Day-break:

The morning fresh, dappling her horns with roses,Vex'd at the ling'ring shades that long had left her In Tithon's freezing arms,-the light discloses ;

And chasing night, of rule and heaven bereft her : The sun with gentle beams his rage disguises, And like aspiring tyrants temporises,

Never to be endur'd, but when he falls or rises.

The hours had now unlock'd the gates of day,
When fair Aurora leaves her frosty bed,
Hasting with youthful Cephalus to play,
Unmask'd her face, and rosy beauties spread :
Tithonus' silver age was much despis'd,-

Ah! who in love that cruel law devis'd,

That old love's little worth, and new too highly priz'd.

Evening.

But see, the smoke mounting in village nigh,
With folded wreaths steals through the quiet air ;
And mix'd with dusky shades in eastern sky,
Begins the night, and warns us home repair:
Bright vesper now hath chang'd his name and place,
And twinkles in the heaven with doubtful face;
Home then, my full fed lambs; the night comes, home
apace!

See Phlegon drenched in the liquid main,

Allays his thirst, and cools his flaming car! Vesper fair Cynthia ushers, and her train :

See, th' apish earth hath lighted many a star, Sparkling in dewy globes!-all home invite.

Home then my flocks, home shepherds, home, 'tis night

But see the stealing night with softest pace,
To fly the western sun creeps up the east:
Cold Hesper 'gins unmask his ev'ning face,
And calls the winking stars from drowsy rest.
Home then my lambs;-the falling drops eschew,
To-morrow shall
ye feast in pastures new.

The Medway joining Thames.

So where fair Medway down the Kentish dales
To many towns her pleasant waters dealing,
Lading her banks into wide Thamis falls,

The big swoln main with foamy billows swelling,
Stops there the sudden stream: her steady race
Staggers awhile, at length flows back apace,
And to the parent fount returns its fearful pace.

A Flower fainting with heat.

So have I often seen a purple flow'r

Fainting with heat, hang down her drooping head,
But soon refreshed with a welcome show'r,
Begin again her lively beauties spread,

And with new pride her silken leaves display:
And while the sun doth now more gently play,
Lay out her swelling bosom to the smiling day.

Storm in Summer.

So when the sun shines in bright Taurus' head,
Returning tempests all with winter fill;
And still successive storms fresh mustered,
The timely year in his first springing kill:
And oft it breathes awhile, then strait again
Doubly pours out his spite in smoking rain:
The country's vows and hopes swim on the drowned
plain!

Duration of Poetic Fame.

Thrice happy wits! which in the springing May,
Warm with the sun of well-deserved favours,
Disclose your buds, and your fair blooms display,

Perfume the air with your rich fragrant savours!
Nor may, nor ever shall, these honour'd flowers
Be spoil'd by summer's heat, or winter's show'rs;
But last when time shall have decay'd the proudest

towers.

The Golden Age.

Thrice happy was the world's first infancy,
Not knowing yet, nor curious, ill to know;
Joy without grief;-love without jealousy;
None felt hard labour or the sweating plough;
The willing earth brought tribute to her king;
Bacchus unborn lay hidden in the cling

Of big swoll'n grapes;-then drink was every silver spring.

Of all the winds there was no difference,

None knew mild Zephyr from cold Eurus' mouth; Nor Orithya's lover's violence

Distinguished from the ever dropping south:

None knew the sea; oh, blessed ignorance!

None nam'd the stars, the north car's constant race, Taurus' bright horns, or Fishes' happy chance: Astrea yet changed not her name or place, Her well pois'd balance, heav'n yet never tried: None sought new coasts, nor foreign lands descried:

But in their own they liv'd, and in their own they died.

But ah! what liveth long in happiness?
Grief of a heavy nature, steady lies,
And cannot be removed for weightiness;

go:

But joy, of lighter presence, quickly flies,
And seldom comes, and soon away will
Some secret power here all things orders so,
That for a sunshine day follows an age of woe!
The Symplegades.

So by the Bosphorus' streights, in Euxene seas,
Not far from old Byzantium, closely stand
Two sister islands, call'd Symplegades,

Which sometimes seem but one combined land:

For often meeting on the wat'ry plain,

And parting oft, tost by the boist❜rous main,
They now are join'd in one, and now disjoin'd again.

A Storm.

So when a sable cloud with swelling sail

Comes swimming through calm skies, the silent airWhile fierce winds sleep in Eol's rocky jail,

With spangled beams embroider'd, glitters fair; But soon 'gins low'r :-straight clattering hail is bred, Scattering cold shot; light hides his golden head, And with untimely winter, earth is silvered.

Chastity.

With her, her sister went, a warlike maid
Parthenia, all in steel and gilded arms;
And in her hand a mighty spear she sway'd,
With which in bloody fields and fierce alarms,
The boldest champion she down would bear;
And like a thunde: bolt wide passage tear,
Flinging all to the earth with her enchanted spear.

Her goodly armour seemed a garden green,
Where thousand spotless lilies freshly blew;
And on her shield the lone bird might be seen,
Th' Arabian bird, shining in colours new;
Itself unto itself was only mate,

Ever the same, but new in newest date;

And underneath was writ-"Such is chaste single state."

Thus hid in arms she seem'd a goodly knight,

And fit for any warlike exercise:

But when she list lay down her armour bright,
And back resume her peaceful maiden guise,
The fairest maid she was that ever yet,
Prison'd her locks within a golden net,

Or let them waving hang, with roses all beset.

Justice and Mercy, before the throne of Deity. Forth stept the just Dicæa full of rage;

The first born daughter of th' Almighty King,-
Ab, sacred maid! thy kindling ire assuage;
Who dare abide thy dreadful thundering?—
Soon as her voice but "Father" only spake,
The faultless heav'ns like leaves in autumn shake,
And all the glorious throng with horrid palsys quake!

Heard you not late with what loud trumpets' sound,
Her breath awak'd her father's sleeping ire?
The heav'nly armies flam'd, earth shook, heaven
frown'd,

And heaven's dread king called for his forked fire! Hark! how the powerful words strike through the ear; The frighted sense shoots up the limber hair,

And shakes the trembling soul with awe and shudd'ring

fear.