AN INVOCATION.

Infinite, unchanging essence;

Compound dark of elements unknown;

Subtle Protean form; illimitable,

Eternal; whence comest thou,

What was thy birth? O, thou ever-during

Shade of mystery, hear my cry;

Stir thy placid depths and answer me!

Wast't in teeming brain of grim Astrologer,

Or in the boding heart of Hell-begot

Mephisto, thy form was first conceived?

Or art thou then that void and shapeless chaos

Whence all things first began? A simmering

Whisper, gurgling stirs my sense. - I hear

Thy dainty note, my Ariel! - "They call me Mutton-Broth."