132

SONNET.

TO A FAVOURITE CAT*.

FROM THE ITALIAN OF TASSO.

"Come nel Ocean, s'oscura, e' nfesta, &c."

BY ALEXANDER THOMSON, ESQ,

WITH stormy rage while ocean's billows roll,
And midnight's added gloom obscures the sky,
The toil worn seaman to the starry Pole,

With eager wishes turns his anxious eye:
And thus my tabby Friend, must hapless I,
Dark victim of Misfortune's stern controul,
On thee alone for comfort's light rely,
And call thy sacred eyes my starry Pole.
Thou, and thy purring child, must form to me.
Of Arctic Bears the Constellation bright;
By whose kind aid your luckless Bard may see,

In gloom's nocturnal hours his lays to write:
And so nay Heaven both milk and flesh provide,
And shield from cruel blows each velvet hide.

Tasso, in a humourous Sonnet addressed to his favourite Cat, earnestly entreats her to lend him the light of her eyes during his midnight studies, not being himself able to purchase a candle to write by. ADVENTURER, No. 59.

SONG.

ROUND Love's elysian bowers,
The softest prospects rise,
There bloom the sweetest flowers,
There shine the purest skies;
And joy and rapture gild awhile,
The radiant heaven of Beauty's smile.

Round Love's deserted bowers,
Tremendous rocks arise,
Cold mildew blights the flowers,
Tornadoes rend the skies;

And Pleasure's waning moon goes down,
Amid the night of Beauty's frown.

Then youth, thou fond believer!

The wily syren shun,

Who trusts the sweet deceiver,

Will surely be undone !

When Beauty triumphs, ah beware!

Her smile is Hope, her frown Despair!

ALCEUS,

ODE.

TO ROBERT ANDERSON, M. D.

ON HIS LEAVING THE COUNTY OF DOWN,

SEPTEMBER 17, 1802.

BY THE REV. HENRY BOYD, A. M.

We spent at Campbell's * friendly board
Of social hours, alas! the last;
Campbell, by commoner or lord

Of that illustrious name, surpast
Seldom in sense and worth and taste-

And Percy's health and praise went round—

-How is the prospect all o'er-cast

Since you have left Uladia's bound! -Even tuneful Hafiz ‡ seems to mope, Like Patrick's Dean bereft of Pope!

*The Rev. Dr. William Campbell, Newry. + Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore.

Thomas Stott, Esq. Dromore.

Deserted by the sinking gale,

Since you forsook the northern shore,
Like ships becalm'd, with furled sail,
Unmov'd by canvass or by oar
We lie, nor longer now explore

Those Islands where the Muses play;
The potent magic acts no more,

And all our glimmering fires decay.
That strand *, which late we trod with you,
Seem'd to presage a long adieu !

We saw Mount Catherine o'er the tide
Salute the cloudy range of Mourne,

We saw Rosstrevors sylvan pride

The foamy spray indignant spurn, Where on the beach by Neptune worn, From pendent bowers and billows hoar, Sapphire and emerald tints adorn,

In fairy dance, the winding shore. Yet still the parting scene display'd O'er all a melancholy shade.

Ah! little thought the mingled throng
That on the barren strand we spy'd
Saunt'ring in Pleasure's search along,
Or sporting in the wavy tide,
What nobler joys, by thee supplied,

Might raise their minds above the scene

Of all that Fancy yet descried,

In moon-light wave, or woodland green,

Or where the golden shafts of day

Thro' chequer'd shades on Ocean play.

* Carlingford bay, a scene of unparalleled beauty and magnificence.

For, like thy country's pride of yore,
The peerless Knight of Ellerslie *
Who wav'd on Ayr's romantic shore
The beamy torch of Liberty;
And roaming round from sea to sea,
From glade obscure, or gloomy rock,
His bold compatriots call'd to free
The realm from Edward's iron yoke,
You rouse the Heliconian train,
The cause of virtue to sustain †.

Thy banded minstrels march along,
The descant rolls from hill to hill;
Fond Zephyr propagates the song,

And charmed Echo answers still;
While you conduct, with studious skill,
The pomp, where'er the varied lay
May best the general bosom thrill;
Ör where their files in broad display,
As thy sage guidance they pursue,
May give their pageantry to view.

The swains from many a hamlet round
Croud the fine melody to hear,
And list'ning stand, in awe profound,

As the full concert charms the ear;
While more than music from the sphere
Descends, their waken'd soul to raise

* Wallace.

+ The general dispersion of Dr. Anderson's edition of the British Poets, the critical merit of the editor, the influence of general knowledge, and particularly of the refined entertainment which these volumes afford, in humanizing the manners and aiding the cause of virtue in rural literary societies, are alluded to here and in the following Stanzas.