WHISPRINGS, heard by wakeful maids,
To whom the night-stars guide us;
Stolen walks through moonlight shades,
With those we love beside us,
Hearts beating,

At meeting;

Tears starting,

At parting;

Oh, sweet youth, how soon it fades!
Sweet joys of youth, how fleeting!

:

*

Wand'rings far away from home,

With life all new before us;

Greetings warm, when home we come,

From hearts whose prayers watch'd o'er us.
Tears starting,

(TO AN AIR SUng at Rome, ON CHRISTMAs Eve.)

SEE, the dawn from Heaven is breaking
O'er our sight,

And Earth, from sin awaking,

Hails the light!

HEAR me but once, while o'er the grave,
In which our Love lies cold and dead,

I count each flatt'ring hope he gave

Of joys, now lost, and charms now fled.

Who could have thought the smile he wore,
When first we met, would fade away?
Or that a chill would e'er come o'er
Those eyes so bright through many a day?
Hear me but once, &c.

LOVE ALONE.

If thou wouldst have thy charms enchant our eyes,
First win our hearts, for there thy empire lies:
Beauty in vain would mount a heartless throne,
Her Right Divine is given by Love alone.

What would the rose with all her pride be worth,
Were there no sun to call her brightness forth?
Maidens, unlov'd, like flowers in darkness thrown,
Wait but that light, which comes from Love alɔne.

Fair as thy charms in yonder glass appear,

Trust not their bloom, they'll fade from year to year: Wouldst thou they still should shine as first they shone, Go, fix thy mirror in Love's eyes alone.

OH, GUARD OUR AFFECTION.

O, guard our affection, nor e'er let it feel

The blight that this world o'er the warmest will steal:
While the faith of all round us is fading or past,
Let ours, ever green, keep its bloom to the last.

Far safer for Love 'tis to wake and to weep,
As he used in his prime, than go smiling to sleep;
For death on his slumber, cold death follows fast,
While the love that is wakeful lives on to the last.

And though, as Time gathers his clouds o'er our head,
A shade somewhat darker o'er life they may spread,
Transparent, at least, be the shadow they cast,

So that Love's soften'd light may shine through to the last.

Then, come to me when daylight sets;
Sweet! then come to me,
When smoothly go our gondolets
O'er the moonlight sea.

Oh, then's the hour for those who love,
Sweet! like thee and me;

When alls so calm below, above,

In heav'n and o'er the sea,

When maidens sing sweet barcarolles
And Echo sings again

So sweet, that all with ears and souls
Should love and listen then.

So, come to me when daylight sets;
Sweet! then come to me,
When smoothly go our gondolets.
O'er the moonlight sea.

GAILY SOUNDS THE CASTANET.

(MALTESE AIR.)

GAILY sounds the castanet,

Beating time to bounding feet,
When, after daylight's golden set,

Maids and youths by moonlight meet.

Oh, then, how sweet to move

Through all that maze of mirth,
Led by light from eyes we love
Beyond all eyes on earth.

Then, the joyous banquet spread
On the cool and fragrant ground,
With heav'n's bright sparklers overhead,
And still brighter sparkling round.
Oh, then, how sweet to say

Into some lov'd one's ear,

Thoughts reserv'd through many a day
To be thus whisper'd here.