How would the world admire! But speaks it less
An agency divine, to make him know
His moment when to fink and when to rife
Age after age, than to correct his courfe?
All we behold is miracle, but feen

So duly, all is miracle in vain.

COWPER.

ON THE

DIVERSITY OF FLOWERS.

THEN

HEN each in its peculiar honors clad,
Shall publish even to the diftant eye,
Its family and tribe.-Laburnum, rich
In ftreaming gold.-Syringa, iv'ry pure;
The fcented and the fcentlefs Rofe; this red
And of an humbler growth; the other tall,
And throwing up into the darkest gloom
Of neighb'ring Cyprefs, or more fable Yew,
Her filver globes, light as the foaming furge
That the wind fevers from the broken wave.
The Lilac, various in array, now white,

Now fanguine, and her beauteous head now fet
With pyramidal purple fpikes, as if

Studious of ornament, yet unrefolv'd

Which hue fhe moft approv'd, fhe chofe them all.

Copious of flow'rs, the Woodbine, pale and

wan,

But well compenfating their fickly looks
With never-cloying odors early and late.
Hypericum, all bloom, fo thicka fwarm

Of flow'rs, like flies, clothing her flender rod
That scarce a leaf appears. Mezerion too,
Though leaflefs, well attir'd, and thick befet
With blufhing wreaths, invefting ev'ry spray.
Athaca, with her purple eye;-the Broom
Yellow, and bright as bullion, unalloy'd
Her bloffoms; and, luxuriant above all,
The Jaffmine, throwing wide her elegant sweets,
The deep dark green of whofe unvarnish'd leaf
Makes more confpicuous, and illumines more
The bright profufion of her fcatter'd stars.
These have been, and these fhall be, in their
day;

And all this uniform uncolor'd scene
Shall be dismantled of its fleecy robe
And flush into variety again.

From dearth to plenty, and from death to life
Is Nature's progrefs, when fhe lectures man
In heav'nly truths; evincing as fhe makes
The grand tranfition, that there lives and works
A Pow'r fublime.

And ere one flow'ry feafon fades and dies,
Designs the blooming wonders of the next..

COWPER.

IMAGINATION.

IMAGINATION! Who can fing thy force?

Or who defcribe the fwiftnefs of thy courfe? We on thy pinions can furpafs the wind, And leave the rolling univerfe behind.

From ftar to ftar the mental optics rove, Measure the skies and range the realms above; There in one view, we grafp the mighty whole, Or with new worlds, amaze th' unbounded foul. Though Winter frowns, to Fancy's raptur'd

eyes

The fields may florifh, and gay fcenes arife;
The frozen deeps may break their iron bands,
And bid their waters murmur o'er the fands;
Fair Flora may refume her fragrant reign,
And with her flow'ry riches deck the plain;
Sylvanus may diffuse his honors round,
And all the foreft may with leaves be crown'd;
Show'rs may defcend, and dews their

close,

gems dif And nectar sparkle on the blooming rofe.

Such is thy pow'r ;-nor are thy orders vain, O thou, the leader of the mental train. In full perfection all thy works are wrought, And thine the fceptre o'er the realms of thought. Before thy throne the fubject paffions bow, Of fubject paffions, Sov'reign Ruler, Thou. At thy command joy rushes on the heart, And through the glowing veins the spirits dart.

Fancy might now her filken pinions try To rife from earth, and fweep th'expanse on high."

PHILLIS WHEATLY.

L

SPRING.

OOS'D from the bands of froft, the verdant ground

Again puts forth her robe of cheerful green; Again puts forth her flow'rs, and all around, Smiling, the cheerful face of Spring is seen.

Behold! the trees new deck their wither'd boughs,

Their ample leaves the hofpitable Plane, The taper Elm and lofty Afh disclose,—

The blooming Hawthorn variegates the fcene. The Lily of the Vale, of flow'rs the Queen, Puts on the robe fhe neither few'd nor spun ; The birds on ground, or on the branches green, Hop to and fro, and glitter in the fun.

Soon as o'er eaftern hills the morning peeps,
From her low neft the tufted lark upsprings,
And cheerful finging, up the air fhe steers,
Still high fhe mounts, ftill loud and fweet fhe.
fings.

On the green furze, cloth'd o'er with golden blooms,

That fill the air with fragrance all around, The Linnet fits, and tricks his gloffy plumes,

While o'er the wild his broken notes refound. While the fun journeys down the western sky, Along the green fwarn mark'd with Roman mound,

Beneath the blithefome fhepherd's watchful eye The cheerful lambkins dance and frisk around.

Now is the time for those who wifdom love,
Who love to walk in Virtue's flow'ry road;
Along the lovely paths of Spring to rove,
And follow Nature up to Nature's God.

BRUCE.

MORNING, EVENING,

AND THE

SPRING.

HAVE ye feen the morning sky,

When the dawn prevails on high;

When anon some purple ray

Gives a fample of the day;

When anon the Lark on wing

Strives to foar, and strains to fing?

Have ye feen th'ætherial blue
Gently fhedding filv'ry dew,
Spangling o'er the filent green,
While the Nightingale unseen
To the moon and ftars full bright,
Lonefome chaunts the hymn of night?

Have ye feen the broider'd May
All her fcented bloom display;
Breezes op'ning ev'ry hour,
This or that expecting flow'r;
While the mingling birds prolong,
From each bush the vernal fong?

Have ye feen the damask Rofe

Her unfullied blufh difclofe;