Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

And fix th' ETERNAL's ftamp, His image on my foul!

Teach me to look with candour's modelt eye,
Prone to abfolve, while ftill the last to blame:
Teach me to heave the fympathetic figh,
And fpare" the blufhes of ingenuous shame."
To think no ill to dare no cruel deed---
In one wide circle to embrace mankind,
Be this my ftudy-this my glorious meed,
And HEAVEN
muft view, well pleas'd, its own re
flected MIND.

Da non THE VIOLET. <

MAVOR

SHELTER D from the blight ambition,
Fatal to the pride of rank,
See me in my low condition,
Laughing on the tufted bank,

On my robes (for emulation)
No variety's impreft;
Suited to an humble ftation,

Mine's an unembroider'd vest.

Modeft tho' the maids declare me,
May in her fantastic train,

When Paftora deigns to wear me,

Has no flow'ret half to vain. CUNNINGHAM.

TO A LITTLE GIRL, "

FAIREST flower, all flowers excelling,
Which in Milton's page we fee;
Flowers of Eve's embowered dwelling
Are, my fair one, types of thee.

Mark, my Polly, how the rofes
Emulate thy damask cheek

How the bud its fweets difclofes-
Buds thy opening bloom befpeak.

Lilies are by plain direction

Emblems of a double kind;
Emblems of thy fair complexion,
Emblems of thy fairer mind.

But, dear girl, both flowers and beauty
Bloffom, fade, and die away;

Then purfue good sense and duty,
Evergreens! which ne'er decay.

Соттом,

ODE TO THE CUCKOW.

HAIL, beautecus ftranger of the grove!

Thou meffenger of fpring!

Now Heaven repairs thy rural feat,

And woods thy welcome fing.

What time the daify decks the green,
Thy certain voice we hear;
Haft thou a ftar to guide thy path,
Or mark the rolling year?

Delightful vifitant! with thee
I hail the time of flowers,

And hear the found of mufic fweet
From birds among the bowers.

The school-boy wand'ring thro' the wood
To pull the primrose gay,

Starts, the new voice of Spring to hear,
And imitates thy lay.

[ocr errors]

What time the pea puts on the bloom

Thon flieft thy vocal vale,

[ocr errors]

An annual guest in other lands,
Another Spring to hail.

Sweet bird! thy bower is ever green,

Thy fky is ever clear;

Thou hast no forrow in thy fong,
No Winter in thy year!

O could I fly, I'd fly with thee!
We'd make, with joyful wing

1

Our annual vifit o'er the globe,

Companions of the spring.

LOGAN,

THE ANT, OR EMMET.

THESE emmets, how little they are in our eyes?
We tread them to duft, and a troop of them dies
Without our regard or concern:

Yet, as wife as we are, if we went to their school
There's many a fluggard, and many a fool,
Some leffons of wisdom might learn.

They don't wear their time out in fleeping or play,
But gather up corn in a fun-fhiny day,

And for winter they lay up their stores:

They manage their work in fuch regular forms, One would think they forefaw all the frosts and the ftorms,

And fo brought their food within doors.

But I have less sense than a poor creeping ant,
If I take not due care for the things I shall want,
Nor provide against dangers in time :-

When death or old age fhall ftare in my face,
What a wretch fhall I be in the end of my days,

If I trifle away all their prime!

Now, now, while my strength and my youth are in bloom,

Let me think what will ferve me when fickness shall come,

And pray that my fins be forgiven.

Let me read in good books, and believe, and obey, That when death turns me out of this cottage of

clay,

I may dwell in a palace in Heaven.

WATTS.

HYMN ON SOLITUDE.

HAIL, mildly pleafing Solitude,
Companion of the wife and good,i
But, from whofe holy piercing eye,
The herd of fools and villains fly,

Oh how I love with thee to walk, And liften to thy whisper'd talk, Which innocence and truth imparts, And melts the noft obdurate hearts.

[ocr errors]

A thousand fhapes you wear with ease, And still in every shape you please.

« EdellinenJatka »