And it bubbles and seethes, and it hisses and roars,

As when fire is with water commix'd and contending; And the spray of its wrath to the welkin up-soars,

And flood upon flood hurries on, never ending; And as with the swell of the far thunder-boom, Rushes roaringly forth from the heart of the gloom.

And, lo! from the heart of that far-floating gloom,

What gleams on the darkness so swanlike and white? Lo! an arm and a neck, glancing up from the tomb !— They battle-the Man's with the Element's might. It is he-it is he! in his left hand behold,

As a sign—as a joy !—shines the goblet of gold!

And he breathed deep, and he breathed long,

And he greeted the heavenly delight of the day. They gaze on each other—they shout, as they throngHe lives-lo the ocean has render'd its prey!

And safe from the whirlpool and free from the grave, Comes back to the daylight the soul of the brave!"

And he comes, with the crowd in their clamour and glee,

And the goblet his daring has won from the water, He lifts to the king as he sinks on his knee;

And the king from her maidens has beckon'd his daughter

She pours to the boy the bright wine which they bring, And thus spake the Diver-" Long life to the king!

"Happy they whom the rose-hues of daylight rejoice, The air and the sky that to mortals are given ! May the horror below never more find a voice

Nor Man stretch too far the wide mercy of Heaven! Never more never more may he lift from the sight The veil which is woven with Terror and Night!

Quick-brightening like lightning-it tore me along, Down, down, till the gush of a torrent, at play In the rocks of its wilderness, caught me-and strong As the wings of an eagle, it whirl'd me away.

Vain, vain was my struggle-the circle had won me, Round and round in its dance, the wild element spun

me.

And I call'd on my God, and my God heard my prayer

In the strength of my need, in the gasp of my breathAnd show'd me a crag that rose up from the lair, And I clung to it, nimbly—and baffled the death ! And, safe in the perils around me, behold On the spikes of the coral the goblet of gold.

"Below, at the foot of the precipice drear,

Spread the gloomy, and purple, and pathless Obscure, A silence of Horror that slept on the ear,

That the eye more appall'd might the Horror endure ! Salamander-snake-dragon-vast reptiles that dwell In the deep-coil'd about the grim jaws of their hell.

"Dark-crawl'd-glided dark the unspeakable swarms, Clump'd together in masses, misshapen and vastHere clung and here bristled the fashionless formsHere the dark-moving bulk of the Hammer-fish pass'd

And with teeth grinning white, and a menacing motion, Went the terrible Shark-the Hyæna of Occan.

"There I hung, and the awe gather'd icily o'er me, So far from the earth, where man's help there was

none !

The One Human Thing, with the Goblins before meAlone-in a loneness so ghastly-ALONE!

Fathom-deep from man's eye in the speechless profound, With the death of the Main and the Monsters around

Methought, as I gazed through the darkness, that now IT saw-the dread hundred-limbed creature-its prey! And darted-O God! from the far flaming-bough

Of the coral, I swept on the horrible way; And it seized me, the wave with its wrath and its roar, It seized me to save-King, the danger is o'er!"

On the youth gazed the monarch, and marvell'd; quoth he,

"Bold Diver, the goblet I promised is thine, And this ring will I give, a fresh guerdon to theeNever jewels more precious shone up from the mineIf thou'lt bring me fresh tidings, and venture again To say what lies hid in the innermost main?"

Then outspake the daughter in tender emotion: "Ah! father, my father, what more can there rest? Enough of this sport with the pitiless ocean

He has served thee as none would, thyself has confest. If nothing can slake thy wild thirst of desire,

Let thy knights put to shame the exploit of the squire!"

The king seized the goblet-he swung it on high,

And whirling, it fell in the roar of the tide :

But bring back that goblet again to my eye,

And I'll hold thee dearest that rides by my side; And thine arms shall embrace, as thy bride, I decree, The maiden whose pity now pleadeth for thee."

In his heart as he listen'd, there leapt the wild joy— And the hope and the love through his eyes spoke in fire,

On that bloom, on that blush, gazed delighted the boy;
The maiden-she faints at the feet of her sire !
Here the guerdon divine, there the danger beneath;
He resolves! to the strife with the life and the death!

They hear the loud surges sweep back in their swell, Their coming the thunder-sound heralds along! Fond eyes yet are tracking the spot where he fell :

They come, the wild waters, in tumult and throng, Roaring up to the cliff-roaring back, as before, But no wave ever brings the lost youth to the shore. SCHILLER, Translated by LORD LYTTON. (With permission of Messrs. G. Routledge and Sons.)

The Diver, according to the story on which the ballad is founded, was a certain Nicholas, surnamed the Fish, from his extraordinary aquatic performances. The king is conjectured to have been either Frederick I. or Frederick II. of Sicily. The date ranges from 1295 to 1377.

Charybdis (ka-rib-dis), a whirlpool on the coast of Sicily; hence, any whirlpool, or seething abyss.

guerdon (gèr-don), reward, recompense.

maelstrom (mál-), lit., millstream; a whirlpool. From Maelstrom, a celebrated whirlpool on the coast of Norway, near the island of Moskoe.

wight (wit), creature, man,
person.

and it bubbles, &c. This line
imitates the sound of the
original, which attempts to
reproduce the sound of the
turmoiling waters.
wèlkin, the sky, the region of
clouds. Anglo-Saxon, wolcnu,
"clouds," plural of wolcen,
a cloud."

แ

THE WAGES OF LABOUR.

THAT part of wealth which is given in exchange for labour is called wages. The portion of capital which is used as the wages of labour is called the wages-fund. Any circumstance which increases the wages-fund tends to raise wages; while an increase in the wages-receiving classes, by adding to the number of those amongst whom the wages-fund is distributed, tends to depress wages.

1. GENERAL CAUSES REGULATING WAGES.

Wages, like rent, may be regulated either by custom or by competition. They are, however, for the most