No More Learning

453. -- To Dr. Thornton, on his beautiful representa-
tion of the Agave, or American Aloe.
Nurs'd by a length of rolling years,
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? 72 Key to English Prosody.
Her stately form Agave rears,
Protracting still, with wise delay,
The glory foMowd by decay ;
'Till, urg'd by time's resistless date,
Nobly she braves approaching fate,
And, conscious of impending doom,
Bursts forth impatient into bloom ;
While, rich from all their curving stems,
Profusely shoot the golden gems;
Then,fading 'midst admiring eyes,
The vegefable martyr dies.
But, flow'ring thus at thy command,
Unchanged her finish'd form shall stond,
And, glo-\-rying in | perennial bloom,
Shall smile through ages yet to come.
Iambics of ten syllables.
454
So stands the Thracian herds/nan with his spenr,
Full in the gap, and hopes the hunted bear.
455
And o'er its eastern gate, was rais'd above
A temple, sacred # the queen of love.
456
The form of Mars, high tin a chariot stood,
allsheath'd in arms; and gruffly look'd the god.
457 .
The huntress Cyn-\-thia, Kith | her nymphs around,
Pursues the deer : the woods with horns reseund.
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? Key to English Prosody. 73
458
Then, kneeling with her hands across her breast,
Thus lowly she preferr'd her chaste request.
459
Then shall the war, and stei n debate, and strife
Immortal, be the bus'ness of my life.
460
Scarce were they seated, when, with clamors loud,
in rush'd at once a rude promis-l-cuowj crowd. J
461
But, whither went his soul, let those relate,
Who search the secrets of the future state.
462
But why, alas! do mortal men in vain
Of Fortune, Fate, or 'Providence, complain?
463
fie snor'd secure till morn, his senses bound
In slumter, and in long oblivion drown'd.
464
In days ef old, there liv'd, of mighty fame,
A valiant prince, and Theseus was his name.
465
Indulgent heav'n vouchsafes, for our delight,
The sweet Vicissitudes of day and night.
466
o thou, with whom my heart was wont to share,
From reason's dawn, each pleasure and each care !
467
oh ! learn from our example and our fate,
Learn wisdom and repentance, ere too late.
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? 74 Key to English Prosody.
468 ' . .
Thus, always teasing others, always teas'd,
His only pleasure is to be displeas'd.
469
Like quicksilver, the rhet'ric they display,
Shines, us it runs, hut, grasp'd at, slips awaj\
470
angels, when Mercy's mandate wing'd their flight,
Had stopp'd to catch new rapture from the sight.
471
We pay, with rev'renee due, and grief sincere,
At learning's tomb, the tributary tear.
472
How much of learning, when Horatio fell,
How much of knowledge, bade the world farewell!
473
For me at home the careful housewives make,
With plums and almonds rich, an ample cake.
474 ,
Pride of the land ! whate'er of good or fair
Celestial bounty gives, you largely share.
475
Rash is the fool, who, 'gainst his sov'reign lord,
Presumes to utter one opposing word.
476
Now Sco-\-tia's qiietn, | as faintly dawn'd the day,
Rose on her couch, and gaz'd her soul away.
477
God, ever workatog on a social plan,
By various ties attaches man to man.
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? Key to English Prosody. 75
478
Yet,fair and feasible although it seein,
Depend not much upon your golden dream.
479
The sage, who late o'er India's wide domain
Diffus'd the blessmgs of Britannia's reign.
4S0
There was a time, when cheerfully the light
Wak'd me at morn, and peace was mine at night.
481
W-fated Greece, beneath a victor's ire,
Saw both her genius and her taste expire.
482
Lo ! lame Tyrtaews, with his martial lyre,
Wakes s/iimb'ring Sparta's half-extinguish'd fire.
483
No thought can figure, and no tongue express,
No pen describe, poor Orra's dire distress.
484
We thank the hand that points, with gentle art,
The wholesome lance* tH some morbid part.
485
This beauteous virgin Theodo-l-sn<< woo'd, |
A youth, with worth of early growth endu'd.
486
N5w tfn his couch reclin'd Darius lay,
Tir'd with the toilsome pleasures of the day.
487
E'en now, e'en now, on yonder western shores
Weeps pfile Despair, and writhing Anguish roari.
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? 76 Key to English Prosody.
E'en note, in Afric's groves, with hideous yell,
Fierce Slay'ty stalks, and slips the dogs of hell.
488
Well spake the propter, " Eft the desert sing:
Where sprang the thorn, the spiry fir shall spring;
And, where unsight/y and rank fAIstles grew,
Shall grow the myrtle and luxu-l-rtanf yew. |
489
But not, till time has calm'd the ruffled breast.
Are these fond dreams of happiness confess'd.
Not, till the rushing winds forget to rave,
Is heav'n's sweet smile reflected Hn the wave.
490
Take, if you can, ye care/ess and supine,
Counsel and caution frifm a voiee like mine.
Truths, which the theorisf could never reach,
And observation taught me, i would teach.
491
Just heav'n approves, as honest and sincere,
The work of gen'rous love, and filial fear ;
But, with averted eyes, th' omni-\-sci%nt judge |
Scorns the base hireling, and the slavish drudge.
492. -- To Death,
ah! why, capricious, thus, with tyrant pride,
Stillfrom the wretched dost thou turn aside ?
And, where thy presence strikes with wild dismay,
Why love, an un-invited guest, to stray ? , -
493. -- The Planet Mercury.
Scorch'd, as he moves around the solar blaze,
Swift Merc'xy first his vivid orb displays.
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? Key to English Prosody. 77
494
The heart, surrender'J to the ruling pow'r
Of some ungovern'd passion ev'ry hour,
Finds, by degrees, the truths that once bore sway,
And all their deep impression, wear away.
So coin grows smooth, in traffic current pass'd,
Till Caesar's image is effac'd at last.
495
I saw thee crof s the troubled sea of life,
Thwarted by storms of elemental strife.
I saw thy skiff unequal fight maintain
With fearful tempests on'the raging main.
I saw the whirlwind's breath, with dreadful sweep,
Heave up the mighty btilows of the deep.
496
Down by yon hazel copse, at ev'ning, blaz'd
The Gipsey's faggot. -- There we stood, and gaz'd--
Xiaz'd tin her sun-burn'd face with silent awe,
' Her tatter'd mantle, and her hood of straw
As o'er my palm the silver piece she drew,
And trac'd the line of life with searching viewr,
How throbb'd my flutt'ring pulse with hopes and fears,
To learn the color o/'my future years!
497
So 1'ully paus'd amid the wreck of time,
on the rude stone to trace the truth sublime,
When at his feet, in honor'd dust disclos'd,
Th' immortal sage of Syracuse repos'd;
h3 \ .
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? Key to English Prosody.
Iambics of eight and of six syllables alternately.
498
Oa Echo's ear her plaintive strains
In mournful accents play'd;
And sweet/y In the distant plains
The warbling notes decay'd.
499
Though dazzling splendor, pomp, and show,
My {ortune has denied, '. - .
Yet, more than grandeur con bestow,
Content has well supplied.
500
IS! down the mountain's rugged side,
Impe-1-faoi/s for-|-rents dash ;
And mingled rocks and trees the tide
Bears down with horrid crash.
501
Adieu, ye plains, where nature smiles!
Adieu, ye verdant groves!
The view no more my thought beguiles, .
No more my solace proves.
502. -- Epitaph on a Child,
ere sin could blight, or sorrow fade,
Death came, with friendly care,
The op'ning bud to heav'n convey'd,
And bade it blossom there.
503
Alas! regard/ess of their doom,
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? Key to English Prosody.
The little victims play.
No sense have they of ills to come,
No care beyond to-day.
504. -- Migratory Birds.
From climes remote, on weary wing,
Arrive a helpless train,
Which, circling low in airy ring,
Seek food and rest in vain.
505
Firm are the sons that Britain leads
To combat tin the main,
And firm her hardy race that treads,
In steady march, the plain.
506
The peaceful eve, with smile serene,
Her twilight mantle spread,
And Cyn-|-M? a S'er | the dewy green
Her argent lustre shed.
507
fair fountain! on thy margin green,
May tufted trees arise,
And spreading boughs thy bosom screen
From summer's fervid skies!
508
ah me ! to youth's untutor'd eye,
What charms the prospect wears!
Bright as the poi tals of the sky,
The op'ning world appears.
509
Here, in rude, state, old chief tains dwelt,
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? 80 Key to English Prosody.
Who no refinement knew.
Small were the wants their bosoms felt,
and their enjoyments fewi
510
Sure, not to life's short span confin'd,
Shall sacred friendship glow.
Beyond the grave, the ardent mind
Its best delights shall know.
. 511
Still is the toiling hand of Care:
The panting herds repose:
Of insects, thrtiugh the peopled air,
The busy murmur glows.
512
The swalftfaps, in their torpid state,
Compose their useless wing ;
And bees in hives as idly wait
The call of early spring.
513
Ye great, I ask not your repose,
On swelling velvet laid,
While o'er my head the oak-leaves close
Their venerable shade.
514
if, written on man's owtward brow,
Each inward grief we saw,
How many, whtim we envy now,
Would then our pity draw !
515
The church was deck'd in black attire,
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? Key to English Prosody.
The saints in black array'd,
and In the middle of the choir
A bloody corpse was laid
And, nearer as he came, he found
The altar stain'd with blood ;
and on the steps, and all around,
There stream'd a crimson flood.
516
While balmy Zephyrs gently blew,
I wantfe>'d tf'er the vale.
The lily white and vi'let blue
Gavefragrmice & the gale.
The feather'd tribes, with tuneful song,
HaiCd Sol's refulgent beam ;
The finny race, in sportive throng,
Sail'd twiftly down the stream.
517
And, when at length it came, with joy
They hail'd the bridal day,
And onward (6 the house of God
They went their willing way.
513
Bright on the mountain's heathy slope
The day's last splendors shine,
And, rich with ma-I-ny a m-i-diant hue,
Gleam gaily o'er the Rhine.
519
Where Mis'ry spreads her deepest shade,
Your strong compassion glows :
Front your blest lips the balm distils,
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? 82 Key to English Prosody.
That softens human woes.
520
While down the summer stream of vice
The thoughtless many glide,
You upward steer your steady bark,
And stem the rushing tide.
521
The fisher in the lake below
Durst never cast his net;
Nor ever swal/oro in its waves
Her passing wing would wet.
522
Sudden th' unfathom'd lake sent forth
Strange music from beneath ;
And slow(i/ b"er the waters sail'd
The solemn sounds of death.
523
Ye not from discontent arise
The wishes i disclose :
My heart, for blessings i enjoy,
With gratitude o'erflows.
524. -- The double-blossomed Cherry-t
In beauty's fairest vest array'd,
How, lately, shone this tree !
" My garden's pride," I fondly said,
" Henceforward thou shalt be". . . . . . .
But not a vestige now remains
of my late fas'rite tree.
Its snowy blossoms all around
In scatter'd heaps I see.
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? Key to English Prosody. 83
Rebuk'd I stand, who thus could turn
From real worth my eyes,
and to that worth a flow'r prefer,
Which only blooms and dies.
Iambics of eight syllables, with alternate rhime.
515
Thy smiles were glad, when last we met,
Thou object of my mournful tear!
But now in shades thy sun is set,
No more with smiles mine eye to cheer.
526
How gaily, in our youthful days,
We gambol'd on the vernal plain,
Where the pure streamlet swiftly strays,
Through vales and woodlands, to the main ! '
527
With herbs and flow'rs, each sabbath morn,
A weeping troop is duly seen
Of youths and virgins, to adorn
Thy grave within the sacred green.
528
Fell Despotism his giant form
Shows to the subjugated mind,
As glares the me-\-teor of \ the storm, .
The dread, the horror of mankind.
529
Ijoud ruar'd the boist'rous blast of heav'u,
While Jessy rov'd with bosom bare:
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? 84 Key to English Prosody.
The fleecy snow in heaps was driv'n:
The black'ning tempest fill'd the air.
530
Soft be thy slumbers, sorrow's child !
Serene and tranquil be thy rest!
oft have thy smiles my tears beguil'd,
And sooth'd my agisted breast.
531
oh! see yon chief to battle go.
The stroke arrests htm, as he flies.
He falls; and, in that fatal blow,
The husband and the father dies.
532
Lauras fond heart, too full to speak,
To Arthur sigh'd a soft adieu.
Love's gentle tear stole down her cheek,
As Arthur mournfully withdrew.
533
Impatient Arthur, frVm the cares
Of worldly bus'ness now releas'd,
With stdXr to the spot repairs,
Where all his cares in rapture ce&s'd.
534
Through louring clouds, with pallid beam,
The moon shot temptirary light,
New gtitt'ring on the rippled stream,
Now slowly fading from the sight.
535
What mournful voice, with plaintive sighs,
Sad sounds along the winding vale ?
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? Key to English Prosody.
What piercing shrieks of anguish rise,
And float upon the passing gale ?
5S6
Around my ivied porch, shall spring
Each fragrant flow'r that drinks the dew*
And Lucy at her wheel shall sing,
In russet gown and apron blue.
537
Contending hosts, in mute surprise,
Drdpfrtim their grasp the brandish'd blade,
Forget th' affray, and turn their eyes,
Transported, on th' angelic maid.
538
The thrush begins his sprightly song,
High #n the thorn, at op'ning day ;
and, where the streamlet winds along,
The blackbird tunes his varied lay.
539. -- To Friendship.
Men call thee changing, sordid, vain,
On earth scarce known, and rare to sec :
and, when they feel base treach'ry's pain,
They lay the heavy blame on tbee.
540
As late along the flow'ry side
Of Derwent's murm'ring stream I stray'd,
A rosy sweet-\-briar bush | I spy'd,
Full blooming m the sunny glade.
Its blossoms glow'd with crimson die,
As o'er the glassy wave they spread;
and on the gales, that sported by.
? ? Generated for Christian Pecaut (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:50 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hnjin7 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 86 Key. to English Prosody.
Their delicate perfume was shed.
This day, retaining V6 the spot,
To view the bush so richly blown,
With tearful eye 1 tnark'd its lot;
For all its crimson bloom was gone.
541. -- To the Nightingale.
Why, plaintive warbler, tell me, why
For ever sighs thy troubled heart?
Cannot these groves, that glowing sky,
A solace to thy woes impart ?
See, Nature, at thy wish'd retur. n,
Renews her robe of gayest green :
And can thy wayward bosom mourn,
When Nature wakes the rural scene ?
. For thee, Aurora steeps in dews
The new-born flow'refs of the dale;
Tor thee, with lib'ral hand she strews
Her fragrance on the western gale.
542
Come, gentle Sleep ! with drowsy charms,
upon my senses softly steal;
Infold me in thy downy arms,
and my eye-lids set thy seal.
543
The dreams that own thy soft controul,
Come, Fancy,for thy vot'ry weave.
Lift high thy wand : my willing soul
Shall bless thy fictions, and believe.
The with'ring blast, the louring sky,
The cheerless path, I long have known.
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? Key to English Prosody.
Come^ aid me, Fancy ! we'll descry
A woild far hap-\-pier of | our own.
Fine forms alone shall visit there,
With gentle voice and soften'd mien :
Nor cold Distrust, nor Pride severe,
Nor Selfishness, shall there be seen.
And Hope shall, with her sunshine gay,
Light up our landscapes and our skies;
And Sensibi/i(y there stray,
With swelling heart and dewy eyes.
The sentient plant, whose feeling frame
Turns from the stranger's touch away,
Exists but in the soften'd beam,
Which art around it can convey.
By ev'ry passing gale distress'd,
By coarser steins that near it rise,
Bj ev'ry impulse rude oppress'd--
Expose it, and, like me, it dies.
544
Thus nature, with indulgent care,
Propitious grac'd my natal hour,
and, with supe-l-nor soref-l-ness, gave
The gale, the sunshine, and the flow'r.
545
He went, and, with a parent's voice,
He spake sweet mercy's accents mild.
His love return'd, within his arms
He long'd to strain his sor-! -rfe7<<? child. \
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? 88 Key to English Prosody.
Iambics of five feet, or ten syllables, with alternate
rhime.
546
Around the grave of her I still adore,
Mark how the frequent gale delights to play,
Forsakes the spicy grove and rosy bow'r,
To wave the grass that clothes this hallow'd clay.
547
The heav'nly guardian of the British isles,
Immortal Liberty, triumphant stood,
And view'd her gallant sons with fav'ring smiles,
Undaunted heroes of the field or flood.
548
False,fleeting hopes, and vain desires, farewell!
Fond anxious wishes, that within my breast
With sighs and un-availing anguish dwell,
heave me', oh! leave niH to my wonted rest.
549
Alas! the consolafitfrt i would grant
To others, 1 myself must never know :
But, if the means, the pow'r to bless, I want,
i can commiserate, though not bestow.
550
. . . Fair is the rising morn, when o'er the sky
The v -\-rient sun | expands his tos-l-e&te ray ;
Ami loxtly Iti the bard's enraptur'd eye
Fades the. meek radiUnce bfldeparting day,
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? Key to English Prosody. 89
551
Thus fades the flow'r, ulpp'd by the frozen gale,
Though once so sweet, so love/y OS the eye:
TAils the tall oaks, when boist'rous storms assail,
TornfrSm the earth, a mighty ruin lie.
$52
Far, far beyond the hated billow's reach,
The shipwreck'd stranger's weary bones should lie:
But blest the hands, that, on the wave-worn beach,
With pious care this hasty grave supply.
553
oh ! could I hide from mem'ry's steadfast eye
The pencil'd story of my early years !
tfer the" sad view she heaves the lingering sigh,
And drops, at ev'ry glance, her fruitless tears.
554
With mellow tints the lucid orb of day
Wow gilds the verdant beauftes tif the lawn :
Unclouded smiles his slowly-setting ray,
Sure presage of a. mild succeeding dawn.
555
Her meek submission to her maker's will
Heav'n sazo, and view'd the maid with pi-l-tt/ingeyes,
and her pure soul, from ev'ry future ill,
Caught to the blissful mansions of the skies.
556
For hiui no more shall pon;p display her charms,
Nor ceremony greet litm with a smile.
? In flatt'ry veil'd, no more shall servile swarms
Of sycophants attend hirn, to beguile.
i3
? ? Generated for Christian Pecaut (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 11:50 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/hvd. hnjin7 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? 90 Key to English Prosody.
Iambics of ten syllables; the first line rkiming with
the fourth; the second, with the third,
. 557
Descend, 5 Mercy! ft&m thy bright abode ;
And bid Ambition's direful contests cease.
oh! haste! and, with thee, bring stteetsmiYmg Peace,
' And all the blessfrigs by her hand bestow'd.
558
ah! once I thought, this bosSm, that so much
Had throbb'd with varied pangs, at length wassteel'd
By sullen ap&thy, nor more would yield
To seusibi/jrjir's impressive touch.
559
Romdfrtim his dream, a sound the shepherd hears
Of rustling plumes, that seek a distant clime. ;
and, Us he marks them steer their course sublime,
At intervals their clamors strike his ears.
500
The vivid lightning, glancing o'er the plain
With awe-inspiring glare, I do not dread ;
Nor all the horrors, now around me spread,
Cnve tH my aching breast one moment's pain.
561. -- To the Owl.
I woo thee, cheerless, melancholy bird !
Soothing to me Us thy fane-\-real cry. |
Here build thy lonely nest, and ever, nigh
My dwelling, be thy sullen wailings heard.
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?