The childless widow's drooping head to raise,
And cheer her soul with hopes of better days:
For thee the pray'r affliction's child shall frame,
And lisping orphans bless ROSALIA's name.

Soon shall new objects thy affection share,
New hopes, new duties claim ROSALIA's care.
How will thy anxious eye exulting trace
The charms and virtues of thy infant-race!

Thy tender hand with sense and taste refin'd

Shall stamp each impulse of the rip'ning mind,

And early teach their little steps to stray

Through VIRTUE's paths, and WISDOM's flow'ry way.

Thus may our lives in one smooth tenor flow; Possess'd of thee, I ask no more below.

That constant love, which bless'd with genial rays

The bright and happy spring-time of our days,

Shall still dispel the clouds of woe and strife

From the full summer of progressive life.

The hand of TIME may quench the ardent fire
Of rising passion, and of young desire;

But that pure flame esteem first taught to burn

Can only perish in the silent urn.

And when the last, the solemn hour draws near, That bids us part from all that charm'd us here, Then on our thoughts the heav'nly hope shall rise, To meet in higher bliss, in better skies,

In those bright mansions of the just above,

Where all is RAPTURE, INNOCENCE, and LOVE.

MARIA'S RETURN

ΤΟ

HER NATIVE COTTAGE.

Si perda la vita,
Finisca il martire;
È meglio morire,

Che viver così.

METASTASIO.

ཙྭ ་་ ་

MARIA'S RETURN.

THE whit'ning ground

In frost is bound;

The snow is swiftly falling;

While coldly blows the northern breeze,

And whistles through the leafless trees,

In hollow sounds appalling.

On this cold plain,

Now reach'd with pain,

Once stood my father's dwelling r