



Produced by Chuck Greif, Mary Glenn Krause, MFR, University
of South Carolina and the Online Distributed Proofreading
Team at http://www.pgdp.net












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                                VERSES.

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                                VERSES.


           “_Be friendly, pray, to these fancies of mine._”

                          --BETTINE BRENTANO.

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               NEWPORT, R. I., C. E. HAMMETT, JR., 1878.

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      Sonnets.


    I. LE VIOL D’AMOUR.

     (An Organ-stop.)

    O soft, caressing sound, more sweet than scent
    Of violets in woody hollows! Tone
    As amorous as the ring-dove’s tender moan
    Beneath the spreading forest’s leafy tent;
    What mystery of earth or air hath lent
    Thee that bewitching music, where the drone
    Of Summer bees in dewy buds new blown
    With trembling, fainting melody is blent?
    What master did conceive thee, as the sound
    Most fit to woo his lady from her rest,
    What wakeful maiden in thy wooing found
    The passion of her lover first exprest,
    And from her silken pillows, beauty-crowned,
    Stept forth and smiled on him who loved her best?

                _November 10th, 1875._

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      II. VESPERS.

    It is the vesper hour, and in yon aisle
    Where fainting incense clouds the heavy air
    My lady’s kneeling at