"Go on, fair Science; soon to thee Shall. Nature yield her idle boast; Her vulgar fingers formed a tree, But thou halt trained it to a post. "Go, paint the birch's silver rind, And quilt the peach with softer down; Up with the willow's trailing threads, Off with the sunflower's radiant crown! "Go, plant the lily on the shore, And set the rose among the waves, And bid the tropic bud unbind Its silken zone in arctic caves; "Bring bellows for the panting winds, Hang up a lantern by the moon, And give the nightingale a fife, And lend the eagle a balloon! "I cannot smile,--the tide of scorn, That rolled through every bleeding vein, Comes kindling fiercer as it flows Back to its burning source again. "Again in every quivering leaf That moment's agony I feel, When limbs, that spurned the northern blast, Shrunk from the sacrilegious steel. "A curse upon the wretch who dared To crop us with his felon saw! May every fruit his lip shall taste Lie like a bullet in his maw. "In every julep that he drinks, May gout, and bile, and headache be; And when he strives to calm his pain, May colic mingle with his tea. "May nightshade cluster round his path, And thistles shoot, and brambles cling; May blistering ivy scorch his veins, And dogwood burn, and nettles sting. "On him may never shadow fall, When fever racks his throbbing brow, And his last shilling buy a rope To hang him on my highest bough!" She spoke;--the morning's herald beam Sprang from the bosom of the sea, And every mangled sprite returned In sadness to her wounded tree. THE MYSTERIOUS VISITOR THERE was a sound of hurrying feet, A tramp on echoing stairs, There was a rush along the aisles,-- It was the hour of prayers. And on, like Ocean's midnight wave, The current rolled along, When, suddenly, a stranger form Was seen amidst the throng. He was a dark and swarthy man, That uninvited guest; A faded coat of bottle-green Was buttoned round his breast. There was not one among them all Could say from whence he came; Nor beardless boy, nor ancient man, Could tell that stranger's name. All silent as the sheeted dead, In spite of sneer and frown, Fast by a gray-haired senior's side He sat him boldly down. There was a look of horror flashed From out the tutor's eyes; When all around him rose to pray, The stranger did not rise! A murmur broke along the crowd, The prayer was at an end; With ringing heels and measured tread, A hundred forms descend. Through sounding aisle, o'er grating stair, The long procession poured, Till all were gathered on the seats Around the Commons board. That fearful stranger! down he sat, Unasked, yet undismayed; And on his lip a rising smile Of scorn or pleasure played. He took his hat and hung it up, With slow but earnest air; He stripped his coat from off his back, And placed it on a chair. Then from his nearest neighbor's side A knife and plate he drew; And, reaching out his hand again, He took his teacup too.