ON THE BACKWARDNESS OF SPRING. By the late Mr. Richard West. DEAR Gray, that always in my heart What mean these sudden blasts that rise Come, fairest Nymph, resume thy reign! Come, then, with Pleasure at thy side, And Heaven and Earth be glad at heart. 1 ON THE DEATH OF MR. GRAY. Me quoque Musarum studium sub nocte silenti Claudian ENOUGH of fabling, and th' unhallow'd haunts Since not Diana nor all Delia's train Are subjects that befit a serious song; For who the bards among May but compare with thee, lamented Gray! Drew all the list'ning shepherds in a ring, Thy moving notes, on sunny hill or plain, 'Twas there of old where mused illustrious Gray! To Pindar's lofty lyre, or Sappho's Lesbian lute. Oft would he sing, when the still Eve came on, And to what ills frail mankind open lies; How safe through life's tempestuous sea to steer, Where dang'rous rocks, and shelves and whirlpools, oft appear. And when fair Morn arose again to view, That blooms like Eden in his charming lays, The musky gale, in rosy vale, And gilded clouds on azure hills, The fragrant bow'rs, and painted flow'rs, The very insects, that in sunbeains play, But ah! sad Melancholy intervenes, And draws a cloud o'er all these shining scenes The troubler of each great unbounded mind, Will tremble lest the turning sphere, And sinking earth, and reeling planets run In dire disorder with the falling sun. But now, great Bard, thy life of pain is o'er ; 'Tis we must weep, though thou shalt grieve no more. Through other scenes thou now dost rove, And clothed with gladness walk'st the courts above Hymning their God, while seraphs strike the lyrs. ON THE DEATH OF MR. GRAY. By the Earl of Carlisle. WHAT spit's that which mounts on high, Borne on the arms of every tuneful Muse? His white robes flutter to the gale: They wing their way to yonder opening sky, In-glorious state through yielding clouds they sail, And scents of heavenly flowers on earth diffuse. What avails the poet's art? What avails his magic hand? Or charm to sleep his murderous band? Woll I know thee, gentle shade! That tuneful voice, that eagle eye- With every honour deck his funeral bier, The listening Dryad, with attention still, Of all the wonders of th' expanded vale, The distant hamlet, and the winding stream, And taught the tear of rustic grief to flow! Alluding to Mr. Gray's Elegy written in a Country Church-yard. •But soon with bolder note, and wilder flight, O'er the loud strings his rapid hand would run : Mars hath lit his torch of war, Ranks of heroes fill the sight! Hark! the carnage is begun! And see the furies through the fiery air [bear. O'er Cambria's frighten'd land the screams of horror +Now, led by playful Fancy's hand, O'er the white surge he treads with printless feet, Imagination's blest retreat. Here roses paint the crimson way, No setting sun, eternal May. Wild as the priestess of the Thracian fane, Henry, thy darling plant must bloom no more! By thee attended, pensive would he stray, [shore. Where Thames, soft-murmuring, laves his winding Thou bad'st him raise the moralizing song, Through life's new seas the little bark to steer; The winds are rude and high, the saiior young; Thoughtless, he spies no furious tempest near, Till to the poet's hand the helm you gave, From hidden rocks an infant crew to save! t *The Bard, a Pindaric Ode. + The Progress of Poetry, a Pindaric Ode. |