Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

To seek a retreat, while he reigns,
In the well-sheltered dwellings of man,
Who never canst seem to intrude,
Though in all places equally free,
Come, oft as the season is rude!

Thou art sure to be welcome to me,

At sight of the first feeble ray

That pierces the clouds of the east, To inveigle thee every day

My window shall show thee a feast.
For taught by experience, I know
Thee mindful of benefit long;
And that, thankful for all I bestow,
Thou wilt pay me with many a song.

Then, soon as the swell of the buds
Bespeaks the renewal of spring,
Fly hence, if thou wilt, to the woods;
Or where it shall please thee to sing :
And shouldst thou, compelled by a frost,
Come again to my window or door,
Doubt not an affectionate host!

Only pay, as thou paidest me before.

Thus music must needs be confest

To flow from a fountain above,

Else how should it work in the breast
Unchangeable friendship and love

And who on the globe can be found,
Save your generations and ours,
That can be delighted by sound,
Or boasts any musical powers ?

STRADA'S NIGHTINGALE.

THE shepherd touched his reed; sweet Philomel
Essayed, and oft essayed to catch the strain,
And treasuring, as on her ear they fell,

The numbers, echoed note for note again.
The peevish youth, who ne'er had found before
A rival of his skill, indignant heard,

And soon (for various was his tuneful store)
In loftier tones defied the simple bird.

She dared the task, and rising as he rose,

With all the force that passion gives, inspired, Returned the sounds awhile, but in the close Exhausted fell, and at his feet expired.

Thus strength and skill prevailed. O fatal strife!
By the poor songstress playfully begun;

And O sad victory; which cost thy life-
And he may wish that he had never won!

ODE

On the Death of Lady who lived one hundred Years, and died on her Birth-day in 1728.

ANCIENT dame, how wide and vast,
To a race like ours appears,
Rounded to an orb at last,

All thy multitude of years!

We, the herd of human kind,

Frailer and of feebler powers;
We, to narrow bounds confined,
Soon exhaust the sum of ours.

Death's delicious banquet-we
Perish even from the womb;
Swifter than a shadow flee,
Nourished, but to feed the tomb.

Seeds of merciless disease

Lurk in all that we enjoy ;
Some that waste us by degrees,
Some that suddenly destroy.

And if life o'erleap the bourn
Common to the sons of men,
What remains, but that we mourn,
Dream, and doat, and drivel then?

Fast as moons can wax and wane

Sorrow comes; and while we groan, Pant with anguish, and complain, Half our years are fled and gone.

If a few, (to few 'tis given)

Lingering on this earthly stage,
Creep, and halt with steps uneven,
To the period of an age:

Wherefore live they but to see
Cunning, arrogance, and force?

Sights, lamented much by thee,
Holding their accustomed course!

Oft' was seen, in ages past,

All that we with wonder view; Often shall be to the last;

Earth produces nothing new.

Thee we gratulate; content,
Should propitious Heaven design

Life for us, as calmly spent,

Though but half the length of thine,

THE CAUSE WON.

Two neighbours furiously dispute;
A field-the subject of the suit. -

Trivial the spot, yet such the rage
With which the combatants engage,
"Twere hard to tell who covets most
The prize-at whatsoever cost.

The pleadings swell. Words still suffice.
No single word but has its price.
No term but yields some fair pretence,
For novel and increased expense.
Defendant thus becomes a name,
Which he that bore it may disclaim;
Since both, in one description blended,
Are plaintiffs-when the suit is ended.

THE INNOCENT THIEF.

Not a flower can be found in the fields,
Or the spot that we till for our pleasure,
From the largest to least, but it yields
The bee, never-wearied, a treasure.
Scarce any she quits unexplored,
With a diligence truly exact;
Yet, steal what she may for her hoard,
Leaves evidence-none of the fact.

Her lucrative task she pursues,

And pilfers with so much address, That none of their odour they lose, Nor charm by their beauty the less.

« ForrigeFortsett »