DOMETT, ALFRED, an English Camberwell Grove, Surrey, May 201 1887. He entered St. John's Colle in 1829, but left without taking travelled in America for a couple ing to England in 1836, and sul in Italy and Switzerland. In to the bar at Middle Temple. New Zealand, where he h tract of land, being one of to those islands, where holding during those ye positions. He is unde Robert Browning's p several volumes of p in 1832; then appe return from New Amohia (1872), a of New Zealand 1877 he made

title of Flotsa His Christm

poems, ap zine in 18

It

T

main;

hts of boundless sway;

an what befell

ar away,

midnight

Es ago?

ovince far away

ing home a weary boor:
ight before him lay,

rough a half-shut stable door
s path. He passed, for naught
what was going on within;
een the stars, his only thought-
Me air, how calm, and cold and thin,
In the solemn midnight,
Centuries ago!

It is the calm and silent night!

A thousand bells ring out, and throw Their joyous peals abroad, and smite

The darkness-charmed and holy now! The night that erst no name had wornTo it a happy name is given;

For in that stable lay, new-born,

The peaceful Prince of earth and heaven,
In the solemn midnight,

293

ARY

No sound was heard of clashing wars,

Peace brooded o'er the hushed domain;
Apollo, Pallas, Jove, and Mars,

Held undisturbed their ancient reign
In the solemn midnight,
Centuries ago.

II.

'Twas in the calm and silent night,
The senator of haughty Rome,
Impatient urged his chariot's flight
From lordly revel rolling home;
Triumphal arches, gleaming, swell

His breast with thoughts of boundless sway;
What recked the Roman what befell
A paltry province far away,
In the solemn midnight
Centuries ago?

III.

Within that province far away

Went plodding home a weary boor:
A streak of light before him lay,

Fallen through a half-shut stable door
Across his path. He passed, for naught
Told what was going on within ;
How keen the stars, his only thought-
The air, how calm, and cold and thin,
In the solemn midnight,

Centuries ago!

V.

It is the calm and silent night!

A thousand bells ring out, and throw Their joyous peals abroad, and smite

The darkness-charmed and holy now! The night that erst no name had wornTo it a happy name is given ;

For in that stable lay, new-born,

The peaceful Prince of earth and heaven,
In the solemn midnight,

Centuries ago!