Here the wren of softest note

Builds its nest and warbles well; Here the blackbird strains his throat; Welcome, Ladies! to our cell.

II.

When fades the moon to shadowy-pale,
And scuds the cloud before the gale,
Ere the morn, all gem-bedight,
Hath streak'd the East with rosy light,
We sip the furze-flower's fragrant dews,
Clad in robes of rainbow hues ;
Or sport amid the shooting gleams
To the tune of distant-tinkling teams,
While lusty Labour, scouting sorrow,
Bids the dame a glad good-morrow,
Who jogs the accustom'd road along,
And paces cheery to her cheering song.

III.

But not our filmy pinion
We scorch amid the blaze of day,
When noontide's fiery-tressed minion
Flashes the fervid ray.

Aye from the sultry heat

We to the cave retreat, O'ercanopied by huge roots intertwined With wildest texture, blacken'd o'er with age: Round them their mantle green the ivies bind, Beneath whose foliage pale,

Fann'd by the unfrequent gale,

We shield us from the tyrant's mid-day rage.

IV.

Thither, while the murmuring throng
Of wild-bees hum their drowsy song,
By Indolence and Fancy brought,
A youthful Bard, "unknown to fame,"
Wooes the Queen of solemn thought,
And heaves the gentle misery of a sigh,
Gazing with tearful eye,

As round our sandy grot appear
Many a rudely-sculptured name
To pensive Memory dear!

1

Weaving gay dreams of sunny-tinctured hue, We glance before his view:

O'er his hush'd soul our soothing witcheries shed

And twine the future garland round his head.

V.

When Evening's dusky car,
Crown'd with her dewy star,

Steals o'er the fading sky in shadowy flight;
On leaves of aspen trees

We tremble to the breeze,

Veil'd from the grosser ken of mortal sight. Or, haply, at the visionary 2 hour,

Along our wildly-bower'd sequester'd walk, We listen to the enamour'd rustic's talk;

1

Appear.] Should be “

"appears."

Also

2 Visionary.] The word has passed through many shades of meaning. See Wordsworth, passim. compare Ode to the Departing Year," my soul beheld thy vision"; and the sense of the word in the heading, “The Visionary Hope," as contrasted with that of a poem by Bowles, entitled "The Visionary Boy."

Heave with the heavings of the maiden's breast, Where young-eyed Loves have hid their turtle nest;

Or guide of soul-subduing power The glance, that from the half-confessing eye Darts the fond question or the soft reply.

VI.

Or through the mystic ringlets of the vale
We flash our faery feet in gamesome
prank;

Or, silent-sandall'd, pay our defter court,
Circling the Spirit of the western gale,
Where wearied with his flower-caressing
sport,

Supine he slumbers on a violet bank; Then with quaint music hymn the parting gleam

1

By lonely Otter's sleep-persuading stream;
Or where his wave with loud unquiet song
Dash'd o'er the rocky channel froths along;
Or where, his silver waters smooth'd to rest,
The tall tree's shadow sleeps upon his breast.

VII.

Hence thou lingerer, Light!
Eve saddens into night.

Mother of wildly-working dreams! we view
The sombre hours, that round thee stand
With downcast eyes (a duteous band) !
Their dark robes dripping with the heavy dew.

Rocky.] So Herrick apostrophizes Dean bourn, also in Devon,

"Thy rocky bottom, that doth tear thy streams."

Sorceress of the ebon throne !
Thy power the Pixies own,
When round thy raven brow
Heaven's lucent roses glow,

And clouds in watery colours drest
Float in light drapery o'er thy sable vest:
What time the pale moon sheds a softer day,
Mellowing the woods beneath its pensive beam :
For mid the quivering light 'tis ours to play,
Aye dancing to the cadence of the stream.

VIII.

Welcome, Ladies! to the cell

Where the blameless Pixies dwell: But thou, sweet Nymph! proclaim'd our Faery Queen,

With what obeisance meet

Thy presence shall we greet?

For lo! attendant on thy steps are seen
Graceful Ease in artless stole,
And white-robed Purity of soul,
With Honour's softer mien ;

Mirth of the loosely-flowing hair,
And meek-eyed Pity eloquently fair,
Whose tearful cheeks are lovely to the view,
As snow-drop wet with dew.

IX.

Unboastful Maid! though now the lily pale Transparent grace thy beauties meek;

1 Unboastful.] The latest version of the poem to Joseph Cottle begins "unboastful_bard," and we have "unboast ful stream" in Lines to a Beautiful Spring in a Village.

Yet ere again along the impurpling vale,
The purpling vale and elfin-haunted grove,
Young Zephyr his fresh flowers profusely
throws,

We'll tinge with livelier hues thy cheek; And, haply, from the nectar-breathing rose Extract a blush1 for Love!

THE COMPOSITION OF A KISS.*

UPID, if storying legends tell aright,
Once framed a rich elixir of delight.
A chalice o'er love-kindled flames
he fix'd,

And in it nectar and ambrosia mix'd:

With these the magic dews, which evening

brings,

Brush'd from the Idalian star by faery wings: Each tender pledge of sacred faith he join'd, Each gentler pleasure of th' unspotted mindDay-dreams, whose tints with sportive brightness glow,

And Hope, the blameless parasite of Woe.

1 Blush.] Compare the closing lines of the first stanza of The Kiss.

* While staying with his brother, the Rev. George Coleridge, at Ottery, in 1793, Coleridge visited Plymouth in his company. This poem, and The Rose, were written on that occasion on the fly-leaves of a copy of Collins, belonging to Miss F. Nesbitt. The heading is Cupid turned Chymist, and the date 1793 is appended.