isfis. SOFA versus CHAIR. 419 



" And yon, ye stately sea-birds, v.-inpf 



Your way o'er Indian waves, 

 And precious pearls and corals bring, 

 Plucked from the ocean caves." 



She Avaved her hand : away they flew. 



She Avaved her hand, and lo ! with gems 

 And gold returned the busy crew, 



Fit for a thousand diadems. 



With wondrous skill, and magic pOAvers, 

 She strung the pearls and AVOVC the gold, 



And changed the gems to buds and flowers, 

 Which never Avill grow old. 



These magic floAA T ers she made to groAv 



Upon a cushion soft as air, 

 Full of the down as white as snoAv, 



Which sAvans upon their bosoms bear. 



And just as the Professor 



Had almost ceased to sigh, 

 And seeing no Eedresser, 



Had laid him doAvn to die, 



Behold ! a silver voice was heard, 



" Hush ! I have heard thy prayer, 

 The cushion of the Blackbird 



Shall glorify thy Chair." 



And suddenly, as morning skies 



The clouds with glory gild, 

 The fairy-cushion smote the eyes, 



And the Avhole Chair was filled. 



It draped the Chair on every side, 



It left no angle bare, 

 It made the Chair a place of pride, 



And not a place of care. 



And UOAV the once afflicted wight, 



To qiieens makes no apology, 

 But sits by day, and dreams by night 



In his Chair of Technology. 



To tliis lady lie writes in the end of that October, with the 

 characteristic mingling of pathos and humour : " My sense of a 

 hold upon life is so feeble (for illness after illness cheats us out 

 of vitality, and lessens one's hope and courage), that I am 

 thankful to remember I have some who think better of me than 

 I deserve, and count themselves my friends. . . . Had Her Ma- 

 jesty consulted my doctors, she would have given me a sofa 

 rather than a chair ; but on chair or sofa, I hope to spend my 



