REJECTED ADDRESSES.

Observer, Volume 4, Issue 89, 27 May 1882, Page 164

REJECTED ADDRESSES.

Great Hermes ! Trismegistus named, In Egypt's ancient, records famed ; • - Greek Orpheus, with thy magic lyre, Who brought the true Promethean fire Of music from celestial spheres, The silver key of smiles and tears, — Some touch of glorious genius bring To elevate the theme I sing. Te masters of the mighty art — Balfe, Auber, Gounod, great Mozart, Rossini, Verdi, Haydn, — all Whose works the human soul enthrall, And make the happy hours glide by , On the glad wings of melody : Who gild the darkest clouds below, And pluck the envenomed sting from woe t Who strew this earthly path with flowers, And balmy dreams of golden hours, Lost echoes of seraphic strains Once heard on Eden's sacred plains, To man the hope-inspiringsign — The soul within him is divine ; Oh, may thy spirits hover near, And shed thy chast'ning influence here, Within these walls aglow with light, Where youth and beauty meet to-night I Bid care depart, bid sorrow flee ; Before the breath of melody, Of sparkling wit, and satire's vein Let every heart be glad again ; And cheer the weary sinking soul In duty's path to reach, the goal. Ye Muses mine, your aid impart To raise the Drama's varied art, Where intellect displays its powers, And genius brings its brightest flowers, To charm, instruct, delight, and raise Dame NaUire's mirror to our gaze. May Fortune smile with friendly eyes On. Abbott's noble enterprise! ATTTOMA.THBS.

G-ood Friends ; how feebly words express Our welcome, or the happiness With which we gaze upon the sight That greets our grateful gaze to-night ! Our eager fancy backward strays To savage scenes of bygone days, v When sombre fern and ti-treo grew Where stately piles adorn the view ; ( When hosts of tattoed warriors frowned And furious war-dance shook the ground, Where beauteous nymphs, with nimble feet/ In measured time and cadence beat. And fancy swiftly backward flies And hears those wild, discordant cries, And songs of triumph, that arose O'er captured slaves and slaughtered foes ; When victims fell beneath the brand, And horrid bloodshed stained the land j Where art and culture charm the eye, And wit, and wealth, and beauty vie j Where Cupid flings his playful darts, : And commerce plies her peaceful arts j Where Sullivan, with magic skill, With music shall your senses thrill, And Gilbert's wit your sadness cheer, Evoke the mingled smile and tear, < Bid sorrow flee, and and care begone Like mists before the sun at morn, Hold Nature's mirror to your gaze In pictures of these modern days, And show the sorrow-stricken soul How " Patience " leads to virtue's goal. You know, in old monastic schools * The Abbot taught ascetic rules ; A higher aim our Abbott tries t In this successful enterprise, Our virtues praise, vice reprobate, To please, instruct, and elevate, 1 And teach that man may most excel Not in mere acts, but acting well. AIiLEGBETTO. [We reserve our criticism on the prize" poem until next issue.].

Here is a spicey item from a Southern exchange upon the composition of the Whitaker Ministry: «• it will no doubt all appear in good time how it is that Mr Bryce is able to sail under the flag of a man whom ho denounced in 1877 as rapacious, unprincipled, and selfish; or how. Mr Rbllestbn, with his Bublrme morality, -can follow a, leader whom, in the same year; he accused of half the Sins in the decalogue . ' r