version of this pretty little poem, which possibly may have
been suggested by some charming passages in Wilhelm Meister, would,
perhaps, be incompatible with the spirit which constitutes its chief
merit. And perhaps, therefore, the original may be more faithfully
rendered (like many of the Odes of Horace) by paraphrase than
translation.

Ho--ho--my puppet-show!
Ladies and gentlemen, see my show!
Life and the world--look here, in troth,
Though but _in parvo_, I promise ye both!
The world and life--in my box are they;
But keep at a distance, good folks, I pray!
Lit is each lamp, from the stage to the porch,
With Venus's naphtha, from Cupid's torch;
Never a moment, if rules can tempt ye,
Never a moment my scene is empty!
Here is the babe in his loading-strings--
Here is the boy at play;
Here is the passionate youth with wings,
Like a bird's on a stormy day,
To and fro, waving here and there,
Down to the earth and aloft through the air!
Now see the man, as for combat, enter--
Where is the peril he fears to adventure?
See how the puppets speed on to the race,}
Each his own fortune pursues in the chase; }
How many the rivals, how narrow the space! }
But, hurry and scurry, O mettlesome game!
The cars roll in thunder, the wheels rush in flame.
How the brave dart onward, and pant and glow!
How the craven behind them come creeping slow--
Ha! ha! see how Pride gets a terrible fall!
See how Prudence, or Cunning, out-races them all!
See how at the goal, with her smiling eyes,
Ever waits Woman to give the prize!

THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE NEW CENTURY.

Where can Peace find a refuge?--whither, say,
Can Freedom turn?--lo, friend, before our view
The CENTURY rends itself in storm away,
And, red with slaughter, dawns on earth the New.
The girdle of the lands is loosen'd;--hurl'd
To dust the forms old Custom deem'd divine,--
Safe from War's fury not the watery world;--
Safe not the Nile-God nor the antique Rhine.
Two mighty nations make the world their field,
Deaming the world is for their heirloom given--
Against the freedom of all lands they wield
This--Neptune's trident; that--the Thund'rer's levin.
Gold to their scales each region must afford;
And, as fierce Brennus in Gaul's early tale,
The Frank casts in the iron of his swo