20 SEPTEMBER 1873, Page 15

POETRY.

A MISANTHROPE ON CALVINISM. THERE must be some reason for being, For the misery man calls Life,— For the ceaseless toil of the millions, For the never-victorious strife: For the priest who guides without seeing, For the ploughman who garners no grain, For the statesman who breaks without founding, For the thinker whose thought edges pain ; For the faith which but tortures the doubter, For the hope which attains not the prize, For the love which loses its savour, For the instincts they tell us are lies.

There must be a reason for being, And the best they can tell us is this,— That WE add to the Infinite somewhat, And increase an Ineffable Bliss.