The stars shine forth from the blue sky; How great and wondrous is God's might; Shine, stars, through all eternity, His witness in the night. O Lord, Thy tired children keep: Keep us who know and feel Thy might; Turn Thine eye on us as we sleep, And give us all good-night. Shine, stars, God's sentinels on high, Proclaimers of His power and might; May all things evil from us fly: O stars, good-night, good-night! Is this "Dobra Noc" of strictly popular origin? From internal evidence I should say that it is not. It seems, however, to be extremely popular in the ordinary sense of the word. Before me lie two or three settings of it by Polish musicians. The Italians call lullabies _ninne-nanne_, a term used by Dante when he makes Forese predict the ills which are to overtake the dames of Florence: E se l'anteveder qui non m' inganna, Prima fien triste che le guance impeli Colui che mo si consola con _nanna_. Some etymologists have sought to connect "nanna" with _neniae_ or [Greek: nenitos], but its most apparent relationship is with [Greek: nannarismata], the modern Greek name for cradle songs, which is derived from a root signifying the singing of a child to sleep. The _ninne-nanne_ of the various Italian provinces are to be found scattered here and there through volumes of folk poesy, and no attempt has yet been made to collate and compare them. Signor Dal Medico did indeed publish, some ten years ago, a separate collection of Venetian nursery rhymes, but his initiative has not been followed up. The difficulty I had in obtaining the little work just mentioned is characteristic of the way in which Italian printed matter vanishes out of all being; instead of passing into the obscure but secure limbo into which much of English literature enters, it attains nothing short of Nirv[=a]na--a happy state of non-existence. The inquiries of several Italian book-sellers led to no other conclusion than that the book in question was not to be had for love or money; and most likely I should still have been waiting for it were it not for the courtesy of the Baron Giovanni di Sardagna, who, on hearing that it was wanted by a student of folk-lore, borrowed from the author the only copy in his possession and made therefrom a verbatim transcript. The following is one of Signor Dal Medico's lullabies: Hush! lulla, lullaby! So mother sings; For hearken, 'tis the midnight bell that rings. But, darling, not thy mother's bell is this: St Lucy's priests it calls to prayer, I wis. St Lucy gave thee eyes--a matchless pair-- And gave the Magdalen her golden hair; Thy cheeks their hue from heaven's angels have; Her little loving mouth St Martha gave. Love's mouth, sweet mouth, that Florence hath for home, Now tell me where love springs, and how doth come?... With music and with song doth love arise, And then its end it hath in tears and sighs.