II.

CONSOLATORY POWER OF A LOVE OF NATURE.

THE evening shines in May's luxuriant pride,
And all the sunny hills at distance glow,
And all the brooks, that through the valley flow,
Seem liquid gold. O, had my fate denied
Leisure, and power to taste the sweets that glide
Through wakened minds, as the blest seasons go
On their still varying progress, for the woe
My heart has felt what balm had been supplied?
But where great Nature smiles, as here she smiles,
'Mid verdant vales, and gently swelling hills,
And glassy lakes, and mazy murmuring rills,
And narrow wood-wild lanes, her spell beguiles
Th' impatient sighs of grief, and reconciles
Poetic minds to life, with all her ills.

III.

NO BARRENNESS IN NATURE WITHOUT BEAUTY.

FROM these wild heights, where oft the mists descend In rains that shroud the sun and chill the gale, Each transient gleaming interval we hail,

And rove the naked valleys, and extend

Our gaze around where yon vast mountains blend
With billowy clouds that o'er their summits sail,
Pondering how little Nature's charms befriend

The barren scene, monotonous and pale,
Yet solemn when the darkening shadows fleet
Successive o'er the wide and silent hills,
Gilded by wat❜ry sunbeams: then we meet

Peculiar pomp of vision. Fancy thrills; And owns there is no scene so rude and bare But Nature sheds or grace or grandeur there.

IV.

A STORMY NOVEMBER EVENING, GRADUALLY CLEARING UP IN A MOUNTAINOUS COUNTRY.

CEASED is the rain, but heavy drops yet fall

From the drenched roof; yet murmurs the sunk wind Round the dim hills; can yet a passage find Whistling through yon cleft rock, and ruined wall. Loud roar the angry torrents, and appall,

Though distant. A few stars, emerging kind, With green rays tremble through their misty shrouds ; And the moon gleams between the sailing clouds On half the darkened hill. Now blasts remove

The shadowing clouds, and on the mountain's brow, Full-orbed she shines. Half sunk within its cove

Heaves the lone boat, with gulphing sound :-and lo! Bright rolls the settling lake, and brimming rove The vale's blue rills, and glitter as they flow!

HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS.

TO HOPE.*

O EVER skilled to wear the form we love!

To bid the shapes of fear and grief depart;
Come, gentle Hope! with one gay smile remove
The lasting sadness of an aching heart.
Thy voice, benign enchantress! let me hear;

Say that for me some pleasures yet shall bloom,
That fancy's radiance, friendship's precious tear,
Shall soften, or shall chase, misfortune's gloom.
But come not glowing in the dazzling ray

Which once with dear illusions charmed my eye; O, strew no more, sweet flatterer! on my way

The flowers I fondly thought too bright to die : Visions less fair will soothe my pensive breast, That asks not happiness, but longs for rest.

* This sonnet stands at the head of fifteen others in the collected poems of the authoress, and she has appended to it the following

note :

"I commence the sonnets with that 'To Hope,' from a predilection in its favor for which I have a proud reason: it is that of Mr. Wordsworth, who lately honored me with his visits while at Paris, having repeated it to me from memory, after a lapse of many years."

MRS. MARY DARBY ROBINSON.*

THE TEMPLE OF CHASTITY.

HIGH on a rock coeval with the skies,

A temple stands, reared by immortal powers To Chastity divine! Ambrosial flowers, Twining round icicles, in columns rise, Mingling with pendent gems of orient dyes. Piercing the air, a golden crescent towers, Veiled by transparent clouds; while smiling hours Shake from their varying wings celestial joys! The steps of spotless marble, scattered o'er With deathless roses armed with many a thorn, Lead to the altar. On the frozen floor, Studded with tear-drops petrified by scorn,

Pale vestals kneel, the goddess to adore,

While Love, his arrows broke, retires forlorn.

* Earliest known mistress of George IV.; a circumstance from which the sonnet, which is not without merit in itself, derives a melancholy interest. It is extracted from the Rev. Mr. Dyce's "Specimens of British Poetesses."