LUCY AND COLIN.

I.

OF Leinster, fam'd for maidens fair,

Bright Lucy was the grace;

Nor e'er did Liffy's limpid stream

Reflect so fair a face.

Till luckless love, and pining care,

Impair'd her rosy hue,

Her coral lips, and damask cheeks,
And eyes of glossy blue.

II.

Oh, have you seen a lily pale,
When beating rains descend?

So droop'd the slow-consuming maid,

Her life now near it's end.

By Lucy warn'd, of flattering swains

Take heed, ye easy fair :

Of vengeance due to broken vows,
Ye perjur'd swains, beware.

LUCIA ET CORYDON.

I.

QUAS, venerum fœcunda parens, Lagenia novit,
Lucia formarum gloria, flosque fuit:
Ora nec aspectu tam læta et pulchra Modoni
Flumine de liquido pura reflexit aqua.
Sed dolor, et curæ, lætabile quicquid edentes,
Egregium sensim diminuêre decus;

Sed deceptus amor carptim privavit ocellos
Gemmis, curaliis labra, rosisque genas.

II.

Vidistin' (quin sæpe vides!) ut languida marcent Lilia, quæ prægravat imber aquæ ?

Lento sic periit tabo, sic palluit illa,

Ad finem extremo jam properante die.

Hoc monitæ exemplo, blandos fallacis amantis,
Credula vos nymphæ corda, timete dolos :
Discite, vos juvenes, læsam quam certa deorum
Vindicta insequitur, quam gravis ira, fidem.

III.

Three times, all in the dead of night,

A bell was heard to ring ;

And shrieking at her window thrice,

The raven flapp'd his wing.

Too well the love-lorn maiden knew The solemn boding sound,

And thus, in dying words, bespoke The virgins weeping round.

IV.

I hear a voice you cannot hear,
Which says, I must not stay ;
I see a hand you cannot see,
Which beckons me away.

By a false heart, and broken vows,
In early youth I die:

Am I to blame, because his bride

Is thrice as rich as I?

V.

Ah, Colin! give not her thy vows,

Vows due to me alone;

Nor thou, fond maid, receive his kiss,

Nor think him all thy own.

III

Tinnitu sonuit terno campanula, cuncta

Nocte intempestà cum siluere loca;

Terque alâ increpitans cornix, rostroque fenestram
Pulsans, lethales edidit ore sonos.
Accepit, novitque omen, bene conscia virgo
Fati, feralis quod recinebat avis;

Et moriens nymphis circum lacrymantibus infit,
Sic super exequiis illacrymata suis.

IV.

Vocem ego, quam vobis non est audire, jubentem
Audio, maturem præcipitemque fugam.

Dextram ego, quam vobis non est spectare, vetantem
Specto, ne fingam quid mediterve more.
In primæ morior succisa heu! flore juventæ,
Pectoris infidi capta puella dolo.

Idne æquum et fas est vitio mihi vertere, sponsæ
Quod minor est longe dos mea dote novæ ?

ས.

Vota mihi, juvenis, soli mihi credita, nullâ

Oh! alienari conditione sinas.

At neque tu, virgo, blande nunc oscula dantem,
Quod tuus est hodie, dixeris esse tuum.

To-morrow in the church to wed,

Impatient, both prepare ;

But know, fond maid; and know, false man, That Lucy will be there.

VI.

There bear my corse, ye comrades, bear,

The bridegroom blithe to meet;

He in his wedding-trim so gay,

I in my winding-sheet.

She spoke, she died ;-her corse was born,

The bridegroom blithe to meet;

He in his wedding-trim so gay,

She in her winding-sheet.

VII.

Then what were perjur'd Colin's thoughts? How were those nuptials kept?

The bridemen flock'd round Lucy dead,

And all the village wept.

Compassion, shame, remorse, despair,

At once his bosom swell;

The damps of death bedew'd his brows,
He shook, he groan'd, he fell.