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And through the folding doors The eye of thought explores Seraphic forms and phantasies elysian.

These pass like thought away!

Yet may their hallow'd sway

Rest on the heart,-as dew-drops round adorning The drooping silent flowers,

Feed them through night's dark hours, And keep them fresh and living till the morning.

Thus should the sunset hour,
With soul-absorbing power,

Nurse by its glories the immortal spirit;
And plume its wings for flight

To realms of cloudless light,
Regions its God hath form'd it to inherit.

Fair, bright, and sweet is MORN!
When daylight, newly born,

In all its beauty is to sense appealing;
Yet Eve to me is fraught

With more unearthly thought,

And purer touches of immortal feeling!

BERNARD BARTON.

MESSIAH.

YE nymphs of Solyma! begin the song:
To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong.
The mossy fountains and the sylvan shades,
The dreams of Pindus and the Aonian maids,
Delight no more-O Thou my voice inspire
Who touch'd Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire!
Rapt into future times, the bard begun :
A Virgin shall conceive, a Virgin bear a Son!

From Jesse's (a) root behold a branch arise,
Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies:
The ethereal spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
And on its top descends the mystic dove.

Ye heavens! (b) from high the dewy nectar pour,
And in soft silence shed the kindly shower!
The sick (c) and weak the healing plant shall aid,
From storm a shelter, and from heat a shade.
All crimes shall cease, and ancient frauds shall fail :
Returning Justice (d) lift aloft her scale;
Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
And white-robed Innocence from heaven descend.
Swift fly the years, and rise the expected morn!
Oh spring to light, auspicious Babe, be born!
See, Nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring,
With all the incense of the breathing spring :
See lofty Lebanon (e) his head advance,
See nodding forests on the mountains dance :
See spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise,
And Carmel's flowery top perfume the skies!
Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers;
Prepare the way! (ƒ) A God, a God appears!
A God, a God! the vocal hills reply;
The rocks proclaim the approaching Deity.
Lo, earth receives him from the bending skies!
Sink down, ye mountains; and ye valleys, rise!
With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay;
Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way.
The Saviour comes! by ancient bards foretold :
Jear him, ye deaf; and all the blind, behold!
fe from thick films shall purge the visual ray,
nd on the sightless eye-ball pour the day:

Isa. xi. ver. 1. Ch. ix. ver. 7.

(b) Ch. xiv. ver. 8. (e) Ch. xxxv. ver. 2.

(c) Ch. xxv. ver. 4.

) Ch, xl, ver, 3, 4.

'Tis he the obstructed paths of sound shall clear, And bid new music charm the unfolding ear: The dumb (g) shall sing, the lame his crutch forego,

And leap exulting like the bounding roe.

No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear;
From every face he wipes off every tear.
In adamantine (h) chains shall death be bound,
And hell's grim tyrant feel the eternal wound.
As the good shepherd (i) tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest pasture, and the purest air;
Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs,
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects;
The tender lambs he raises in his arms,

Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms:
Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage,
The promised father (j) of the future age.
No more shall nation (k) against nation rise,
Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,
Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more;
But useless lances into scythes shall bend,
And the broad falchion in a ploughshare end.
Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son (1)
Shall finish what his short-liv'd sire begun ;
Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield,
And the same hand that sow'd shall reap the field:
The swain in barren deserts (m) with surprise
Sees lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise ;
And starts amidst the thirsty wilds to hear
New falls of water murmuring in his ear.

(g) Isa. Ch. xliii. ver. 18, Ch. xxxv. ver. 5, 6. (h) Ch. xxv. ver. 8. (i) Ch. xl. ver. 11. (J) Ch. ix. ver. (k) Ch. ii. ver. 4. (7) Ch. lxv. ver. 21, 22. (m) Ch. xxxv. ver. 1, 7.

On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods.
Waste sandy valleys (n), once perplex'd with thorn,
The spiry fir and shapely box adorn :

To leafless shrubs the flowery palm succeed,
And odorous myrtle to the noisome weed.

The lambs (0) with wolves shall graze the verdant mead,

And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead.
The steer and lion at one crib shall meet,
And harmless serpents (p) lick the pilgrim's feet.
The smiling infant in his hand shall take
The crested basilisk and speckled snake,
Pleased, the green lustre of the scales survey,
And with their forky tongue shall innocently play.
Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem (q), rise!
Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes!
See a long race (r) thy spacious courts adorn ;
See future sons, and daughters yet unborn,
In crowding ranks on every side arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!
See barbarous nations (s) at thy gates attend,
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;
See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings
And heap'd with products of Sabean (t) springs!
For thee Idume's spicy forests blow,
And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow.
See heaven its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day!

more the rising sun (u) shall gild the morn, or evening Cynthia fill her silver horn;

(n) Isa. xli. ver. 19, and ch. xlv. ver. 13. (0) Ch. xi. ver. 6, 7, 8.

(p) Ch. lxv. ver. 25.

Ch. Ix. ver. 1. (r) Ch. lx. ver. 4. (s) Ch. Ix. ver. 3.

(t) Ch. Ix. ver. 6.

(u) Ch. Ix. ver. 19, 20.

But lost, dissolved in thy superior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze,

O'erflow thy courts: the Light himself shall shine
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine!

The seas (v) shall waste, the skies in smoke decay,
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away;
But fix'd his word, his saving power remains ;
Thy realm for ever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns!

POPE.

THE SEASONS; A HYMN.

OFT have I seen the laughing Spring,
Shed her rich blessings o'er the Earth,
While, born beneath her fragrant wing,
Sprung Beauty forth, and Love and Mirth.

But Spring soon fled, and Summer then
Her genial heats diffus'd around,
And Nature's wildest roughest glen
Was by her hand with verdure crown'd.

Sweet Summer, too, alas! was doom'd
To quit the rich and smiling plain :
For while in fruitfulness she bloom'd,
Autumn began her glorious reign.

But Autumn's sun soon ceas'd to burn,
And clouds, which roll'd athwart the sky,
Declar'd that Winter and his urn

In viewless icy car was nigh.

When Winter came, the gorgeous sun
Turn'd pale, and seem'd to wait his doom

(v) Isa. li. ver. 6. and ch, liv. ver. 10.

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