Imatges de pàgina
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ADDRESS.

To the high summit of that sacred hill

PARNASSUS-fam'd in mythologic page!
Whose sightless turrets cleave Heav'ns azure vault,
Let loftier bards the sons of science lead;
Enlighten'd minds by kindred genius lure:-
Far humbler scenes my unambitious soul
Attempteth to explore-my lowly Muse
No winged Pegasus to mount presumes!
But on the back of ambling Palfrey, she
Steady tho' eager, paces and pursues
The devious bye-paths of the winding dell;
Thro' smiling meads irregularly ròves;
Those variegated carpets-Nature wild,
With most luxuriant fancy ever new,
On velvet green embroidereth—and neʼer
Two, to the same unvarying pattern wrought :-
Or if in daring moment, frolic mood,
She skirts perchance Imagination's mount,
And loiters on its sunny slope awhile
To catch a faint tinge of its distant beam-
Soon with an impotent and falt'ring step
What time meek Evening in her shadowy stole
Walks o'er the dewy lawn, descendeth she-
All by the sedge-fring'd margin of the stream-

The crystal stream that laves its circling base-
Her lone, nocturnal, pensive tour to take;
And follow where the escaping waters toss
Their intercepted falls of scatter'd pearl,
In many a foamy fountain, brilliant shower,
O'er craggy cliffs into the vale beneath-
Brawl thro' the covert-glisten thro' the glade
In serpentine meander-half conceal'd,
Half hid-its tinkling, fertilizing flow:-
Then hies-(her chequer'd observations o'er)
To hail thee, Contemplation!—peerless maid!
Where in sequester'd canopy, remote
From day's obtrusive hum-at midnight hour
By muffled silence tended, thou reclin'st ;-
On whose wrapt musings unobstructed breaks
The paly moon full on thy lifted eye!
Worlds unexplor'd on thy expanded thought!-
Happy, most happy! if from scenes like these,
Some yet unnotic'd scenes of humble life

Where clear springs bubble and the wild-flower blows;
Where woods umbrageous wave their foliage green,
And vagrant zephyrs with their high-tops play-
Kiss the fresh buds, and curl the limpid rill,
Breathe thro' the brake, and languish in the bower I
Nay, from the unprofitable, bleak, wild waste-
Where outcast poverty neglected roams,
And meagre want despotic sway maintains—
She gather aught, of fragrance fresh and rare ;
Aught or of lasting, or of transient power

To gratify the senses! soothe the heart:-
Improve or else exhilarate the mind:
That to the hour unoccupied may give,
That to the moment listless may impart
Some cheering consolation-impulse strong!
Aught that poetic chemistry may turn

To wholesome med'cine-that with smacking lip
Not loathing taste, may happily be ta'en :-
And for which simple, unassuming end

I solely shape my course―unbind my thought,
Imp my unpractis'd wing-and frame my song.-

LUBIN

AND HIS

DOG TRAY.

YOUNG LUBIN was a shepherd boy," Who watch'd a rigid master's sheep, And many a night was heard to sigh, And many a day was seen to weep:

For not a lambkin e'er was lost,
Or wether stray'd to field remote;

But Lubin ever was to blame,

Nor careful he, nor penn'd his cote.

Yet not a trustier lad was known,
To climb the promontory's brow;
Nor yet a tenderer heart e'er beat,
Beside the brook in vale below.

From him stern Winter's drifting snow,
Its pelting sleet, or frost severe;
Or scorching Summer's sultry ray,
Ne'er forc'd a murmur, or a tear.
B

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