27 MARCH 1875, Page 17

POETRY.

OLD AND NEW.* Bee Plinym "Nat. mat," lib. 8; an4 speaator, Feb. 6, 1875. ONLY a slave in Rome of old, A slave for whom none cares ! Slaughtered in dungeon-deeps, and rolled Down the Gemonian stairs ; Insulted, marred, exposed to view,

With other human lumber, There in the Forum, where the Roman concourse grew Around his mortal slumber.

T,here in the Forum, by the mighty walls, ,And .columns hero-crowned, Whose mourning voice upon the slu.mberer calls! The ;Thine of a poor hound !

He will not leave the swarthy clay ; He licks the rigid face ; harsh-laughing, stern men in long-robed array

dather about the.place :

One pitying hath offered bread;

The dog lint lays it dawn Before the dumb mouth of the master dead ;

Whose body later thrown

In turbid 'Fiber' s hood he follows, - Borne headlong by the river, To lift,it from the strong, loud gulf that Swallows,. . ,Strogglino. till both have sunk for ever. „ Alreanitif(for a Moment east

:

li)gu ilgAtttalikt,'A;ise dog holds him fast, 30.0 0 ;:"" "iittieNaise:g gone. iIIW &kgdiii-e 'and ilomans passed away,

'AI how long ago !

' The world is Mellower, and mature, men say ; Wonderful things we know.

I am in monstrous London town : • And,yetabedloman dog;. . •

• Atethiaksyliesi youdtpin. the .brownt. DRUy,i1Intnine41fog.

Christian skeeples Seem to shout :..

"140v,cerowns the world witkamaranthine wreaths!" Yea, even apostles of deadlaws, and doubt _Proclaim man's brotherhood-with all that breathes.

. . . There is a. crowd around man's faithful friend,

So like the friend-in Rome !

„ Eager black-vestured forms above him bend : . Wherefore are:they come ? , I hear the same low, plaintive whine ; ,Theg say he licks the master, As when I saw, him in the Forum pine

, Overman's disaster I . . . .

Start not ! behold ! his guerdon is a rack : For awful Science never swerves, Whose calm intelligence will fumbling hack A lowly friend's live, anguished nerves. Poor mute-moved eloquent -ear* appealing fail To melt the Gorgonous cold eye,

That lusts for dainty bits of learned detail,

Wrung from live agony ; Casing young hearts in callous cruel mail, Proving the proven all superfluously.

Behold ! you broken-hearted hare, With hounds and hunters after her t And sweet, shy poet.birds of air, Startling from man the murderer ! And elves we flay for their sleek fur !

Ah ! what a wail of agony is torn

From all these innocent martyr-races, Writhing beneath man's cruel scorn,

Whose tyrannous hell distorts their faces t A cloud of shame clothes earth forlorn, Shrouds her among the starry spaces.

I see proud Learning's cold lip curled : "'Tie; all for human good ; So rules the.order of the world."

A Raman fool of old brought food To one poor hound in kindlier mood : Yourselves bid me behold where loom

Mightier Forms than ours,

In yonder Future's labouring womb, Vaster Powers!

With these inheritors of crime and doom. A fierier curse our human race devours !

RODEN NOEL..