smile that haunts me still_!

My brow is but the register
Of youth's and joy's decline;
I would not trace such record too
Deep graven upon thine.

I would not _see_ how rudely Time
Hath dealt with all thy store
Of bloom and promise--'tis enough
To know the harvest's o'er.

I would not that one glance to-day,
One glance through clouds and tears,
Should mar the image in my soul
That love hath shrined for years.

J. D.

SECLUSION.

The heart in sacred peace may dwell,
Apart from convent gloom--
To matins and to vespers rise,
'Mid nature's song and bloom:

Or in the busy haunts of life,
In gay or restless scene,
In sanctuary calm abide,
As vestal saint serene.

It is the pure and holy thought,
The spotless veil within,
That screens pollution from the breast,
And hides a world of sin.

J. D.

THE LAST HOURS OF A REIGN.

A TALE IN TWO PARTS.--PART I.

CHAPTER I.

"Let's see the devil's writ.
What have we here?"

* * * * *

"First of the King. What shall of him become?"
SHAKSPEARE.

"A pretty plot, well chosen to build upon."
IDEM.

It was in the month of May 1574, and in the city of Paris, that, at an
hour of the night which in these days might be considered somewhat
early, but which at that period was already late, two personages were
seated in a gloomy room, belonging to a small and ancient hotel, at no
great distance from the old palace of the Louvre, with which it was
supposed to communicate by courts and passages little known and seldom
used.

One of these personages was a woman of middle age, whose form,
although full, was peculiarly well made, and whose delicate but well
fleshed hands were of striking beauty. The fair face was full and fat,
but very pale; the eyes were fine and dark, and the whole expression
of her physiognomy was in general calm, almost to mildness. But yet
there lurked a haughty air on that pale brow; and at times a look of
searching inquisitiveness, amounting almost to cunning, shot from
those dark eyes. Her ample dress was entirely black, and unrelieved by
any of the embroidery or ornament so much lavished upon the dress of
the higher classes at that time; a pair of long white ruffle