3.

A maple dish, a cedar spoon,
Seem fair, and sweet to me,
When, on a violet bank, at noon,
I sit, and dine with glee.
From crystal rill my cup I fill,

And praise the bounteous GIVER;
Nor with the Great wou'd change my state,
But dwell in vales for ever.

4.

I love to mark the sultry hour,
When Phoebus ardent glows,
How deeply still are plain and bower
In undisturb'd repose;

All but the rills, that down the hills

Their glittering waters fling,

And round the bowers, on sweet, wild flowers, The bees, that murmuring cling.

5.

When Eve's gray mantle veils the sun,
And hill's late gilded height;

When green banks whiten, as the moon
Sheds wide her milky light,

I mark the vales, and shadowy dales
In soft perspective showing;

Their winding streams, beneath her beams
In trembling lustre flowing.

6.

Then homeward my pleas'd steps I bend,
To yonder ivied cottage,

Where Parents dear, and gentle Friend
Prepare the savory.pottage;
The wholesome fare, the pious prayer,
Conclude my day, so pleasant!
Ye Rich and Proud, confess aloud
Right happy such a Peasant!

EPIGRAM,

FROM THE GREEK,

WHAT, whence am I? Why came I? But to go. Where all is doubt, how little can I know?

From nothing I began; in nothing I

Again shall end.

Man is but vanity.

Come live then, while you live: A bumper fill.
This cordial is a cure for every ill.

tt.

PALESTINE.

A PRIZE-POEM.

BY MR. REGINALD HEBER,

OF BRAZEN-NOSE COLLEGE.

RECITED IN THE THEATRE, OXFORD, JUNE 15, 1803.

SYNOPSIS.

Lamentation over the miseries of Palestine-The Guardian Angels of the land invoked-Subject proposed-Present appearance of the country, with its present inhabitants geographically described, beginning from the north-The Druses, from their situation and importance, first noticed-Contrast between the inhabitants of mountain and plain-Saracens and Bedouins (Nebaioth and Kedar) -Modern Jews-their degraded state of banishment-Appeal to the Almighty in their behalf, founded upon his miraculous interpositions of old-Their former greatness-David-SolomonHis splendour-Popular superstitions respecting him-Improved state of the Arts among the Jews-Their Temple-Firmness of the Jews under misfortunes-derived principally from their hopes of the Messiah-His Advent-Miracles-Crucifixion-Consequent punishment of the Jews, in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and total desolation of the country-Scenes of Christ's sufferings, however, continued to be venerated-PilgrimagesHoly Sepulchre-Empress Helena-Crusades-Nations which embarked in them described-English heroism-Edward the First-Richard Cœur de Lion-Palestine still the scene of British valour-Acre-Conclusion.

REFT of thy sons, amid thy foes forlorn,
Mourn, widow'd queen, forgotten Sion, mourn!
Is this thy place, sad City, this thy throne,
Where the wild desert rears it's craggy stone?

10

While suns unblest their angry lustre fling,
And way-worn pilgrims seek the scanty spring?-
Where now thy pomp, which kings with envy view'd?
Where now thy might, which all those kings subdue'd?
No martial myriads muster in thy gate;
No suppliant nations in thy Temple wait;
No prophet bards, thy glittering courts among,
Wake the full lyre, and swell the tide of song:
But lawless Force, and meagre Want is there,
And the quick-darting eye of restless Fear;
While cold Oblivion, 'mid thy ruins laid,
Folds his dank wing beneath the ivy shade *.
Ye Guardian Saints! ye warrior sons of heaven †,
To whose high care Judæa's state was given !
O wont of old your nightly watch to keep,
A host of gods, on Sion's towery steep !
If e'er your secret footsteps linger still
By Siloa's fount, or Tabor's echoing hill,
If e'er your song on Salem's glories dwell,
And mourn the captive land you lov'd so well;
(For, oft, 'tis said, in Kedron's palmy vale,
Mysterious harpings swell the midnight gale §,
And, blest as balmy dews that Hermon cheer,
Melt in soft cadence on the pilgrim's ear ;)

20

* Alluding to the usual manner in which Sleep is represented in ancient statues. See also Pindar, Pyth. I. v. 16, 17. σε κνώσσων Ὑδρὸν νῶτον ἀιωρεί.”

+ Authorities for these celestial warriors may be found, Josh. v. 13. 2 Kings vi. 2. 2 Macc. v. 3. Ibid. xi. Joseph. Ed. Huds. vi. p. 1282. et alibi passim.

It is scarcely necessary to mention the lofty site of Jerusalem. "The hill of God is a high hill, even a high hill as the hill of Bashan."

See Sandys, and other travellers into Asia.

30

40

Forgive, blest spirits, if a theme so high.
Mock the weak notes of mortal minstrelsy!
Yet, might your aid this anxious breast inspire
With one faint spark of Milton's seraph fire,
Then should my Muse ascend with bolder flight *,
And wave her eagle-plumes exulting in the light.
O happy once in heaven's peculiar love,
Delight of men below, and saints above!
Though, Salem, now the spoiler's ruffian hand
Has loos'd his hell-hounds o'er thy wasted land;
Though weak, and whelm'd beneath the storms of fate,
Thy house is left unto thee desolate † ;
Though thy proud stones in cumbrous ruin fall,
And seas of sand o'ertop thy mouldering wall;
Yet shall the Muse to Fancy's ardent view
Each shadowy trace of faded pomp renew:
And as the Seer on Pisgah's topmost brow
With glistening eye beheld the plain below,
With prescient ardour drank the scented gale,
And bade the opening glades of Canaan hail;
Her eagle eye shall scan the prospect wide,
From Carmel's cliffs to Almotana's tide §;
The flinty waste, the cedar-tufted hill,
The liquid health of smooth Ardeni's rill;
The grot, where, by the watch-fire's evening blaze II,
The robber riots, or the hermit prays;

50

* Common practice, and the authority of Milton, seem sufficient to justify using this term as a personification of poetry.

St. Matthew's Gospel, xxiv. 38.

Mofes.

Almotana is the oriental name for the Dead Sea, as Ardeni is for Jordan.

The mountains of Palestine are full of caverns, which are generally occupied in one or other of the methods here mentioned. Vide Sandys, Maundrell, and Calmet, passim.