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ODE.

AH fortune! wilt thou never smile?
And have I woo'd thee still in vain?

And is the meed of all my toil

But sharper woe, severer pain?

Ah Delia! fairest of the fair!

Say, must thy beauty only prove My earliest wish, my latest care, But still the foe of hapless love?

Ah love! on mountains wert thou bred,
Nurs'd in some monster's horrid cave?

Thy tyrant pow'r we view with dread,

Which wounds the youth, affrights the brave.

Hence ruthless passion, mock'ry hence,
Nor let me feel thy cruel sway;
Come hours of careless innocence,
Return and cheer life's ling'ring day.

Return with all thy smiling train,

The gay, quick thought, the fancy mild; Each infant bliss return again,

And chase far hence these tumults wild.

Season of thoughtless joy! in vain
The muse thy fancied aid implores;
The smiling pleasures of thy train

Seek distant climes and happier shores.

Let me, while others idly gay,
'Mid proud ambition's trophies shine;
Unknown attune my artless lay,

Be careless ease and leisure mine.

And oh! may friendship bless the hour
With temper'd joys, with social glee;
May wit, may fancy grace my bow'r,
For these, my Damon, dwell with thee.

In vain shall beauty's artful smile
Again enslave my love-torn heart;
Friendship shall ward the pow'rful guile,
And all the milder bliss impart.

With thee, my Damon, may I rove

Where science points the arduous way;

And leave the idle toys of love

To breasts as idle and as gay.

Thus thro' the varying scenes of life
Shall friendship gild the fleeting hour,
Dispel each ruffling storm of grief,
And give to joy its noblest pow'r.

St. James's Chronicle.

ENQUIRY AFTER HAPPINESS.

THE

E midnight moon serenely smiles
O'er nature's soft repose;

No low'ring cloud obscures the sky,
No ruffling tempest blows.

Now ev'ry passion sinks to rest,
The throbbing heart lies still;
And varying schemes of life no more
Distract the lab'ring will.

In silence hush'd, to reason's voice
Attends each mental pow'r :
Come, dear Emilia, and enjoy
Reflection's fav'rite hour.

Come: while the peaceful scene invites,
Let's search this ample round,
Where shall the lovely fleeting form
Of happiness be found?

Does it amidst the frolic mirth

Of gay assemblies dwell?

Or hide beneath the solemn gloom

That shades the hermit's cell?

How oft the laughing brow of joy
A sick'ning heart conceals!
And thro' the cloister's deep recess
Invading sorrow steals.

In vain thro' beauty, fortune, wit,
The fugitive we trace:

It dwells not in the faithless smile
That brightens Chloe's face.

Perhaps the joy to these deny'd,
The heart in friendship finds:
Ah! dear delusion! gay conceit
Of visionary minds!

Howe'er our varying notions rove,

Yet all agree in one,

To place its Being in some state,
At distance from our own.

O blind to each indulgent aim,
Of pow'r supremely wise,
Who fancy happiness in ought
The hand of heav'n denies.

Vain is alike the joy we seek,
And vain what we possess,

Unless harmonious reason tunes

3

Our passions into peace.

To temper'd wishes, just desires,
Is happiness confin'd,

And, deaf to folly's call, attends
The music of the mind.

ON BEAUTY.

Miss Carter.

ENCHANTING nymph, of heavenly birth,
Celestial Beauty! sent on earth

To sooth our cares, our toils, our strife,
And gild the gloom that saddens life;
Thine empire countless millions own,
And every clime reveres thy throne.
Whate'er pursuits mankind engage,
From frolic youth to serious age,
To thy resistless pow'r they bow,
Whilst nature prompts the artless vow;
Lur'd by the hopes thy smile can give,
For thee the wretch endures to live;
To gain thy praise, his valour's meed,
For thee the hero dares to bleed;
Entic'd by thee to happier dreams,
Ambition drops his airy schemes;

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