Her eye the pure etherial blue, Than that did fairer show, Whene'er she watch'd a father's look, Or wept a lover's woe: For now the lover of her youth Her voice, the gentle tone of love, The heart a captive stole; The tender accent of her tongue Went thrilling thro' the foul. The graces, that for Nature fair Present us mimic Art; The false refinements, that refine Away the human heart, She knew not; in the fimple robe Complete she shone, and ever pleased, Instruct th' unplanted forest-crab To leave its genius wild; Subdue the monster of the wood, And make the Savage mild: But who would give the rose a hue, The father, watching o'er his child, The joy of fathers found; 1 And, blest himself, he stretch'd his hand To bless the neighbours round. A Pa A Patriarch in the vale of peace, To all he gave the law; 1 The good he guarded in their rights, And kept the bad in awe. Lord of his own paternal field, He liberal dealt his store; And call'd the stranger to his feast, But, ah! what mortal knows the hour Of Fate? A hand unseen Upon the curtain ever rests, And fudden shifts the scene. Arthur was surety for his friend, The victim of his crimes. The The Sun, that, rising, saw him Lord Of hill and valley round, Beheld him, at his setting hour, Forth from the hall, no longer his, And walks a stranger o'er the fields The blast of Winter whistled loud And shrill thro' the void hall; And heavy on his hoary locks The shower of night did fall. Clasp'd in his daughter's trembling hand, He journey'd fad and flow; At times he stopt to look behind, And tears began to flow. 1 Wearied, and faint, and cold, and wet, To shelter he did hie; "Beneath the covert of this rock, " My Daughter, let us die!" At midnight, in the weary waste, In forrow fat the Pair; She chaff'd his shivering hands, and wrung The water from his hair. 1 The figh spontaneous rose, the tear Involuntary flow'd; No word of comfort could she speak, " In yonder hall my fathers lived, " In yonder hall they died; "Now in that church-yard's aifle they sleep, "Each by his spouse's fide. " Oft |