The moralist, with musing eyes, Loves there his pensive steps to measure: "How vain is human pride!" he cries; "How soon is lost each earthly treasure! "To snatch the fleeting bubble, joy, "How soon our pleasures pass away! How soon our bliss must yield to sorrow! The friend, with whom we smile to-day, May wither in his shroud to-morrow!" AMARILLIS; FROM THE D PASTOR FIDO. [Published in 1806.] UNQUE addio, care selve, Ricevete questi ultimi sospiri, Fin che sciolta da ferro ingiusto, e crudo, Torni la mia fredd' ombra A le vostr' ombre amate. i'moro, e senza colpa, E senza frutto; e senza te, cor mio: Mi moro, oime, MIRTILLO.) Dear woods, your sacred haunts I leave : Adieu! my parting sighs receive! Adieu! dear native woods, adieu ! Which I no more am doom'd to view, From ev'ry joy remov'd; To seek your shades belov'd. In youth and innocence I die; The cold grave-stone must be my pillow; CLONAR AND TLAMIN. IMITATED FROM A LITTLE POEM IN MACPHERSON'S NOTES ON OSSIAN. [Published in 1806.] "The loves of Clonar and Tlamin were rendered famous in the north by a fragment of a lyric poem, still preserved, which is ascribed to Ossian. It is a dialogue between Clonar and Tlamin. She begins with a soliloquy, which he overhears." TLAMIN. ON of CONGLAS of IMOR! thou first in the battle! SON Oh CLONAR, young hunter of dun-sided roes! Where the wings of the wind through the tall branches rattle, Oh, where does my hero on rushes repose? By the oak of the valley, my love, have I found thee, Where swift from the hill pour thy loud-rolling streams; The beard of the thistle flies sportively round thee, And dark o'er thy face pass the thoughts of thy dreams. Thy dreams are of scenes where the war-tempest rages: TLAMIN'S youthful warrior no dangers appal: Even now, in idea, my hero engages, On Erin's green plains, in the wars of Fingal. Half hid, by the grove of the hill, I retire: Ye blue mists of Lutha! why rise ye between? Why hide the young warrior whose soul is all fire, Oh why hide her love from the eyes of TLAMIN? CLONAR. As the vision that flies with the beams of the morning, TLAMIN. Oh CLONAR! my heart will to joy be a stranger, CLONAR. The signals of war are from Selma resounding! Yet around me when war's hottest thunders shall rattle, And should death's icy hand check my progress in battle, The last sigh of CLONAR shall rise but for thee. FOLDATH IN THE CAVERN OF MOMA. FROM THE SAME. [Published in 1806.] FOLDATH (addressing the spirits of his fathers). ANSWER. Thou to Ullin's plains shalt go: There thy blood-stain'd sword shall gleam, Come from Moruth's sounding shores. DREAMS. FROM PETRONIUS ARBITER. [Published in 1806.] Somnia, quæ mentes ludunt volitantibus umbris, &c. D REAMS, which, beneath the hov'ring shades of night, O'erthrown battalions sees, and dying kings, And fields o'erflow'd with blood. The lawyer dreams The trembling miser hides his ill-gain'd gold, And oft with joy a buried treasure finds. The eager hunter with his clam'rous dogs Makes rocks and woods resound. The sailor brings Beneath the foaming waves. The anxious maid PINDAR ON THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN. A [Published in 1806.] Ακτις αελίου πολύσκοπε, κτλ. LL-ENLIGHT'NING, all-beholding, On thy life-diffusing splendour These portentous shades that rise, Late thy wheels, through ether burning, Hear, oh Phoebus! we implore thee, Spread unbounded ruin round ? By the bursting torrent's power, Or shall ocean's waves stupendous, Once again, with roar tremendous, Hurl destruction on mankind? |