And when the evening light decays, And all is calm around, There is sweet music to his ear In the distant sheep-bell's sound. But, oh! of all delightful sounds The sweetest is the voice of Love, WESTBURY, 1798. THE OLD MAN'S COMFORTS, AND HOW HE 66 GAINED THEM. You are old, Father William," the young man cried; "The few locks which are left you are gray; You are hale, Father William, a hearty old man: Now tell me the reason, I pray." "In the days of my youth," Father William replied, "I remembered that youth would fly fast, And abused not my health and my vigor at first, That I never might need them at last." "You are old, Father William," the young man cried, "And pleasures with youth pass away; And yet you lament not the days that are gone: Now tell me the reason, I pray." "In the days of my youth," Father William replied, "I remembered that youth could not last; I thought of the future, whatever I did, That I never might grieve for the past." "You are old, Father William," the young man cried, "And life must be hastening away; You are cheerful, and love to converse upon death : Now tell me the reason, I pray." "I am cheerful, young man," Father William replied; "Let the cause thy attention engage: In the days of my youth, I remembered my God; And he hath not forgotten my age." WESTBURY, 1799. TRANSLATION OF A GREEK ODE ON WRITTEN BY S. T. COLERIDGE, FOR THE PRIZE AT CAM- 1. HAIL, venerable NIGHT! O first-created, hail! Thou who art doomed in thy dark breast to veil The dying beam of light, The eldest and the latest thou, Hail, venerable NIGHT! Around thine ebon brow Glittering plays, with lightning rays, The varying clouds with many a hue attire Holy are the blue graces of thy zone; When, blazing with meridian ray, The gorgeous Sun ascends his highest throne: But I, with solemn and severe delight, Still watch thy constant car, immortal NIGHT! 2. For then to the celestial palaces Urania leads, - Urania, she The goddess who alone Stands by the blazing throne, Effulgent with the light of Deity; The host of Stars, a beauteous throng, Around the ever-living Mind 3. Hail, O Urania, hail! Queen of the Muses, Mistress of the Song! Its deathless bloom discloses. Before thine awful mien, compelled to shrink, Fierce Dreams, that wont to drink Riding in fury-forms, Shriek to the mariner the shriek of Death. 4. I boast, O Goddess! to thy name To roam the starry path of heaven, To charioteer with wings on high, And to rein in the Tempests of the sky. 5. Chariots of happy Gods! Fountains of Light! May I unblamed your flamy thresholds tread? I leave the Moon serene, I leave the wide domains Beyond where Mars his fiercer light can fling, (The many-belted king); Even to the solitude where Saturn reigns, And slow he drags along The mighty circle of long-lingering years. 6. Nor shalt thou escape my sight, Who at the threshold of the sun-trod domes Art trembling, youngest Daughter of the Night! And you, ye fiery-tressèd strangers! you, Comets who wander wide, Will I along your pathless way pursue, The Worlds whom elder Suns have vivified. |