ODE TO HORROR.

Then man as much of joy can share
From ruffian winter, bleaky bare,
As from the pure ætherial blaze
That wantons in the summer rays;
The humble cottage then can bring
Content, the comfort of a king;

And gloomy mortals wish no more

For wealth and idleness to make them

poor.

ODE TO

DISAPPOINTMENT.

I.

THOU joyless fiend, life's constant foe,

Malignant source of care and woe,

Pleasure's abhorr'd controul;

Her gayest haunts for ever nigh,

Stern mistress of the secret sigh,

That swells the murm'ring soul.

II.

Why haunt'st thou me thro' deserts drear?

With grief-swoln sounds why wound'st my ear, Denied to pity's aid?

Thy visage wan did e'er I woo,

Or at thy feet in homage bow,

Or court thy sullen shade?

VOL. II.

Cc

ODE TO DISAPPOINTMENT.

III.

Even now enchanted scenes abound,
Elysian glories strew the ground,

To lure th' astonish'd eyes;

Now Horrors, Hell, and Furies reign,

And desolate the fairy scene

Of all its gay disguise.

IV.

The passions, at thy urgent call,
Our reasons and our sense enthral

In frenzy's fetters strong,

And now despair with lurid eye

Doth meagre poverty descry,

Subdu'd by famine long.

V.

The lover flies the haunts of day,

In gloomy woods and wilds to stray,

There shuns his Jessy's scorn;

ODE TO DISAPPOINTMENT.

Sad sisters of the sighing grove

Attune their lyres to hapless love,

Dejected and forlorn.

VI.

Yet hope undaunted wears thy chain,
And smiles amidst the growing pain,

Nor fears thy sad dismay;

Unaw'd by power her fancy flies

From earth's dim orb to purer skies,

To realms of endless day,

A DIRGE.

I.

THE waving yew or cypress wreath In vain bequeathe the mighty tear; In vain the awful pomp of death

Attends the sable-shrouded bier.

II.

Since Strephon's virtue's sunk to rest, Nor pity's sigh, nor sorrow's strain, Nor magic tongue, have e'er confest Our wounded bosom's secret pain.

III.

The just, the good, more honours share In what the conscious heart bestows, Than vice adorn'd with sculptor's care, In all the venal pomp of woes.