The faithful night! Now all things lie
Hid by her mantle dark and dim,
In pious hope I hither hie,

And humbly chant mine evening hymn.

Thou art my prayer, my saint, my shrine! (For never holy pilgrim kneel'd

Or wept at feet more pure than thine),
My virgin love, my sweet Mathilde!

FIVE GERMAN DITTIES

THERE

SWAIN.S0

ПHERE lived a sage in days of yore,
And he a handsome pigtail wore;

But wondered much and sorrowed more
Because it hung behind him.

He mused upon this curious case,

And swore he'd change the pigtail's place, And have it hanging at his face,

Not dangling there behind him.

Says he, "The mystery I've found,-
I'll turn me round," he turned him round;
But still it hung behind him.

Then round, and round, and out and in,
All day the puzzled sage did spin;
In vain-it mattered not a pin,-
The pigtail hung behind him.

And right, and left, and round about,
And up, and down, and in, and out,
He turned; but still the pigtail stout
Hung steadily behind him.

And though his efforts never slack,
And though he twist, and twirl, and tack,
Alas! still faithful to his back

The pigtail hangs behind him.