And told his hope; her trembling joy appears, All now is present ;- -'tis a moment's gleam Yes! all are with him now, and all the while Life's early prospects and his Fanny's smile : Then come his sister and his village-friend, And he will now the sweetest moments spend Life has to yield;- No! never will he find Again on earth such pleasure in his mind: He goes through shrubby walks these friends among, Love in their looks and honour on the tongue : ; Stray o'er the heath in all its purple bloom,- Then 'cross the bounding brook they make their way The ocean smiling to the fervid sun— Now arm in arm, now parted, they behold And search for crimson weeds, which spreading flow, Or lie like pictures on the sand below: With all those bright red pebbles, that the sun (1) [We have here a description of the dream of a felon under sentence of death; and though the requisite accuracy and beauty of the landscapepainting are such as must have recommended it to notice in poetry of any order, it derives an unspeakable charm from the lowly simplicity and humble content of the characters—at least, we cannot conceive any walk of ladies and gentlemen that could furnish out so sweet a picture as termi. nates this passage. — JEFFREY.] THE BOROUGH. LETTER XXIV. SCHOOLS. Tu quoque ne metuas, quamvis schola verbere multo Quòd sceptrum vibrat ferulæ, quòd multa supellex AUSONIUS in Protreptico ad Nepotem. |