Their scythes upon the adverse bank
Glitter amongst the' entangled trees,
Where the hazles form a rank,

And curt'sy to the courting breeze.
Ah, Harriet, sovereign mistress of my heart,
Could I thee to these meads decoy,
New grace to each fair object should impart
And heighten every scene to perfect joy.
On a bank of fragrant thyme,
Beneath yon stately shadowy pine,
We'll with the well-disguised hook
Cheat the tenants of the brook;
Or where my Daphne's thickest shade
Drives amorous Phœbus from the glade,
There read Sidney's high-wrought stories
Of ladies' charms, and heroes' glories;
Thence fir'd, the sweet narration act,
And kiss the fiction into fact.

Or satiate with nature's random scenes,
Let's to the garden's regulated greens,
Where taste and elegance command
Art to lend her dædal hand;
Where Flora's flock, by nature wild,
To discipline are reconcil'd,
And laws and order cultivate,
Quite civiliz'd into a state.

From the sun and from the show'r,
Haste we to yon boxen bow'r,
Secluded from the teasing pry

Of Argus' curiosity :

There, while Phœbus' golden mien,

The gay meridian is seen.

Ere decays the lamp of light,

And lengthening shades stretch out to night

Seize, seize the hint-each hour improve
(This is morality in love)

Lend, lend thine hand-O let me view
Thy parting breast, sweet avenue !
Then-then thy lips, the coral cell
Where all the' ambrosial kisses dwell!
Thus we'll each sultry noon employ
In day-dreams of ecstatic joy.

A NIGHT-PIECE;

OR, MODERN PHILOSOPHY.

"Dicetur, merita nox quoque nœnia."

HOR.

'Twas when bright Cynthia with her silver car,

Soft stealing from Endymion's bed,

Had call'd forth every glittering star,

And up the' ascent of heaven her brilliant host

Night, with all her negro train,
Took possession of the plain;
In an hearse she rode reclin❜d,

[had led,

Drawn by screech-owls slow and blind:
Close to her, with printless feet,
Crept Stillness, in a winding-sheet.
Next to her deep Silence was seen,
Treading on tiptoes over the green;
Softly, lightly, gently, she trips,

Still holding her fingers seal'd to her lips.
You could not see a sight,

You could not hear a sound,
But what confess'd the night,

And horror deepen'd round.

Beneath a myrtle's melancholy shade,
Sophron the wise was laid:

And to the answering wood these sounds convey'd.
While others toil within the town,

And to fortune's smile or frown,
Fond of trifles, fond of toys,

And married to that woman, Noise;
Sacred wisdom be my care,

And fairest virtue, wisdom's heir.
His speculations thus the sage begun,
When, lo! the neighbouring bell
In solemn sound struck one:-

He starts, and recollects, he was engag'd to Nell. Then up he sprang, nimble and light,

And rap'd at fair Eleanor's door, He laid aside virtue that night,

And next morn por'd in Plato for more.

HYMN TO THE SUPREME BEING,

ON RECOVERY FROM A DANGEROUS FIT OF ILLNESS.

WHEN Israel's ruler on the royal bed

In anguish and in perturbation lay,

The down reliev'd not his anointed head,

And rest gave place to horror and dismay; Fast flow'd the tears, high heav'd each gasping sigh, When God's own prophet thunder'd-" Monarch, thou must die."

Hezekiah vi. Isaiah xxxvii.

"And must I go, (the' illustrious mourner cried)
I who have serv'd thee still in faith and truth,
Whose snow-white conscience no foul crime has dy'd
From youth to manhood, infancy to youth;
Like David, who have still rever'd thy word,
The sovereign of myself, and servant of the Lord?"

The Judge Almighty heard his suppliant's moan,
Repeal'd his sentence, and his health restor❜d;
The beams of mercy on his temples shone,

Shot from that heaven to which his sighs had The sun retreated at his Maker's nod, [soar'd; And miracles confirm the genuine work of God.

But, O immortals! what had I to plead

[lance,

When death stood o'er me with his threatening

When reason left me in the time of need,

And sense was left in terror or in trance;

My sinking soul was with my blood inflam'd,
And the celestial image sunk, defac'd, and maim'd.

I sent back memory in heedful guise

To search the records of preceding years; Home, like the raven to the ark,† she flies,

Croaking bad tidings to my trembling ears : O sun, again that thy retreat was made, And threw my follies back into the friendly shade!

But who are they that bid affliction cease?—

Redemption and forgiveness, heavenly sounds! Behold the dove that brings the branch of peace, Behold the balm that heals the gaping wounds

*Isaiah, chap. xxxviii.

+ Gen. viii. 7.

Vengeance divine's by penitence suppress'd-
She struggles with the angel; conquers, and is

bless'd.

Yet hold, presumption, nor too fondly climb,
And thou too hold, O horrible despair!
In man humility's alone sublime,

Who diffidently hopes, he's Christ's own care--
O all-sufficient Lamb! in death's dread hour
Thy merits who shall slight, or who can doubt thy
power?

But soul-rejoicing health again returns,
The blood meanders gently in each vein,
The lamp of life renew'd with vigour burns,
And exil'd reason takes her seat again-

Brisk leaps the heart, the mind's at large once more,
To love, to praise, to bless, to wonder, and adore!

The virtuous partner of my nuptial bands
Appear'd a widow to my frantic sight;
My little prattlers, lifting up their hands,
Beckon me back to them, to life and light;
I come, ye spotless sweets! I come again,
Nor have your tears been shed, nor have ye knelt
in vain.

All glory to the' Eternal, to the' Immense,

All glory to the' Omniscient and Good, [tense; Whose power's uncircumscrib'd, whose love's inBut yet whose justice ne'er could be withstood.

VOL. XXX.

* Gen. xxxii. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28.

Cc