Gold Hair: A Legend of Pornic

( Dram at is Personæ , 1864.) The poem is said by Mr. Orr to be founded on facts well known at Pornic, a seaside town in Britt any. A young girl well connected died with a great reputation for holine . She had beautiful golden hair, of which she was very proud. She begged that it might not be disturbed after her death, and she was buried with it intact near the high altar of the church of St. Gilles. Some years after it became nece ary to repair the floor of the church in the proximity of the maiden’s tomb. It was found that the coffin had fallen to pieces, and a gold coin was noticed, which led to a more careful examination of the spot. Thirty double louis-d’or were discovered, which had been hidden by the girl in her hair, thus proving that the supposed saint was at heart a miser. “Gold goes through all doors except heaven’s doors”; and for this the girl had lost her heaven. In Stanza xxviii. Mr. Browning teaches a le on of which he is never weary:— “Evil or good may be better or worse In the human heart, but the mixture of each Is a marvel and a curse.” Original sin, the innate corruption of man’s heart, is illustrated says the poet, by this girl’s avarice. The priest built a new altar with the discovered money.