Fly from the " old poetic” fields *, Ye Paynim shadows dark! Immortal Greece, dear land of glorious lays, Lo! here the "unknown God" of thy unconscious praise! The olive wreath, the ivied wand, Each legend of the shadowy strand As little children lisp, and tell of Heaven, So thoughts beyond their thought to those high Bards were given. And these are ours: Thy partial grace The tempting treasure lends: These relics of a guilty race Are forfeit to thy friends : What seem'd an idol hymn, now breathes of Thee, Tun'd by Faith's ear to some celestial melody. Where each old poetic mountain Inspiration breathed around. Gray. There's not a strain to Memory deary, Nor flower in classic grove, There's not a sweet note warbled here, But minds us of thy Love. O Lord, our Lord, and spoiler of our foes, There is no light but thine: with Thee all beauty glows. y See Burns's Works, i. 293. Dr. Currie's edition. FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT. Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. Gen. xliii. 30. There stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. Gen. xlv, 1. WHEN Nature tries her finest touch, Weaving her vernal wreath, Mark ye, how close she veils her round, Who ever saw the earliest rose First open her sweet breast? Light up her gleaming crest? Fondly we seek the dawning bloom On features wan and fair,— The gazing eye no change can trace, Then turn, and, lo! 'tis there. But there's a sweeter flower than e'er A brighter star, a richer bloom Than e'er did western heaven illume 'Tis Love, the last best gift of Heaven; Love gentle, holy, pure: But tenderer than a dove's soft eye, Even human Love will shrink from sight Who boasts a heavenly birth? So still and secret is her growth, Ever the truest heart, Where deepest strikes her kindly root God only, and good angels, look As when, triumphant o'er his woes, As when the holy Maid beheld Thought has not colours half so fair In silence best ador'd. The gracious Dove, that brought from Heaven Of many a chosen witness telling, |