The main, a moving, burnished mirror, shines; No noise is heard, save when the distant surge With drowsy murmurings breaks upon the shore !

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, ETC.

Ah me, what thunders roll! the sky's on fire! Now sudden darkness muffles up the pole ! Heavens! what wild scenes before the affrighted

sense

Imperfect swim! - See! in that flaming scroll
Which time unfolds, the future germs bud forth
Of mighty empires! independent realms !
And must Britannia, Neptune's favorite queen,
Protectress of true science, freedom, arts,
Must she, ah! must she to her offspring crouch?

FUTURE COLONIAL GLORIES OF BRITAIN.

Ah, must my Thames, old ocean's favorite son, Resign his trident to barbaric streams,

His banks neglected and his waves unsought, No bards to sing them and no fleets to grace? Again the fleecy clouds amuse the eye,

And sparkling stars the vast horizon gild, -
She shall not crouch, if wisdom guide the helm,
Wisdom that bade loud fame, with justest praise,
Record her triumphs; bade the lackeying winds
Transport to every quarter of the globe
Her wingéd navies, bade her sceptred sons
Of earth acknowledge her preeminence !
She shall not crouch, if these cane ocean-isles,
Isles which on Britain for their all depend,
And must forever, still indulgent, share
Her fostering smile, and other isles be given
From vanquished foes. - And see, another race!
A golden era dazzles my fond sight!
That other race, that longed-for era, hail!
The British George now reigns, the patriot king!
Britain shall ever triumph o'er the main.

O dirty December,

For Christmas remember.

Forgotten month past, Do now at the last.

WHEN frost will not suffer to dike and to hedge,
Then get thee a heat with thy beetle and wedge;
Once Hallowmas come, and a fire in the hall,
Such slivers do well for to lie by the wall.

Get grindstone and whetstone for tool that is dull,
Or often be letted, and fret belly full :
A wheel-barrow also be ready to have,
At hand of thy servant, thy compas to save.

Give cattle their fodder in plot dry and warm,
And count them for mixing, or other like harm :
Young colts with thy wennels together go serve,
Lest lurched by others they happen to sterve.

The rack is commended for saving of dung,
To set as the old cannot mischief the young.
In tempest (the wind being northly or east)
Warm barth, under hedge, is a succor to beast.
The housing of cattle, while Winter doth hold,
Is good for all such as are feeble and old :
It saveth much compas, and many a sleep,
And spareth the pasture for walk of thy sheep.
For charges so little much quiet is won,
If strongly and handsomely all things be done;
But use to untackle them once in a day,
To rub and to lick them, to drink and to play.
Get Trusty to tend them, not lubberly 'Squire,
That all the day long hath his nose at the fire:
Nor trust unto children poor cattle to feed,
But such as be able to help, at a need.

Serve rye-straw out first, then wheat-straw and

pease,

Then oat-straw and barley, then hay, if ye please! But serve them with hay, while the straw-stover last,

Then love they no straw, they had rather to fast. **

Good fruit and good plenty doth well in the loft,
Then make thee an orchard, and cherish it oft;
For plant or for stock, lay aforehand to cast,
But set or remove it ere Christmas be past.
Set one fro another full forty feet wide;
To stand as he stood is a part of his pride.
More faiër, more worthy of cost to remove,
More steady ye set it, more likely to prove.
To teach and unteach, in a school is unmeet;
To do and undo, to the purse is unsweet:
Then orchard or hop-yard, so trimméd with cost,
Should not, through folly, be spoiled and lost.
Ere Christmas be passéd let horse be let blood,
For many a purpose it doth them much good.
The day of St. Stephen old fathers did use ;
If that do mislike thee, some other day use.

Look well to thy horses in stable thou must,
That hay be not foisty, nor chaff full of dust;
Nor stone in their provender, feather, nor clots,
Nor feed with green peason, for breeding of bots.**
Go look to thy bees; if the hive be too light,
Set water and honey, with rosemary dight;
Which set in a dish full of sticks in the hive,
From danger of famine ye save them alive. **

BLOOMFIELD'S "MARKET-NIGHT.”

'O WINDS, howl not so long and loud;

Nor with your vengeance arm the snow:
Bear hence each heavy-loaded cloud,

And let the twinkling star-beams glow.
"Now, sweeping floods, rush down the slope,
Wide scattering ruin. Stars, shine soon!
No other light my love can hope;

Midnight will want the joyous moon.
"O guardian Spirits!-ye that dwell
Where woods, and pits, and hollow ways,
The lone night traveller's fancy swell
With fearful tales of older days, —
'Press round him :-guide his willing steed
Through darkness, dangers, currents, snows;
Wait where, from sheltering thickets freed,

--

It rends the elevated tree
Sure-footed beast, thy road thou 'It keep;
Nor storm nor darkness startles thee !

'O blest assurance (trusty steed),

To thee the buried road is known;
Home all the spur thy footsteps need,

When loose the frozen rein is thrown.
'Between the roaring blasts that shake
The naked elder at the door,
Though not one prattler to me speak,

Their sleeping sighs delight me more.
'Sound is their rest- they little know
What pain, what cold, their father feels;
But dream, perhaps, they see him now,
While each the promised orange peels.
'Would it were so! the fire burns bright,
And on the warming trencher gleams;
In expectation's raptured sight

How precious his arrival seems! 'I'll look abroad!'t is piercing cold! How the bleak wind assails his breast! Yet some faint light mine eyes behold: The storm is verging o'er the west. 'There shines a star! -O welcome sight!Through the thin vapors bright'ning still!

1

Yet, 't was beneath the fairest night

The murderer stained yon lonely hill!

Repeat it, echo; quickly, come! 'One minute now will ease my fearsOr, still more wretched must I be? No surely Heaven has spared our tears: I see him, clothed in snow; - 't is he! 'Where have you stayed? put down your load. How have you borne the storm, the cold? What horrors did I not forebode

That beast is worth his weight in gold.' Thus spoke the joyful wife; - then ran

And hid in grateful steams her head : Dapple was housed, the hungry man

With joy glanced o'er the children's bed. 'What, all asleep!-so best,' he cried:

'O, what a night I've travelled through! Unseen, unheard, I might have died;

But Heaven has brought me safe to you. 'Dear partner of my nights and days,

That smile becomes thee! -let us then Learn, though mishap may cross our ways, It is not ours to reckon when.'

THE HAPPY FIRESIDE. THE hearth was clean, the fire clear, The kettle on for tea; Palemon, in his elbow-chair, As blessed as man could be. Clarinda, who his heart possessed, And was his new-made bride, With head reclined upon his breast, Sat toying by his side.

Stretched at his feet, in happy state,
A favorite dog was laid;

By whom a little sportive cat
In wanton humor played.
Clarinda's hand he gently pressed;
She stole an amorous kiss,
And, blushing, modestly confessed
The fulness of her bliss. * *

MILTON'S "CHRISTMAS HYMN."

(ABRIDGED.)

1. Ir was the winter wild,

While the Heaven-born child

All meanly wrapt in a rude manger lies;
Nature, in awe to Him,

Had doffed her gaudy trim,

With her great Master so to sympathize.

It was no season then for her

To wanton with the sun, her lusty paramour.

4. No war or battle's sound

Was heard the world around:

The idle spear and shield were high up-hung;
The hooked chariot stood,
Unstained with hostile blood;

The trumpet spake not to the armed throng;
And kings sat still, with awful eye,

[by.

With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos No nightly trance or breathéd spell [cell. Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic 20. The lonely mountains o'er,

And the resounding shore,

A voice of weeping heard and loud lament;
From haunted spring and dale,
Edged with poplar pale,

The parting genius is with sighing sent; With flower-inwoven tresses torn, [mourn. The nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets 21. In consecrated earth,

The Lars and Lemures mourn with midnight
In urns, and altars round,
A drear and dying sound

Affrights the flamens at their service quaint; And the chill marble seems to sweat [seat. ** While each peculiar power foregoes his customed 27 But see, the Virgin blest

Hath laid her Babe to rest;

[ending:

66 WINTER."

ARGUMENT.

Ten lerness to cattle. Frozen turnips. The cow-yard. Night. The farm-house. Fireside. Farmer's advice and instruction. Nightly cares of the stable. Dobbin. The post-horse. Sheep-stealing dogs. Walks occasioned thereby. The ghost. Lamb-time. Returning spring. Conclusion.

SYMPATHY WITH THE LABORER.

WITH kindred pleasures moved, and cares opprest, Sharing alike our weariness and rest; Who lives the daily partner of our hours, Thro' every change of heat, and frost, and showers; Partakes our cheerful meals, partaking first In mutual labor and in mutual thirst, The kindly intercourse will ever prove A bond of amity and social love.

SYMPATHY WITH OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS; THEIR DEPENDENCE IN WINTER.

To more than man this generous warmth extends, And oft the team and shiv'ring herd befriends; Tender solicitude the bosom fills,

And pity executes what reason wills:

Youth learns compassion's tale from every tongue, And flies to aid the helpless and the young;

When now, unsparing as the scourge of war,
Blasts follow blasts, and groves dismantled roar,
Around their home the storm-pinched cattle lows,
No nourishment in frozen pastures grows;
Yet frozen pastures every morn resound
With fair abundance thundering to the ground.

WINTER FEED ON TURNIPS; GILES ENGAGED IN FODDERING
AND WATERING.

For though on hoary twigs no buds peep out, And e'en the hardy bramble cease to sprout, Beneath dread Winter's level sheets of snow The sweet nutritious turnip deigns to grow. Till now imperious want and wide-spread dearth Bid labor claim her treasures from the earth. On Giles, and such as Giles, the labor falls To strew the frequent load where hunger calls. On driving gales sharp hail indignant flies, And sleet, more irksome still, assails his eyes; Snow clogs his feet; or, if no snow is seen, The field with all its juicy store to screen, Deep goes the frost, till every root is found A rolling mass of ice upon the ground. No tender ewe can break her nightly fast, Nor heifer strong begin the cold repast,

Till Giles with ponderous beetle foremost go, And scattering splinters fly at every blow; When pressing round him, eager for the prize, From their mixt breath warm exhalations rise.

FREEZING AND THAWING UPON THE TREES.

If now in beaded rows drops deck the spray, While Phoebus grants a momentary ray, Let but a cloud's broad shadow intervene, And stiffened into gems the drops are seen; And down the furrowed oak's broad southern side Streams of dissolving rime no longer glide.

THRESHING; FODDERING COWS AND SWINE IN THE YARD. Though night approaching bids for rest prepare, Still the flail echoes through the frosty air, Nor stops till deepest shades of darkness come, Sending at length the weary laborer home. From him, with bed and nightly food supplied, Throughout the yard, housed round on every side, Deep-plunging cows their rustling feast enjoy, And snatch sweet mouthfuls from the passing boy, Who moves unseen beneath his trailing load, Fills the tall racks, and leaves a scattered road; Where oft the swine from ambush warm and dry Bolt out, and scamper headlong to their sty, When Giles, with well-known voice, already there, Deigns them a portion of his evening care.

THE FARMER'S FIRE; GILES BRINGING IN WOOD; THE FIREPLACE, CHIMNEY, LOFT; RUDE PLENTY OF THE KITCHEN.

Him tho' the cold may pierce, and storms molest, Succeeding hours shall cheer with warmth and rest: Gladness to spread, and raise the grateful smile, He hurls the fagot bursting from the pile, And many a log, and rifted trunk, conveys To heap the fire, and to extend the blaze, That quivering strong through every opening flies, While smoky columns unobstructed rise. For the rude architect, unknown to fame (Nor symmetry nor elegance his aim), Who spreads his floors of solid oak on high, On beams rough-hewn, from age to age that lie, Bade his wide fabric unimpaired sustain Pomona's store, and cheese, and golden grain; Bade from its central base, capacious laid, The well-wrought chimney rear its lofty head; Where since hath many a savory ham been stored, And tempests howled, and Christmas gambols roared.

'Left ye your bleating charge, when daylight fled, Near where the hay-stack lifts its snowy head? Whose fence of bushy furze, so close and warm, May stop the slanting bullets of the storm. For, hark! it blows; a dark and dismal night! Heaven guide the traveller's fearful steps aright! Now from the woods, mistrustful and sharp-eyed, The fox in silent darkness seems to glide, Stealing around us, listening as he goes, If chance the cock or stammering cockerel crows, Or goose, or nodding duck, should darkling cry, As if apprised of lurking danger nigh: Destruction waits them, Giles, if e'er you fail To bolt their doors against the driving gale. Strewed you (still mindful of the unsheltered head) Burdens of straw the cattle's welcome bed? Thine heart should feel, what thou may'st hourly see, That duty's basis is humanity :

Of pain's unsavory cup though thou may'st taste
(The wrath of Winter from the bleak north-east),
Thine utmost sufferings in the coldest day
A period terminates, and joys repay.'

THE FARMER-BOY'S LIFE COMPARED WITH THE SAILOR-BOY's. -NIGHT ON THE WINTER SEA. THE SEA-BOY'S HARDSHIPS.

'Perhaps e'en now, while here those joys we boast,

Full many a bark rides down the neighboring coast,
Where the high northern waves tremendous roar,
Drove down by blasts from Norway's icy shore.
The sea-boy there, less fortunate than thou,
Feels all thy pains in all the gusts that blow;
His freezing hands now drenched, now dry, by turns;
Now lost, now seen, the distant light that burns
On some tall cliff upraised, a flaming guide,
That throws its friendly radiance o'er the tide.
His labors cease not with declining day,
But toils and perils mark his watery way;
And whilst in peaceful dreams secure we lie,
The ruthless whirlwinds rage along the sky,
Round his head whistling!. - and shalt thou repine,
While this protecting roof still shelters thine?'

THE FARMER'S INSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATION WELL RECEIVED;

DROWSINESS.

Mild, as the vernal shower, his words prevail, And aid the moral precept of his tale : His wondering hearers learn, and ever keep These first ideas of the restless deep; And, as the opening mind a circuit tries, Present felicities in value rise. Increasing pleasures every hour they find, The warmth more precious, and the shelter kind; Warmth that long reigning bids the eyelids close, As through the blood its balmy influence goes, When the cheered heart forgets fatigues and cares, And drowsiness alone dominion bears.