of San Blas
To the ships that southward pass
From the harbor of Mazatlan?"

And this last stanza must contain the last words that came from his
pen:--

"O Bells of San Blas, in vain
Ye call back the Fast again!
The Past is deaf to your prayer:
Out of the shadows of night
The world rolls into light;
It is daybreak everywhere."

One of his latest sonnets is entitled Chimes.

"Sweet chimes! that in the loneliness of night
Salute the passing hour, and in the dark
And silent chambers of the household mark
The movements of the myriad orbs of light!"

This was sung of the beautiful clock that

"Half-way up the stairs it stands"

in his mansion at Cambridge, by so many thought to be the one referred
to in The Old Clock on the Stairs. But no; that one was in the "Gold
House" at Pittsfield, and is now in disuse; while this one is a fine
piece of mechanism, striking the coming hour on each half hour, and on
the hour itself sweet carillons are played for several moments, so
familiar to the poet that it is no wonder that to hear it he says,--

"Better than sleep it is to lie awake."

And who has not been entranced by the melody of his

"In the ancient town of Bruges
In the quaint old Flemish city,
As the evening shades descended,
Low and loud and sweetly blended,
Low at times and loud at times,
And changing like a poet's rhymes,
Rang the beautiful wild chimes
From the belfry in the market
Of the ancient town of Bruges."

In the prologue to The Golden Legend, we have the attempt of Lucifer and
the Powers of the Air to tear down the cross from the spire of the
Strasburg Cathedral, with the remonstrance of the bells interwoven:

"Laudo Deum verum! Funera plango!
Plebem voco! Fulgura frango!
Congrego clerum! Sabbata pango!

"Defunctus ploro! Excito lentos!
Pestem fugo! Dissipo ventos!
Festa decoro! Paco cruentos!"

"I praise the true God, call the people, convene the clergy;
I mourn the dead, dispel the pestilence, and grace festivals;
I mourn at the burial, abate the lightnings, announce the Sabbath;
I arouse the indolent, dissipate the winds, and appease the avengeful."

Another rendering of the two last lines reads:--

"Men's death I tell, by doleful knell;
Lightnings and thunder I break asunder;
On Sabbath all to church I call;
The sleepy head, I