Why the cold urn of her whom long he loved So often fills his arms; so often draws His lonely footsteps at the silent hour, To pay the mournful tribute of his tears? Oh! he will tell thee that the wealth of worlds Should ne'er seduce his bosom to forego
That sacred hour, when, stealing from the noise Of care and envy, sweet remembrance sooths With Virtue's kindest looks his aching breast, And turns his tears to rapture. Ask the crowd, Which flies impatient from the village-walk To climb the neighbouring cliffs, when far below The cruel winds have hurl'd upon the coast Some helpless bark; while sacred Pity melts The general eye, or Terror's icy hand Smites their distorted limbs and horrent hair; While every mother closer to her breast Catches her child, and, pointing where the waves Foam through the shatter'd vessel, shrieks aloud, As one poor wretch, that spreads his piteous arms For succour, swallow'd by the roaring surge; As now another, dash'd against the rock, Drops lifeless down : oh! deemest thou indeed No kind endearment here by Nature given To mutual terror and Compassion's tears? No sweetly-melting softness, which attracts, O'er all that edge of pain, the social powers To this their proper action and their end? Ask thy own heart; when, at the midnight hour, Slow through that studious gloom thy pausing eye, Led by the glimmering taper, moves around The sacred volumes of the dead, the songs Of Grecian bards, and records writ by Fame For Grecian heroes, where the present power Of Heaven and Earth surveys th' immortal page, Even as a father blessing, while he reads The praises of his son. If then thy soul, Spurning the yoke of these inglorious days, Mix in their deeds and kindle with their flame;
Say, when the prospect blackens on thy view, When rooted from the base, heroic states Mourn in the dust, and tremble at the frown Of cursed Ambition: when the pious band
Of youths who fought for freedom and their sires Lie side by side in gore; when ruffian Pride Usurps the throne of Justice, turns the pomp Of public power, the majesty of rule, The sword, the laurel, and the purple robe, To slavish, empty pageants, to adorn A tyrant's walk, and glitter in the eyes
Of such as bow the knee; when honour'd urns Of patriots and of chiefs, the awful bust And storied arch, to glut the coward rage Of regal Envy, strew the public way With hallow'd ruins; when the Muses haunt, The marble porch where Wisdom wont to talk With Socrates or Tully, hears no more, Save the hoarse jargon of contentious monks, Or female superstition's midnight prayer; When ruthless Rapine from the hand of Time Tears the destroying scythe, with surer blow To sweep the works of glory from their base; Till Desolation o'er the grass-grown street Expands his raven-wings, and up the wall, Where senates once the price of monarchs doom'd Hisses the gliding snake through hoary weeds That clasp the mouldering column; thus defaced, Thus widely mournful when the prospect thrills Thy beating bosom, when the patriot's tear Starts from thine eye, and thy extended arm In fancy hurls the thunderbolt of Jove, To fire the impious wreath on Philip's brow, Or dash Octavius from the trophied car; Say, does thy secret soul repine to taste The big distress? Or wouldst thou then exchange Those heart-ennobling sorrows for the lot Of him who sits amid the gaudy herd Of mute barbarians bending to his nod,
And bears aloft his gold-invested front, And says within himself-I am a king,
And wherefore should the clamorous voice of wo Intrude upon mine ear? The baleful dregs Of these late ages, this inglorious draught Of servitude and folly, have not yet, Bless'd be the eternal Ruler of the world! Defiled to such a depth of sordid shame The native honours of the human soul, Nor so effaced the image of its sire.
Oh! bless'd of Heaven, whom not the languid
Of Luxury, the siren! not the bribes
Of sordid Wealth, nor all the gaudy spoils
Of pageant Honour, can seduce to leave
Those ever-blooming sweets, which from the store Of Nature fair Imagination culls
To charm the enliven'd soul! What though not all Of mortal offspring can attain the heights Of envied life; though only few possess Patrician treasures or imperial state; Yet Nature's care, to all her children just, With richer treasures and an ampler state, Endows at large whatever happy man Will deign to use them. His the city's pomp, The rural honours his. Whate'er adorns
The princely dome, the column, and the arch, The breathing marbles and the sculptured gold, Beyond the proud possessor's narrow claim, His tuneful breast enjoys. For him the spring Distils her dews, and from the silken gem Its lucid leaves unfolds: for him the hand Of Autumn tinges every fertile branch With blooming gold, and blushes like the morn. Each passing hour sheds tribute from her wings; And still new beauties meet his lonely walk, And loves unfelt attract him. Not a breeze Flies o'er the meadow, not a cloud imbibes
The setting sun's effulgence, not a strain From all the tenants of the warbling shade Ascends, but whence his bosom can partake Fresh pleasure, unreproved. Nor thence partakes Fresh pleasure only for the attentive mind, By this harmonious action on her powers, Becomes herself harmonious: wont so oft In outward things to meditate the charm Of sacred order, soon she seeks at home To find a kindred order, to exert
Within herself this elegance of love,
This fair inspired delight: her tempered powers Refine at length, and every passion wears A chaster, milder, more attractive mien. But if to ampler prospects--if to gaze On Nature's form, where, negligent of all These lesser graces, she assumes the port Of that eternal majesty that weigh'd
The world's foundations-if to these the mind Exalts her daring eye, then mightier far
Will be the change, and nobler. Would the forms Of servile custom cramp her generous powers? Would sordid policies, the barbarous growth Of ignorance and rapine, bow her down To tame pursuits, to indolence and fear? Lo! she appeals to Nature, to the winds And rolling waves, the sun's unwearied course, The elements and seasons: all declare For what the eternal Maker has ordain'd The powers of man: we feel within ourselves His energy divine: he tells the heart
He meant, he made us to behold and love What he beholds and loves, the general orb Of life and being; to be great like him, Beneficent, and active. Thus the men
Whom Nature's works can charm, with God himself Hold converse; grow familiar, day by day, With his conceptions, act upon his plan, And form to his the relish of their souls.
DAVID MALLETT. 1700-1765.
WILLIAM AND MARGARET.
"TWAS at the silent, solemn hour When night and morning meet; In glided Margaret's grimly ghost, And stood at William's feet.
Her face was like an April morn, Clad in a wintry cloud; And clay-cold was her lily hand, That held her sable shroud.
So shall the fairest face appear,
When youth and years are flown: Such is the robe that kings must wear, When Death has reft their crown.
Her bloom was like the springing flower, That sips the silver dew;
The rose was budded in her cheek, Just opening to the view.
But love had, like the canker-worm, Consumed her early prime :
The rose grew pale and left her cheek; She died before her time.
"Awake!" she cried, "thy true love calls, Come from her midnight-grave;
Now let thy pity hear the maid
Thy love refused to save.
"This is the dumb and dreary hour, When injured ghosts complain;
When yawning graves give up their dead, To haunt the faithless swain.
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