Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub
[blocks in formation]

Savage! he would foon diveft
Of its rofy plumes thy breast;
Then, with folitary joy,

Eat thee, bones and all, my boy.

LANGHORNE.

THE EMMET.

THESE emmets how little they are in our eyes! We tread them to duft, and a troop of them dies Without our regard or concern:

Yet, as wife as we are, if we went to their school, There's many a fluggard and many a fool

A leffon of wisdom might learn.

They do n't wear their time out in fleeping or play,

But gather up corn in a sunshiny day,

And for winter they lay up their stores: They manage their work in fuch regular forms, One would think they forefaw all the frofts and the storms,

And fo brought their food within doors.

WATTS.

The Approach of Winter.-The Lark. 99

THE APPROACH OF WINTER.

THE fun far northward bends his annual way,
The bleak north-east wind lays the forests bare;
The fruit ungather'd quits the naked spray,
And dreary winter reigns o'er earth and air.
No mark of vegetable life is feen,

No bird to bird repeats his tuneful call;
Save the dark leaves of fome rude evergreen,

Save the lone redbreast on the mofs-grown wall.

SCOT.

THE LARK.

SEE how the lark, the bird of day,
Springs from the earth, and wings his way!
To heaven's high vault his course he bends,
And sweetly fings as he afcends.

But when, contented with his height,
He fhuts his wings and checks his flight,
No more he chants the lively ftrain,
But finks in filence to the plain.

[blocks in formation]

100

Sunshine after a Shower.

SUNSHINE AFTER A SHOWER.

EVER after fummer fhower,

When the bright fun's returning power
With laughing beam has chas'd the storm,
And cheer'd reviving nature's form;
By sweet brier hedges, bath'd in dew,
Let me my wholesome path pursue ;
There, iffuing forth, the frequent fnail
Wears the dank way with flimy trail;
While, as I walk, from pearled bush
The funny-sparkling drop I brush,
And all the landscape fair I view
Clad in robe of fresher hue;
And fo loud the blackbird fings,
That far and near the valley rings;
From shelter deep of shaggy rock
The shepherd drives his joyful flock;
From bowering beech the mower blithe
With new-born vigour grafps the scythe;
While o'er the smooth unbounded meads
Its laft faint gleam the rainbow fpreads.

WARTON.

Epitaph on a Lap-Dop.-Arabia.

EPITAPH ON A LAP-DOG.

I NEVER bark'd when out of season;
I never bit without a reason;

I ne'er infulted weaker brother;

Nor wrong'd by force nor fraud another:
Though brutes are placed a rank below,
Happy for man could he fay fo!

ΠΟΙ

BLACKLOCK.

ARABIA.

O'ER Arabia's defert fands

The patient camel walks,
'Mid lonely caves and rocky lands
The fell hyæna stalks.

On her cool and fhady hills
Coffee-fhrubs and tam'rinds grow,
Headlong fall the welcome rills

Down the fruitful dells below.

The fragrant myrrh and healing balm

Perfume the passing gale;

Thick hung with dates the spreading palm

Tow'rs o'er the peopled vale.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

And often o'er the level waste
The ftifling hot winds fly;

Down falls the fwain with trembling hafte,

The gasping cattle die.

Shepherd people on the plain

Pitch their tents and wander free,

Wealthy cities they disdain,

Poor-yet bleft with liberty.

ORIGINAL.

CHEERFULNESS.

The honeft heart, whose thoughts are clear
From fraud, difguife, and guile,
Needs neither Fortune's frowning fear,

Nor court her fickle smile.

The greatness that would make us grave

Is but an empty thing;

What more than mirth would mortals have?

The cheerful man's a king!

BICKER STAFF.

« ПредишнаНапред »