While, ever as she read, the conscious maid,

By faultering voice and downcast looks betray'd,

NOTES.

"Come then-ere yet the morning ray
"Has drunk the dew that gems your crest,
"And drawn your balmiest sweets away;
"O come, and grace my ANNA's breast.

"Ye droop, fond flowers! But, did ye know,
"What worth, what goodness there reside,
"Your cups with liveliest tints would glow,
"And spread their leaves with conscious pride.

"For there has liberal Nature join'd
"Her riches to the stores of Art,
"And added to the vigorous mind,
"The soft, the sympathising heart.

"Come then-ere yet the morning ray

"Has drunk the dew that gems your crest,
"And drawn your balmiest sweets away;
"O come, and grace my ANNA's breast.

"O! I should think,-that fragrant bed

Might I but hope with you to share,"Years of anxiety repaid,

66

"By one short hour of transport there.

"More blest than me, thus shall ye live
"Your little day; and, when ye die,
"Sweet flowers! the grateful muse shall give
"A verse; the sorrowing maid, a sigh.

Would blushing on her lover's neck recline,

And with her finger-point the tenderest line. 200

NOTES.

"While I, alas! no distant date,

"Mix with the dust from whence I came,

"Without a friend to weep my fate,

"Without a stone to tell my name.

GREENWICH-HILL.

FIRST OF MAY.

Though clouds obscured the morning hour,
“And keen and eager blew the blast,
“And drizzling fell the cheerless shower,
As, doubtful, to the skiff we past:

"All soon, propitious to our prayer,
“Gave promise of a brighter day;
"The clouds dispers'd in purer air,
"The blast in zephyrs died away.

"So have we, Love, a day enjoy'd,

"On which we both-and yet, who knows?—

"How pleasant, from that dome-crown'd hill,
"To view the varied scene below,

"Woods, ships, and spires, and, lovelier still,
"The circling Thames' majestic flow!

H

But these are past: and, mark me, Laura! Time,

Which made what then was venial, now a crime,

NOTES.

"How sweet, as indolently laid,

"We overhung that long-drawn dale,
"To watch the chequer'd light and shade,
"That glanced upon the shifting sail!

"And when the shadow's rapid growth
"Proclaim'd the noon-tide hour expired,
“And, though unwearied," nothing loath,”
"We to our simple meal retired;

"The sportive wile, the blameless jest,
"The careless mind's spontaneous flow,

"Gave to that simple meal a zest,

"Which richer tables may not know.

"The babe that, on the mother's breast,
"Has toy'd and wanton'd for a while,
"And, sinking to unconscious rest,

"Looks up to catch a parting smile;

"Feels less assured than thou, dear maid,
"When, ere thy ruby lips could part,
"(As close to mine thy cheek was laid,)
"Thine eyes had open'd all thy heart.

"Then, then, I mark'd the chasten'd joy
"That lightly o'er thy features stole,
"From vows repaid, (my sweet employ,)

"From truth, from innocence of soul:

To more befitting cares my thoughts confined, And drove, with youth, its follies from my mind.

NOTES.

"While every word dropt on my ear
"So soft, (and yet it seems to thrill,)
"So sweet, that 'twas a heav'n to hear,
"And e'en thy pause had music still.-

"And O! how like a fairy dream,
"To gaze in silence on the tide,
"While soft and warm the sunny gleam
Slept on the glassy surface wide!

"And many a thought of fancy bred,

66

"Wild, soothing, tender, undefin'd,
'Play'd lightly round the heart, and shed
"Delicious languor o'er the mind.

"So hours like moments wing'd their flight,
"Till now the boatman, on the shore,
"Impatient of the waning light,

"Recall'd us by the dashing oar.

Well, Anna,—many days like this

"I cannot, must not, hope to share ;

"For I have found an hour of bliss
"Still follow'd by an age of care.

"Yet oft, when memory intervenes
"But you, dear maid, be happy still,
"Nor e'er regret, midst fairer scenes,
"The day we past on GREENWICH HILL."

206

(m) Since this, while Merry and his nurslings die, Thrill'd by the liquid peril of an eye; Gasp at a recollection, and drop down,

At the long streamy lightning of a frown;

IMITATIONS.

(m) Turgidus Alpinus jugulat dum Memnona,

dumque

Diffingit Rheni luteum caput, hæc ego ludo,. Quæ nec in æde sonent certantia, judice Tarpâ.

NOTES.

THE GRAVE OF ANNA.

"I wish I was where ANNA lies;
"For I am sick of lingering here;
"And every hour Affection cries,
"Go, and partake her humble bier.

"I wish I could! For, when she died,

“I lost my all; and life has proved, "Since that sad hour, a dreary void,

"A waste unlovely, and unloved.

"But who, when I am turn'd to clay,
"Shall duly to her grave repair,

“ And pluck the ragged moss away,

·

"And weeds that have no business there?'