Terras, fi tamen impiæ

Non tangenda rates tranfiliunt vada.

Audax omnia perpeti

Gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas: Audax lapeti genus

Ignem fraude malâ gentibus intulit. Post ignem ætheriâ domo

Subductum, macies et nova febrium

Terris incubuit cohors ;

Semotique prius tarda neceffitas

Leti corripuit gradum.

Expertus vacuum Dædalus aëra

Pennis non homini datis :

Perrupit Acheronta Herculeus labor.

Nil mortalibus arduum eft:

Cœlum ipfum petimus ftultitiâ; neque

Per noftrum patimur fcelus

Iracunda JOVEM ponere fulmina.

If skittish mules may climb their fide,
And plod fecure the air-hung ways.
But man forbidden paths will tread:

Columbus thus, of Japheth sprung,
From virtue's fimple fons convey'd

The fire, whose name would taint my song. Hence the fhrunk fhank, and carious bone,

Accelerate Nature's flow decay;
And Death, no longer hobbling on,
His ancient crutches flings away.
Montgolfier thus thro' vacant air,

Elate on buoyant pinion foar'd;
And Spalding thus, too prompt to dare,

Old ocean's wreck-ftrew'd bed explored. To wildeft flights wild man afpires:

Here Paine would scale th' eternal walls; And there, as Franklin points his wires,

Difarm'd th' indignant lightning falls.

F

WITH rapid wing
ITH rapid wing our faireft years move on:

I figh, my MYRA, as again I fing

Our faireft years move on with rapid wing,

Till all the loveliness of life is gone.

Few are our joys, and fleeting; ere they fly,
Seize their brief grace! Not diftant is the date
(Trust me, dear maid) when even thy bloom shall die,
Or fcathed by chance, or chased by hurrying fate:

Too foon that "eye's blue languifh" will expire;

And mute too soon will sleep that tuneful tongue, On whose soft founds entranced attention hung, As with its melody it fhamed the lyre.

Then, ah! my MYRA, ere thofe charms decay,
Give them to love: Even now they haste away!

SONG.

I.

SAY, fond lover, is thy mind

By the gentle Muse refin❜d?

Haft thou skill to ftrike the lyre

With thine own APOLLO's fire ?—

Think not fo the maid to move;

Hopeless is a Poet's love:

Rich and high-born dotards tear

From thine arms the venal fair.

II.

Haply health's unborrow'd hues

O'er thy cheek their bloom diffuse ;

And thy graceful limbs outvie
Phidian forms in fymmetry :-
Ah! To Albion's fordid train
Youth and beauty fue in vain :

Rich and high-born dotards tear
From thine arms the venal fair.

III.

Though the Muse inspire thy breast;

On thy face though wonder rest,
Wildly gazing; and thy frame
Rival Gracia's proudeft fame ;-
Sigh unheard, unpitied pine,
If nor rank nor wealth be thine:

Rich and high-born dotards tear

From thine arms the venal fair,