Say, should the philosophic mind disdain Ye glittering towns, with wealth and splendour crown'd; Ye lakes, whose vessels catch the busy gale; Ye bending swains, that dress the flowery vale, Pleas'd with each good that Heaven to man supplies. Some spot to real happiness consign'd, Where my worn soul, each wandering hope at rest, 8.--ELEGY.-Pope. What can atone (O ever injur'd shade!) Pleas'd thy pale ghost, or grac'd thy mournful bier; To midnight dances, and the public show? What though no sacred earth allow thee room, So peaceful rests, without a stone, a name, A heap of dust alone remains of thee; 9.-THE POET.-Couper. Nature, exerting an unwearied power, Forms, opens, and gives scent to every flower; And charms the woodland scenes and wilds unknown, Harmony, strength, words exquisitely sought; Skill'd in the characters that form mankind; And, as the sun in rising beauty dress'd Looks to the westward from the dappled east, On every scene and subject it surveys: Thus grac'd, the man asserts a Poet's name, The flowers would spring where'er she deign'd to stray, Virtue, indeed, meets many a rhyming friend, The shelves are full, all other themes are sped; 10.-TO A LITTLE GIRL.-Philips. Timely blossom, infant fair, fondling of a happy pair! every morn and every night their solicitous delight; sleeping, waking, still at ease; pleasing, without skill to please; little gossip, blithe and hale, tattling many a broken tale, singing many a tuneless song, lavish of a heedless tongue: simple maiden, void of art, babbling out the very heart; yet abandon'd to thy will, yet imagining no ill, yet too innocent to blush; like the linnet in the bush, to the mother linnet's note moduling her slender throat, chirping forth thy petty joys: wanton in the change of toys; like the linnet green, in May, flitting to each bloomy spray; wearied then and glad of rest, like the linnet in the nest: this, thy present happy lot, this in time will be forgot: other pleasures, other cares, ever-busy Time prepares; and thou shalt in thy daughter see this picture once resembled thee. 11.-BEAUTY AND THE BUTTERFLY-A COMPARISON.-Byron. As rising on its purple wing, the insect-queen of Eastern spring, o'er emerald meadows of Cashmeer invites the young pursuer near, and leads him on from flower to flower a weary chase and wasted hour; then leaves him, as it soars on high, with panting heart and tearful eye;-so Beauty lures the full-grown child, with hue as bright, and wing as wild: a chase of idle hopes and fears, begun in folly-closed in tears! If won, to equal ills betray'd; woe waits the insect and the maid: a life of pain, the loss of peace, from infant's play, and man's caprice. The lovely toy, so fiercely sought, hath lost its charm-by being caught! for every touch that wooed its stay hath brush'd its brightest hues away; till charm, and hue, and beauty gone, 'tis left to fly, or fall-alone! With wounded wing, or bleeding breast, ah! where shall either victim rest? Can this, with faded pinion, soar from rose to tulip as before? Or Beauty, blighted in an hour, find joy within her broken bower? No: gayer insects fluttering by, ne'er droop the wing o'er those that die; and lovelier things have mercy shown to every failing but their own; and every woe a tear can claim, except an erring sister's shame! 12.-MY NEIGHBOUR.-Mackay. 1 He was prudent, brave, and gentle, living as a man should do; kept a conscience, did his duty, loved his fellows-served them too. Modest, virtuous, self-reliant, rich and learned, wise and true. 2 He had faultsperhaps had many,—but one fault above them all lay like heavy lead upon him; tyrant of a patient thrall-tyrant seen, confessed, and hated, banished only to recall. 3" Oh! he drank ?" "His drink was water!" "Gambled ?" "No! he hated play." "Then, perchance, a tenderer failing led his heart and head astray!" "No! both honour and religion kept him in the purer way." "Then, he scorned Life's mathematics, could not reckon up a score-pay his debts-or be persuaded two and two were always four." "No! he was exact as Euclid, prompt and punctual no one more." 5 "Oh! a miser ?" "No!"-"Too lavish ?" "Worst of guessers, guess again !" "No! I'm weary hunting failures; was he seen of mortal ken, paragon of marble virtues, quite a model man of men ?" 6"At his birth an evil spirit charms and spells around him flung, and, with well-concocted malice, laid a curse upon his tongue; curse that daily made him wretched-earth's most wretched sons among! 7 He could plead, expound, and argue; fire with wit, with wisdom glow; but one word for ever failed him-source of all his pain and woe; luckless wight! he could not say it—could not-dared not answer, No!" 13.-THE SUNBEAM.-Mrs. Hemans. Thou art no lingerer in monarch's hall : I look'd to the mountains—a vapour lay Thou tak'st through the dim church-aisles thy way, And thou turnest not from the humblest grave, The Faith touching all things with hues of heaven! |