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And when is love the richest?

'When prodigal it proves.'

And tell me how love speaketh?
'It speaketh not, it loves.'

FRIEDRICH HALM.-Mein Herz, ich will dich fragen.

The nom de plume of Baron Francis Joseph Münch-Bellinghausen (1806-71), whose drama, Der Sohn der Wildniss, containing the first two stanzas, was represented in 1842. This quaint little song seems to be the original of that which follows; but both are given that the reader may draw his own conclusion.

LOVE.

TELL me, my bosom's secret fire,

What then is love, that name so sweet?

'It is two souls with one desire,

Two hearts that both together beat.'

Tell me how love can reach the heart? 'Where'er he will, the god may range.'

Tell me what tempts him to depart?

'That is not love which suffers change.'

When does he weave his truest spell? 'When living for another's joys.'

And when is he invincible?

'When careless of display and noise.'

How does he seek his wealth to swell?

'By freely lavishing his best.'

And how does love his passion tell?

'In silence: loving does the rest.'

ANON.-L'Amour (La Lyre Française, p. 184).1

1 See note to last song.

THE GLOW-WORM.

CARELESS of the starry ray

That she shed above,

In the grass a glow-worm lay,

By a poet's grove.

Crawling forth from where it sat

In a neighbouring bank,

Came a toad, and on her spat

All its poison rank.

'Ah,' the glow-worm cried, 'did I E'er hurt thee or thine ?'

Snarled the monster in reply:

'Wherefore dost thou shine?'

PFEFFEL.-Das Johanniswürmchen.

F

POOR COMFORT.

I GAZED through the depth of the darksome night ; The silent moon I asked in anguish :

'Say, when shall depart the grief and pain With which I daily pine and languish ? '

'But ah,' with a sigh replied the moon,

'My friend, no counsel can I lend you! The clouds see more of the world; to them For sound advice I recommend you.'

Anon to the clouds I made appeal;
They only answered in a hurry:
'We're pressed for time; go, ask the wind,

Who drives us on in a constant flurry!'

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