Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

Around in sympathetic mirth
Its tricks the kitten tries;
The cricket chirrups in the hearth,
The crackling faggot flies.

But nothing could a charm impart
To soothe the stranger's woe;
For grief was heavy at his heart,
And tears began to flow.

His rising cares the hermit spy'd, With answ'ring care opprest: "And whence, unhappy youth," he cry'd, "The sorrows of thy breast?

"From better habitations spurn'd,
Reluctant dost thou rove;

Or grieve for friendship unreturn'd,
Or unregarded love?

"Alas! the joys that fortune brings
Are trifling, and decay;

And those who prize the paltry things,
More trifling things than they.

"And what is friendship but a name,
A charm that lulls to sleep;

A shade that follows wealth or fame,
And leaves the wretch to weep?

"And love is still an emptier sound,
The modern fair-one's jest:

On Earth unseen, or only found

To warm the turtle's nest.

"For shame, fond youth, thy sorrows hush,

And spurn the sex," he said:
But while he spoke, a rising blush
His love-lorn guest betray'd.

Surpris'd he sees new beauties rise,
Swift mantling to the view;
Like colours o'er the morning skies,
As bright, as transient too.

The bashful look, the rising breast,
Alternate spread alarms :
The lovely stranger stands confest,
A maid in all her charms.

“And, ah! forgive a stranger rude,
A wretch forlorn," she cry'd;
"Whose feet unhallow'd thus intrude
Where Heav'n and you reside.

"But let a maid thy pity share,

Whom love has taught to stray; Who seeks for rest, but finds despair Companion of her way.

"My father liv'd beside the Tyne,

A wealthy lord was he;

And all his wealth was mark'd as mine,

He had but only me.

"To win me from his tender arms

Unnumber'd suitors came,

Who prais'd me for imputed charms,
And felt, or feign'd a flame.

"Each hour a mercenary crowd

With richest proffers strove; Among the rest young Edwin bow'd, But never talk'd of love.

"In humble, simplest habit clad,
No wealth or pow'r had he;
Wisdom and worth were all he had,
But these were all to me.

"And when, beside me in the dale,
He carol'd lays of love,

His breath lent fragrance to the gale,
And music to the grove.

"The blossom op'ning to the day,
The dews of Heav'n refin'd,
Could nought of purity display
To emulate his mind.

"The dew, the blossoms of the tree,

With charms inconstant shine;
Their charms were his; but, woe to me,
Th' inconstancy was mine!

"For still I try'd each fickle art,

Importunate and vain;

And while his passion touch'd my heart,
I triumph'd in his pain.

"Till, quite dejected with my scorn,
He left me to my pride;

And sought a solitude forlorn
In secret, where he dy❜d.

[blocks in formation]

"But mine the sorrow, mine the fault,
And well my life shall pay ;
I'll seek the solitude he sought,
And stretch me where he lay.

"And there forlorn, despairing, hid,
I'll lay me down and die;
'T was so for me that Edwin did,
And so for him will I."

"Forbid it, Heav'n!" the hermit cry'd, And clasp'd her to his breast: The wond'ring fair-one turn'd to chide, 'T was Edwin's self that prest.

"Turn, Angelina, ever dear,

My charmer, turn to see

[ocr errors]

Thy own, thy long-lost Edwin here,
Restor❜d to love and thee.

"Thus let me hold thee to my heart,

And ev'ry care resign:

And shall we never, never part,

My life my all that's mine?

"No, never, from this hour to part, We'll live and love so true,

The sigh that rends thy constant heart Shall break thy Edwin's too."

RETALIATION.

A POEM.

Or old, when Scarron his companions invited,
Each guest brought his dish, and the feast was

united.

[fish, If our landlord * supplies us with beef and with Let each guest bring himself, and he brings the best dish:

Our deant shall be ven'son, just fresh from the plains; Our Burket shall be tongue, with the garnish of brains;

Our Will § shall be wild fowl, of excellent flavour; And Dick || with his pepper shall heighten the sa

vour:

[obtain;

Our Cumberland's ¶ sweet-bread its place shall And Douglas ** is pudding, substantial and plain:

The master of St. James's coffee-house, where the Doctor, and the friends he has characterised in this Poem, occasionally dined.

Dr. Barnard, Dean of Derry, in Ireland.

Mr. Edmund Burke.

$ Mr. William Burke, Secretary to General Conway, and Member for Bedwin.

Mr. Richard Burke, Collector of Grenada.

Mr. Richard Cumberland, author of the West Indian, Fashionable Lover, The Brothers, and other dramatic pieces.

** Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, who no less distinguished himself as a citizen of the world, than a sound critic, in detecting several literary mistakes (or rather forgeries) of his countrymen; particularly Lauder on Milton, and Bower's History of the Popes.

« VorigeDoorgaan »