EEVIEW — TALES OF MTSTEBT AND POEMS. 107 



They are Ghouls ; 

 And their king it is who tolls ; 

 And he rolls, rolls, rolls, 

 Rolls 

 A paean from the bells ! 

 And his merry bosom swells 



With the psean of the bells ! 

 And he dances, and he yells; 

 Keeping time, time, time, 

 In a sort of Runic rhyme, 

 To the psean of the bells— 

 Of the bells: 

 Keeping time, time, time, 

 In a sort of Runic rhyme, 



To the throbbing of the bells — 

 Of the bells, bells, bells — 



To the sobbing of the bells ; 

 Keeping time, time, time, 



As he knells, knells, knells, 

 In a happy Runic rhyme, 



To the rolling of the bells — 

 Of the bells, bells, bells,— 



To the tolling of the bells — 

 Of the bells, bells, bells, bells — 

 Bells, bells, bells — 

 To the moaning and the groaning of the bells. 



Reiteration is carried here to the utmost length short of weari- 

 some satiety ; yet the curious collocation of words must be felt to 

 embody the full ideal of the pealing bells ; and this would be much 

 more apparent could we spare room for the whole piece. The varied 

 power of expression is shown by ringing all the changes of words 

 which each successive bell requires. The merry tinkle of the 

 sleigh-bells ; the mellow voluminous chime of the wedding bells ; 

 the brazen clang of the alarum bells ; and the muffled, throbbing 

 knell of the funeral bells ; each and all of these seem reproduced in 

 imaginary peal, which echoes through the fancy as the eye silently 

 passes over the curious patch-work of rhyme and rythm strung to- 

 gether in artistic semblance of the music they describe. 



One example more we must find room for, of a quaint conceit, 

 more than once successfully accomplished by this singular poet, and 

 perhaps most curious as illustrating the same odd fancy for grap- 

 pling with self-imposed difficulties, which furnishes the strange 

 plots of so many of his tales of mystery. The subject and occasion 

 of the poem is common, — if not common-place — enough ; being one 

 of the thousand-and-one verse missives of the Festival of Saint 



