Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

Mark when from thoufand mingled dyes
Thou feeft one pleafing form arise,
How active light, and thoughtful fhade,
In greater fcenes each other aid.
Mark when the different notes agree
In friendly contrariety,

How paffions well accorded ftrife,
Gives all the harmony of life;

Thy pictures fhall thy conduct frame,
Confiftent ftill, though not the fame ¿
Thy mufick teach the nobler art,
To tune the regulated heart.

EVENING:

an Ode,

To STELL A.

EVENING now from purple wings

Sheds the grateful gifts fhe brings

Brilliant drops bedeck the mead,
Cooling breezes shake the reed;
Shake the reed, and curl the stream
Silver'd o'er with Cynthia's beam;
Near the chequer'd, lonely grove,
Hears, and keeps thy fecrets, love,
Stella, thither let us ftray!
Lightly o'er the dewy way.
Phoebus drives his burning car,
Hence, my lovely Stella, far;
In his ftead, the queen of night
Round us pours a lambent light;

Light that feems but just to fhow

Breafts that beat, and cheeks that glow;
Let us now, in whisper'd joy,
Evening's filent hours employ,
Silence beft, and confcious fhades,
Please the hearts that love invades,
Other pleasures give them pain,
Lovers all but love difdain.

W

TO THE SAME.

HETHER Stella's eyes are found,

Fix'd on earth, or glancing round,

If her face with pleasure glow,
If the figh at others woe,
If her eafy air exprefs

Conscious worth, or soft distress,
Stella's eyes, and air, and face,
Charm with undiminish'd grace.
If on her we fee difplay'd
Pendant gems, and rich brocade,
If her chintz with lefs expence
Flows in eafy negligence;
Still the lights the conscious flame,
Still her charms appear the fame;
If the ftrikes the vocal ftrings,
If fhe's filent, speaks, or fings,
If fhe fit, or if she move,
Still we love, and still approve.

Vain the cafual, tranfient glance,
Which alone can pleafe by chance,
A a 4

Beauty,

Beauty, which depends on art,
Changing with the changing art,
Which demands the toilet's aid,
Pendant gems and rich brocade.
I thofe charms alone can prize,
Which from conftant nature rife,
Which nor circumftance, nor drefs,
E'er can make, or more, or lefs.

Νο

To a FRIEND.

O more thus brooding o'er yon heap,
With Avarice painful vigils keep;
Still unenjoy'd the prefent ftore,
Still endless fighs are breath'd for more.
O! quit the fhadow, catch the prize,
Which not all India's treasure buys!
To purchase heaven has gold the power?
Can gold remove the mortal hour?
In life can love be bought with gold?
Are friendhip's pleasures to be fold?
No-all that's worth a wifh-a thought,
Fair virtue gives unbrib'd, unbought.
Ceafe then on trafh thy hopes to bind,
Let nobler views engage thy mind.

With fcience tread the wond'rous way,

Or learn the Mufes' moral lay;

In focial hours indulge thy foul,

Where mirth and temperance mix the bowl;

To

To virtuous love refign thy breast,
And be, by bleffing beauty-bleft.

Thus taste the feast by nature spread,
Ere youth and all its joys are fled;
Come taste with me the balm of life,
Secure from pomp, and wealth, and ftrife.
I boaft whate'er for man was meant,
In health, and Stella, and content;
And fcorn! Oh! let that fcorn be thine!
Mere things of clay, that dig the mine.

STELLA IN MOURNING.

7HEN lately Stella's form difplay'd

WHEN

The beauties of the gay brocade,
The nymphs who found their power decline,
Proclaim'd her not so fair as fine.

Fate! fnatch away the bright difguife,
"And let the goddess truft her eyes.”
Thus blindly pray'd the fretful fair,
And fate malicious heard the pray'r;
But brighten'd by the fable drefs,
As virtue rifes in distress,

Since Stella ftill extends her reign,
Ah! how fhall envy footh her pain?

Th' adoring youth and envious fair,
Henceforth fhall form one common prayer;
And love and hate alike implore

The fkies-" That Stella mourn no more.'

Το

To STEL L A.

OT the foft fighs of vernal gales,
The fragrance of the flowery vales,
The murmurs of the crystal rill,
The vocal grove, the verdant hill;
Not all their charms, tho' all unite,
Can touch my bofom with delight.

Not all the gems on India's fhore,
Not all Peru's unbounded store,
Not all the power, nor all the fame,
That heroes, kings, or poets claim;
Nor knowledge which the learn'd approve,
To form one wish my foul can move.

Yet nature's charms allure my eyes,
And knowledge, wealth, and fame I prize;
Fame, wealth, and knowledge I obtain,
Nor feek I nature's charms in vain ;
In lovely Stella all combine,
And, lovely Stella! thou art mine,

VERSES,

« VorigeDoorgaan »