Yet vigorous step; and ruddy look, Now timid Beauty came to gaze Sweet Beauty at his beck to see, While, as his visage glow'd with fire, They touch'd with thrilling notes the wire; And where at distance, mounted high, Amid the seats of minstrelsy, The full mouth'd organ op d her keys, a 4 "Oye "O ye fair Nymphs, whose music thrills That swell my bosom with delight! And feebly from my wither'd brain, What would ye hear, ye blue-eyed Maids? Where would ye pierce Time's close-drawn shades? Would ye to Barham's distant Down Resort to hear of old renown? * Star of the East, whose beauty rais'd A flame, that all around thee blaz'd, Wake from the tomb, and lead the ball In noble Aucher's antient hall; With vows of everlasting truth: See poets, statesmen, round thee crowd, Full pensive in thy train is seen; Lady Bowyer, daughter of Sir Anthony Aucher of Bourne, was for her exquisite beauty, called The Star in the East. Her portrait was painted by Cornelius Jansen, and is one of his best works. See Walpole's Anecd. of Painting, II. 9. The ancestors of Earl Cowper, and of William Cowper the poet, lived, sotemporary with Lady B.wyer, at Ratling Court, in Nonington in this neighbourhood. No Encircled with resplendent fame; And from my blood a Bard shall rise To lift our glory to the skies!' And there see Hammond plead his cause; Tears from the tender fair he draws. Ah! how his glowing accents move The richness of thy tongue supplies. Of mighty nations sunk by fate! 'O hark!' he cries, if, beauteous maid, From thee shall spring a wondrous Sage, Whose praise shall spread from age to age; * The ancestors of James Hammond, the elegiac poet, then lived at St. Alban's Court, in Nonington, where the same family still reside. + Gibbon, the Historian, whose ancestors then lived at Westcliffe, near Dover. And And History's pages shall enshrine Gibbon's immortal name with thine !" The star is fled; no more the sound Fall the bold turrets; sinks the gate, Mock'd gorgeously the wanton air;` And Aucher † rules no longer there. Has plac'd the dome of modern trim, ‡ And still is every laurell'd walk, No sage attempts congenial wreathes !" The field of the Aucher arms was ermine, with three lions rampant on chief. The male line of the Auchers became extinct nearly a century ago. Richard Hooker, the very learned and far-famed author of the Eccle siastical Policy, was rector here, and has a monument in the church. See Walton's Lives. Thus Thus abruptly, at present, end the Wizard's communications; but they shall be resumed at some more propitious moment. This I have been called on also to give the conclusion of the Poem on Retirement. debt, I trust, I shall likewise be able to pay ere long. At present a fever on my spirits, and an unconquerable anxiety of mind, render me not only incapable of performing any promises of this kind; but even of expressing an apology for my omissions. This, however, is a strain, in which I am aware that I must not indulge. There is nothing more offensive to the public than the language of complaint; and whatever a man has undertaken, he will be expected to execute, in spite of all obstacles. Yet |