I saw a boy in healthful vigour bold,
Nor summer's heat he fear'd, nor winter's cold;
With dexterous foot he dared the frozen pool,

His laugh rang loudest 'mid his mates at school.
Again I came his name alone was found

On one low stone that crowns yon swelling mound.

I saw a gentle maid with beauty bless'd,
In youth resplendent, and by love caress'd;
Her clustering hair in sunny ringlets glow'd,
Her red lips moved, and thrilling music flow'd.
Again I came her parents' halls were lone,
And o'er her turf-bed rose the weeper's moan.

Oh, boasted joys of earth! how swift ye fly,
Rent from the heart or hidden from the eye;
So through the web the weaver's shuttle glides,
So speeds the vessel o'er the billowy tides,
So cleaves the bird the liquid fields of light,
And leaves no furrow of its trackless flight.

Dust tends to dust, with ashes ashes blend;
Yet when the grave engulfs the buried friend,
A few brief sighs may mark its yawning brink,
A few salt tears the broken clods may drink,
A few sad hearts with bursting anguish bleed,
And pay that tribute which they soon must need.

They soon must need! But life's returning cares Sweep off the precious fruit that sorrow bears; The mourner drops his sable, and aspires To light anew ambition's smother'd fires,

Bathe his worn brow with labour's wasting dew, And, sleepless, toil for heirs he knows not who.

Thus He who marks us in our vain career, In wisdom darkens what we hold most dear; Shreds from our vine the bowering leaves away, And breaks its tendrils from their grovelling stay, That the rich clusters, lifted to the sky,

May surer ripen for a world on high.

MRS L. H. SIGOURNEY, 1791—

-American.

ODE TO PATIENCE.

UNAWED by threats, unmoved by force,
My steady soul pursues her course,
Collected, calm, resign'd;

Say, you who search with curious eyes
The source whence human actions rise-
Say whence this turn of mind?

'Tis Patience-lenient Goddess, hail!
Oh, let thy votary's vows prevail,
Thy threaten'd flight to stay;

Long hast thou been a welcome guest,
Long reign'd an inmate in this breast,
And ruled with gentle sway.

Through all the various turns of fate,
Ordain'd me in each several state,

My wayward lot has known;
What taught me silently to bear,
To curb the sigh, to check the tear,
When sorrow weigh'd me down?

'Twas Patience-temperate Goddess, stay! For still thy dictates I obey,

Nor yield to Passion's power:

Though by injurious foes borne down,
My fame, my toil, my hopes o'erthrown
In some ill-fated hour.

When robb'd of what I held most dear,
My hands adorn'd the mournful bier
Of her I loved so well;

What, when mute sorrow chain'd my tongue,
As o'er the sable hearse I hung,
Forbade the tide to swell?

'Twas Patience-Goddess ever calm!

Oh! pour into my breast the balm,
That antidote to pain;
Which flowing from thy nectar'd urn,
By chemistry divine can turn

Our losses into gain.

When sick and languishing in bed,

Sleep from my restless couch had fled,

(Sleep which even pain beguiles,)
What taught me calmly to sustain
A feverish being rack'd with pain,

And dress'd my looks in smiles?

'Twas Patience-Heaven-descended maid! Implored, flew swiftly to my aid,

And lent her fostering breast;

Watch'd my sad hours with parent care,
Repell'd the approaches of despair,
And soothed my soul to rest.

Say, when dissever'd from his side,
My friend, protector, and my guide,
When my prophetic soul,

Anticipating all the storm,

Saw danger in its direst form,

What could my fears control?

'Twas Patience-gentle Goddess, hear!
Be ever to thy suppliant near,

Nor let one murmur rise;

Since still some mighty joys are given,
Dear to her soul the gifts of Heaven,
The sweet domestic ties.

MRS T. SHERIDAN.

-Poetical Register, 1802.

YOUTH AND AGE.

WITH cheerful step the traveller
Pursues his early way,

When first the dimly-dawning east
Reveals the rising day.

He bounds along his craggy road,
He hastens up the height,
And all he sees and all he hears
Administer delight.

And if the mist, retiring slow,
Roll round its wavy white,
He thinks the morning vapours hide
Some beauty from his sight.

But when behind the western clouds

Departs the fading day,

How wearily the traveller

Pursues his evening way!

Sorely along the craggy road

His painful footsteps creep,

And slow, with many a feeble pause, He labours up the steep.