SALMAGUNDI.

B

CONGENIAL to my pensive breast

O'ershadowing clouds the skies invest;
Fast-falling showers deform the glade,
No cheering ray dispels the shade,
No lark's clear carol wakes the morn
That, lowering, bids my steps forlorn

+

Abandon Surry's smiling plains,

Fly the lov'd roof where Friendship reigns,
Where liberal Mirth that care beguiles,
And calm Contentment's heav'nly smiles
Their heart-enlivening influence shed;
Where Time throws off his wings of lead,
And clad in purple plumage light,

Speeds swifter than the winds his flight.
Thence as my devious course I steer,
FANCY in fairy visions clear

Bids, to beguile my 'tranced eyes,
Past joys in sweet succession rise:
Refreshing Zephyr's balmy breath
Bids me inhale where Ascot Heath,
Impregnated with mild perfume,
Bares its broad bosom's purple bloom:
Gives to my view the splendid crowd,
The high-born racer neighing loud,
The manag'd steeds that, side by side,
Precede the glittering chariot's pride,

Within whose silken coverture

Some peerless Beauty sits secure,
And, fatal to the soul's repose,

Around her thrilling glances throws.

Enchantress, whose all-powerful spell
We felt, when WARTON'S dulcet Shell
(A choice libation at thy shrine)
Pour'd the stream of Song divine,*
O FANCY! speed with me thy flight,
O'er oaks in richest verdure dight,
Whose writhed limbs of giant mould
Wave to the breeze their umbrage bold;
Bear me, embowering shades between,
Through many a glade and vista green
Whence silver streams are seen to glide,
And towering domes th' horizon hide,
To Leonard's forest-fringed Mound;
Where lavish Nature spreads around
Whate'er can captivate the sight,
Elysian lawns, and prospects bright
As visions of expiring saints,

Or scenes that Harcourt's pencil paints. +
Bear me where 'midst enamell'd meads
Redundant Thames his bounty sheds,
Teeming with many a plenteous freight:
Where o'er the vale in antique state

* The late Dr. WARTON's exquisite Ode to Fancy.
+ The Lady of General Harcourt, of St. Leonard's Hill,