FROM CORDERIUS LEPIDUS.

ON A MARBLE STATUE OF VENUS.

Nescio cur Venerem meretricem carmina dicant; &c.

I KNOW not why some bards will scold, And call thee, Venus, bold and free; I'm sure thou art almost as cold

And dull as e'en their rhymes can be.

STANZAS,

WRITTEN AT NIAGARA.

WHATE'ER I've been told of thy wonders

is true!

All nature at once seems to rush on my view; And lost, in the trance you occasion, I cry, How stupendous the scene! what an atom am I!

How thy waves, wildly foaming, and hurled around,

Rise in volumes of mist from thy caldron profound!

While in tears, which thy fury has caused, brightly plays

The rainbow that dazzles my sight with its

rays!

Like the tyrant of Europe, whose merciless force

Bears down ev'ry mound which opposes

his course;

While the halo, whose glory encircles his head,

Is formed by the tears which the wretched have shed.

O, who should not rather all glory forego, Than gain it by battle, and bloodshed, and

Wo!

O, who would not rather inhabit the vale, Than dwell on the Andes, the sport of each gale!

Near Etna I've strayed, with impressions most sweet,

Through vineyards encircling with verdure its feet;

But felt not the least inclination to tread

On the ashes which cover its cloud-piercing head.

And though with sensations I ne'er knew before,

I bend me, enraptured, to list to thy roar, And, as thy blue streams irresistibly roll, Feel the awe most sublime which possesses my soul.

Yet I would not, for worlds, that my life were like thee!

No, far be each thought of such tumult from

me!

Far, far be each wish that ambition might*

form

To dwell in the horrour and roar of the

storm!

Let me, cool and clear, glide on, free from all taint,

Dispensing relief to the weary and faint; No torrent that bursts to affright or amaze; But the smooth, gentle stream through the valley that strays.