Alba, thou findest me still, and, Alba, thou findest me ever,
Now from the Capitol steps, now over Titus's Arch,
Here from the large grassy spaces that spread from the Lateran portal,
Towering o'er aqueduct lines lost in perspective between,
Or from a Vatican window, or bridge, or the high Coliseum,
Clear by the garlanded line cut of the Flavian ring.
Beautiful can I not call thee, and yet thou hast power to o'ermaster,
Power of mere beauty; in dreams, Alba, thou hauntest me still.
Is it religion? I ask me; or is it a vain superstition?
Slavery abject and gross? service, too feeble, of truth?
Is it an idol I bow to, or is it a god that I worship?
Do I sink back on the old, or do I soar from the mean?
So through the city I wander and question, unsatisfied ever,
Reverent so I accept, doubtful because I revere.

[To be continued.]

* * * * *

MY AQUARIUM.

On the tenth of May, 1857, I became the glad possessor of a tank capable
of holding thirteen or fourteen gallons of water. Its substantial frame
of well-seasoned oak, its stout plank bottom, lavishly covered with
cement, promised to resist alike the heat and dryness from without and
the wet within. The sides and ends, of double flint-glass, seemed to
invite the eye across their clearness. Its chosen site was at a south
window, so shaded by a wing of the house as to receive only the morning
sun for about two hours; and clustering vines overhung the window, so
that the beams fell in checkered light. All was now ready.

A few fragments of white quartz were arranged in rude imitation of ocean
recesses, and in their fissures were placed four or five small plants
of Enteromorpha and Corallina. Sand was strewn upon the bottom, to the
depth of two inches, and ten gallons of sea-water were then poured in.
This had been brought from one of the wharves, at high tide, twenty-four
hours previously, and twice drawn off with a siphon,--each time after
twelve hours' rest. It was not, however, perfectly translucent, and at
the end of a week was still cloudy. On the fifth day after the tank was
filled, I began to introduce the animals to their future home.

Ten Buccina were first put in possession, in the hope that they would
perform the part of gardeners to the young plants. On the sixth day,
seven Actinias were disposed upon the rock-work. On the seventh, a
Horsefoot (or, as our Southern neighbors call it