THE BIRD LET LOOSE. THE bird, let loose in Eastern skies,1 Where nothing earthly bounds her flight, So grant me, God, from every care, O THOU WHO DRY'ST THE MOURNER'S TEAR. AIR-- Haydn. 'He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.-Psalm cxlvii. 3. O THOU who dry'st the mourner's How dark this world would be, Must weep those tears alone. Breathes sweetness out of woe. When joy no longer soothes or cheers, Is dimm'd and vanish'd too! Our peace-branch from above? With more than rapture's ray; WEEP NOT FOR THOSE, AIR-Avison. WEEP not for those whom the veil of the tomb And but sleeps, till the sunshine of heaven has unchain'd it, Weep not for those whom the veil of the tomb In life's happy morning hath hid from our eyes, The carrier pigeon, it is well known, flies at an elevated pitch, in order to surmount every ob stacle between her and the place to which she is destined. Ere sin threw a blight o'er the spirit's young bloom, Mourn not for her, the young bride of the vale,1 And the garland of love was yet fresh on her brow; From this gloomy world, while its gloom was unknown ;- To that land where the wings of the soul are unfurl'd, THE TURF SHALL BE MY FRAGRANT SHRINE. THE turf shall be my fragrant shrine; My choir shall be the moonlight waves, caves, Or when the stillness of the sea, Where I shall read, in words of flame, I'll read thy anger in the rack Thy mercy in the azure hue Of sunny brightness, breaking through! E'en more than music, breathes of There's nothing bright, above, below, I'll seek by day, some glade unknown, 1 This second verse, which I wrote long after the first, alludes to the fate of a very lovely and amiable girl, the daughter of the late Colonel Bainbrigge, who was married in Ashbourne Church, October 31, 1815, and died of a fever in a few weeks after. The sound of her marriage bells seemed scarcely out of our ears, when we glow, But in its light my soul can see There's nothing dark, below, above, heard of her death. During her last delirium, she sang several hymns in a voice even clearer and sweeter than usual, and among them were some from the present collection (particularly There's nothing bright but Heaven'), which this very interesting girl had often heard during the summer. SOUND THE LOUD TIMBREL. MIRIAM'S SONG. AIR-Avison.1 'And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women vent out after her with timbrels and with dances.'-Exod. xv. 20. SOUND the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea! His chariots, his horsemen, all splendid and brave, Praise to the Conqueror, praise to the Lord, His word was our arrow, his breath was our sword!- Of those she sent forth in the hour of her pride? GO, LET ME WEEP. AIR-Stevenson. Go, let me weep! there's bliss in tears, Effaced by every drop that steals. Effaced by every drop that steals. Leave me to sigh o'er hours that flew 'I have so altered the character of this air, which is from the beginning of one of Avison's old-fashioned concertos, that, without this acknowledgment, it could hardly, I think, be recognised. And, while they pass'd, a fragrance threw, But left no trace of sweets behind.The warmest sigh that pleasure heaves Is cold, is faint, to those that swell The heart, where pure repentance grieves O'er hours of pleasure, loved too well! Leave me to sigh o'er days that flew More idly than the summer's wind, And, while they pass'd, a fragrance threw, But left no trace of sweets behind. 2 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch, the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians.'Exod. xiv. 24. COME NOT, O LORD! AIR-Haydn. COME not, O Lord! in the dread robe On Egypt thy pillar frown'd dark of splendour Thou wor'st on the Mount, in the day of thine ire ! Come veil'd in those shadows, deep, awful, but tender, Which Mercy flings over thy features of fire! Lord! Thou rememb'rest the night, when thy nation1 Stood fronting her foe by the redrolling stream; desolation, As down in the sunless retreats of the ocean, And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these.'-Exod. xiv. 20. My application of this passage is borrowed from some late prose writer, whose name I am ungrateful enough to forget. So, deep in my soul the still prayer of devotion, As still, to the Star of its Worship, though clouded, True, fond, trembling to Thee !- So, dark as I roam, in this wintry world shrouded, BUT WHO SHALL SEE. AIR-Stevenson. BUT who shall see the glorious day Then, Judah! thou no more shalt mourn The Fount of life shall then be quaffed ALMIGHTY GOD! CHORUS OF PRIESTS. Without their flames,3 we wreathe the ALMIGHTY GOD! when round Thy shrine | When round Thy cherubs, smiling calm The palm-tree's heavenly branch we twine,1 (Emblem of Life's eternal ray, 'The Scriptures having declared that the Temple of Jerusalem was a type of the Messiah, it is natural to conclude that the Palms, which made so conspicuous a figure in that structure, represented that Life and Immortality which were brought to light by the Gospel.'-Observations on the Palm as a sacred Emblem, by W. Tighe. And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims, palm, Oh God! we feel the emblem true,— Those cherubs with their smiling eyes, |