When winds the mountain oak assail,

And lay its glories waste,

Content may slumber in the vale,
Unconscious of the blast.

Thro' scenes of tumult while we roam,
The heart, alas! is ne'er at home,

It hopes in time to roam no more;
The mariner, not vainly brave,
Combats the storm, and rides the wave,
To rest at last on shore.

Ye proud, ye selfish, ye severe,
How vain your mask of state!

The good alone have joy sincere,
The good alone are great:

Great, when, amid the vale of peace,
They bid the plaint of sorrow cease,
And hear the voice of artless praise;
As when along the trophy'd plain
Sublime they lead the victor train,
While shouting nations gaze.

TO LADY CHARLOTTE GORDON.

117

TO THE RIGHT HON.

LADY CHARLOTTE GORDON,

DRESSED IN A TARTAN SCOTCH BONNET, WITH PLUMES, &C.

WHY, Lady, wilt thou bind thy lovely brow

With the dread semblance of that warlike helm, That nodding plume, and wreath of various glow, That grac'd the chiefs of Scotia's ancient realm?

Thou knowest that virtue is of power the source,
And all her magic to thy eyes is given;

We own their empire, while we feel their force,
Beaming with the benignity of heaven.

The plumy helmet, and the martial mien,
Might dignify Minerva's awful charms;
But more resistless far th' Idalian queen-
Smiles, graces, gentleness, her only arms.

THE HERMIT.

AT the close of the day, when the hamlet is still,

And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove,
When nought but the torrent is heard on the hill,
And nought but the nightingale's song in the grove :
'Twas thus, by the cave of the mountain afar,
While his harp rung symphonious, a Hermit began;
No more with himself or with nature at war,
He thought as a Sage, though he felt as a Man.

"Ah! why, all abandon'd to darkness and wo, "Why, lone Philomela, that languishing fall? "For Spring shall return, and a lover bestow, "And Sorrow no longer thy bosom inthral. "But, if pity inspire thee, renew the sad lay, "Mourn, sweetest complainer, man calls thee to mourn; "O soothe him, whose pleasures like thine pass away: "Full quickly they pass-but they never return.

"Now gliding remote, on the verge of the sky, "The Moon half extinguish'd her crescent displays : "But lately I mark'd, when majestic on high

"She shone, and the planets were lost in her blaze. "Roll on, thou fair orb, and with gladness pursue "The path that conducts thee to splendor again. "But Man's faded glory what change shall renew! "Ah fool! to exult in a glory so vain!

""Tis night, and the landscape is lovely no more; "I mourn, but, ye woodlands, I mourn not for you; "For morn is approaching, your charms to restore, "Perfum'd with fresh fragrance, and glittering with dew. "Nor yet for the ravage of winter I mourn; "Kind Nature the embryo blossom will save. "But when shall Spring visit the mouldering urn! “O when shall it dawn on the night of the grave !"

'Twas thus, by the glare of false Science betray'd, That leads, to bewilder; and dazzles, to blind : My thoughts wont to roam, from shade onward to shade, 'Destruction before me, and sorrow behind.

"O pity, great Father of light," then I cry'd,

"Thy creature who fain would not wander from Thee; "Lo, humbled in dust, I relinquish my pride:

"From doubt and from darkness thou only canst free."

• And darkness and doubt are now flying away. 'No longer I roam in conjecture forlorn.

So breaks on the traveller, faint, and astray, The bright and the balmy effulgence of morn. • See Truth, Love, and Mercy, in triumph descending, And Nature all glowing in Eden's first bloom!

• On the cold cheek of Death smiles and roses are blending,

' And Beauty immortal awakes from the tomb.'