“ The violet, that, those banks beneath,

Through those fair scenes we'll wander wild, Hides from tby scorn its modest bead,

And on yon pastur'd mountains rest; Shall fill the air with fragrant breath,

Come, brother dear! come, Nature's child! When thou art in thy dusty bed.

With all her simple virtues blest. " E'en I, who boast no golden shade,

The Sun far-seen on distant towers, Am of no sbining tipts possess'd,

And clouding groves and peopled seas, When low thy lucid form is laid,

And ruins pale of princely bowers Shall bloom on many a lovely breast.

On Beachb'rough's airy heights shall please. “ And he, whose kind and fostering care

Nor lifeless there the lonely scene; To thee, to me, our beings gave,

The little labourer of the hive, Shall near his breast my flowrets wear,

From flower to flower, from green to green, And walk regardless o'er thy grave.

Murmurs and makes the wild alive, “ Deluded flower, the friendly screen

See, on that flowret's velvet breast That hides thee from the noon-tide ray,

How close the busy vagrant lies! And mocks thy passion to be seen,

His thin-wrought plume, his downy breast, Prolongs thy transitory day.

Th'ambrosial gold that swells his thighs! “ But kindly deeds with scorp repaid,

Regardless, while we wander near, No more by virtue need be done :

Thrifty of time, his task he plies ; I now withdraw my dusky shade.

Or sees he no intruder near? And yield thee to thy darling Sun.”

And rest in sleep his weary eyes? Fierce on the flower the scorching beam

Perhaps his fragrant load may bind With all its weight of glory fell;

His limbs ;-we'll set the captive free-The flower exulting caught the gleam,

I sought the living Bee to bind, And lent its leaves a bolder swell.

And found the picture of a Bee. Expanded by the searching fire,

Attentive to our triling selves, The curling leaves the breast disclos'd;

From thence we plan the rule of all; The mantling bloom was painted higher,

Thus Nature with the fabled elves And every latent charm expos’d.

We rank, and these her sports we call. But when the Sun was sliding low

Be far, my friend, from you, from me, And ev'ning came, with dews so cold;

Th’uphallow'd term, the thought profane, The wanton beauty ceas'd to blow,

That life's majestic source may be And sought her bending leaves to fold.

In idle fancy's trifling vein. Those leaves, alas! no more would close; Remember still, 'tis Nature's plan Relax'd, exhausted, sick’ning, pale,

Religion in your love to find; They left her to a parent's woes,

And know, for this, she first in man
And fled before the rising gale.

Inspir'd the imitative mind.
As conscious that affection grows,

Pleas'd with the pencil's mimic power,

That power with leading hand she shows,
FABLE IX.

And paints a Bee upon a flower.
THE BEE FLOWER'.

Mark, how that rooted mandrake wears

His human feet, his human hands!
Come, let us leave this painted plain;

Oft, as his shapely form he rears,
This waste of flowers that palls the eye :
The walks of Nature's wilder reign

Aghast the frighted ploughman stands.
Shall please in plainer majesty.

See where, in yonder orient stone, Through those fair scenes, where yet she owes

She seems e’en with herself at strife,

While fairer from her hand is shown
Superior charms to Brockman's art,
Where, crown'd with elegant repose,

The pictur'd, than the native life.
He cherishes the social heart

Helvetia's rocks, Sabrina's waves,

Still many a shining pebble bear, "This is a species of the orchis, which is found Where oft her studious hand engraves in the barren and mountainous parts of Lincoln

The perfect form, and leaves it there. shire, Worcestershire, Kent, and Herefordshire. O long, my Paxton), boast ber art; Nature bas formed a bee apparently feeding on And long her laws of love fulfil : the breast of a flower with so much exactness, To thee she gave her hand and heart, that it is impossible at a very small distance to To thee, her kindness and her skill! distinguish the imposition. For this purpose she has observed an economy different from what is · The well-known fables of the Painter and the foued in most other flowers, and has laid the Statuary that fell in love with objects of their petals horizontally. The genius of the orchis, or own creation, plainly arose from the idea of that satyrion,she seems professedly to have made use of attachment, which follows the imitation of for her paintings, and on the different species has agreeable objects, to the objects imitated. drawn the perfect forms of different insects, such 3 Au ingenious portrait-painter in Rathbone as bees, fies, butterflies, &c.

Place.

Whatever charms the ear or eye,
All beauty and all barmony;
If sweet sensations these produce,
I know they have their moral use ;
I know that Nature's charms can move
The springs that strike to virtue's love."

FABLE X.
THE WILDING AND THE BROOM.
In yonder green wood blows the hroom;

Shepherds we'll trust our flocks to stray.
Court Nature in her sweetest bloom,

And steal from care one summer-day. Prom him 'whose gay and graceful brow

Fair-handed Hume with roses binds, We'll learn to breathe the tender vow,

Where slow the fairy Portba winds. And oh! that he whose gentle breast

In Nature's softest mould was made, Who left her smiling works imprest

In characters that cannot fade; That he might leave his lowly shrine,

Tho' softer there the seasons fall-
They come, the sons of verse divine,
They come to Fancy's magic call.

-“.What airy sounds invite
My steps not unreluctant, from the depth
Of Shene's delightful groves ? Reposing there
No more I hear the busy voice of men
Far-toiling o'er the globe-save to the call
Of soul-exalting poetry, the car
Of death denies attention. Rous'd by her,
The genius of sepulcbral silence opes
His drowsy cells, and yields us to the day.
For thee, whose hand, whatever paints the

Spring,
Or swells on Summer's breast, or loads the lap
Of Autumn, gathers heedful—Thee whose rites
At Nature's shrine with holy care are paid
Daily and nightly, boughs of brightest green,
And every fairest rose, the god of groves,
The queen of flowers, shall sweeter save for thee.
Yet not if beauty only claim thy lay,
Tupefully trifling. Fair philosophy,
And Nature's love, and every mortal charm
That leads in sweet captivity the mind
To virtue-ever in thy nearest cares
Be these, and animate thy living page
With truth resistless, beaming from the source
Of perfect light immortal—Vainly boasts
That golden Broom its sunny roba of flowers:
Fair are the sunny flowers; but, fading soon
And fruitless, yield the forester's regard
To the well-loaded wilding-Shepherd, there
Bebold the fate of song, and lightly deem
Of all but moral beauty."

-“Not in vain"-
I hear my Hamilton reply.
(The torch of fancy in his eye)
• 'Tis not in vain," I hear him say,
« That Nature paints her works so gay;
For, fruitless though that fairy brooin,
Yet still we love her lavish bloom.
Cheer'd with that bloom, yon desert wild
Its native horrours lost, and smild;
And oft we mark her golden ray
Along the dark wood scatter day.

“ Of moral uses take the strife ; Leave me the elegance of life.

FABLE XI.
THE MISLETOE AND THE PASSION.

FLOWER.
In this dim cave a druid sleeps,

Where stops the passing gale to moan;
The rock he hollow'd o'er him weeps,

And cold drops wear the fretted stone.
In this dim cave, of diff'rent creed,

An hermit's holy ashes rest :
The school-boy finds the frequent bead,

Which many a formal matin blest.
That truant-time full well I know,

When here I brought, in stolen hour,
The druid's magic misletoe,

The holy hermit's passion-flower.
The off'rings on the mystic stone

Pensive I laid, in thought profound.
When from the cave a deep'ning groan

Issued, and froze me to the ground.
I hear it still-dost thou not hear?

Does not thy haunted fancy start?
The sound still vibrates through mine ear,

The horrour rushes on my heart,
Unlike to living sounds it came,

Unmix'd, unmelodis'd with breath;
But, grinding through some scrannel frame,

Creak'd from the bony lungs of death.
I hear it still—“ Depart,” it cries;

“ No tribute bear to sbades unblest :
Know, here a bloody druid lies,

Who was not purs'd at Nature's breast.
" Associate he with demons dire,

O’er human victims held the knife,
And pleas'd to see the babe expire,

Sinil'd grimly o'er its quiv'ring life.
“Behold his crimson-streaming hand

Erect !-his dark, fix'd, murd'rous eye!”
In the dim cave I saw him stand;

And my heart died—I felt it die.
I see him still— Dost thou not see

The haggard eye-ball's hallow glare?
And gleams of wild ferocity

Dart through the sable shade of hair ?
What meagre form behind him moves,

With eye that rues th' invading day;
And wrinkled aspect wan, that proves

The mind to pale remorse a prey?
What wretched-Hark—the voice replies,

“Boy, bear these idle honours heuce!
For, here a guilty hermit lies,

Untrue to Nature, Virtue, Sense.
“ Though Nature lent him powers to aid

The moral cause, the mutual weal;
Those powers he sunk in this dim shade,

The desp'rate suicide of zeal.

1 William Hamilton of Bangour,

Thomson. VOL, XVI.

" Go, teach the drone of saintly haunts,

Despising still, their freeborn souls uubroke, Whose cell's the sepulchre of time;

Alike the Gallic and Ligurian yoke. Though many a holy hymn he chants,

Yet while the patriot's gen'rous rage we share, His life is one continu'd crime.

Still civil safety calls us back to care ; " And bear them hence, the plant, the flower

To Britain lost io either Henry's day,

Her woods her mountains one wild scene of prey! No symbols those of systems vain !

Fair Peace from all her bounteous sallies fled, They have the duties of their hour;

And Law beneath the barbed arrow bled. Some bird, some insect to sustain."

In happier days, with more auspicious fate,
The far.fam'd Edward healid his wounded state ;

Dread of his foes, but to his subjects dear,
THE COUNTRY JUSTICE. These learn'd to love, as those are taught to fear,

Their laurell'd prince with British pride obey, BY ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S JUSTICES OF THE PEACE

His glory shone their discontent away.
FOR THE COUNTY OF SOMERSET.

With care the tender flower of love to sare,
PART THE FIRST.

And plant the olive on Disorder's grave,
For civil storms fresh barriers to provide,

He caught the fav'ring calm and falling tide,
TO RICHARD BURN, LL. D.
ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S JUSTICES OF THE PEACE FOR

THE APPOINTMENT, AND ITS PURPOSES. THE COUNTIES OF WESTMORLASD AND CUMBERLAND. The social laws from insult to protect;

To cherish peace, to cultivate respect; DEAR SIR,

The rich from wanton cruelty restrain, A room written professedly at To smooth the led of penury and pain ; your request, naturally addresses itself to you. The hapless vagrant to his rest restore, The distinction you have acquired on the subject, The maze of fraud, the haunts of theft explore and your taste for the arts, give that address The thoughtless maiden, when subdu'd by art, every kind of propriety. If I have any particu-To aid, and bring her rover to her heart i Jar satisfaction in this publication, beside what wild riot's voice with dignity to quelle arises from my compliance with your commands, Forbid unpeaceful passions to rebel, it must be in the idea of that testimony it bears Wrest from revenge the meditated harm, to our friendship. If you believe that I am more For this fair Justice rais'd her sacred arm; concerned for the duration of that than of the

For this the rural magistrate, of yore,
Poem itself, you will not be mistaken; for I am, Thy honours, Edward, to his mansion bore.
DEAR SIR,

ANCIENT JUSTICE'S HALL
your truly affectionate brother
and faithful humble servant,

Oft, where old Air in conscious glory sails,

On silver waves that flow thro'smiling Fales,

THE AUTHOR. In Harewood's groves, where long my youth Fas Somersetshire,

laid, April 25, 1774.

Unsoen beneath their ancient world of shade,
With many a groupe of antique columns crown'd,

In Gothic guise such mansion have I found.
THE COUNTRY JUSTICE.

Nor lightly deem, ye apes of modern race, INTRODUCTION.

Ye cits that sore bedizen Nature's face, In Richard's days, when lost his pastur'd plain,

Of the more manly structures here ye view; The wand'ring Briton sought the wild wood's They rose for greatness that ye never knek! With great disilain beheld the feudal hord, [ reign, with Venus, and the Graces on your green!

Ye reptile cits, that oft have mor'd my spleen, Poor life.Jet vassals of a Norman lord;

Let Plutus, growling o'er his ill-got wealth, And, what no brave man ever lost, poseess'd Himself—for Freedom bound him to her breast. The shopman, Janus, with his double looks,

Let Mercury,the thriving god of stealth, Lov'st thou that Freedom ? By her holy shrine, Rise on your mounts, and perch upon your books! If yet one drop of British blood be thine, See, I conjure thee, in the desert shade,

But, spare my Venus, spare each sister Grace,

Ye cits, that sore bedizen Nature's face. His bow unstrung, his little household laid, Some brave forefather; while his belds they would lay the reaims of Sense and Nature

Ye rugal architects, whose antic taste, share,

waste; By Saxon, Dane, or Norman, banish'd there! And think he tells thee, as his soul withdraws,

Forgot, whenever from her steps ye stray, As his heart swells against a tyrant's laws,

That folly only points each other way; The war with fate, though fruitless to maintain,

Here, tho' your eye no courtly creature sees ; To guard that liberty he lor'd in vain.

Snakes on the ground, or monkies in the trees;

Yet let not too severe a censure fall,
Were thoughts like these the dreams of ancient
Peculiar only to some age, or clime? [time?

On the plain precincts of the ancient hall. And does not Nature thoughts like these impart,

For tho' no sight your childish fancy meets,

Of Thibet's dogs, or China's perroquets;
Breathe in the soul, and write upon the heart ?
Ask on their mountain yon deserted band,

Tho' apes, asps, lizards, things without a tail,

And all the tribes of foreign monsters fail; That point to Paoli with no plausive hand;

rears

Here shall ye sigh to see, with rust o'ergrown, Still mark if vice or nature prompts the deed;
The iron griffin and the sphynx of stone; Still mark the strong temptation and the need :
And mourn, neglected in their waste abodes. On pressing want, on famine's powerful call,
Fire-breathing drakes, and water-spouting gods. | At least more lenient let thy justice fall.
Long have these mighty monsters known dis-
grace,

APOLOGY FOR VAGRANTS.
Yet still some trophies hold their ancient place ; For him, who, lost to ev'ry hope of life,
Where, round the ball, the oak’s high surbase Has long with fortune held unequal strife,

Known to no human love, no bunan care,
The field-day triumphs of two hundred years. The friendless, homeless object of despair;

Th' enormous antlers here recall the day For the poor vagrant, feel, wbile he complains, That saw the forest-monarch forc'd away; Nor from sad freedom send to sadder chains. Who, many a flood, and many a mountain past, Alike, if folly or misfortune brought Nor finding those, nor deeming these the last, Those last of woes his evil days have wrought; O’er floods, o'er mountains yet prepar d to fly, Believe with social mercy and with me, Long ere the death-drop fill'd bis failing eye! Folly's misfortune in the first degree. Here, fam'd for cunning, and in crimes grown Perhaps on some inhospitable shore old,

The houseless wretch a widow'd parent bore, Hangs his grey brush, the felon of the fold. Who, then, no more by golden prospects led, Oft, as the rent feast swells the midnight cheer. Of the poor Indian begg'd a leafy bed, The maudling farmer kens him o'er his beer, Cold on Canadian hills, or Minden's plain, And tells bis old, traditionary tale,

Perhaps that parent mourn’d her soldier slain; Tho'known to every tenant of the vale.

Bent o'er her babe, her eye dissolv'd in dew, Here, where, of old, the festal ox has fed, The big drops mingling with the milk he drew, Mark'd with his weight, the mighty horns are Gave the sad presage of his future years, spread :

The child of misery, baptiz'd in tears !
S me ox, O Marshall, for a board like thine,
Where the vast master with the vast sirloin

APOSTROPHE TO EDWARD THE THIRD.
Vied in round magnitude-Respect I bear

O Elward, here thy fairest laurels fade! To thee, tho' oft the ruin of the chair.

And thy long glories darken into shade ; These, and such antique tokens, that record

While yet the palms thy hardy veterans won, The manly spirit, and the bountcous board, The deeds of valour that for thee were done, Me more delight than all the gew-gaw train, While yet the wreaths for which they bravely bled, The whims and zigzag of a modern brain, Fir'd thy high soul, and Norrish'd on thy head, More than all Asia's marmosets to view

Those veterans to their native shores return'd, Grin, frisk, and water, in the walks of Kew, Like exiles wander'd and like exiles mourn'd;

Or, left at large no longer to bewail,
CHARACTER OF A COUNTRY JUSTICE.

Were vagrants deem'd and destin'd to a jail ! Thro' these fair vallies, stranger, hast thou Were there no royal, yet uncuitur'd lands, stray'd,

No wastes that wanted such subiluing hands? By any chance to visit Harewood's shade, Were Cressy's heroes such abandon'd things ? And seen with honest, antiquated air,

O fate of war and gratitude of kings!
In the plain hall the magistratial chair?
There Herbert sate-he love of human kind,
Pure light of truth, and temperance of mind,

The gypsey-race my pity rarely move;
In the free eye the featur'd soul display'd,

Yet their strong thirst of liberty I love. Honour's strong beam, and Mercy's melting Not Wilkes, our freedom's holy martyr, more; shade;

Nor bis firm phalanx, of the common shore. Justice, that, in the rigid paths of law,

For this in Norwood's patrimonial groves, Would still some drops from Pity's fountain draw, The tawny father with his offspring roves; Bend o'er her urn with many a gen'rons fear,

When summer suns lead slow the sultry day, Ere his firm seal should force one orphan's tear ; Fair Equity, and Reason, scorning art,

In mossy caves, where welling waters play, And all the sober virtues of the heart

Fann'd by each gale that cools the fervid sky,

With this in ragged luxury they lie. These sate with Herbert, these shall best avail,

Oft at the sun the dusky elfins strain Where statutes order, or where statutes fail.

The sable eye, then, snugging, sleep again ;

Oft, as the dews of cooler evening fall,
GENERAL MOTIVES FOR LENITY.

For their prophetic mother's mantle call.
Be this, ye rural Magistrates, your plan : Far other cares that wandering mother wait,
Firm be your justice, but be friends to man. The mouth, and oft the minister of Fate !

He whom the mighty master of this ball, From ber to bear, in evening's friendly shade, We fondly deem, or farcically call,

Of future fortune, flies the village-unaid, To own the patriarch's truth however loth, Draws her long-hoarded copper front its hold; Holds but a mansion crush'd before the moth. And rusty halfpence purchase hopes of gold.

Frail in his genius, in his heart, too, frail, But, ah! ye maids, beware the gypsey's lures ! . Rorn but to err, and erring to bewail;

She opens not the womb of Timne, but yours. Shalt thou his faults with eye severe explore, Oft has her hands the hapless Marian wrung, And give to life one human weakness more? Marian, whom Gay in sweetest strains has sung !

THE GYPSEY-LIFE.