s: My one dear book, to gather dust upon my shelf.


s: That night in sleep an Angel fair came to my side,


s: And in her hand she held a scroll; in lines of flame


s: The name of him I’d cursed was writ; and when I cried,


s: “What portent this?” the rare celestial dame


s: “Read here, O Ingrate base, the name of him thou’st cursed.


s: The very man of all men who should be the first


s: Thy love and lasting gratitude to know, since he


s: Still leaves the path Parnassian open unto thee—


s: A path which thou with halting rhyme, most ill composed,


s: Against thyself hast sought to keep forever closed.


s: I read, withdrew the curse—and tore the epic up.


s: How very close to truth these bookish men


s: Can be when in their catalogues they pen


s: The words descriptive of the wares they hold


s: To tempt the book-man with his purse of gold!


s: For instance, they have Dryden—splendid set—


s: Which some poor wight would part with wealth to get.


s: ’Tis richly bound, its edges gilded—but—


s: Hard fate—as Dryden well deserves—_uncut_!


s: For who these days would think to buy the screed


s: Amongst the rarities he’d ne’er have crept!


s: And then those pompous, overwhelming tomes


s: No substance on a Whatman surface placed,


s: In polished leather and in tooling cased,


s: And flaunting all their charms so wantonly.


s: These book-men, when they catalogue their books,


s: That’s all they have, most of ’em, just plain shape,


s: With less pure wine than any unripe grape.


s: But tomes that travel on their “looks” indeed


s: Are only good for those who do not read;


s: And, like most people clad in garments grand,


s: Deserted balmy Italy, the land that loved him well,


s: And sailed for soft America, of wealth the very fount,


s: To earn sufficient dollars there to make himself a count.


s: Alas for poor Pietro! he arrived in winter-time,


s: And marvelled at the poet who observed in tripping rhyme


s: How this New World was genial, and a sunny sort of clime.


s: No chance had he for music that’s developed by a crank,


s: No chance had he at sculpture, nor a penny in the bank.


s: The pea-nut trade was languid, and for him too full of risk;


s: He thought the work on railways for his blood was rather brisk.


s: The sole profession left him to assuage his stomach’s woe,


s: It struck him in meandering the city to and fro,


s: Was surely that of shovelling away the rich man’s snow.


s: And then P. Napolini di Vendetta Pasquarelle


s: Sought out a city thoroughfare, the swellest of the swell.


s: He stole a shovel, and he found a broom he thought would do,


s: Then rang the massive front-door bell of Stuyvesant Depew.


s: “I wanta shov’ da snow,” he said, when there at last appeared


s: Fitzjohn Augustus Higgins, who in Birmingham was reared,


s: A man by all in low estate much hated and much feared.


s: With wuthy citizens like me ’most starved on every ’and.


s: Hi vows hif I’d me wi at all hi’d order hout a troop,


s: Hand send the bloomin’ lot o’ yer ’ead over ’eels in soup.


s: Git hout, yer nahsty grabber yer; hewacuate the stoop.”


s: Then when the snow had melted off, Fitzjohn Augustus went


s: And humbly asked his master for two dollars that he’d spent


s: In paying Napolini di Vendetta Pasquarelle;


s: While Nap went back to Italy, the land that loved him well,


s: Convinced that when he sailed that time his country to forsake,


s: He must have got aboard the ship when he was half awake,


s: And got to London, not New York, by some most odd mistake.


s: MY best-loved color? Well, I think I like


s: Sometimes a pink my fancy too will strike—


s: ’Tis their own color; and I’m quite fond of


s: To pile it on; I like it good and strong


s: ’Tis almost godlike, as it sparkles through


s: The effervescent fizz; and wondrous spells


s: It casts o’er me when coined in dollars, too.


s: At special times depends on circumstance.


s: When the order was given to withdraw from battle for breakfast,


s: one of the gun-captains, a privileged character, begged


s: Commodore Dewey to let them keep on fighting until “we’ve wiped


s: ’em out.”—_War Anecdote in Daily Paper._


s: “Stop your shooting! Come to breakfast!”


s: “COME here,” said I, “oh caddy boy, and tell me how it haps


s: You cling so fast unto these links; not like the other chaps,


s: Who like to dally on the streets and play the game of craps?


s: “Is it that you enjoy the work of carrying a bag


s: While others speed the festive ball o’er valley, hill, and crag?


s: And do your spirits never seem to falter or to flag?


s: “I’ve watched you many a day, my lad, and puzzled o’er the fact


s: That you are so attentive to the game; your every act


s: Doth indicate perfection—there’s been nothing you have lacked.


s: “And I would know just why it is that you so perfect seem—


s: In all my golfing days you’ve been the very brightest gleam—


s: Or am I lying home in bed and are you just a dream?”


s: “Oh, sir,” said he, “I caddy here because I love my pa;


s: I cling unto these gladsome links because I love my ma;


s: In short, I love my parents, sir, and these my reasons are:


s: “’Twas but a year ago, good sir, when first this ancient sport


s: Came in the portals of our home—home of the sweetest sort;


s: “My father first he took it up, and many a weary night


s: My mother with us children waited up by candle-light,


s: In hopes that he’d return and free us from our lonely plight.


s: “Then mother she went after him—alas! that it should be—


s: And shortly learned the game herself—she plays it famously—


s: Which left us children orphans, I and all my brothers three.


s: “They play it here, they play it there, they play it everywhere;


s: No matter what the weather, be it wet or be it fair,


s: And for the cares of golf they’ve dropped their every other care.


s: “And so it is that we poor lads are forced to leave our home,


s: And join the ranks of caddy boys who o’er the fields do roam


s: In search of little golf-balls in the sunlight and the gloam;


s: “For some day we are hoping that our eyes again will see


s: Our most beloved parents on some putting-green or tee;


s: A sight to gladden all our hearts if it should ever be.”


s: And lo—I looked upon that boy—his face was sweet and sad,


s: And to my heart there came a twinge, for in that little lad


s: I recognized my eldest son—_I_ was that wicked dad!


s: And now together we are out on links at home and far.


s: He and his three small brothers with their shamed, repentant pa,


s: A-looking here and looking there to find their dear mamma.


s: He’s ripe in years, and great in understanding.


s: He shows a mind that’s verily commanding.


s: He’ll stand before a painting, and without


s: A single instant’s thought, or hesitation,


s: He’ll tell the painter’s name, nor any doubt


s: Is there he gives the proper information.


s: The rocks, the hills and valleys, hold from him


s: No secret that is past a man’s revealing.


s: He knows why some are stout and others slim;


s: He comprehends all kinds of human feeling.


s: The records of the stars he knows, and each


s: Romance that round about the heavens lingers.


s: At dinner-time he oft delights to preach


s: On which was made the first, or forks or fingers.


s: Indeed, all things he knows, or high or low—


s: The things that fly on wing, or go a-walking—


s: Except one thing he never seems to know,


s: And that’s when he should stop his endless talking.


s: Ζώη μοῦ, σὰς ἀγαπώ,


s: At your μοῦ, σὰς ἀγαπώ.


s: With all these points well developed, and


s: I’d give it the sweetest, tenderest care,


s: Where are the scarfs that Lord Byron wore?


s: Where are the gloves from Antoinette’s hand?


s: Who early died and in the church-yard sleeps.


s: Once in a while she reads his best jokes o’er


s: And sits her down and madly, sorely weeps.


s: The rhymes of men like William Blake, and Gay,


s: The stuff that helped fill Edmund Waller’s purse,


s: And that which placed on Marvell’s brow the bay,


s: It doth appear to me that in those times


s: The Muses quaffed not sparkling wine, but grog,


s: And that to grow immortal through one’s rhymes


s: When good Queen Bess ruled England’s state,


s: Enough is truly likened to a feast that leaves man satiate.


s: The lack of every sweet desire; no new sensation for the soul!


s: What holds the morrow for the soul that’s satisfied?


s: What holds the future for the mind content?


s: What is the essence of the joy of living?


s: Must yesterday, to-morrow, and to-day all be the same,


s: Where lies content to him whose eye doth rest on higher things?


s: Yet who among the satisfied hath need of hope?


s: ’Tis but conceit, and nothing more, to prate of satisfaction!


s: Yet nothing less will leave me quite content;


s: I’m very sure you’ll find me roaming off


s: ’Gainst that one who was once my friend.


s: BLESSED jokes of my dreams! Your praises I’d sing.


s: No mirth can compare to the mirth that you bring.


s: I’ve read London _Punch_ from beginning to end,


s: But naught that is in them can ever seem bright


s: Beside the rich jokes that I dream of at night.


s: How I laugh at those jests of my brain when at rest,


s: The gladdest and merriest, sweetest and best!


s: And how, when I wake in the morning and try


s: To call them to mind, oh how bashful, how shy


s: They seem, how they scatter and hide out of sight—


s: Those jokes of my dreamings, those jests of the night!


s: Take the one that came to me to-day just at dawn:


s: The Cable-Car turns and remarks to the Prawn,


s: “The Crowbar is seasick; but then what of that,


s: As long as the Camel won’t wear a silk hat?”


s: I laughed—why, I laughed till my wife had a fright


s: For fear I’d go wild from that joke of the night.


s: And they’re all much like that one—elusive enough,


s: Stuff past comprehension, stuff no man dares tell;


s: For nocturnal jests, e’en told ever so well—


s: ’Tis odd it should be so—are not often bright,


s: Except to the dreamer who dreams them at night.


s: A LEAF fell in love with the soft green lawn,


s: WHERE glistening in the softness of the night


s: The vagrant will-o’-wisps do greet the sight;


s: Where fragrance baffling permeates the breeze


s: That gently flouts the grasses and the trees;


s: Where every flying thing doth seem to be


s: Where hills and dales assume their warmest phase,


s: With here and there a scarf of opal haze


s: Where one can almost hear the elfin choir


s: Across the meadow-land, down in the wood,


s: In songs of gladness—there are all things good.


s: Ah! ye who seek the spot where joys abide,


s: Awake! Awake! Seek out the country-side,


s: And through the blue-gray July haze see life


s: All free from care, from sorrow, and from strife.


s: IT seemed to be but chance, yet who shall say


s: That ’twas not part of Nature’s own sweet way,


s: That on the field where once the cannon’s breath


s: Lay many a hero cold and stark in death,


s: Some little children, in the after-years,


s: Had come to play among the grassy spears,


s: And, all unheeding, when their romp was done,


s: Had left a wreath of wild flowers over one


s: Who fought to save his country, and whose lot


s: “WHAT shall I put my dollars in?” he asked, in wild dismay.


s: “I’ve fifty thousand of ’em, and I’d like to keep ’em too.


s: I’d like to put them by to serve some future rainy day,


s: But in these times of queer finance what can a fellow do?


s: “A railway bond is picturesque, and the supply is great,


s: But strangely like a novel that upon occasion drags,


s: Of which the critics of the time in hackneyed phrases state,


s: ‘The work has certain value, but the int’rest often flags!’


s: “The same is true of railway shares, ’tis safer to invest


s: In ploughshares, so it seems to me, in this unhappy time.


s: Some think great wealth a blessing, but it cannot stand the test;


s: “He does not lie awake at night and fret and fume, to think


s: Of bank officials on a spree with what he’s toiled to get.


s: He is not driven by his woe quite to the verge of drink


s: By wondering if his balance in the bank remains there yet.


s: “He does not pick the paper up in terror every night


s: To see if V.B.G. is up, or P.D.Q. is down;


s: It does not fill his anxious soul with nerve-destroying fright


s: To hear the Wall Street rumors that are flying ’bout the town.


s: “Ah, better had I ta’en that cash that I have skimped to save,


s: And spent it on my living and my pleasures day by day!


s: I would not now be goaded nigh unto my waiting grave,


s: By wondering how the deuce to keep those dollars mine for aye.


s: “I’d not be bankrupt in my nerves and prematurely old,


s: These golden shackles must be burst; I must again be free.


s: What Ho without! My ducats—to the winds with all my gold,


s: That I may once again enjoy the rest of poverty.”


s: By which these gold-bugs will be whacked


s: We’re going to make a statute law by which ’twill be decreed


s: That standards are abolished, for a standard favors greed.


s: This is the country of the free, and free this land shall be


s: As soon as we the ‘people’ have our opportunity,


s: “A splendid scheme,” quoth I; “but stay!


s: Deserving of a shaft to pierce the skies.


s: His chiefest wish strong friendships was to make;


s: He cared but little for this poor world’s pelf;


s: He shared his joys with every one who’d take,


s: And kept his sorrows strictly to himself.


s: FAIR Nature, like the mother of a wayward child


s: Who needs must chide the offspring of her heart,


s: Disguiseth for a season all the sweet and mild


s: And ’neath her frown the errant earth in winter seems


s: Restrained in icy fetters all the babbling streams,


s: Like naughty babes who’re learning to be good.


s: Then, in this second month, most motherlike again,


s: The frown assumed gives now and then a place


s: To soft indulgent glances, lessening the pain,


s: And hints of spring and pardon light her face.


s: ONSET BAY, MASSACHUSETTS, _May 24, 18—._—Theosophists and


s: others at Onset Bay Camp Grounds have been greatly excited of


s: late by a message which has been received from the Mahatmas,


s: Koot Hoomi, and his partner, who are summering in the desert of


s: Gobi. The message is of considerable length, and contains much


s: that is purely personal.—_Daily Newspaper_.


s: Or the thousands of foes to health and life,


s: When there’s gold for the mighty, and gold for the meek,


s: And gold for whoever shall dare to seek?


s: And it lies in the reach of the man that’s bold:


s: In the hands of the man who dares to face


s: The death in the blast, that blows apace;


s: That withers the leaves on the forest tree;


s: That fetters with ice all the northern sea;


s: That chills all the green on the fair earth’s breast,


s: And as certainly kills as the un-stayed pest.


s: It lies in the hands of the man who’d sell


s: His hold on his life for an ice-bound hell.


s: The glistening, glittering, ghastly gold


s: That comes at the end of the hunger and cold;


s: That comes at the end of the awful thirst;


s: That comes through the pain and torture accurst


s: Of limbs that are racked and minds o’erthrown,


s: For the hunger is sweet and the cold is fair


s: To the man whose riches are past compare;


s: And the o’erthrown mind is as good as sane,


s: And a joy to the limbs is the racking pain,


s: And they say, if you fail, in your dying day


s: All the tears, all the troubles, are wiped away


s: By the fever-thought of your shattered mind


s: That a cruel world has at last grown kind;


s: That your hands o’errun with the clinking gold,


s: With nuggets of weight and of worth untold,


s: All hail to thee, most high Borean lord!


s: The lineal descendant of the Winds art thou.


s: The eastern winds, great Boston’s pride,


s: In manner osculate caress thy massive cheek;


s: And all combined in one vast aggregation,


s: Cry out hail, hail, thrice hail to thee,


s: Who after years, and centuries, and cycles e’en,


s: That rages, blusters, blasts, and blows!


s: If he can penetrate their purposes at all,


s: To lift thee on their broad November wings


s: SHAKESPEARE was partly wrong—the world’s a stage,


s: This is admitted by the bard’s detractors.


s: Had William seen some Hamlets of this age


s: He’d not have called _all_ men upon it actors.


s: Uniform with this Volume—with Frontispiece


s: postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or


s: “_Come, bright_ IMAGINATION _come, relume


s: From the Supplement to the Gentleman's Magazine for 1786, I shall


s: “Little Elegies, consisting of four stanzas and a couplet, are no


s: “The Sonnet is certainly the most difficult species of poetic


s: demonstrated, and therefore was not worth attention.


s: _characteristic_ grace, which can never belong to three elegiac


s: “A book was writ of late, call'd Tetrachordon.”


s: Doctor Johnson has the disingenuousness, in his Folio Dictionary,


s: highly valuable species of Verse; the best vehicle for a single


s: detached thought, an elevated, or a tender sentiment, and for a


s: For they do swell the spring-tide of the heart


s: The life-blood freely:--O! they can impart


s: Raptures ne'er dreamt of by the sordid throng


s: Of pamper'd selfishness, and thus do wrong


s: SEWARD! _thy_ strains, beyond the critic-praise


s: Which may to arduous skill its meed assign,


s: Can the pure sympathies of _spirit_ raise


s: And proudly triumph, with a generous strife,


s: Hear, honor'd Flaccus, from the vocal shades


s: Where with gay Prior, and thy Teian Peer


s: Thou wanderest thro' the amaranthine glades,


s: While social joys the devious walk endear!


s: Or whether in the bright Elysian bowers,


s: Where the tall vine its lavish mantle spreads,


s: Thou crown'st the goblet with unfading flowers,


s: Sooth'd by the murmuring stream, that labors thro' the meads.


s: Hear, happy Bard!--to wake thy silent lyre


s: Our British Muse, our charming Seward, deigns!--


s: With more harmonious tones, more sportive fire


s: Beneath her hand arise the potent strains.


s: Then, as thou hear'st the sweet Enthusiast, own


s: Thy fancy's various florets look'd less gay


s: When kiss'd by bright Italia's ardent sun,


s: Than now their hues expand in Albion's milder ray!


s: When Life's realities the Soul perceives


s: Vain, dull, perchance corrosive, if she glows


s: The golden gates of Genius, she achieves


s: In those gay paths, deck'd with the thornless rose,


s: Blest compensation.--Lo! with alter'd brows


s: Lours the false World, and the fine Spirit grieves;


s: No more young Hope tints with her light and bloom


s: The darkening Scene.--Then to ourselves we say,


s: Shine on the Mind, and pierce its gathering gloom


s: The Future, and its gifts, alone we prize,


s: Few joys the Present brings, and those alloy'd;


s: Th' expected fulness leaves an aching void;


s: But HOPE stands by, and lifts her sunny eyes


s: That gild the days to come.--She still relies


s: The Phantom HAPPINESS not thus shall glide


s: _Always_ from life.--Alas!--yet ill betide


s: Austere Experience, when she coldly tries


s: _Arriv'd_, it then is soon enough to mourn.


s: Nor call the dear Consoler false and vain,


s: When yet again, shining through april-tears,


s: Those fair enlight'ning eyes beam on advancing Years.


s: From these wild heights, where oft the mists descend


s: In rains, that shroud the sun, and chill the gale,


s: Each transient, gleaming interval we hail,


s: Our gaze around, where yon vast mountains blend


s: With billowy clouds, that o'er their summits sail;


s: Pondering, how little Nature's charms befriend


s: Yet solemn when the darkening shadows fleet


s: Successive o'er the wide and silent hills,


s: And owns there is no scene so rude and bare,


s: But Nature sheds or grace or grandeur there.


s: And now the youthful, gay, capricious Spring,


s: Piercing her showery clouds with crystal light,


s: And with their hues reflected streaking bright


s: Her radiant bow, bids all her Warblers sing;


s: The Lark, shrill caroling on soaring wing;


s: The lonely Thrush, in brake, with blossoms white,


s: That tunes his pipe so loud; while, from the sight


s: Coy bending their dropt heads, young Cowslips fling


s: Rich perfume o'er the fields.--It is the prime


s: Of Hours that Beauty robes:--yet all they gild,


s: Cheer, and delight in this their fragrant time,


s: For thy dear sake, to me less pleasure yield


s: Than, veil'd in sleet, and rain, and hoary rime,


s: Dim Winter's naked hedge and plashy field.


s: Ah, thankless! canst thou envy him who gains


s: Thou! with thy lively sense of bliss and woes!--


s: From a false balance of life's joys and pains


s: Thou deem'st him happy.--Plac'd 'mid fair domains,


s: Where full the river down the valley flows,


s: As wisely might'st thou wish thy home had rose


s: On the parch'd surface of unwater'd plains,


s: For that, when long the heavy rain descends,


s: Bursts over guardian banks their whelming tide!--


s: Seldom the wild and wasteful Flood extends,


s: But, spreading plenty, verdure, beauty wide,


s: The cool translucent Stream perpetual bends,


s: And laughs the Vale as the bright waters glide.


s: In this chill morning of a wintry Spring


s: The sullen clouds, the stormy winds assail,


s: Lour on the fields, and with impetuous wing


s: Disturb the lake:--but Love and Memory cling


s: To their known scene, in this cold influence pale;


s: Yet priz'd, as when it bloom'd in Summer's gale,


s: Ting'd by his setting sun.--When Sorrows fling,


s: Or slow Disease, thus, o'er some beauteous Form


s: Their shadowy languors, Form, devoutly dear


s: And anxious gaze the eyes of Love sincere


s: Bend on the charms, dim in their tintless snow,


s: Than when with health's vermilion hues they glow.


s: By Derwent's rapid stream as oft I stray'd,


s: With Infancy's light step and glances wild,


s: And saw vast rocks, on steepy mountains pil'd,


s: Frown o'er th' umbrageous glen; or pleas'd survey'd


s: The cloudy moonshine in the shadowy glade,


s: Grew dearer far than when serene she smil'd,


s: But O! in every Scene, with sacred sway,


s: Her graces fire me; from the bloom that spreads


s: To the green light the little Glow-worm sheds


s: On mossy banks, when midnight glooms prevail,


s: And softest Silence broods o'er all the dale.


s: Short is the time the oldest Being lives,


s: Life's duties are proportion'd to the haste


s: With which it fleets away;--each day receives


s: Its task, that if neglected, surely gives


s: The morrow _double_ toil.--Ye, who have pass'd


s: In idle sport the days that fled so fast,


s: Days, that nor Grief recalls, nor Care retrieves,


s: At length be wise, and think, that of the part


s: How short the date, and at the prospect start,


s: Ere to the extremest verge your steps be driv'n!


s: But view it as the _latest_ trust of Heav'n!


s: Seek not, my Lesbia, the sequester'd dale,


s: Or bear thou to its shades a _tranquil_ heart;


s: Since rankles most in _solitude_ the smart


s: Of injur'd charms and talents, when they fail


s: To meet their due regard;--nor e'en prevail


s: Where most they wish to please:--Yet, since thy part


s: Is large in Life's chief blessings, why desert


s: Dire loss of the best comforts Heaven can grant!


s: While they the bitter tear in secret pour,


s: Smote by the death of Friends, Disease, or Want,


s: _Slight_ wrongs if thy self-valuing soul deplore,


s: Thou but resemblest, in thy lonely haunt,


s: When 'gainst my truth thou should'st my errors poize,


s: Scorning remembrance of our vanish'd joys;


s: When for the love-warm looks, in which I live,


s: But cold respect must greet me, that shall give


s: No tender glance, no kind regretful sighs;


s: When thou shalt pass me with averted eyes,


s: Feigning thou see'st me not, to sting, and grieve,


s: And sicken my sad heart, I cou'd not bear


s: Such dire eclipse of thy soul-cheering rays;


s: I cou'd not learn my struggling heart to tear


s: From thy lov'd form, that thro' my memory strays;


s: Endure the wintry and the darken'd days.


s: How sweet to rove, from summer sun-beams veil'd,


s: Of wandering brooks, their pebbly beds that chide;


s: To feel the west-wind cool refreshment yield,


s: That comes soft creeping o'er the flowery field,


s: And shadow'd waters; in whose bushy side


s: The Mountain-Bees their fragrant treasure hide


s: Murmuring; and sings the lonely Thrush conceal'd!--


s: Where forc'd and frivolous the themes arise,


s: With bow and smile unmeaning, O! how palls


s: At thee, and thine, my sense!--how oft it sighs


s: For leisure, wood-lanes, dells, and water-falls;


s: And feels th' untemper'd heat of sultry skies!


s: “Why droops my heart with fruitless woes forlorn,”


s: Thankless for much of good?--what thousands, born


s: To ceaseless toil beneath this wintry sky,


s: Or to brave deathful Oceans surging high,


s: Or fell Disease's fever'd rage to mourn,


s: How blest to _them_ wou'd seem _my_ destiny!


s: How _dear_ the comforts my rash sorrows scorn!--


s: A plighted love is chang'd to cold disdain!


s: Yet suffer not thy wrongs to shroud thy fate,


s: But turn, my Soul, to blessings which remain;


s: And let this truth the wise resolve create,


s: Thou child of NIGHT, and SILENCE, balmy SLEEP,


s: Shed thy soft poppies on my aching brow!


s: And charm to rest the thoughts of whence, or how


s: Vanish'd that priz'd AFFECTION, wont to keep


s: Each grief of mine from rankling into woe.


s: Then stern Misfortune from her bended bow


s: Loos'd the dire strings;--and Care, and anxious Dread


s: From my cheer'd heart, on sullen pinion, fled.


s: But _now_, the spell dissolv'd, th' Enchantress gone,


s: Ceaseless those cruel Fiends infest my day,


s: And sunny hours but light them to their prey.


s: Then welcome Midnight shades, when thy wish'd boon


s: May in oblivious dews my eye-lids steep,


s: Proceeding from the Form we fondly love!


s: How light, compared, all _other_ sorrows prove!


s: THOU shed'st a _Night_ of Woe, from whence depart


s: The gentle beams of Patience, that the heart


s: 'Mid _lesser_ ills, illume.--_Thy_ Victims rove


s: Unquiet as the Ghost that haunts the Grove


s: Where MURDER spilt the life-blood.--O! thy dart


s: Kills _more_ than Life,--e'en all that makes Life dear;


s: Till we “the sensible of pain” wou'd change


s: For Phrenzy, that defies the bitter tear;


s: Or wish, in kindred callousness, to range


s: Where moon-ey'd IDIOCY, with fallen lip,


s: Drags the loose knee, and intermitting step.


s: The evening shines in May's luxuriant pride,


s: And all the sunny hills at distance glow,


s: And all the brooks, that thro' the valley flow,


s: Seem liquid gold.--O! had my fate denied


s: Leisure, and power to taste the sweets that glide


s: Thro' waken'd minds, as the soft seasons go


s: On their still varying progress, for the woe


s: My heart has felt, what balm had been supplied?


s: But where great NATURE smiles, as _here_ she smiles,


s: 'Mid verdant vales, and gently swelling hills,


s: And glassy lakes, and mazy, murmuring rills,


s: And narrow wood-wild lanes, her spell beguiles


s: Th' impatient sighs of Grief, and reconciles


s: Poetic Minds to Life, with all her ills.


s: Into loose verse, assume, in lofty tone,


s: The Poet's name, untaught, and uninspir'd,


s: Indignant struck the LYRE.--Straight it acquir'd


s: New powers, and complicate. Then first was known


s: By duteous Bards, or by just Taste admir'd.--


s: And be the test of skill!--For rhymes that flow


s: Regardless of thy rules, their destin'd guide,


s: Yet take thy name, ah! let the boasters know


s: That with strict sway my jealous laws preside,


s: While I no wreaths on _rebel_ verse bestow.


s: Ah! why have I indulg'd my dazzled sight


s: With scenes in Hope's delusive mirror shown?


s: Scenes, that too seldom human Life has known


s: In kind accomplishment;--but O! how bright


s: The rays, that gilded them with varied light


s: Alternate! oft swift flashing on the boon


s: That might at FAME's immortal shrine be won;


s: Then shining soft on tender LOVE's delight.--


s: Now, with stern hand, FATE draws the sable veil


s: O'er the frail glass!--HOPE, as she turns away,


s: The darken'd crystal drops.----Heavy and pale,


s: Rain-pouring clouds quench all the darts of day;


s: Low mourns the wind along the gloomy dale,


s: And tolls the Death-bell in the pausing gale.


s: Ceas'd is the rain; but heavy drops yet fall


s: From the drench'd roof;--yet murmurs the sunk wind


s: Round the dim hills; can yet a passage find


s: Whistling thro' yon cleft rock, and ruin'd wall.


s: The swoln and angry torrents heard, appal,


s: Tho' distant.--A few stars, emerging kind,


s: Shed their green, trembling beams.--With lustre small,


s: The moon, her swiftly-passing clouds behind,


s: Glides o'er that shaded hill.--Now blasts remove


s: The shadowing clouds, and on the mountain's brow,


s: Full-orb'd, she shines.--Half sunk within its cove


s: Heaves the lone boat, with gulphing sound;--and lo!


s: Bright rolls the settling lake, and brimming rove


s: The vale's blue rills, and glitter as they flow.


s: Farewell, false Friend!--our scenes of kindness close!


s: To cordial looks, to sunny smiles farewell!


s: To sweet consolings, that can grief expel,


s: For alter'd looks, where truth no longer glows,


s: Thou hast prepar'd my heart;--and it was well


s: To bid thy pen th' unlook'd for story tell,


s: Falsehood avow'd, that shame, nor sorrow knows.--


s: O! when we meet,--(to meet we're destin'd, try


s: To avoid it as thou may'st) on either brow,


s: Nor in the stealing consciousness of eye,


s: Be seen the slightest trace of what, or how


s: We once were to each other;--nor one sigh


s: Ah! might I range each hallow'd bower and glade


s: Wou'd that dear, local consciousness supply


s: Beneath his willow, in the grotto's shade,


s: Whose roof his hand with ores and shells inlaid.


s: How sweet to watch, with reverential eye,


s: Thro' the sparr'd arch, the streams he oft survey'd,


s: Thine, blue Thamésis, gently wandering by!


s: This is the POET's triumph, and it towers


s: O'er Life's pale ills, his consciousness of powers


s: That lift his memory from Oblivion's gloom,


s: Secure a train of these heart-thrilling hours


s: For Spirits rightly touch'd, thro' ages yet to come.


s: O'er his full coffers, and in accents drear


s: To me those moody Censors, who complain,


s: As Shaftsbury plain'd in a now _boasted_ reign,


s: That “POESY had left our darken'd sphere.”


s: Whence may the present stupid dream be traced


s: That now she shines not as in days foregone?


s: Perchance neglected, often shine in waste


s: Her LIGHTS, from number into confluence run,


s: More than when _thinly_ in th' horizon placed


s: Each Orb shone separate, and appear'd a Sun.


s: scorn_. In his Characteristics he, without making any exception,


s: labors to prove, that the compositions of Dryden are uniformly


s: selfishness leads them to _betray_ the common cause, which it is


s: “For they wou'd each bestride the narrow world


s: You, whose dull spirits feel not the fine glow


s: In Fancy's richest colouring, than can flow


s: Of their deep caves.--You have no _Sun_ to show


s: Their inborn radiance pure.--Go, Snarlers, go;


s: Nor your defects of feeling, and of sight,


s: Ye lightless minds, whate'er of title proud,


s: Arraigning his high claims with censure loud,


s: Or sickly scorn; _yours_, _yours_ is all the cloud,


s: Gems cannot sparkle in the midnight Gloom.


s: Do I not tell thee surly Winter's flown,


s: That the brook's verge is green;--and bid thee hear,


s: In yon irriguous vale, the Blackbird clear,


s: At measur'd intervals, with mellow tone,


s: Choiring the hours of prime? and call thine ear


s: With tabor loud, and bag-pipe's rustic drone


s: To merry Shearer's dance;--or jest retail


s: From festal board, from choral roofs the song;


s: And speak of Masque, or Pageant, to beguile


s: Thy lips acknowledge this a generous wile,


s: And bid me still the effort kind prolong;


s: But ah! they wear a cold and joyless smile.


s: The Year an image of our life's short span!


s: Morn, like the Spring, with growing light began,


s: Spring, like our Youth, with joy, and beauty fair;


s: Noon picturing Summer;--Summer's ardent sphere


s: Manhood's gay portrait.--Eve, like Autumn, wan,


s: Night, with its silence, and its darkness drear,


s: Emblem of Winter's frore and gloomy reign,


s: Winter, so shrunk, so cold, reminds us plain


s: Of the mute Grave, that o'er the dim Corse lours;


s: There shall the Weary rest, nor ought remain


s: To the pale Slumberer of Life's checker'd hours.


s: Fortunate Vale! exulting Hill! dear Plain!


s: Where morn, and eve, my soul's fair Idol stray'd,


s: While all your winds, that murmur'd thro' the glade,


s: Stole her sweet breath; yet, yet your paths retain


s: Prints of her step, by fount, whose floods remain


s: In depth unfathom'd; 'mid the rocks, that shade,


s: With cavern'd arch, their sleep.--Ye streams, that play'd


s: Around her limbs in Summer's ardent reign,


s: The soft resplendence of those azure eyes


s: Ting'd ye with living light.--The envied claim


s: These blest distinctions give, my lyre, my sighs,


s: My songs record; and, from their Poet's flame,


s: Bid this wild Vale, its Rocks, and Streams arise,


s: Associates still of their bright MISTRESS' fame.


s: O partial MEMORY! Years, that fled too fast,


s: From thee in more than pristine beauty rise,


s: Forgotten all the transient tears and sighs


s: Somewhat that dimm'd their brightness! Thou hast chas'd


s: Each hovering mist from the soft Suns, that grac'd


s: Our fresh, gay morn of Youth;--the Heart's high prize,


s: Friendship,--and all that charm'd us in the eyes


s: Of yet unutter'd Love.--So pleasures past,


s: That in thy crystal prism thus glow sublime,


s: Beam on the gloom'd and disappointed Mind


s: When Youth and Health, in the chill'd grasp of Time,


s: Shudder and fade;--and cypress buds we find


s: Ordain'd Life's blighted roses to supply,


s: While but _reflected_ shine the golden lights of Joy.


s: See wither'd WINTER, bending low his head;


s: His ragged locks stiff with the hoary dew;


s: His eyes, like frozen lakes, of livid hue;


s: His train, a sable cloud, with murky red


s: Streak'd.--Ah! behold his nitrous breathings shed


s: Petrific death!--Lean, wailful Birds pursue,


s: On as he sweeps o'er the dun lonely moor,


s: Amid the battling blast of all the Winds,


s: That, while their sleet the climbing Sailor blinds,


s: Lash the white surges to the sounding shore.


s: The sinking year; and with thy ice-dropt sprays,


s: Cypress and yew, engarland her pale tomb,


s: Her vanish'd hopes, and aye-departed days.


s: That leads to peace? Do they not rather seem


s: Till night they find in such _excessive_ day?


s: Art thou not prone, with too intense a ray,


s: Of fancied good?--or bid the sigh upbraid


s: Dost thou not prompt, till reason's sacred aid


s: And fair discretion in thy fires dissolve?


s: If GENIUS has its danger, grief and pain,


s: That Common-Sense escapes, yet who wou'd change


s: The Powers, thro' Nature, and thro' Art that range,


s: To keep the bounded, tho' more safe domain


s: Of _moderate_ Intellect, where all we gain


s: Is cold approvance? where the sweet, the strange,


s: Soft, and sublime, in vivid interchange,


s: Nor glad the spirit, nor enrich the brain.


s: Destructive shall we deem yon noon-tide blaze


s: If transiently the eye, o'er-power'd, resign


s: Distinct perception?--Shall we rather praise


s: The Moon's wan light?--with owlish choice incline


s: That Common-Sense her lunar lamp shou'd raise


s: Than that the _solar_ fires of GENIUS shine?


s: That song again!--its sounds my bosom thrill,


s: Breathe of past years, to all their joys allied;


s: And, as the notes thro' my sooth'd spirits glide,


s: Dear Recollection's choicest sweets distill,


s: Soft as the Morn's calm dew on yonder hill,


s: When slants the Sun upon its grassy side,


s: Tinging the brooks that many a mead divide


s: With lines of gilded light; and blue, and still,


s: The distant lake stands gleaming in the vale.


s: Sing, yet once more, that well-remember'd strain,


s: In days long fled, in Pleasure's golden reign,


s: The youth of chang'd HONORA!--now it wears


s: Her air--her smile--_spells_ of the vanish'd years!


s: O, EVER DEAR! thy precious, vital powers


s: Sink rapidly!--the long and dreary Night


s: Brings scarce an hope that Morn's returning light


s: Shall dawn for THEE!--In such terrific hours,


s: Each moment of protracted life, his flight


s: The Rashly-Chosen of thy heart has ta'en


s: Where dances, songs, and theatres invite.


s: I see him in the scenes where laughing glide


s: Pleasure's light Forms;--see his eyes gaily glow,


s: Regardless of thy life's fast ebbing tide;


s: I hear him, who shou'd droop in silent woe,


s: Behold him now his genuine colours wear,


s: That specious False-One, by whose cruel wiles


s: Eclips'd; those smiles, that us'd my heart to cheer,


s: Wak'd by thy grateful sense of many a year


s: When rose thy youth, by Friendship's pleasing toils


s: The angry fires.--Each thought, that might upbraid


s: Thy broken faith, which yet my soul deplores,


s: As are the interesting, the happy hours,


s: Days, years, we shar'd together. They are flown!


s: Yet long must I lament thy hapless doom,


s: Thy lavish'd life and early-hasten'd tomb.


s: Last night her Form the hours of slumber bless'd


s: Whose eyes illumin'd all my youthful years.--


s: Spirit of dreams, at thy command appears


s: Each airy Shape, that visiting our rest,


s: Dismays, perplexes, or delights the breast.


s: My pensive heart this kind indulgence cheers;


s: Bliss, in no _waking_ moment now possess'd,


s: Bliss, ask'd of thee with Memory's thrilling tears,


s: Give, by thy powers, that airy Shapes controul,


s: Her beauteous lip may wear the smile that stole,


s: In years long fled, the sting from every pain!


s: Show her sweet face, ah show it to my soul!


s: When Death, or adverse Fortune's ruthless gale,


s: Tears our best hopes away, the wounded Heart


s: How soothing! never can her warm tears fail


s: To balm our bleeding grief's severest smart;


s: Nor wholly vain _feign'd_ Pity's solemn art,


s: Tho' we should penetrate her sable veil.


s: Concern, e'en known to be _assum'd_, our pains


s: Than cold Neglect, or Mirth that Grief profanes.


s: Thus each faint Glow-worm of the Night conspires,


s: Gleaming along the moss'd and darken'd lanes,


s: To cheer the Gloom with her unreal fires.


s: In April's gilded morn when south winds blow,


s: And gently shake the hawthorn's silver crown,


s: Wafting its scent the forest-glade adown,


s: _Then_, under trees, soft tufts of primrose show


s: Their palely-yellowing flowers;--to the moist Sun


s: Blue harebells peep, while cowslips stand unblown,


s: The Lark's loud carols in the wilds of air.


s: O! not to Nature's glad Enthusiast cling


s: Avarice, and pride.--Thro' her now blooming sphere


s: Charm'd as he roves, his thoughts enraptur'd spring


s: To HIM, who gives frail Man's appointed time


s: These cheering hours of promise, and of prime.


s: Now on hills, rocks, and streams, and vales, and plains,


s: Full looks the shining Day.--Our gardens wear


s: The gorgeous robes of the consummate Year.


s: With laugh, and shout, and song, stout Maids and Swains


s: Heap high the fragrant hay, as thro' rough lanes


s: The pendent cherries, red with tempting stains,


s: Gleam thro' their boughs.--Summer, thy bright career


s: Must slacken soon in Autumn's milder sway;


s: Then thy now heapt and jocund meads shall stand


s: Smooth,--vacant,--silent,--thro' th' exulting Land


s: As wave thy Rival's golden fields, and gay


s: Her Reapers throng. She smiles, and binds the sheaves;


s: Then bends her parting step o'er fall'n and rustling leaves.


s: Thro' changing Months a well-attemper'd Mind


s: Welcomes their gentle or terrific pace.--


s: When o'er retreating Autumn's golden grace


s: Tempestuous Winter spreads in every wind


s: Grandeur increasing, as the Glooms efface


s: Exalts the thoughts, from sensual joys refin'd.


s: The vanish'd charms, that summer-suns reveal,


s: Dreary before us;--teach the Soul to feel


s: Awe in the Present, pleasure in the Past,


s: And to see vernal Morns in Hope's perspective cast.


s: If he whose bosom with no transport swells


s: In vernal airs and hours commits the crime


s: Of sullenness to Nature, 'gainst the Time,


s: Dim in the gloom, and pale in the hoar rime


s: That o'er the bleak and dreary prospect steals.--


s: Spring claims our tender, grateful, gay delight;


s: And sure the Hearts that pay not Pity's rite


s: Creation's wail, neglect, amid her blight,


s: When mourn the dark Winds o'er the lonely plain,


s: And from pale noon sinks, ere the fifth cold hour,


s: The transient light, Imagination's power,


s: With Knowledge, and with Science in her train,


s: Perceives; since in the deep and silent lour


s: High themes the rapt concent'ring Thoughts explore,


s: Freed from external Pleasure's glittering chain.


s: Then most the understanding's culture pays


s: Luxuriant harvest, nor shall Folly bring


s: Her aids obtrusive.--Then, with ardent gaze,


s: The INGENIOUS to their rich resources spring,


s: While sullen Winter's dull imprisoning days


s: Hang on the vacant mind with _flagging_ wing.


s: Winter's pale dawn;--and as warm fires illume,


s: And cheerful tapers shine around the room,


s: Thro' misty windows bend my musing sight


s: Where, round the dusky lawn, the mansions white,


s: With shutters clos'd, peer faintly thro' the gloom,


s: That slow recedes; while yon grey spires assume,


s: Rising from their dark pile, an added height


s: By indistinctness given.--Then to decree


s: The grateful thoughts to GOD, ere they unfold


s: To Friendship, or the Muse, or seek with glee


s: Wisdom's rich page!--O, hours! more worth than gold,


s: By whose blest use we lengthen Life, and free


s: From drear decays of Age, outlive the Old!


s: thirteenth year. It looks upon the Cathedral-Area, a green Lawn


s: Since dark December shrouds the transient day,


s: And stormy Winds are howling in their ire,


s: Why com'st not THOU, who always can'st inspire


s: The soul of cheerfulness, and best array


s: A sullen hour in smiles?--O haste to pay


s: The cordial visit sullen hours require!--


s: Around the circling walls a glowing fire


s: Shines;--but it vainly shines in this delay


s: To blend thy spirit's warm Promethean light.


s: Come then, at Science', and at Friendship's call,


s: Their vow'd Disciple;--come, for they invite!


s: The social Powers without thee languish all.


s: Come, that I may not hear the winds of Night,


s: Nor count the heavy eave-drops as they fall.


s: Lo! the YEAR's FINAL DAY!--Nature performs


s: Its obsequies with darkness, wind, and rain;


s: But Man is jocund.--Hark! th' exultant strain


s: From towers and steeples drowns the wintry storms!


s: No village spire but to the cots and farms,


s: Right merrily, its scant and tuneless peal


s: Wherefore the senseless triumph, ye, who feel


s: This annual portion of brief Life the while


s: Depart for ever?--Brought it no dear hours


s: Of health and night-rest?--none that saw the smile


s: On lips belov'd?--O! with as gentle powers


s: Will the next pass?--Ye pause!--yet careless hear


s: Strike these last Clocks, that knell th' EXPIRING YEAR!


s: In deep-engraven lines, each varying trait


s: Past Times and Seasons wore, can find no date


s: Thro' many years, O! MAY, when thou hadst leave,


s: As now, of the great SUN, serene to weave


s: To call the jocund Hours on thee to wait,


s: Bringing each day, at morn, at noon, at eve,


s: Is thine to mourn beneath the scanty shade


s: Of half-blown foliage, shivering to deplore


s: Thy garlands immature, thy rites unpaid;


s: Meads dropt with gold again to thee belong,


s: Soft gales, luxuriant bowers, and wood-land song.


s: Rapt CONTEMPLATION, bring thy waking dreams


s: To this umbrageous vale at noon-tide hour,


s: While full of _thee_ seems every bending flower,


s: Whose petals tremble o'er the shadow'd streams!


s: Give thou HONORA's image, when her beams,


s: Youth, beauty, kindness, shone;--what time she wore


s: That smile, of gentle, yet resistless power


s: To sooth each painful Passion's wild extremes.


s: Here shall no empty, vain Intruder chase,


s: With idle converse, thy enchantment warm,


s: That brings, in all its interest, all its grace,


s: When thou canst thus restore HONORA early lost?


s: High o'er its gloom the Aërostatic Power


s: Arose!--Exulting Nations hail'd the hour,


s: Magnific boast of Science!--Loud they sung


s: Her victory o'er the element, that hung,


s: Pressing to earth the Beings, who now soar


s: Aerial heights;--but Wisdom bids explore


s: This vaunted skill;--if, tides of air among,


s: We know to _steer_ our bark.--Here Science finds


s: Her buoyant hopes burst, like the bubble vain,


s: Type of this art;--guilty, if still she blinds


s: The sense of Fear; persists thy flame to fan,


s: Sky-vaulting Pride, that to the aweless winds


s: Throws, for an idle Show, the LIFE OF MAN!


s: Dark as the silent stream beneath the night,


s: Thy funeral glides to Life's eternal home,


s: Child of its narrow house!--how late the bloom,


s: The facile smile, the soft eye's crystal light,


s: Each grace of Youth's gay morn, that charms our sight,


s: Play'd o'er that Form!--now sunk in Death's cold gloom,


s: Insensate! ghastly!--for the yawning tomb,


s: Alas! fit Inmate.--Thus we mourn the blight


s: In their glad hours of promise.--O! when Age


s: Drops, like the o'er-blown, faded rose, tho' dear


s: Its long known worth, no stormy sorrows rage;


s: But swell when we behold, unsoil'd by time,


s: Youth's broken Lily perished in its prime.


s: The central caverns of the mornless Night,


s: Where never Muse perform'd harmonious rite


s: Till now!--and lo! upon the sparry floor,


s: Advance, to welcome him, each Sister Power,


s: Petra, stern Queen, Fossilia, cold and bright,


s: And call their Gnomes, to marshal in his sight


s: And flashing gem.--Then, while his songs pourtray


s: The mystic virtues gold and gems acquire,


s: With every charm that mineral scenes display,


s: Th' imperial Sisters praise the daring Lyre,


s: And grateful hail its new and powerful lay,


s: That seats them high amid the Muses' Choir.


s: Now young-ey'd Spring, on gentle breezes borne,


s: 'Mid the deep woodlands, hills, and vales, and bowers,


s: Unfolds her leaves, her blossoms, and her flowers,


s: Pouring their soft luxuriance on the morn.


s: O! how unlike the wither'd, wan, forlorn,


s: And limping Winter, that o'er russet moors,


s: Grey ridgy fields, and ice-incrusted shores,


s: Strays!--and commands his rising Winds to mourn.


s: Protracted Life, thou art ordain'd to wear


s: A _form_ like his; and, shou'd thy gifts be mine,


s: I tremble lest a kindred influence drear


s: Steal on my mind;--but pious Hope benign,


s: The Soul's bright day-spring, shall avert the fear,


s: While with false pride, and narrow jealousy,


s: Numbers reject each new expression, won,


s: Perchance, from language richer than our own,


s: Each way exclusive, scorn, and re-enthrone


s: The obsolete, if strength, or grace of tone


s: And liberal daring!--For the Critic Train,


s: Whose eyes severe our verbal stores review,


s: Let the firm Bard require that they explain


s: Their _cause_ of censure; then in balance true


s: Weigh it; but smile at the objections vain


s: Of sickly Spirits, hating _for they do_!


s: “But she, and I, were Creatures innocent,


s: Lov'd _for_ we _did_.”      BEA. and FLE. TWO NOBLE KINSMEN.


s: I will your serious and great business scant


s: “They're jealous _for_ they're jealous.”      OTHELLO.


s: In every breast Affection fires, there dwells


s: They are themselves belov'd.--We hourly see


s: Th' involuntary proof, that either quells,


s: Or ought to quell false hopes,--or sets us free


s: From pain'd distrust;--but, O, the misery!


s: The lights obtrusive--shrinks from all that tells


s: Unwelcome truths, and vainly seeks repose


s: For startled Fondness, in the opiate balm,


s: Of kind profession, tho', perchance, it flows


s: To hush Complaint--O! in Belief's clear calm,


s: Or 'mid the lurid clouds of Doubt, we find


s: LOVE rise the Sun, or Comet of the Mind.


s: Hope comes to _Youth_, gliding thro' azure skies


s: With amaranth crown:--her full robe, snowy white,


s: Floats on the gale, and our exulting sight


s: Marks it afar.--From _waning_ Life she flies,


s: Wrapt in a mist, covering her starry eyes


s: With her fair hand.--But now, in floods of light,


s: She meets thee, SYLVIA, and with glances, bright


s: As lucid streams, when Spring's clear mornings rise.


s: From Hymen's kindling torch, a yellow ray


s: The shining texture of her spotless vest


s: Gilds;--and the Month that gives the early day


s: Pride of the rising Year, enamour'd MAY,


s: Paints its redundant folds with florets gay.


s: Long has the pall of Midnight quench'd the scene,


s: And wrapt the hush'd horizon.--All around,


s: In scatter'd huts, Labor, in sleep profound,


s: Lies stretch'd, and rosy Innocence serene


s: Slumbers;--but creeps, with pale and starting mien,


s: The late self-slaughter'd Man, in earth yet green


s: And festering, burst from his incumbent mound,


s: Roams!--and the Slave of Terror thinks he hears


s: A mutter'd groan!--sees the sunk eye, that glares


s: As shoots the Meteor.--But no more forlorn


s: He strays;--the Spectre sinks into his tomb!


s: Claps his bold wings, and sounds along the gloom.


s: The knell of WHITEHEAD tolls!--his cares are past,


s: The hapless tribute of his purchas'd lays,


s: If not sublime his strains, Fame justly plac'd


s: Their power above their work.--Now, with wide gaze


s: To the life-labouring oar assiduous haste


s: A glowing Bard, by every Muse embrac'd.--


s: O, WARTON! chosen Priest of Phœbus' choir!


s: Shall thy rapt song be venal? hymn the THRONE,


s: Whether its edicts just applause inspire,


s: Or PATRIOT VIRTUE view them with a frown?


s: What needs for _this_ the golden-stringed Lyre,


s: The snowy Tunic, and the Sun-bright Zone!


s: Guard thou, my Son, the Helpless and the Poor,


s: Nor in the chains of thine own indolence


s: Slumber enervate, while the joys of sense


s: Engross thee; and thou say'st, “I ask no more.”--


s: _Wise_ Men the Shepherd's slumber will deplore


s: When the rapacious Wolf has leapt the fence,


s: And ranges thro' the fold.--My Son, dispense


s: Those laws, that justice to the Wrong'd restore.--


s: The Common-Weal shou'd be the first pursuit


s: Of the crown'd Warrior, for the royal brows


s: The People first enwreath'd.--They are the Root,


s: The King the Tree. Aloft he spreads his boughs


s: Glorious; but learn, impetuous Youth, at length,


s: Trees from the Root alone derive their strength.


s: Loud blew the North thro' April's pallid days,


s: Nor grass the field, nor leaves the grove obtains,


s: Nor crystal sun-beams, nor the gilded rains,


s: That bless the hours of promise, gently raise


s: Warmth in the blood, without that fiery blaze,


s: Which makes it boil along the throbbing veins.--


s: Albion, displeas'd, her own lov'd Spring surveys


s: Passing, with volant step, o'er russet plains;


s: Sees her to Summer's fierce embraces speed,


s: Pale, and unrobed.--Faithless! thou well may'st hide


s: Close in his sultry breast thy recreant head,


s: That did'st, neglecting thy distinguish'd Isle,


s: While Britain vainly languish'd for thy smile!


s: What bashful wildness in those crystal eyes,


s: Fair Zillia!--Ah! more dear to LOVE the gaze


s: That _dwells_ upon its object, than the rays


s: Of that vague glance, quick, as in summer skies


s: The lightning's lambent flash, when neither rise


s: Thunder, nor storm.--I mark, while transport plays


s: Warm in thy Lover's eye, what dread betrays


s: Thy throbbing heart:--yet why from his soft sighs


s: Fleet'st thou so swift away?--like the young Hind,


s: That bending stands the fountain's brim beside,


s: When, with a sudden gust, the western wind


s: Rustles among the boughs that shade the tide:


s: See, from the stream, innoxious and benign,


s: Starting she bounds, with terror vain as thine!


s: Thro' Lichfield's darken'd streets I bend my way


s: By that sad mansion, where NERINA's Clay


s: Awaits the MORNING KNELL;--and awed perceive,


s: In the late bridal chamber, the clear ray


s: Of numerous lights; while o'er the ceiling stray


s: Shadows of those who frequent pass beneath


s: Round the PALE DEAD.--What sounds my senses grieve!


s: For now the busy hammer's stroke appals,


s: That, “in dread note of preparation,” falls,


s: Closing the sable lid!--With sighs I bear


s: These solemn warnings from the House of Woes;


s: Pondering how late, for young NERINA, there,


s: Not the slow Hearse, where nod the sable plumes,


s: The Parian Statue, bending o'er the Urn,


s: The dark robe floating, the dejection worn


s: On the dropt eye, and lip no smile illumes;


s: Not all this pomp of sorrow, that presumes


s: It pays Affection's debt, is due concern


s: Fashion's allotted time. If Time consumes,


s: While Life is ours, the precious vestal-flame


s: Memory shou'd hourly feed;--if, thro' each day,


s: She with whate'er we see, hear, think, or say,


s: Blend not the image of the vanish'd Frame,


s: In worlds of light and life, a reunited love!


s: passing her winters at Ethic House on the Coast of Scotland, with


s: Flowing thro' thy free pen, shows thee endu'd


s: With taste so just for all of wise, and good,


s: As bids me hope thy spirit does not find,


s: Young as thou art, with solitude combin'd


s: That wish of change, that irksome lassitude,


s: Which often, thro' unvaried days, obtrude


s: On Youth's rash bosom, dangerously inclin'd


s: To pant for more than peace.--Rich volumes yield


s: Their soul-endowing wealth.--Beyond e'en these


s: The gloomy hours, when Winter's turbid Seas


s: Roar round the rocks; when the dark Tempest lours,


s: And mourn the Winds round Ethic's lonely towers.


s: Why view'st thou, Edwy, with disdainful mien


s: High 'mid the rocks, where her clear waters lave


s: The circling, gloomy basin.--In such scene,


s: Silent, sequester'd, few demand, I ween,


s: That _last_ perfection Phidian chisels gave.


s: In the hush'd, shelly, shadowy, lone concave.--


s: As sleeps her pure, tho' darkling fountain there,


s: I love to recollect her, stretch'd supine


s: Upon its mossy brink, with pendent hair,


s: As dripping o'er the flood.--Ah! well combine


s: Such gentle graces, modest, pensive, fair,


s: In thy life's blossom, a resistless spell


s: O'er thymy hill, and thro' illumin'd glade,


s: Led thee, for her thy votive wreaths to braid,


s: Where flaunts the musk-rose, and the azure bell


s: Nods o'er loquacious brook, or silent well.--


s: Thus woo'd her inspirations, their rapt aid


s: Liberal she gave; nor only thro' thy strain


s: Breath'd their pure spirit, while her charms beguil'd


s: The languid hours of Sorrow, and of Pain,


s: But when Youth's tide ran high, and tempting smil'd


s: Circean Pleasure, rescuing did she stand,


s: Broke the Enchantress' cup and snapt her wand.


s: Dim grows the vital flame in his dear breast


s: From whom my life I drew;--and thrice has Spring


s: Bloom'd; and fierce Winter thrice, on darken'd wing,


s: Howl'd o'er the grey, waste fields, since he possess'd


s: Or strength of frame, or intellect.----Now bring


s: Nor Morn, nor Eve, his cheerful steps, that press'd


s: Thy pavement, LICHFIELD, in the spirit bless'd


s: Of social gladness. They have fail'd, and cling


s: Feebly to the fix'd chair, no more to rise


s: Elastic!--Ah! my heart forebodes that soon


s: The FULL OF DAYS shall sleep;--nor Spring's soft sighs,


s: The twilight!--Night is long!--but o'er his eyes


s: Life-weary slumbers weigh the pale lids down!


s: Thy GENIUS, Colebrooke, faithless to his charge,


s: Amid thy woods and vales, thy rocks and streams,


s: Form'd for the Train that haunt poetic dreams,


s: Naiads, and Nymphs,--now hears the toiling Barge


s: And the swart Cyclops ever-clanging forge


s: Din in thy dells;--permits the dark-red gleams,


s: From umber'd fires on all thy hills, the beams,


s: Solar and pure, to shroud with columns large


s: Of black sulphureous smoke, that spread their veils


s: Of thy romantic rocks, pollute thy gales,


s: And stain thy glassy floods;--while o'er the globe


s: To spread thy stores metallic, this rude yell


s: Drowns the wild woodland song, and breaks the Poet's spell.


s: Prais'd be the Poet, who the Sonnet's claim,


s: Distinct and separate to the Delphic Song,


s: Shall venerate, nor its appropriate name


s: From him deriv'd, who shunn'd the City Throng,


s: And warbled sweet thy rocks and streams among,


s: Lonely Valclusa!--and that Heir of Fame,


s: Form'd on that arduous model, fully shown


s: Those strict energic measures, which alone


s: A grandeur, grace and spirit, all their own.


s: Marcellus, since the ardors of my strain


s: To thy young eyes and kindling fancy, gleam


s: With somewhat of the vivid hues, that stream


s: From Poesy's bright orb, each envious stain


s: Shed by dull Critics, venal, vex'd and vain,


s: Seems recompens'd at full;--and so wou'd seem


s: My verse Aonian.--Thou, in time, shalt gain,


s: Like them, amid the letter'd World, _that_ sway


s: Which makes encomium _fame_;--so thou adorn,


s: And Indolence, and Syren Pleasure scorn;


s: Then, at high noon, thy Genius shall display


s: The splendors promis'd in its shining morn.


s: From fostering Envy's asps;--to dash the bane


s: Far from our hearts, which Hate, with frown severe,


s: Extends for those who wrong us;--to revere


s: With soul, or grateful, or resign'd, the train


s: A quiet Conscience, best of blessings here!--


s: Calm Conscience is a land-encircled bay,


s: On whose smooth surface Tempests never blow;


s: Which shall the reflex of our life display


s: Unstain'd by crime, tho' gloom'd with transient woe;


s: While the bright hopes of Heaven's eternal day


s: Fancy, or judgment?--no! his splendid strain,


s: In prose, or rhyme, confutes that plea.--The pain


s: Which writh'd o'er Garrick's fortunes, shows us clear


s: _Whence_ all his spleen to GENIUS.--Ill to bear


s: A Friend's renown, that to his _own_ must reign,


s: To Jupiter's fix'd orb, proves that each sneer,


s: Illumed with dazzling hues of eloquence,


s: And Sophist-Wit, that labor to o'er-throw


s: Th' awards of AGES, and new laws dispense


s: That lift the _mean_, and lay the MIGHTY low.


s: Johnson told Mr. Thrale he would black-ball him. “_Who_, Sir? Mr.


s: 'unelbow'd by a Gamester, Pimp, or PLAYER.” See Supplement to Dr.


s: JOHNSON's high claims!--yet boasting that his fires


s: Were of _unclouded_ lustre, TRUTH retires


s: Blushing, and JUSTICE knits her solemn brow;


s: His moral strain inspir'd.--Their zeal requires


s: That thou should'st better guard the sacred Lyres,


s: Sources of thy bright fame, than to bestow


s: Perfection's wreath on him, whose ruthless hand,


s: Goaded by jealous rage, the laurels tore,


s: Should deck those Lyres till Time shall be no more.--


s: A radiant course did Johnson's Glory run,


s: But large the spots that darken'd on its Sun.


s: Time, and thy charms, thou fanciest will redeem


s: Misleading thought! has he not paid the price,


s: His taste for virtue?--Ah, the sensual stream


s: Has flow'd too long.--What charms can so entice,


s: What frequent guilt so pall, as not to shame


s: The rash belief, presumptuous and unwise,


s: That crimes habitual will forsake the Frame?--


s: Thus, on the river's bank, in fabled lore,


s: The Rustic stands; sees the stream swiftly go,


s: And thinks he soon shall find the gulph below


s: A channel dry, which he may safe pass o'er.--


s: Vain hope!--it flows--and flows--and yet will flow,


s: “Rusticus exspectat dum defluit amnis: at ille


s: Labitur, et labetur in omne volubilis ævum.” HORACE.


s: Yes, thou shalt smile again!--Time always heals


s: In youth, the wounds of Sorrow.--O! survey


s: Yon now subsided Deep, thro' Night a prey


s: To warring Winds, and to their furious peals


s: The settling Billows tremble.--Morning steals


s: Grey on the rocks;--and soon, to pour the day


s: From the streak'd east, the radiant Orb unveils


s: In all his pride of light.--Thus shall the glow


s: Of beauty, health, and hope, by soft degrees


s: Spread o'er thy breast; disperse these storms of woe;


s: Wake, with sweet pleasure's sense, the wish to please,


s: Till from those eyes the wonted lustres flow,


s: Bright as the Sun on calm'd and crystal Seas.


s: While Summer Roses all their glory yield


s: Misfortune's Victim hails, with many a sigh,


s: Thee, scarlet POPPY of the pathless field,


s: Gaudy, yet wild and lone; no leaf to shield


s: Thy flaccid vest, that, as the gale blows high,


s: Flaps, and alternate folds around thy head.--


s: So stands in the long grass a love-craz'd Maid,


s: Smiling aghast; while stream to every wind


s: Her gairish ribbons, smear'd with dust and rain;


s: But brain-sick visions cheat her tortur'd mind,


s: And bring false peace. Thus, lulling grief and pain,


s: Kind dreams oblivious from thy juice proceed,


s: Ah, hapless JUNE! circles yon lunar Sphere


s: Yet the dim Halo? whose cold powers ordain


s: Long o'er these vales shou'd sweep, in misty train,


s: The pale continuous showers, that sullying smear


s: Thy radiant lilies, towering on the plain;


s: Bend low, with rivel'd leaves of canker'd stain,


s: Thy drench'd and heavy rose.--Yet pledg'd and dear


s: Fair Hope still holds the promise of the Year;


s: Of the next wexing Orb, tho', JUNE, thy Day,


s: Robb'd of its golden eve, and rosy morn,


s: Leads sunless, lingering, disappointing Hours


s: Thro' the song-silent glades and dropping bowers.


s: He who a tender long-lov'd Wife survives,


s: Sees himself sunder'd from the only mind


s: Whose hopes, and fears, and interests, were combin'd,


s: And blended with his own.--No more she lives!


s: No more, alas! her death-numb'd ear receives


s: His thoughts, that trace the Past, or anxious wind


s: The Future's darkling maze!--His wish refin'd,


s: The wish to please, exists no more, that gives


s: The will its energy, the nerves their tone!--


s: And stopt the settled course that Action drew;


s: Life stands suspended--motionless--till thrown


s: But, in the dread suspense, how sinks the Soul forlorn!


s: In sultry noon when youthful MILTON lay,


s: Supinely stretch'd beneath the poplar shade,


s: Steals from her loitering chariot, to survey


s: The slumbering charms, that all her soul betray.


s: Then, as coy fears th' admiring gaze upbraid,


s: Starts;--and these lines, with hurried pen pourtray'd,


s: Slides in his half-clos'd hand;--and speeds away.--


s: “Ye eyes, ye human stars!--if, thus conceal'd


s: By Sleep's soft veil, ye agitate my heart,


s: Ah! what had been its conflict if reveal'd


s: Your rays had shone!”--Bright Nymph, thy strains impart


s: Hopes, that impel the graceful Bard to rove,


s: Seeking thro' Tuscan Vales his visionary Love.


s: He found her not;--yet much the POET found,


s: On Arno's bank, and on that bloomy shore,


s: Where Rome's forlorn Campania stretches round


s: Her ruin'd towers and temples;--classic lore


s: Breathing sublimer spirit from the power


s: Of local consciousness.--Thrice happy wound,


s: Given by his sleeping graces, as the Fair


s: Thy fond result inspir'd, that wing'd him there,


s: Where breath'd each Roman and each Tuscan Lyre,


s: That rose o'er DANTE's song, and rival'd MARO's fame.


s: Ape the great Despot; throw in pompous tone


s: And massy words their true _no meaning_ down!


s: But while their envious eyes on Genius glare,


s: While axioms false assiduously they square


s: The _kindred malice_ with its mimic air.


s: The incrustation hard without the _gem_?


s: Find in th' Anana's rind the wilding sour,


s: The Oak's rough knots on every _Osier_'s stem?


s: Metaphoric strength of expression will burst even from vulgar and


s: O! hast thou seen a vernal Morning bright


s: Gem every bank and trembling leaf with dews,


s: Tinging the green fields with her amber hues,


s: Changing the leaden streams to lines of light?


s: Then seen dull Clouds, that shed untimely night,


s: Till the chill'd Scenes their early beauty lose,


s: And faint, and colourless, no more invite


s: The glistening gaze of Joy?--'Twas emblem just


s: Of my youth's sun, on which deep shadows fell,


s: Spread from the PALL OF FRIENDS; and Grief's loud gust


s: Resistless, oft wou'd wasted tears compel:


s: Yet let me hope, that on my darken'd days


s: Science, and pious Trust, may shed pervading rays.


s: Where Splendor dazzles, and each Pleasure vies


s: In soft allurement; and each Science calls


s: And storied Galleries. With duteous sighs,


s: From a seducing pen.--Here--here I stay,


s: Fix'd by Affection's power; nor entertain


s: One latent wish, that might persuade to stray


s: From my ag'd Nurseling, in his life's dim wane;


s: But, like the needle, by the magnet's sway,


s: My constant, trembling residence maintain.


s: While unsuspecting trust in all that wears


s: Virtue's bright semblance, stimulates my heart


s: To find its dearest pleasures in the part


s: Taken in other's joys; yielding to theirs


s: Its own desires, each latent wish that bears


s: The selfish stamp, O! let me shun the art


s: Taught by smooth Flattery in her courtly mart,


s: Where Simulation's studied smile ensnares!


s: Scorn that exterior varnish for the Mind,


s: Which, while it polishes the _manners_, veils


s: In showy clouds the _soul_.--E'en thus we find


s: Glass, o'er whose surface clear the pencil steals,


s: Grown less transparent, tho' with colours gay,


s: Sheds but the darken'd and ambiguous ray.


s: As lightens the brown Hill to vivid green


s: Looks on its side, with golden glance, at Noon;


s: So on the gloom of Life's now faded scene


s: Shines the dear image of those days serene,


s: From Memory's consecrated treasures won;


s: The days that rose, ere youth, and years were flown,


s: Soft as the morn of May;--and well I ween


s: If they had clouds, in Time's alembic clear


s: They vanish'd all, and their gay vision glows


s: In brightness unobscur'd; and now they wear


s: A more than pristine sunniness, which throws


s: Those mild reflected lights that soften care,


s: Loss of lov'd Friends, and all the train of Woes.


s: Perish'd in Youth's gay morning, yet is mine


s: This precious Ringlet!--still the soft hairs shine,


s: Still glow the nut-brown tints, all bright and warm


s: With sunny gleam!--Alas! each kindred charm


s: Vanish'd long since; deep in the silent shrine


s: Wither'd to shapeless Dust!--and of their grace


s: Memory alone retains the faithful trace.--


s: Dear Lock, had thy sweet Owner liv'd, ere now


s: Time on her brow had faded thee!--My care


s: Screen'd from the sun and dew thy golden glow;


s: And thus her early beauty dost thou wear,


s: Thou _all_ of that fair Frame my love cou'd save


s: From the resistless ravage of the GRAVE!


s: From a riv'd Tree, that stands beside the grave


s: Of the Self-slaughter'd, to the misty Moon


s: Calls the complaining Owl in Night's pale noon;


s: And from a hut, far on the hill, to rave


s: Is heard the angry Ban-Dog. With loud wave


s: The rous'd and turbid River surges down,


s: Swoln with the mountain-rains, and dimly shown


s: Appals the Sense.--Yet see! from yonder cave,


s: Her shelter in the recent, stormy showers,


s: With anxious brow, a fond expecting Maid


s: Steals towards the flood!--Alas!--for now appears


s: Her Lover's vacant boat!--the broken oars


s: Roll down the tide!--What images invade!


s: Aghast she stands, the Statue of her fears!


s: Here, from laborious Art, proud TOWNS, ye rose!


s: Here, in an instant, sunk!--nor ought remains


s: Of all ye were!--on the wide, lonely plains


s: Not e'en a stone, that might these words disclose,


s: “Here stood CATANIA;”--or whose surface shows


s: That this was SYRACUSE:--but louring reigns


s: Pale, mournful Strand! how oft, with anxious throes,


s: Seek I sad relics, which no spot supplies!--


s: A SILENCE--a fix'd HORROR sears my soul,


s: Arrests my foot!--Dread DOOM of human crimes,


s: What art thou?--Ye o'erwhelmed Cities, rise!


s: While one sere leaf, that parting Autumn gilds,


s: Trembles upon the thin, and naked spray,


s: Lours, cold and fallen, on the watry fields;


s: And Nature to the waste dominion yields,


s: Stript her last robes, with gold and purple gay.--


s: So droops my life, of your soft beams despoil'd,


s: Youth, Health, and Hope, that long exulting smil'd;


s: And the wild carols, and the bloomy hues


s: Of merry Spring-time, spruce on every plain


s: Her half-blown bushes, moist with sunny rain,


s: More pensive thoughts in my sunk heart infuse


s: Than Winter's grey, and desolate domain,


s: Faded, like my lost Youth, that no bright Spring renews.


s: MARCH, tho' the Hours of promise with bright ray


s: May gild thy noons, yet, on wild pinion borne,


s: Loud Winds more often rudely wake thy morn,


s: Still the chill'd Earth wears, with her tresses shorn,


s: Her bleak, grey garb:--yet not for _this_ we mourn,


s: Arm 'gainst the Skies;--nor _shun_ the piercing gale;


s: But, with blue cheeks, and with disorder'd hair,


s: Meet its rough breath;--and peep for primrose pale,


s: And, thro' long evenings, from our Lares claim


s: The thrift of stinted grate, and sullen flame.


s: Tho' mountains rise with noblest woods embrown'd;


s: Tho' ten-voiced Echos send the cannon's sound


s: In thunders bursting the vast rocks around,


s: Till startled Wonder and Delight exhaust


s: Upon thy liquid glass; their bloomy veil


s: As o'er the narrow, barren, silent Dale,


s: Where deeply sleeps, rude circling Rocks among,


s: The Love-devoted Fount enamour'd PETRARCH sung.


s: Killarney Scenery immediately after that of the Vale of Vaucluse,


s: Round Cleon's brow the Delphic laurels twine,


s: And lo! the laurel decks Amanda's breast!


s: Charm'd shall he mark its glossy branches shine


s: On that contrasting snow; shall see express'd


s: Love's better omens, in the green hues dress'd


s: Of this selected foliage.--Nymph, 't is thine


s: The warning story on its leaves to find,


s: Proud Daphne's fate, imprison'd in its rind,


s: And with its umbrage veil'd, great Phœbus' power


s: Scorning, and bent, with feet of wind, to foil


s: His swift pursuit, till on Thessalian shore


s: Shot into boughs, and rooted to the soil.--


s: Thus warn'd, fair Maid, Apollo's ire to shun,


s: Soon may his Spray's and VOTARY's lot be one.


s: The three following Sonnets are written in the character of


s: Werter; the sentiments and images chiefly, but not _intirely_


s: Up this bleak Hill, in wintry Night's dread hour,


s: With mind congenial to the scene, I come!


s: To see it _whelm'd_.--Amid the cloudy lour


s: Gleams the cold Moon;--and shows the ruthless power


s: Of yon swoln Floods, that white with turbid foam


s: Roll o'er the fields;--and, billowy as they roam,


s: Against the bushes beat!--A Vale no more,


s: A troubled Sea, toss'd by the furious Wind!--


s: Pathway, and hedge, and bank, and stile!--I find


s: But one wide waste of waters!--In controul


s: Thus dire, to tides of Misery and Disgrace


s: Love opes the flood-gates of my struggling Soul.


s: Yon late but gleaming Moon, in hoary light


s: Shines out unveil'd, and on the cloud's dark fleece


s: Rests;--but her strengthen'd beams appear to increase


s: The wild disorder of this troubled Night.


s: Redoubling Echos seem yet more to excite


s: The roaring Winds and Waters!--Ah! why cease


s: Resolves, that promis'd everlasting peace,


s: And drew my steps to this incumbent height?


s: I wish!--I shudder!--stretch my longing arms


s: O'er the steep cliff!--My swelling spirits brave


s: The leap, that quiets all these dire alarms,


s: And floats me tossing on the stormy wave!


s: But Oh! what roots my feet?--what spells, what charms


s: My hour is not yet come!--these burning eyes


s: Have not yet look'd their _last_!--else, 'mid the roar


s: Of this wild STORM, what gloomy joy to pour


s: My freed, exhaling Soul!--sublime to rise,


s: Rend the conflicting clouds, inflame the skies,


s: And lash the torrents!--Bending to explore


s: Our evening seat, my straining eye once more


s: Roves the wide watry Waste;--but nought descries


s: Save the pale Flood, o'erwhelming as it strays.


s: That all I love, with life's extinguish'd rays


s: Sink from my soul, to soothe this agony,


s: To balm that life, whose loss may forfeit thee,


s: On the fleet streams, the Sun, that late arose,


s: In amber radiance plays;--the tall young grass


s: No foot hath bruis'd;--clear Morning, as I pass,


s: Breathes the pure gale, that on the blossom blows;


s: And, as with gold yon green hill's summit glows,


s: The lake inlays the vale with molten glass.--


s: Now is the Year's soft youth;--yet me, alas!


s: Cheers not as it was wont;--impending woes


s: _Weigh_ on my heart;--the joys, that once were mine,


s: Spring leads not back;--and those that yet remain


s: Fade while she blooms.--Each hour more lovely shine


s: Her crystal beams, and feed her floral Train;


s: But ah with pale, and waning fires, decline


s: Those eyes, whose light my filial hopes sustain.


s: Behold that Tree, in Autumn's dim decay,


s: Stript by the frequent, chill, and eddying Wind;


s: Where yet some yellow, lonely leaves we find


s: Lingering and trembling on the naked spray,


s: Twenty, perchance, for millions whirl'd away!


s: For few indeed; and their protracted day


s: What is it worth that Wisdom does not scorn?


s: The blasts of Sickness, Care, and Grief appal,


s: That laid the Friends in dust, whose natal morn


s: Rose near their own;--and solemn is the call;--


s: Yet, like those weak, deserted leaves forlorn,


s: Shivering they cling to life, and fear to fall!


s: Yon soft Star, peering o'er the sable cloud,


s: Sheds its green lustre thro' the darksome air.--


s: Haply in that mild Planet's crystal sphere


s: Live the freed Spirits, o'er whose timeless shroud


s: Swell'd my lone sighs, my tearful sorrows flow'd.


s: They, of these long regrets perhaps aware,


s: View them with pitying smiles.--O! then, if e'er


s: Your guardian cares may be on me bestow'd,


s: For the pure friendship of our youthful days,


s: Ere yet ye soar'd from earth, illume my heart,


s: That roves bewilder'd in Dejection's night,


s: And lead it back to peace!--as now ye dart,


s: From your pellucid mansion, the kind rays,


s: That thro' misleading darkness stream so bright.


s: All is not right with him, who ill sustains


s: Retirement's silent hours.--Himself he flies,


s: Which always with the hapless mind remains


s: From some external cause, to which he hies


s: From his own blank inanity.--When reigns,


s: With a strong, _cultur'd_ mind, this wretched hate


s: To commune with himself, from thought that tells


s: Of some lost joy, or dreaded stroke of Fate


s: He struggles to escape;--or sense that dwells


s: On secret guilt towards God, or Man, with weight


s: Thrice dire, the self-exiling flight impels.


s: On the damp margin of the sea-beat shore


s: Beneath a rock, what time the rising wind


s: Mourns o'er the waters, and, with solemn roar,


s: And back recede alternate; while combin'd


s: Loud shriek the sea-fowls, harbingers assign'd,


s: Clamorous and fearful, of the stormy hour;


s: To listen with deep thought those awful sounds;


s: Gaze on the boiling, the tumultuous waste,


s: Staying the furious main, delight has cast


s: O'er my rapt spirit, and my thrilling heart,


s: Dear as the softer joys green vales impart.


s: The breathing freshness of the shining Morn,


s: Whose beams glance yellow on the distant fields,


s: To my dejected sense, that turns with scorn


s: From the light joys of Dissipation born.


s: Against each glittering lance she gaily wields,


s: Warring with fond Regrets, that silent mourn


s: The Heart's dear comforts lost.--But, NATURE, thou,


s: Thou art resistless still;--and yet I ween


s: Thy present balmy gales, and vernal blow,


s: For with such fragrant breath, such orient rays,


s: Shone the soft mornings of my youthful days.


s: All the dire train of ills Existence knows,


s: Thou shuttest out FOR EVER!--Why then weep


s: This fix'd tranquillity,--so long!--so deep!


s: In a dear FATHER's clay-cold Form?--where rose


s: Thro' many a tedious year, that us'd to creep


s: Of intellect, resplendent once confess'd,


s: Dark, and more dark, each passing day became.


s: Now that angelic lights the SOUL invest,


s: Calm let me yield to _thee_ a joyless Frame,


s: Since my griev'd mind some energy regains,


s: Industrious habits can, at times, repress


s: The weight of filial woe, the deep distress


s: Oft do they throb along these fever'd veins.--


s: My rest has lost its balm, the fond caress


s: At midnight, as he slept;--nor now obtains


s: My uprising the blest news, that cou'd impart


s: Joy to the morning, when its dawn had brought


s: Some health to that weak Frame, o'er which my heart


s: With fearful fondness yearn'd, and anxious thought.--


s: Time, and the HOPE that robs the mortal Dart


s: Of its fell sting, shall cheer me--as they ought.


s: Comes the loud whirlwind, on thy pinion borne;


s: The grey frost, riv'ling lane, and hill, and plain;


s: Chill silent snows, and heavy, pattering rain.


s: These are thy _known_ allies;--and Life forlorn,


s: Yet patient, droops, nor breathes repinings vain;


s: From Summer's hand his stores of angry sway;


s: His rattling thunders with thy winds unite,


s: On thy pale snows those livid lightnings play,


s: That pour their deathful splendors o'er his night,


s: To poise the pleasures of his golden day,


s: Soft gales, blue skies, and long-protracted light.


s: Lyre of the Sonnet, that full many a time


s: Amus'd my lassitude, and sooth'd my pains,


s: When graver cares forbade the _lengthen'd_ strains,


s: To thy brief bound, and oft-returning chime


s: A long farewell!--the splendid forms of Rhyme


s: Oppress the drooping Soul.--DEATH's dark domains


s: Throw mournful shadows o'er the Aonian clime;


s: For in their silent bourne my filial bands


s: Lie all dissolv'd;--and swiftly-wasting pour


s: From my frail glass of life, health's sparkling sands.


s: Sleep then, my LYRE, thy tuneful tasks are o'er,


s: Sleep! for my heart bereav'd, and listless hands


s: Wake with rapt touch thy glowing strings no more!


s: Translations scrupulously faithful are apt to be stiff, vapid and


s: subjects best pleased me. Not acquainted with each other, the


s: “Blest with each talent, and each art to please,


s: And born to write, converse, and live at ease.”


s: The imitation of the Ode to Delius, applied to Mr. Erskine, was


s: Men of letters have often observed to me, that in paraphrasing


s: Horace, my sex would be an unpardonable crime with every Pedant,


s: there, to justify some of the personal severities of Pope's


s: Friend, Patron, Guardian of its rising song,


s: Mark how he spreads the palm, that crown'd his toils!


s: That his fleet steeds and kindling wheels,


s: Shall with illustrious Chiefs his echo'd name enrol.


s: The plenteous tribute of the Libyan Plains;


s: Or he, who watches still a rural charge,


s: These would'st thou tempt to brave the faithless main,


s: And tempt with regal wealth, thy effort should be vain.


s: The stormy South howls thro' the sullen cloud,


s: The Merchant sees the gathering danger rise,


s: Grow smooth;--the wild winds cease to roam;


s: And see!--his new-trimm'd vessel gaily rides!--


s: Fir'd with the hope of wealth, once more


s: Watches, with eager eye, th' unfurling sail,


s: Nor casts one look behind to the safe, sylvan vale.


s: The precious day with interrupting feast;


s: Or quaffs, by some clear fountain in a glade,


s: Courts him, as gently the green bank it laves,


s: To blend th' enfevering draught with its pellucid waves.


s: Th' uplifted trumpet, and the clarion, send,


s: Lo! while the Matron's tender breast they rend,


s: He breaks from his young Bride's encircling arms;


s: The tainted breeze, or hold the stag at bay,


s: Or while, from his strong toils, the wild boar bursts away.


s: _Me_ shady Groves, light Nymphs, and Satyrs brown,


s: Raise o'er the Crowd, in sweet sequester'd state.


s: But, should'st thou rank me with the LYRIC CHOIR,


s: To GLORY's starry heights thy Poet would aspire.--


s: Where roses flaunt beneath some pleasant cave,


s: Too charming Pyrrha, what enamour'd Boy,


s: Whose shining locks the breathing odors lave,


s: For whom the simple band dost thou prepare,


s: That lightly fastens back thy golden hair?


s: Love's tyrant sway, and thy chang'd eyes deplore,


s: And count each broken promise o'er and o'er,


s: Who hopes to meet, unconscious of thy wiles,


s: Recall the flattery of those sunny days,


s: That lull'd each ruder wind to calmest sleep.


s: 'T was then, with jocund hope, he spread the sail,


s: In rash dependence on the faithless gale.


s: Ah Wretch! to whom untried thou seemest fair!


s: By me, who late thy halcyon surface sung,


s: The walls of Neptune's fane inscrib'd, declare


s: That I have dank and dropping garments hung,


s: Snatch'd me to shore, from an o'erwhelming sea.


s: tablet, on which the circumstances of the danger and escape, were


s: Be far-fam'd RHODES the theme of loftier strains,


s: Or CORINTH, towering 'twixt the rival seas;


s: Or THEBES, illustrious in thy birth divine,


s: Purpureal BACCHUS;--or of PHŒBUS' shrine


s: Thessalian TEMPE's flower-embroider'd vale.


s: The Art-crown'd City, chaste MINERVA's pride,


s: There are, whose endless numbers have pourtray'd;


s: They, to each tree that spreads its branches wide,


s: Green ARGOS, glorying in thy agile steeds;


s: Who trains her Sons to all the Warrior's toil;


s: Tho' round her hills the golden vallies smile:


s: But my lov'd mansion, 'mid the circling wood,


s: On the green bank of clear Albūnea's flood,


s: Its walls resounding with the echo'd roar,


s: As Anio's torrents down the mountain pour.


s: Amid my blooming orchards pleas'd I rove,


s: Guiding the ductile course of murmuring rills;


s: Or mark the curtains of the sacred grove


s: Sink in the vales, or sweep along the hills.


s: Ah Friend! if round my cell such graces shine,


s: The PALACE of Tiburnian Shades is thine;


s: She every feature of the Scene commands,


s: And Empress of its varied beauty stands.


s: Tho' frequent mists the young Favonius shroud,


s: Bending his flagging wing with heavy rains,


s: Winnowing, with pinion light, th' aerial plains;


s: Ah! thus from thee let each dark vapor roll,


s: The jocund Pleasures in her absence rise,


s: Glow in the breast, and sparkle in the eyes.


s: The Camp thy home, with glancing javelins bright;


s: If trumpets sound the clang that Warriors love,


s: Or round thee trill the choirings of the grove,


s: In flowing bowls drown every vain regret,


s: Hope from his spirit chas'd each anxious dread,


s: While on his brow he bound the poplar crown;


s: In rich libation pour'd the generous wine,


s: Then bath'd his temples in the juice divine;


s: And thus, with gladden'd eye, and air sedate,


s: Address'd the drooping Followers of his fate.


s: Than he who gave me birth, may point the way,


s: Thither resolv'd our duteous steps shall bend,


s: Nor know presaging fear, nor weak delay.


s: Doubt flies when Teucer leads, and cold despair,


s: In Teucer's auspices, shall melt to air;


s: Phœbus ordains that, in more favoring skies,


s: “So much alike her fountains, fanes, and bowers,


s: That e'en her name shall dubious meaning bear;--


s: Then, my lov'd Friends, who oft, in darker hours,


s: Have shar'd with me a conflict more severe,


s: O! let us lose in wine our sorrow's weight,


s: And rise the masters of our future fate!


s: To-morrow seek again the vast and pathless seas.”


s: letters, Horace had a villa. The Poet, perceiving the spirits of


s: humane attention it pays to a disgraced Nobleman, are much to the


s: Mediterranean, and famous for the Colossal Statue.


s: Why, with persisting zeal, thou dost employ


s: Inur'd to whirling dust, and scorching heat?


s: To rein the ardent horse with agile arm?


s: When the tempestuous showers its rage alarm?


s: The Wrestler's oil, that supples every vein?


s: 'T was his to whirl, with matchless skill,


s: The glancing quoit, the certain javelin throw,


s: Thus Thetis' care her blooming Son conceal'd,


s: Thro' ten long years, on Ilium's purpled field.


s: That Love maternal might avert his fate;


s: And DEATH with GLORY meet him at her gate.


s: In dazzling whiteness, lo! Soracte towers,


s: As all the mountain were one heap of snow!


s: Rush from the loaded woods the glittering showers;


s: The frost-bound waters can no longer flow.


s: Let plenteous billets, on the glowing hearth,


s: Dissolve the ice-dart ere it reach thy veins;


s: Bring mellow wines to prompt convivial mirth,


s: Nor heed th' arrested streams, or slippery plains.


s: High Heaven, resistless in his varied sway,


s: Speaks!--The wild elements contend no more;


s: Nor then, from raging seas, the foamy spray


s: Climbs the dark rocks, or curls upon the shore.


s: And peaceful then yon aged ash shall stand;


s: In breathless calm the dusky cypress rise;


s: To-day is thine;--enjoy it, and be wise!


s: Youth's radiant tide too swiftly rolls away;


s: Now, in its flow, let pleasures round thee bloom;


s: Join the gay dance, awake the melting lay,


s: Spears, and the Steed, in busy camps impel;


s: And, when the early darkness veils the groves,


s: Amid the leafless boughs let whispers steal,


s: While frolic Beauty seeks the near alcoves.


s: Soft as thy tip-toe steps the mazes rove,


s: A laugh, half-smother'd, thy pleas'd ear shall meet,


s: And, sportive in the charming wiles of love,


s: And then the ring, or, from her snowy arm,


s: The promis'd bracelet may thy force employ;


s: Her feign'd reluctance, height'ning every charm,


s: Shall add new value to the ravish'd toy.


s: Nobleman, near the mountain Soracte, in Tuscany, twenty-six miles


s: Onward shall roll, ere yet the funeral pyre,


s: For thee and me, the hand of Friendship rears!


s: Ah rather meet, with gay and vacant brow,


s: Whatever youth, and time, health, love, and fate allow;


s: Drop in our sight the paly wreaths of frost,


s: Or this for us the _last_, that from the seas


s: Hurls the loud flood on the resounding coast.--


s: Short since thou know'st the longest vital line,


s: Nurse the _near_ hope, and pour the rosy wine.


s: E'en while we speak our swiftly-passing Youth


s: Stretches its wing to cold Oblivion's shore;


s: Then shall the Future terrify, or sooth,


s: Whose secrets no vain foresight can explore?


s: And seize, thy only boast, the GOLDEN NOW.


s: His first libation in the Delphic Bowers?


s: O! what demands he, when the crimson wine


s: Flows sparkling from the vase, and laves the golden shrine?


s: Nor snowy herds, slow winding thro' the plain,


s: When warm Calabria's rosy mornings smile;


s: Which, thro' their flow'ry banks as calm he glides,


s: Leads lavish tendrils o'er the sloping hill,


s: Let such, with care their vineyard dressing,


s: Their bursting grapes assiduous pressing,


s: Gather, self-gratulant, the costly store,


s: And of the future year propitious suns implore!


s: Nor let cold Thrift those plenteous draughts withhold


s: That prosperous Commerce shall again bestow.


s: That more than once, within the circling year,


s: His prow shall o'er the smooth Atlantic steer.


s: _Me_, lenient mallows from the simple mead!


s: Cheer'd by the breathing lyre, my life may pass away!


s: Nor tie in gaudy knots the sprays and flowers.


s: Plain be the vest, and simple be the braid!


s: As stretch'd my vineyard's ample shade beneath,


s: And fill the sparkling cup with ready hand.


s: Dark in the Miser's chest, in hoarded heaps,


s: Can Gold, my SALLUST, one true joy bestow,


s: Where sullen, dim, and valueless it sleeps,


s: Whose worth, whose charms, from circulation flow?


s: Ah! _then_ it shines attractive on the thought,


s: Rises, with such resistless influence fraught


s: As puts to flight pale Fear, and Scruple cold,


s: Till Life, e'en Life itself, becomes less dear than Gold.


s: Rome, of this power aware, thy honor'd name


s: Since thou didst bid thy ruin'd Brothers claim


s: A filial right in all thy well-earn'd stores.--


s: To make the _good_ deed deathless as the _great_,


s: Yet fearing for her plumes Icarian fate,


s: This Record, Fame, of precious trust aware,


s: Shall long, on cautious wing, solicitously bear.


s: And thou, my SALLUST, more complete thy sway,


s: Than should'st thou join, by Conquest's proud essay,


s: Than if the Carthage sultry Afric boasts,


s: With that which smiles on Europe's lovelier coasts,


s: Should bow the yielding head, the tributary knee.


s: See bloated Dropsy added strength acquire


s: As the parch'd lip the frequent draught obtains;


s: Indulgence feeds the never-quench'd desire,


s: That loaths the viand, and the goblet drains.


s: Nor could exhausted floods the thirst subdue


s: Till that dire Cause, which spreads the livid hue


s: O'er the pale Form, with watry languor swell'd,


s: From the polluted veins, by medicine, be expell'd.


s: Virtue, whate'er the dazzled Vulgar dream,


s: And thus she checks the Crowd's mistaken tone;


s: Not once shall turn the pure, unwishing eye


s: On heaps of massy gold, that near him glare,


s: My amaranthine wreath, my diadem shall wear.”


s: called heroic exertion go down to Posterity. For this idea of the


s: Conscious the mortal stamp is on thy breast,


s: O, ERSKINE! still an equal mind maintain,


s: That wild Ambition ne'er may goad thy rest,


s: Nor Fortune's smile awake thy triumph vain,


s: Whether thro' toilsome tho' renowned years


s: 'T is thine to trace the Law's perplexing maze,


s: Or win the SACRED SEALS, whose awful cares


s: To high decrees devote thy honor'd days.


s: Where silver'd Poplars with the stately Pines


s: Mix their thick branches in the summer sky,


s: And the cool stream, whose trembling surface shines,


s: There let thy duteous Train the banquet bring,


s: In whose bright cups the liquid ruby flows,


s: As Life's warm season, on expanded wing,


s: While every Muse and Grace auspicious wait,


s: As erst thy Handmaids, when, with brow serene,


s: Gay thou didst rove where Buxton views elate


s: At frequent periods woo th' inspiring Band


s: Before thy days their summer-course have run,


s: While, with clos'd shears, the fatal Sisters stand,


s: Nor aim to cut the brilliant thread they spun.


s: Fann'd by pure gales on Hampstead's airy downs,


s: Where filial troops for thee delighted wait,


s: And their fair Mother's smile thy banquet crowns!


s: Precarious Tenant!--shortly thou may'st leave


s: These, and propitious Fortune's golden hoard;


s: Then spare not thou the stores, that shall receive,


s: When set thy orb, a less illustrious Lord.


s: What can it then avail thee that thy pleas


s: Charm'd every ear with TULLY's periods bland?


s: Or that the subject Passions they could seize,


s: And with the thunder of the GREEK command?


s: What can it then avail thee that thy fame


s: Since neither birth, nor self-won glory, claim


s: One hour's exemption from the sable shrine.


s: E'en now thy lot shakes in the Urn, whence Fate


s: Throws her pale edicts in reverseless doom!


s: Each issues in its turn, or soon, or late,


s: And lo! the great Man's prize!--a SILENT TOMB!


s: By one grey hair upon thy polish'd brows;


s: Then might I nurse the hope that, faithful grown,


s: The FUTURE might, at length, the guilty PAST atone.


s: But ah! no sooner on that perjur'd head,


s: With pomp, the votive wreaths are bound,


s: Than lovelier grace thy faithless beauties shed;


s: Thou com'st, with new-born conquest crown'd,


s: Their _public_ care;--and murmur'd praises rise


s: Where'er the beams are shot of those resistless eyes.


s: Thy Mother's buried dust;--the midnight train,


s: With thee it prospers, false-One! to profane.


s: And Cupid whets afresh his burning darts


s: On the stone, moist with blood, that dropt from wounded hearts.


s: For thee our rising Youth to Manhood grow,


s: From the gay roof of their false Mistress go,


s: The wise resolve;--and, ere they reach the door,


s: Fixes the faltering step to thy magnetic floor.


s: _Thee_ the sage Matron fears, intent to warn


s: Her Striplings;--_thee_ the Miser dreads,


s: Brides from the Fane with anxious sighs return,


s: Lest the bright nets thy beauty spreads,


s: Ere fades the marriage torch; nay even now,


s: While undispers'd the breath, that form'd the nuptial vow!


s: Nor yet the ice, in silent horror, stands


s: Thro' _all_ the passing months on pale Armenia's Lands.


s: With ruthless whirl, and widowing stroke;


s: But, Valgius, thou, with grief's eternal lays


s: Mournest thy vanish'd joys in MYSTES' shorten'd days.


s: Consoling strains, nor always sought the tomb,


s: Where sunk his filial Hopes, in life and glory's bloom.


s: Cease, then, thy fond complaints!--Augustus' fame,


s: The new Cesarian wreaths, let thy lov'd voice proclaim!


s: With all their mighty Realms controul'd,


s: Their late proud waves in narrower tide;


s: That in scant space their steeds the Scythians rein,


s: Nor dare transgress the bounds our Victor Arms ordain.


s: Poet observes that not even the _Caspian_ is _always_


s: Nor is it safe, from dread of angry Skies,


s: Closely to press on the insidious Shore.


s: They feel the blessings of the golden mean;


s: They will not grovel in the squalid cell,


s: Nor seek in princely domes, with envied pomp, to dwell.


s: The pine, that lifts so high her stately boughs,


s: Writhes in the storms, and bends beneath their might,


s: Innoxious while the loudest tempest blows


s: O'er trees, that boast a less-aspiring height.


s: As the wild fury of the whirlwind pours,


s: With direst ruin fall the loftiest towers;


s: And 't is the mountain's _summit_ that, oblique,


s: From the dense, lurid clouds, the baleful lightnings strike.


s: A mind well disciplin'd, when Sorrow lours,


s: Not sullenly excludes Hope's smiling rays;


s: Nor, when soft Pleasure boasts of lasting powers,


s: With boundless trust the Promiser surveys.


s: It is the same dread Jove, who thro' the sky


s: Hurls the loud storms, that darken as they fly;


s: And whose benignant hand withdraws the gloom,


s: And spreads rekindling light, in all its living bloom.


s: To-day the Soul perceives a weight of woe;--


s: A brighter Morrow shall gay thoughts inspire.


s: Does Phœbus always bend the vengeful bow?


s: Be thou, when Danger scowls in every wave,


s: Watchful, collected, spirited, and brave;


s: But in the sunny sky, the flattering gales,


s: Contract, with steady hand, thy too expanded sails.


s: Brother, Terentius, whose fortunes had suffered equal wreck on


s: reflections not particular but general; and he guards against


s: exciting the soreness People feel from reprehension for their


s: prevailing fault, by censuring with equal freedom the opposite


s: paraphrased. Upon the election of Licinius to this post of honor,


s: Licinius, then newly chosen Augur, gave his first supper to his


s: ungratefully conspiring against the Monarch, who had so liberally


s: These, dear Mæcenas, _thou_ should'st paint,


s: My Muse would these high themes decline,


s: Charm'd that the heart, the form, the face


s: Horace mentions _plainly_ the Numantian Wars, and those with


s: Horace would have to be understood by the _magnificent Palace of


s: Horace to be a witness of his passion for Licinia-Terentia, as it


s: privacies of his Patron. It is not necessary, from this Ode, to


s: Nor suppliant hands, nor fervent prayers,


s: Nor smooth the brow, when furrowing lines descend,


s: Nor from the stoop of Age the faltering Frame defend.


s: Thou canst not slacken this reluctant speed,


s: Tho' still on Pluto's shrine thy Hecatomb should bleed.


s: He chains the Forms, on earth that stood


s: That gloomy Lake, o'er whose oblivious tide


s: Kings, Consuls, Pontiffs, Slaves, in ghastly silence glide.


s: Against their noxious blast, their sullen roar,


s: In vain we pile the hearth, in vain we close the door.


s: That languid strays thro' dreary plains,


s: Where the fell Brides their fruitless toil bemoan,


s: And Sisyphus uprolls the still-returning stone.


s: Soon shalt thou quit, at Fate's command;


s: Follow its short-liv'd Lord, and shade his lonely tomb!


s: Whose streams the drear vale slowly lave,


s: Lest the strain'd cord, with which you bind


s: His beauteous Daughter still should prove


s: O Nymph, than oaks more hard, and fierce


s: As snakes, that Afric's thickets pierce,


s: And streaming spouts their torrents pour


s: Nymph of the stream, whose source perpetual pours


s: The living waters thro' the sparkling sand,


s: Cups of bright wine, enwreath'd with summer flowers,


s: For rich libation, round thy brink shall stand,


s: When on the morrow, at thy Bard's decree,


s: A young and spotless Kid is sacrificed to thee.


s: He, while his brows the primal antlers swell,


s: Conscious of strength, and gay of heart prepares


s: To meet the female, and the foe repel.--


s: In vain he wishes, and in vain he dares!


s: His ardent blood thy pebbly bed shall stain,


s: Till each translucent wave flows crimson to the plain.


s: In vain shall Sirius shake his fiery hairs


s: O'er thy pure flood, with waving poplars veil'd,