ON LADY GEORGIANA CANNING'S DANGEROUS

ILLNESS, 1804.

AND thus can storms of thine reprove,
Oh, God of Peace, of Hope, and Love!
Can this be life, that so can fade?

Breath of the vernal dews afraid!

'Twas yesterday that Stella's bloom
Dispell'd all images of gloom,
With spirits of the new-born day,
And fearless of the night's decay;
That Nature, innocent of guile,

Was crown'd with Beauty's radiant smile,
With blushes that surpass'd the rose
When first its bright vermillion glows:
When Love prepar'd the nuptial bower,
And bless'd the consecrated hour.
To-day the vision breathes no more,
And friends the lingering dart implore:
'Tis Beauty's wreck; the billows rise,
The rudder 's lost, and Stella dies*.

ON AN HOUR-GLASS,

WHICH A DYING LOVER DIRECTED HIS FRIENDS TO
FILL WITH HIS ASHES PULVERIZED.

MARK the pure crystal that contains
All that of Strephon's love remains;
Dust-in whose emblem is express'd
That Love must never hope to rest.

* She was the fourth daughter to the Earl of Londonderry. The illness was a consumption; I had seen her two years before, -a miracle of beauty, and the picture of health. She was born April 23, 1756; married in 1803 to George Canning, Esq. of Garvagh, Londonderry; and died Nov. 17, 1804.

EPITAPH ON MISS MARIA CARR*, Daughter of the Rev. COULSON CARR, Vicar of Ealing. HERE, by the consecrating heart enshrin'd, Repose an Angel's form, an Angel's mind, Peace, Hope, and Love, the guardians of her sleep, Around the hallow'd shade their vigils keep, Till, parted from its "vesture of decay †," The night of death shall meet the living day: Ye Sisters, Brothers, Parents, weep no more— Look up, and the departed Saint adore!

When Youth and Joy their playful circle trod, The soul was pure, and ripen'd for its God; But when from Beauty's cheek the roses fled, And thorns usurp'd the pillows of the bed, Oh! what a gem her innocence appear'd! The fading scene-what bright affections cheer'd! Though Death his arrows at the victim shook, How sweet the manners! how sublime the look! With anguish tortur'd, with disease consum'd, Her patience conquer'd, and her spirit bloom'd; Though panting Nature felt its tone oppress'd, The bosom was at peace, the heart at rest: With grateful eyes the debt of love she paid, And bless'd the offer'd boon, the wish obey'd: When scarce her lips could move, her voice be heard, Endearment's tribute was the parting word, And left a radiant smile: to Heaven she rose, To her own harmony, her bless'd repose; Where Innocence and Love united reign, Maria lives, and is herself again.

*She died of a consumption, in 1798, at the age of nineteen. A more beautiful creature was never seen; but so lovely was her mind, that she must have enchanted all who knew her intimately if her features had been plain. + Shakespeare.

EPITAPH ON LIEUT. EDWARD CARR, (SON OF THE REV. COULSON Carr,)

who died in the Naval Service abroad, in 1802, in his 21st year.

TO DEATH.

"Insatiate Archer! could not ONE suffice*," Though Love and Beauty were the arrow's prize! When all the charms a matchless form combin'd Were but faint shadows of the Angel's mind†?

Nor yet couldst thou relent, when playful years Were clos'd in anguish, and were lost in tears— When Hope's gay spirit, innocently wild, Fled as it kiss'd, and perish'd as it smil'd?

A gallant youth, by martial spirit grac❜d,
By honour cherish'd, by the heart embrac❜d,
Love's pride and wreath, as Brother, Friend, and Son,
Is a third laurel which thy arm has wont.

Spare, King of Terrors! from thy ample store
At least have mercy here, and strike no more!
Avenge the
poor, and moralize the tomb,
With falling Pride, Ambition's penal doom!
For guilty banquets be thy shafts decreed!
Go to the selfish heart, and make it bleed!
Here sacred be the mark that Virtue bore,
When the destroying Angel pass'd the door §.

* Young's "Night Thoughts."

† See before, p. 208.

His brother (Coulson Carr), died in 1799, of a contagious fever, at the age of 13.

§ Exodus, chap. 12.-This allusion adverts to the contagious and pestilential maladies which robbed Mr. Carr of his children. It points also at another son, then in the West Indies.

TO MISS C. CARR.

FORGIVE the Muse, that with her cheering voice
Invites "the House of Mourning" to rejoice!
Forgive the harp, that with its nuptial strains
From a dear Brother's urn thy love detains!
Forgive the wreath its colour of the rose,
That blooms for thee where Spring its mantle throws:
Nor deem it insult on a Sister's grief,

Nor shun with Sorrow's pride the heart's relief.
"The Teacher Death*" to filial worth has taught
A nuptial prospect in a pensive thought:
Though charms adorn thee, is the gem ensur'd?
Has Beauty her precarious lot abjur'd?
To thee will Youth eternal garlands bring?
For thee has Fortune chain'd the Zephyr's wing?

*

ON MRS. TROWER'S DEATH.

How few, alas! on earth possess
The love that Angels guide and bless!
The gentle sweetness, charm, and grace,
Which the mind's beauty lends the face!
With such a consecrated air

The parting smile could soothe despair,
Till Faith, whose wings to Heaven can soar,
Points at the gem that fades no more.

TO THE MEMORY OF

MRS. CATHARINE BASSET *.

THE Social and the moral Virtues here
Glow in their ashes, and survive the tear:
They live not in the monuments of art,
But stamp their breathing image on the heart,
There Memory, with Hope's enlivening ray,
Parts from the soul its vesture of decay;
Like that ascending spirit wings her flight
From earth and sorrow to the Realms of Light.
But we have claims upon the good and just:
Example is their prompter in the dust.
That hovering Angel of the relicks here
To honest Fame the mirrour shall endear.
No modern arts her graceful ease refin'd-
It was the current of a gifted mind.

Her gentle sway, to Love and Friendship known,
Was in that circle an imperial throne.
Prompt at the silent plea of the distress'd,
Her blessings were as mute at the request;
And, the maternal office to impart,
A vestal matron had a parent's heart:-
That aweful trust her feelings could ensure,
When Love's adopted children were-the Poor.
But of their pride these honours to disarm,
Religion was the wreath, and bound the charm ;
With Christian hopes, Redemption for their guide,
As on the bosom of her God, she died.

* Daughter of the late Rev. John Basset, Prebendary of Landaff. She died at Cardiffe, in June 1810, aged 64.