tell
Where Babylon (mighty city!) rose--and fell!

O City, vast and old!
Where, where is thy grandeur fled?
The stream that around thee rolled
Still rolls in its ancient bed!
But where, oh, where art thou gone?
O Babylon! O Babylon!

The giant, when he dies,
Still leaveth his bones behind,
To shrink in the winter skies,
And whiten beneath the wind!
But where, oh, where art thou gone?
O Babylon! O Babylon!

Thou liv'st!--for thy name still glows,
A light in the desert skies;
As the fame of the hero grows
Thrice trebled because he dies!
But where, oh, where art thou gone?
O Babylon! O Babylon!

{211}

BELSHAZZAR

Belshazzar is king! Belshazzar is lord!
And a thousand dark nobles all bend at his board:
Fruits glisten, flowers blossom, meats steam, and a flood
Of the wine that man loveth runs redder than blood:
Wild dancers are there, and a riot of mirth,
And the beauty that maddens the passions of earth;
And the crowds all shout,
Till the vast roofs ring,--
"All praise to Belshazzar, Belshazzar the king!"

"Bring forth," cries the monarch, "the vessels of gold,
Which my father tore down from the temples of old;--
Bring forth, and we'll drink, while the trumpets are blown,
To the gods of bright silver, of gold, and of stone;
Bring forth!"--and before him the vessels all shine,
And he bows unto Baal, and he drinks the dark wine;
Whilst the trumpets bray,
And the cymbals ring,--
"Praise, praise to Belshazzar, Belshazzar the king!"

Now what cometh--look, look!--without menace, or call?
Who writes, with the lightning's bright hand, on the wall?
What pierceth the king, like the point of a dart?
What drives the bold blood from his cheek to his heart?
"Chaldeans! Magicians! the letters expound!"
They are read,--and Belshazzar is dead on the ground!
Hark!--the Persian is come
On a conqueror's wing;
And a Mede's on the throne of Belshazzar the king!
--_Barry Cornwall_.

{212}

NEHEMIAH.

THE STORY OF THE BRAVE MAN WHO PREFERRED HARDSHIPS IN HIS NATIVE LAND,
TO PLEASURE AND PLENTY IN THE KING'S PALACE.

(Nehemiah is one of the finest characters of which we are told in the
Old Testament. He was a true patriot, brave, patient, persevering,
fearing God, and not man. He ha