LINES To W. L. Esq. while he sang a Song to Purcell's Music. WHILE my young cheek retains its healthful hues, Such melodies as thine, lest I should lose My daily bread in tears and bitterness; To fix the last glance of my closing eye, Methinks, such strains, breath'd by my angel-guide, Would make me pass the cup of anguish by, Mix with the blest, nor know that I had died! ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG MAN OF FORTUNE Who abandon'd himself to an indolent and causeless Melancholy. HENCE that fantastic wantonness of woe, O Youth to partial Fortune vainly dear! To plunder'd Want's half-shelter'd hovel go, Go, and some hunger-bitten Infant hear Moan haply in a dying Mother's ear: Or when the cold and dismal fog-damps brood O'er the rank church-yard with sear elm-leaves strew'd, Pace round some widow's grave, whose dearer part Was slaughter'd, where o'er his uncoffin'd limbs The flocking flesh-birds scream'd! Then, while thy heart Groans, and thine eye a fiercer sorrow dims, SONNET TO THE RIVER OTTER. DEAR native Brook! wild Streamlet of the West! What happy, and what mournful hours, since last But strait with all their tints their waters rise, Thy crossing plank, thy marge with willows grey, And bedded sand that vein'd with various dies Gleam'd through thy bright transparence! On my way, Lone manhood's cares, yet waking fondest sighs, VOL. II. SONNET. Composed on a journey homeward; the Author having received intelligence of the birth of a Son, September 20, 1796. OFT o'er my brain does that strange fancy roll Thou wert a spirit, to this nether sphere Sentenc'd for some more venial crime to grieve; Did'st scream, then spring to meet Heaven's quick reprieve, While we wept idly o'er thy little bier! * Ην που ημων η ψυχη πριν εν τωδε τω ανθρωπινω ειδει γενεσθαι. PLAT. in Phædon. SONNET, To a Friend who asked, how I felt when the Nurse first presented my Infant to me. CHARLES! my slow heart was only sad, when first And hanging at her bosom (she the while Bent o'er its features with a tearful smile) So for the Mother's sake the Child was dear, |