English Anthology,

(From the Provençal.)

VII.

All moital things will one day fade away!
But Love Divine can never know decay.
Our bodies, nerved with strength, will then become
As tinder soft-all things will lose their bloom.
The song of birds no more will fill the grove,
Nor nightingale sing her melodious love;
The pastured oxen, and the snowy sheep,
Will feel the sting impelling dreamless sleep;
Arles' noble steeds, and foxes, wolves, and barts,
Tame goots, wild chamois, fierce boars from all parts,
The wild bear's strength, as dust and sand, shall fail;
The sea-born dolphins, tunny, and the whale,
All frightful monsters, kingdoms, provinces,
Princes and kings, Death will subdue with ease.
Above all, mark-the nighty earth will fall,
(Thus Holy Writ) the firmament, yea all
The stars to nothing.-All things fade away,
Save Love Divine, which never knows decay.

VIII.

(From the same.)

When in a mirror, whose reflection's true,
The various lots of this world meet our view;
Weighed in the balance every man's pretence,
"Twixt high and low how small the difference.
Equals the prince and subjects there we find;
The Lord leaves not his vassal poor reclined.
The noble, burgess, artist, shepherd, here,
Distant as stars of heaven from earth appear:
Surprised they see the false illusions fade;
Their lot on earth appears but as a shade.

Death's arm strikes down both birth and rank with time;
Men differ but in virtue and in crime:

The good and evil of their lives are tried;

The greatest crime is when that difference is denied.

B.

IX.

Child of the Summer, thy brow is as fair
As the loveliest morning hour,

When the perfume hangs on the gentle air,
From the newly open'd flower;

When the Forest King has gone to his lair,
And the busy voice of toiling care

Is yet unheard, and every bower

Is gemm'd with nature's choicest dower.

Child of the Summer, thy smile is sweet
And calm as the close of day,
When the setting sun and ocean meet,
And the glade is press'd by blithesome feet,
And the dew is on the spray
And moments of joy on pinions fleet
Are winging their silent way.

Child of the Summer, thine eyes are bright
As stars in the cloudless sky,
Emitting a clear and liquid light,

And gladding the face of the silent night;
While the Zephyr that rustles by

Seems scarce, as it speeds on its heavenward fight,

More deep than a Lover's sigh.

Child of the Summer, on lightsome wing
May thine infancy's moments fly,

And joy round thy heartstrings like tendrils cling
And morning and eve to thy spirit bring

That peace which the world may not buy ; The learning that wells from the sacred spring, The knowledge that cannot die.

X.

Oh! ye who boast the name of Freedom's sons,
And speak of Liberty with burning lips;
Beware, lest ye should take her name in vain,
And pay your homage at unholy shrines.
Mark well her bearing and majestic mein,
And be not soon deceived, for there are those
Who ape her form, who steal her holy smile,
And cloak the demon with the serpent's wile.
Freedom is not a sheet of paper where

The cunning pen may trace so full and fair,
Well rounded passages, high-sounding names,
With graceful stops: that is not Liberty! *
Nor does it breathe in casy flowing speech
Of classic orator, whose ready wit
And well-weighed arguments delight the cars
Of greedy list'ners at the busting's front,
And bear him to the senate. Oh! not there;

Full well, I ween, that is not Liberty!
Nor in the warrior's proud triumphant shout,
Who comes the hero of a hundred fights,
With trumpet sounding, clad in gorgeous guise.
For every cheer proclaims a comrade's death;
And widows' sighs join with the bugles' breath.
Look at those blood-stain'd banners-can they be,
Or those poor orphans, aught of Liberty?
Nay, think not thus, but know that Freedom dwells
In human hearts: there is it's only shrine.
But ere those bearts can know it, they must be
Patient, and meek, and loving-pure ere free.
When such as these are many in the land:
When christian charity directs each hand,
To help the needy and protect the poor;
When the strong man smiles kindly on the weak,
The noble on the peasant; and when kings
Love justice more than empire,-peace than war;
Then and then only are the nations free;
For truly nought but such is Liberty!

ED. C. M.

La Liberté n'est pas un placard qu'on lit au coin de la rue.

Paroles d'un croyant,

BRIEF NOTICES OF THE POETS, PHILOSOPHERS,&c OF THE TAMILS,

BY S. C. CHITTY, Esq. (Continued.)

-000

13. Mánika Vasagar, called also Tiruvathavoorer, a poet, as much cele brated for his sanctity as for his great learning, was the son of a brahman, named Amartiyer, and born at Trivaloor, in the time of Arimarta Pandiyen, King of Madura. In early life, he was employed as prime minister at the Court of the King; but he, however, soon quitted this preferment, and es tablished himself at Tiruparanturei, where he founded a temple in honor of Sica, who appeared there, and communed with him. There is a collection of hymns of a very superior description called Tiruvasagam, which he sang in praise of his favorite god, and he is moreover noted for his polemical contests with the Samanas, whom he finally overcame.

14. Adivira Pandiyan, one of the ancient Kings of Madura, who has transmitted his name to posterity by his numerous poetical compositions; but as neither he, nor his cotemporaries have left any record of his personal history, it is now difficult even to ascertain the time of his existence. The following is a list of his works.

1. Nahishaddam, an epic poem celebrating the adventures of Nalah and Damayanti, is divided into 23 chapters; and contains 1171 stanzas. 2. Kasi Kandam, another poem, which treats principally of the legends connected with the shrine of Sira at Kasi, or Benares, is divided into 100 chapters; and contains 2529 stanzas. 3. Kokkoham, a treatise on the different characters, qualities and behaviour of women. 4. Vettivélkai, a collection of moral max. ims. 5. Karuvei Antadi. There are four poems under this title, each of which contains 100 stanzas of different metres in praise of Tirukaruvei, & Saiva place of worship in the Carnatic. They were called Antadi or the last the first, because "the stanzas are so connected with each other, that the following word, or words, commences with the syllable, with which the preceding ended."

15. Villiputturer. This poet was a native of Saniyoor, in the Coimbatoor country, and born of brahman parents, of the Vaishnava sect. He was greatly esteemed by the King Karikal Cholen, by whose desire he undertook and finished a poetic version of the Maha Bharat, in 50 chapters, containing 4,280 stanzas, which for the sublimity of its language remains almost unrivalled even to the present day. The installation of Karikal Cholen, is dated K. Y. 3567 or A. D. 465.

16. Tolkappiyer, a celebrated ascetic and grammarian, who was one of the twelve pupils of Agastya. He wrote a treatise on the Tamil grammar called Tolkappiya Nool, which, however, from its studied brevity is scarcely intelligible.

17. Pavananti, another ascetic and grammarian in the time of Siya Kangan, king of Madura, who is chiefly known as the writer of a Tamil Grammar entitled Nannool, i. e. Litera humaniores. He had proposed to treat of his subject ander five different heads, viz. Letters, Words, Matter, Versification aud Embellishment; but died before he could complete his design, and

the Nannool therefore comprises only the two first heads.

18, Amurtasagaran, (the sea of nectar) a poet, of whose life no particulars have reached modern times, but who is celebrated as the author of a treatise designated Karigài, containing a series of forty-four sutras or succinct aphorisms in verse, on versification. This work, however, is considered by some as very abstruse; hence the proverb, "Better live by beating Périgai (a sort of drum) than by composing verses after studying Kàrigai." He flourished some time after Pavananti, and was, like him, a Jaina, as he commences his work with an invocation to "the god who remains under the shade of the Pindi tree, which abounds with fragrant blossoms."

19. Katchiyapper. This poet was a native of Kánchi, or Conjeveram, in the Carnatic and born of brahman parents. None of his compositions has been preserved, except a poetical version of the Skanda Purana, which some suppose was written about the fourth century. This work contains 10,336 stanzas, and as it, particularly treats of the history of Skanda,* is regularly recited in his temples at the annual festivals, with the observance of a number of superstitious ceremonies.

20. Sainden. This poet is represented by himself as having been born at Ambel, a small town situate on the banks of the Kareri, in the Carnatic. His Tamil dictionary under the title of Tivagaram, or the Sun, is divided into ten chapters and contains 2,286 stanzas, in short metre. He lived in the age of the Chólens, whom he has celebrated in the epigraph of his work. 21. Kamban, one of the most celebrated poets at the court of the king Kulatunga Cholen who reigned at Ureiyoor, towards the close of the ninth century. Of his works the principal are a poem, called Er Elupadu, in praise of the agriculture of the Velalors, and a poetical version of the Ramaynam, in seven books, containing 12,016 stanzas, which he composed under the patronage of the wealthy farmer Venneinellur Sadeiyar. It is said that the king shot him to death with a bow, in a paroxysm of anger, because he was inconsolable for the loss of his son Ambiapati, whom his majesty caused to be empaled for having contrived to seduce the princess.

22. Ottakooten. This individual was a cotemporary of Kamban, and though a cobbler by descent, his great learning appears to have exalted him to the same rank with that poet. He is reported to have composed several Ulas, or elegies besides many panegyrical odes on the king; but none of them, are in existence at present.

The god of War. + Uvarla longifolia. Lin.