Though clad in colours beautiful and pure, allow [space; Such transport-though but for a moment's COMPOSED UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE, Maintains inviolate its slightest vow! SEPT. 3, 1803. Sweet fancy! other gifts must I receive; Proofs of a higher sovereignty I claim; EARTH has not anything to show more Take from her brow the withering flowers fair: [by of eve, [restore: And to that brow life's morning wreath Let her be comprehended in the frame Of these illusions, or they please no more. Dull would he be of soul who could pass Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples RECOLLECTION OF THE PORTRAIT OF lie Open unto the fields, and to the sky; air. Never did sun more beautifully steep say, he has not seen any other relique of those dark ages which can pretend to rival it in singularity and dignity of appearance. KING HENRY VIII. TRINITY LODGE, THE imperial stature, the colossal stride, The vestments broidered with barbaric ends, With the keen threatenings of that fulgent A PARSONAGE IN OXFORDSHIRE, eye, [scried. WHERE holy ground begins, unhallowed Below the white-rimmed bonnet, far deWho trembles now at thy capricious mood? 'Mid those surrounding worthies, haughty king! We rather think, with grateful mind sedate, How Providence educeth, from the spring Of lawless will, unlooked-for streams of good, [abate. Which neither force shall check nor time ON THE DEATH OF HIS MAJESTY WARD of the law !-dread shadow of a Gently hast sunk into the quiet tomb, Why should we bend in grief, to sorrow cling, [flowing tears, When thankfulness were best!-FreshOr, where tears flow not, sigh succeeding sigh, FAME tells of groves-from England far away* Groves that inspire the nightingale to trill And modulate, with subtle reach of skill Elsewhere unmatched, her ever-varying lay; Such bold report I venture to gainsay : For I have heard the choir of Richmond Hill Chanting, with indefatigable bill, found Is marked by no distinguishable line; Bright as the glimpses of eternity, Strains, that recalled to mind a distant Composed in the grounds of Plass Newidd, near day; [wood, When, haply under shade of that same And scarcely conscious of the dashing oars Plied steadily between those willowy shores, The sweet-souled poet of The Seasons stood[mood, Listening, and listening long, in rapturous Ye heavenly birds! to your progenitors. * Wallachia is the country alluded to. " Llangollyn, 1824. A STREAM, to mingle with your favourite Along the Vale of Meditation flows;* to see * Glyn Myrvr. and near, The poor old man is greater than he seems: hart To chase for ever, on aerial grounds! WHILE they, her playmates once, lighthearted tread [marge; The mountain turf and river's flowery Is Anna doomed to press a weary bed- Though he can neither stir a plume, nor | For steadfast hope the contract to fulfil; shout, [eyes. Yet shall my blessing hover o'er thee still, Nor veil, with restless film, his staring Embodied in the music of this lay, Breathed forth beside the peaceful mountain stream* [mother's ear Whose murmur soothed thy languid After her throes, this stream of name more dear TO THE CUCKOO. NOT the whole warbling grove in concert heard [can thrill When sunshine follows shower, the breast Like the first summons, cuckoo! of thy bill, With its twin notes inseparably paired. The captive, 'mid damp vaults unsunned, unaired, Measuring the periods of his lonely doom, That cry can reach; and to the sick man's room Sends gladness, by no languid smile declared, [search The lordly eagle-race through hostile May perish; time may come when never more The wilderness shall hear the lion roar ; But long as cock shall crow from household perch [thy wing, To rouse the dawn, soft gales shall speed And thy erratic voice be faithful to the spring! THE INFANT M-M UNQUIET childhood here by special grace Forgets her nature, opening like a flower That neither feeds nor wastes its vital power In painful struggles. Months each other chase, [trace And nought untunes that infant's voice; a Of fretful temper sullies not her cheek; Prompt, lively, self-sufficing, yet so meek That one enrapt with gazing on her face, (Which even the placid innocence of death Could scarcely make more placid, heaven • more bright,) Might learn to picture, for the eye of faith, The virgin, as she shone with kindred light; A nursling couched upon her mother's knee, Beneath some shady palm of Galilee. TO ROTHA Q~ ROTHA, my spiritual child! this head was gray When at the sacred font for thee I stood; Pledged till thou reach the verge of womanhood, And shalt become thy own sufficient stay: Since thou dost hear it,-a memorial theme IN my mind's eye a temple, like a cloud Slowly surmounting some invidious hill, Rose out of darkness: the bright work stood still, [proud, And might of its own beauty have been But it was fashioned and to God was vowed By virtues that diffused, in every part, Spirit divine through forms of human art: Faith had her arch-her arch when winds blow loud, Into the consciousness of safety thrilled; And Love her towers of dread foundation laid [spire Under the grave of things; Hope had her Star-high, and pointing still to something higher; [said, Trembling I gazed, but heard a voice--it Hell gates are powerless phantoms when we build. *The river Rotha, that flows into Windermere Too late, I feel, sweet orphan! was the day [from the lakes of Grasmere and Rydal. DEPARTURE FROM THE VALE OF Then why these lingering steps? A bright GRASMERE. AUGUST 1803. THE gentlest shade that walked Elysian Might sometimes covet dissoluble chains; adieu, For a brief absence, proves that love is true; TO THE SONS OF BURNS, FATHER. Methinks 'twould heighten joy, to overleap AFTER VISITING THE GRAVE OF THEIR [bold Change for the worse might please, incursion Into the tracts of darkness and of cold; O'er Limbo lake with aëry flight to steer, And on the verge of Chaos hang in fear. Such animation often do I find, [mind, Power in my breast, wings growing in my Then, when some rock or hill is overpast, Perchance without one look behind me cast, Some barrier with which nature, from the birth [earth. Of things, has fenced this fairest spot on Oh, pleasant transit, Grasmere ! to resign Such happy fields, abodes so calm as thine; Not like an outcast with himself at strife: The slave of business, time, or care for life. Yet still with nature's freedom at the heart; "The poet's grave is in a corner of the churchyard. We looked at it with melancholy and painful reflections, repeating to each other his own verses, 'Is there a man whose judgment clear,' etc.'-Extract from the Journal of my Fellow-Traveller. 'MID crowded obelisks and urns, I sought the untimely grave of Burns; With sorrow true; And more would grieve, but that it turns Through twilight shades of good and ill Its lawful sway. Hath nature strung your nerves to bear Like him can speed |