SONG OF THE ROSE,

"If Zeus chose us a King of the flowers in his mirth,
He would call to the rose, and would royally crown it ;-

For the rose, ho, the rose! is the grace of the earth,

Is the light of the plants that are growing upon it!
For the rose, ho, the rose! is the eye of the flowers,

Is the blush of the meadows that feel themselves fair,-
Is the lightning of beauty, that strikes through the bowers
On pale lovers who sit in the glow unaware.
Ho, the rose breathes of love! ho, the rose lifts the
To the red lips of Cypris invoked for a guest!
Ho, the rose having curl'd it's sweet leaves for the world
Takes delight in the motion its petals keep up,

cup

As they laugh to the Wind as it laughs from the west."

Sappho possessed that rare gift, genius. She merited the names bestowed upon her, of "Tenth Muse," and "Divine Poetess;" not merely because she was accomplished in writing poetry, but because she was endowed with creative faculty. She had invention, and originality of resource. Her love of Poesy inspired her with power to add fresh beauty to the anthology of Greece; composing in metres of her own design, and devising a peculiar versification, named after her, the Sapphic Strophe; a metrical construction which has been frequently imitated in ancient and modern times. Horace has many Odes in the Sapphic Strophe, the ode to Augustus Cæsar (the second in the first Book) being one. It consists of three verses, and a fourth (of two feet), termed the Adonic verse.

Sappho's ear in rhythmical construction, and her passion for music, enabled her to carry her creative genius into that art also; for Aristoxenus affirms, that to Sappho must be assigned the honour of having invented Mixolydian harmony, so well adapted for the expression of tragic and serious feeling. She is also said to have

been the inventor of more than one new instrument, and of the plectrum, or quill with which lyres were struck, in sounding their strings.

In Sappho, Milton's

"Sphere-born harmonious sisters, Voice and Verse,

Wed their divine sounds;"

And, “to our high-rais'd phantasy present" an image of blended Art dedicated to peans in honour of Love, that deity whose own utterance is

"Sweet and musical

As bright Apollo's lute, strung with his hair."

After her death, divine honours were paid her; altars and temples were raised to her memory, and her fame spread far and wide. Sicily erected a statue to her; and the inhabitants of her native Mitylene stamped Sappho's image on their coin. This tardy tribute from those who had maligned her, savoured of anxiety to claim reflected honour from her having been born among them, although they could not properly estimate her while she lived among them; but posthumous appreciation brought credit on themselves, where value during her existence, swelled her triumphs only. Dead excellence and prosperity are more readily forgiven and acknowledged, than while flourishing in health, strength and beauty. Sappho's fair name was blackened at a period when her heart still beat with power to feel proud of eulogium, or hurt by opprobrium; but when cold to repute or injury alike, popularity crowned her ashes, and Envy joined in heaping garlands upon one whom it had vilified. Great spirits must be content to draw breath amid vulgar detraction, and to have plaudits clamoured over their grave.

Sappho is a shining exemplar of glowing womanhood, and high genius moulded into that "bright particular star" of humanitya Poetess.