Blossoms, and fruits, and flow'rs together rise,
And the whole year in gay confusion lies.
I HAVE been in such a dismal place,
Where joy ne'er enters, which the sun ne'er cheers;
Bound in with darkness, overspread with damps;
Where I have seen-if I could say I saw-
The good old king, majestic in his bonds,
And 'midst his griefs most venerably great.
By a din winking lamp, which feebly broke
The gloomy vapours, he lay stretch'd along
Upon th' unwholesome earth, his eyes fix'd upward,
And ever and anon a silent tear
Stole down and trickled from his hoary beard.
My heart is wither'd at that piteous sight,
As early blossoms are with eastern blasts.
He sent for me; and, while I rais'd his head,
He threw his aged arms about my neck,
And, seeing that I wept, he press'd me close:
So, leaning cheek to cheek, and eyes to eyes,
We mingled tears in a dumb scene of sorrow.
DRYDEN
THY rise of fortune did I only wed,
From it's decline determin'd to recede ?
Did I but purpose to embark with thee,
On the smooth surface of a summer sea;
While gentle zephyrs play in prosp❜rous gales,
And Fortune's favour fills the swelling sails;
But would forsake the ship, and make the shore,
When the winds whistle and the tempests roar?
No, Henry, no! One sacred oath has tied
Our loves; one destiny our life shall guide,
Nor wild nor deep our common way divide.
ABRA, she so was call'd, did soonest haste
To grace my presence; Abra went the last.
Abra was ready ere I called her name,
And, though I call'd another, Abrà came.
MONASTIC GLOOM.
THE darksome pines, that, o'er yon rocks reclin'd Wave high, and murmur to the hollow wind, The wand'ring streams, that shine between the hills, The grots, that echo to the tinkling rills, The dying gales, that pant upon the trees, The lakes, that quiver to the curling breeze; No more these scenes my meditation aid, Or lull to rest the visionary maid: But o'er the twilight groves and dusty caves, Long sounding aisles and intermingled graves, Black Melancholy sits, and round her throws A deathlike silence, and a dread repose; Her gloomy presence saddens all the scene, Shades ev'ry flow'r and darkens ev'ry green, Deepens the murmur of the falling floods, And breathes a browner horrour on the woods.
HOW happy is the blameless vestal's lot;
The world forgetting, by the world forgot!
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind;
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
Labour and rest, that equal periods keep;
"Obedient slumbers, that can wake and weep ;"
Desires compos'd, affections ever even ;
Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to Heav'n.
Grace shines around her with serenest beams,
And whisp'ring angels prompt her golden dreams.
For her th' unfading rose of Eden blooms,
And wings of seraphs shed divine perfumes;
For her the spouse prepares the bridal ring;
For her white virgins hymenæals sing;
To sounds of heav'nly harps she dies away,
And melts in visions of eternal day.
JUPITER AND EUROPA.
THE dignity of empire laid aside
(For love but ill agrees with kingly pride),
The ruler of the skies, the thund'ring god,
Who shakes the world's foundations with a nod,
Among a herd of lowing heifers ran,
Frisk'd in a bull, and bellow'd o'er the plain.
Large rolls of fat about his shoulders clung,
And from his neck the double dewlap hung.
His skin was whiter than the snow that lies
Unsullied by the breath of southern skies;
Small shining horns on his curl'd forehead stand,
As turn'd and polish'd by the workman's hand;
His eye-balls roll'd, not formidably bright,
But gaz'd and languish'd with a gentle light.
His ev'ry look was peaceful, and express'd
The softness of the lover in the beast.
Agénor's royal daughter, as she play'd
Among the fields, the milk-white bull survey'd,
And view'd his spotless body with delight,
And, at a distance, kept him in her sight.
At length, she pluck'd the rising flow'rs, and fed
The gentle beast, and fondly strok'd his head.
And now he wantons o'er the neighbʼring strand,
Now rolls his body on the yellow sand;
And now, perceiving all her fears decay'd,
Comes tossing forward to the royal maid;
Gives her his breast to stroke, and downward turns
His grisly brow, and gently stoops his horns.
In flow'ry wreaths the royal virgin dress'd
His bending horns, and kindly clapp'd his breast,
Till now, grown wanton and devoid of fear,
Not knowing that she press'd the Thunderer,
She plac'd herself upon his back, and rode
O'er fields and meadows, seated on the god.
He gently march'd along, and, by degrees,
Left the dry meadow, and approach'd the seas;
Where now he dips his hoofs, and wets his thighs,
Now plunges in, and carries off the prize.
The frighted nymph looks backward on the shore,
And hears the tumbling billows round her roar ;
But still she holds him fast: one hand is borne
Upon his back the other grasps a horn:
Her train of ruffling garments flies behind,
Swells in the air, and hovers in the wind.
TREES CHARACTERIZED.
THEN forth they pass, with pleasure forward led, Joying to hear the birds' sweet harmony,
Which, shrowded in that grove from tempests dread,
Seem'd in their song to scorn the cruel sky.
Much can they praise the trees so straight and high
The sailing Pine; the Cedar, proud and tall;
The vine-prop Elm; the Poplar, never dry;
The builder Oak, sole king of forests all;
The Aspin, good for staves: the Cypres, funereal;
The Laurel, meed of mighty conquerors
And poets sage; the Fir, that weepeth still;
The Willow, worn of forlorn paramours;
The Yew, obedient to the bender's will;
The Birch for shafts; the Sallow for the mill;
The Myrrh sweet-bleeding in the bitter wound;
The warlike Beech; the Ash, for nothing ill;
The fruitful Olive, and the Platane round;
The carver Holm; the Maple, seldom inward sound.
SPENSER
THE ROBIN.
the fowls of Heav'n,
Tam'd by the cruel season, crowd around
The winnowing store, and claim the little boon,
Which Providence assigns them. One alone,
The redbreast, sacred to the household gods,
Wisely regardful of th' embroiling sky,
In joyless fields and thorny thickets leaves
His shiv'ring mates, and pays to trusted man
His annual visit. Half afraid, he first
Against the window beats; then, brisk, alights
On the warm hearth; then, hopping o'er the floor,
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