man proclaim, How some Almighty hand guideth its might; Prostrate before thee now, Thou of the fire-crown-the pinions of light! IV. Say, dread one! art thou not One of a race forgot; One of the worlds from their starry homes riven? And orbless and masterless, One mighty wilderness, Desolate roamest thou over the heaven? V. Or is it, formless one! That thou hast fresh begun In the pure regions of ether to move? Art thou some new-born star, Come from thy cradle, far, Far, in the dark, doubtful places above? VI. Art thou some messenger Sent from a higher sphere, Prophet of ills, that are coming to this? Where is thy dwelling-place? Surely thou art not a being of bliss. VII. Say thee, thou fearful one, In thy flight to the sun, How many stars hast thou swept from the sky? How many a mighty world From its throne hast thou hurled, Comet, since thus thou hast wandered on high? VIII. Yet, Star of Mystery, Why have we fear of thee? There is a strong arm that ruleth thy flight ; 'Tis an Almighty Hand, Holds on thy course command, And Mercy still watches over thy might! THE YOUTH OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. [Inscribed to her friend, the Rev. Philip Dodd, Vicar of Penshurst.] BY MISS JANE PORTER. Take him for all in all, We ne'er shall look upon his like again.-SHAKSPEARE. He was a model for the young of any age: and there is not a country in the civilised world, that does not so write the name of Sir Philip Sidney.— The son of parents as virtuous as they were illustrious, he honoured ancestry because he honoured them. In all things he studied the character of his father, to become, like him, a faithful servant of his country. From his mother he inherited a rare tenderness of disposition, which, in this life of crosses to every human being, could not but sometimes tinge his manly benevolence with a cast of melancholy. He was one who smiled often, but few remembered having seen him laugh; yet his friends never found him otherwise than amiable for his sadness arose from love to others, not a whit from that distemper of heart which renders the spirit morose, and the actions, in consequence, unkind. Two letters of the wise and revered Hubert Languet (the early friend of the famous Gustavus Vasa of Sweden), addressed to young Philip Sidney, falling into my possession, and bearing witness to the above character given of him, I would offer a hasty translation of them to the young readers of this little literary offering, there being a savour of sweetness in their venerable speech," that must do good. However, I would yet preface them with a few more words, of the youth of Sir Philip Sidney: : He was born at Penshurst, in Kent, in the year 1554, and educated there, in the home of his ancestors (a fine old mansion, near Tunbridge, still the property of the Sidneys), immediately under his father's eye, during the first years of his boyhood. At a very early age he went to college; continuing to pass his holidays between his parental residence and that of his parent's friend, the Earl of Essex. At seventeen, such was the maturity of his mind, he quitted Christ-church, in Oxford, where his diligence had been the example of all capable of a generous emulation-and commenced his travels abroad, under the care of a judicious tutor. Though so young, he conducted himself every where with "such steadiness of purpose, lovely and familiar |