THE LANDSCAPE.

EVER charming, ever new,
When will the landscape tire the view?
The fountains fall, the rivers flow,
The woody valleys, warm and low,
The windy summit, wild and high,
Roughly rushing on the sky!
The pleasant seat, the ruin'd tower,
The naked rock, the shady bower,
The town and village, dome and farm,
Each gave each a double charm,
As pearls upon an Ethiop's arm.

DYER.

SOLITUDE. It was in this lone valley she would charm The ling'ring noon, where flowers a couch had

strewn; Her cheek reclining, and her snowy arm On hillock by the palm-tree half o'ergrown: And aye that volume on her lap is thrown, Which every heart of human mould endears ; With Shakspeare's self she speaks and smiles alone, And no intruding visitation fears, To shame th' unconscious laugh, or stop her sweetest

tears.

CAMPBELL

RAILLERY.

ABOVE all things raillery decline,
Nature but few does for that task design:
'Tis in the ablest hands a dangerous tool,
But never fails to wound the meddling fool;

For all must grant it needs no common art
To keep men patient when we make them smart,
No wit alone, nor humour's self will do.
Without good nature, and much prudence too,
To judge aright of persons, place, and time;
For taste decrees what's low, and what's sublime;
And what might charm to-day, or o'er a glass,
Perhaps at court, or next day, would not pass.

STILLINGFLEET.

POLITENESS.
STUDY, with care, politeness, that must teach
The modish forms of gesture and of speech :
In vain formality with matron mien,
And pertness apes with her familiar grin:
They against nature for applauses strain,
Distórt themselves, and give all others pain :
She moves with easy though with measured pace,
And shows no part of study but the grace.

STILLINGFLEET.

PASSING AWAY.

"Passing away is written on the world, and all the world contains."

66

It is written on the trees

As their young leaves glistning play ;
And on the brighter things than these

“Passing away.”
It is written on the brow

Where the spirit's ardent ray
Lives, burns, and triumphs now

“Passing away.”
It is written on the heart-

Alas! that there decay
Should claim from love a part!

Passing away."
Friends, friends! oh! shall we meet

Where the spoiler finds no prey,
Where lovely things and sweet

Pass not away?
Shall we know each other's eyes,

With the thoughts that in them lay,
When they meet beneath the skies

Which pass away?
Oh! if this may be so,

Speed, speed, thou closing day!
How blest, from earth's vain show,
To pass away.

MRS. HEMANS.

THE GIFT OF A BIBLE.

BEHOLD that Book,-o'er which, from ancient time,

Sad penitence hath pour'd the prayerful breath, And meek devotion bow'd with joy sublime,

And Nature arm'd her for the strife of death, And trembling Hope renew'd her wreath divine, And Faith an anchor gain'd :--that holy Book is thine. Behold the Book,—whose sacred truths to spread,

Christ's heralds toil beneath a foreign sky, Pouring its blessings o'er the heathen's head,

A martyr-courage kindling in their eye. Wide o'er the globe its glorious light must shine, As glows the arch of heaven :-that holy Book is

thine. Here search with humble heart, and ardent eye,

Where plants of peace, in bloom celestial grow, Here breathe to Mercy's ear the contrite sigh,

And bid the soul's unsullied fragrance flow, To Him who shuts the rose at even-tide, And opes its dewy eye when earliest sunbeams glide. May heaven's pure spirit touch thy youthful heart,

And guide thy feet through life's eventful lot, That when from this illusive scene I part,

And in my grave lie mould'ring and forgot, This my

first gift, like golden link may join Thee to that angel-band around the throne divine.

MRS. SIGOURNEY.

THE PARTING.

"One struggle more, and I am free."

Byron. LEAVE me, oh! leave me!-unto all below, Thy presence binds me with too deep a spell,

Thou makest these mortal regions, whence I go, Too mighty in their loveliness-farewell,

That I may part

in

peace. Leave me! thy footstep with its lightest sound, The very shadow of thy waving hair,

Wake in my soul a feeling too profound,
Too strong, for aught that loves and dies, to bear.

Oh! bid the conflict cease!

I hear thy whisper-and the warm tears gush Into mine eyes, the quick pulse thrills my heart!

Thou bid'st the peace, the reverential hush, The still submission from my thoughts depart.

Dear one! this must not be.

The past looks on me from thy mournful eye, The beauty of our free and vernal days,

Our communings with sea, and hill, and skyOh! take that bright world from my spirit's gaze!

Thou art all earth to me!

Shut out the sunshine from my dying room, The jasmine's breath, the murmur of the bee;

Let not the joy of bird-notes pierce the gloom, They speak of life, of summer, and of thee

Too much-and death is here!

Doth our own spring make happy music now,
From the old beach roots flashing into day?

Are the broad lilies imaged in its flow?
Alas! vain thoughts! that fondly thus can stray

From the dread hour so near!

If I could but draw courage from the light Of thy clear eye, that ever shone to bless!

-Not now! 't will not be now my aching sight Drinks from that fount a flood of tenderness

Bearing all strength away!

Leave me! thou comest between my heart and

Heaven!
I would be still, in voiceless prayer to die :

Why must our souls thus love, and thus be riven! Return!-thy parting wakes my agony !

Oh! yet awhile delay!

MRS. HEMANS.