READ AT THE DINNER GIVEN TO THE AUTHOR BY THE MEDICAL PROFESSION OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, APRIL 12, 1883.

Have I deserved your kindness? Nay, my friends,
While the fair banquet its illusion lends
Let me believe it, though the blood may rush
And to my cheek recall the maiden blush
That o'er it flamed with momentary blaze
When first I heard the honeyed words of praise;
Let me believe it while the roses wear
Their bloom unwithering in the heated air;
Too soon, too soon, their glowing leaves must fall,
The laughing echoes leave the silent hall,

BETWIXT A WIFE, A WIDOW, AND A MAID . WIFE .

Widow, well met; whither go you today?
Will you not to this solemn offering go?
You know it is Astrea's holy day,
The saint to whom all hearts devotion owe. WIDOW .

Marry, what else? I purposed so to do:
Do you not mark how all the wives are fine,
And how they have sent presents ready too,
To make their offering at Astrea's shrine?

See, then, the shrine and tapers burning bright!
Come, friend, and let us first ourselves advance;
We know our place, and if we have our right,

This is love's vintage hour; within my arms
I hold imprisoned all thy rosy charms,
The crown of my desire, nor can see
In spring or summer aught so fair as thee.
Thy autumn beauties every treasure hold,
Oh, may they bloom for aye, nor e'er grow old.
And yet, what care I? When the grapes lie piled,
Men do not heed the curling tendrils wild.
And so my love will constant last, I trow,
E'en when the tendril wrinkles line thy brow.

Lo! we come, in deep contrition,
At the mercy-seat to kneel;
Sad as is the slave's condition,
Yet we long refus'd to feel;
Still proclaiming,
That his woes we could not heal.

Now, Great God! we come before thee,
Pard'ning mercy to obtain;
Cleanse our country, we implore thee,
From oppression's leprous stain:
Do not spurn us,
Do not, Lord! our suit disdain.

Must the slave be crush'd forever,
Like an abject, loathsome thing?
Upward springing, shall he never
From his arms the shackles fling?

" Praise waits for thee in Zion, Lord! "
The earth, the sky, the sea
Shall ring, responsive to the chord
Of heav'nly minstrelsy.
When forth shall go thy mighty word,
That sets the captive free.

Kings are deceitful, — statesmen vain, —
Senates a baseless trust; —
They reckon much on gold and gain,
But ask not, — " what is just? "
Their thoughts return to air again,
Their bodies to the dust.

We pass them by as idle things,
Like foam upon the wave;
We turn to thee, O King of kings!
For thou alone canst save;

VALENTINE'S DAY .

'Tis said that under distant skies,
Nor you the fact deny,
What first attracts an Indian's eyes
Becomes his deity.

Perhaps a lily, or a rose,
That shares the morning's ray,
May to the waking swain disclose
The regent of the day.

Perhaps a plant in yonder grove,
Enrich'd with fragrant power,
May tempt his vagrant eyes to rove

Cupid, pierce no more my heart
Nor my inward vitals burn;
Prithee on some other part
Thy swift arrows turn.

Let God arise in all his might,
And put the troops of hell to flight;
As smoke, that sought to cloud the skies,
Before the rising tempest flies.

He rides and thunders through the sky;
His name Jehovah sounds on high;
Sing to his name, ye sons of grace!
Ye saints! rejoice before his face.

The widow and the fatherless
Fly to his aid in sharp distress;
In him the poor and helpless find
A Judge, most just, a Father, kind.

He breaks the captive's heavy chain,
And pris'ners see the light again;

THE ATTRIBUTE OF VENUS .

Yes; Fulvia is like Venus fair,
Has all her bloom, and shape, and air;
But still, to perfect every grace,
She wants—the smile upon her face.

The crown majestic Juno wore;
And Cynthia's brow the crescent bore;
An helmet mark'd Minerva's mien;
But smiles distinguish'd Beauty's queen.

Her train was form'd of Smiles and Loves;
Her chariot drawn by gentlest doves;
And from her zone, the nymph may find
Tis Beauty's province to be kind.

Praise! for slumbers of the night,
For the wak'ning morning-light;
For the board with plenty spread,
Gladness on the spirit shed,
Healthful pulse, and cloudless eye,
Opening on the smiling sky:

Praise! for loving hearts, that still
With life's bounding pulses thrill;
Praise! that still our own may know
Earthly joy and earthly woe;
Praise! for ev'ry varied good,
Bounteous round our pathway strew'd:

Pray'r! for grateful hearts to raise
Incense meet of pray'r and praise;
Pray'r! for spirits calm and meek,