spirations for the time
When every man shall stand erect and free,
Self-elevated, God-appointed king!
Knowing no equals, save his brother men;
Ruling no lieges, save his own desires;
The undisputed sovereign of himself,
Owning no higher sovereignty but God.

God culls these qualities, that are Himself--
These sparks of Deity that live in man--
And, in man's person, offers up Himself,
A long, perpetual sacrifice for sin.

This is the plan--the changeless plan of Heav'n:
The good die, that the evil may be purged;
The noble perish, that the base may live;
The free are bound, that slaves may break their bonds;
Those who have happy homes are self-exiled,
That other exiles may have happy homes;
The bravest sons of Freedom's land are slain,
That the oppressed of tyrant realms may live;
The guilty land is washed in innocent blood;
And slavery is atoned for by the free.

* * * * *

Oh! desolate mother, wailing for thy son,
Be comforted. He was a chosen one.
The Lord selected him from other men,
Because the Eternal Eye discerned in him
Some noble attribute, some spark divine,
Some unseen quality, that was from God,
And is a part of God, howe'er obscured
By human weakness, or by human sin--
Something deemed worthy for the sacrifice
That shall redeem a nation. Weep no more;
For thou art blessed among womankind!

STRECK-VERSE.

The heart freezes upon the snowcapped summit of a mountain of learning.

Lead heads will not answer as plummets to fathom the depths of the
Infinite.

Charitable views are enlarged by tear mists.

Thorns form footholds by which to reach the rose.

Looking up to the sun, the sad behold rainbows through their tears.

THE UNDIVINE COMEDY.--A POLISH DRAMA.

Dedicated to Mary.

'To be, or not to be, that is the question.'

'To the accumulated errors of their ancestors, they added others
unknown to their predecessors Doubt and Fear;--therefore it came to
pass that they vanished from the face of the earth, and a deep
silence shrouded them forever.'--_Koran_ il. 18.

In offering to the public a translation of the great drama of Count
Sigismund Krasinski, a statesman and poet of Poland, it is not the
intention of the translator to enter upon any detailed analysis of this
widely and justly celebrated work. Such a dissection would diminish the
interest o