they rear,
How they hiss in their hair,
And the sparkles that flash from their eyes!
Behold a ghastly band,
Each a torch in his hand!
Those are Grecian ghosts, that in battle were slain,
And unburied remain
Inglorious on the plain.
Give the vengeance due
To the valiant crew.
Behold how they toss their torches on high,
How they point to the Persian abodes,
And glitt'ring temples of their hostile gods!
The Princes applaud, with a furious joy;
And the King seized a flambeau, with zeal to destroy;
Thais led the way,
To light him to his prey,
And, like another Helen, fired another Troy.

Thus, long ago,
Ere heaving bellows learn'd to blow,
While organs yet were mute;
Timotheus, to his breathing flute
And sounding lyre,
Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire.
At last divine Cecilia came,
Inventress of the vocal frame;
The sweet enthusiast, from the sacred store,
Enlarged the former narrow bounds,
And added length to solemn sounds,
With nature's mother-wit, and arts unknown before.
Let old Timotheus yield the prize,
Or both divide the crown:
He raised a mortal to the skies;
She drew an angel down.

DRYDEN

* * * * *

SATIN BOWER-BIRDS.

The Satin Bower-Bird was one of the earliest known species in the
Australian fauna, and probably received the name of _Satin Grakle_, by
which it was described in Latham's "General History of Birds," from the
intensely black glossy plumage of the adult male. But, although the
existence of this bird was noticed by most of the writers on the natural
history of Australia subsequent to Latham, it appears that no suspicion
of its singular economy had extended beyond the remotest settlers, until
Mr. Gould, whose great work on the "Birds of Australia" is known to
every one, unravelled the history of the _bowers_, which had been
discovered in many parts of the bush, and which had been attributed to
almost every possible origin but the right one.

The bower, as will be seen by the Illustration, is composed of twigs
woven together in the most compact manner, and ornamented with shells
and feathers, the disposition of which the birds are continually
altering. They have no connexion with the nest, and are simply
playing-pla