How strange it is that our great poet should have managed to have so thoroughly embodied the ideas which Verona impresses upon the mind in _Romeo and Juliet_, without having seen the place! When one reads the play who has seen Verona, it seems almost impossible to believe that Shakespeare did not draw his picture from the place itself. (_To be continued._) [Illustration] LITTLE KARIN.[1] Translated from the Swedish by the Rev. LEWIS BORRETT WHITE, D.D. Among the serving maidens In the young king’s royal Hall, None shone like little Karin, A star among them all. Just like a star she shone forth, Among the serving folk, And thus the young king, smiling, To little Karin spoke. “Oh, hear thou, little Karin, Oh, say thou wilt be mine; Grey horse and golden saddle Shall surely then be thine.” “Grey horse and golden saddle, They are not meet for me; To thy young queen oh, give them, Leave me with honour free.” “Oh, hear thou, little Karin, Oh, say thou wilt be mine, My crown all bright and golden Shall surely then be thine.” “Thy crown so bright and golden, It is not meet for me; To thy young queen oh, give it, Leave me with honour free.” “Oh, hear thou, little Karin, Oh, say thou wilt be mine; The half my royal kingdom Shall surely then be thine.” “The half thy royal kingdom, It is not meet for me; On thy young queen bestow it, Leave me with honour free.” “Oh, hear thou, little Karin, If thou wilt not be mine, There is a spikéd barrel I’ll have thee placed within.” “Though there’s a spikéd barrel, And I am placed within, God’s angels will behold me, That I am free from sin.” So placed they little Karin, In spikéd barrel bound, And the king’s cruel horseboys, They rolled it round and round. Then two white doves from Heaven Came down so peacefully, They took up little Karin, And then the doves were three. [1] Translation of an old and very popular Swedish ballad supposed to date from the days of the first introduction of Christianity, and to record the constancy of a Christian girl—proof against both the allurements and the threats of her heathen master. [Illustration] THE INHERITANCE OF A GOOD NAME. BY LOUISA MENZIES. CHAPTER I. That this world is only a very small part of the universe, and that the life of man upon this globe is but a very small part of that eternity to which he is heir, is indicated by a thousand circumstances in the life of every day, and by none more strikingly than by the failures, the disappointments, the total eclipses which sweep from our sight into the undiscovered country many a soul resplendent in promise, leaving no record of them but in the faithful memories of the few who knew and loved them.