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ODE TO SPRING.

YOUTH of the year, delightful Spring!
Thy bleft return on genial wing
Infpires my languid lays :
No more I fleep in floth fupine,
When all creation at thy fhrine
Its annual tribute pays.

Efcap'd from Winter's freezing pow'r,
Each bloffom greets thee, and each flow'r;
And, foremost of the train,

By Nature, artlefs handmaid, dreft,
The fnow-drop comes in lily'd vest,
Prophetic of thy reign.

The lark now ftrains her tuneful throat,
And ev'ry loud and sprightly note
Calls echo from his cell:

Be warn'd, ye maids, that liften round,
A beauteous nymph became a found-
The nymph who lov'd too well.

The bright-hair'd fun, with warmth benign, Bids tree, and shrub, and swelling vine, Their infant buds difplay:

Again the ftreams refresh the plains,
Which Winter bound in icy chains,
And sparkling bless his ray.

Life-giving zephyrs breathe around,
And inftant glows th' enamell'd ground,
With Nature's varied hue;

Not fo returns our youth decay'd,
Alas! nor air, nor fun, nor fhade,
The fprings of life renew!

The fun's too quick revolving beam
Apace diffolves the human dream,
And brings th' appointed hour;
Too late we catch the parting ray,
And mourn the idly wafted day
No longer in our power.

Then happiest he, whofe lengthen'd fight
Purfues, by virtue's conftant light,
A hope beyond the skies;

Where frowning Winter ne'er fhall came,
But rofy Spring for ever bloom,

And funs eternal rife.

MISS CARTER.

THE PRISON.

O, WELCOME Debtor! in thefe walls,
Thy cares, and joys, and loves forego;
Approach; a brother Debtor calls,
And join the family of Woe!

Did Fortune with her frowning brow
Thy late and early toils withstand?
Or Slander ftrike the fatal blow,
Or griping Us'ry's iron hand?

Say, does a wife, to want confign'd,
While weeping babes furround her bed,

Peep thro' and fee the fetters bind

Those hands, that earn'd their daily bread?

Does fhe in vain, on knees that bend,
The marble heart of Wealth implore?
Breathlefs purfue fome flying friend,
Or beat in vain the closing door?

Look up, and share our feanty meal;
For us fome brighter hours may flow;
Some angel break thefe bolts of steel,
For Howard marks and feels our woe.

DARWING

TO THE EVENING STAR.

BRIGHT eye of pensive Eve! refplendent orb,
That o'er the misty mountains shinest clear;

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Thy lamp ferene, my now benighted steps
Direct to that blest spot where dwells my fair,
Twin rivals who can boast

More bright, more pure than thee.

For not thy lovely light, that kindly cheers
The fullen frown of unpropitious Night,
Is half fo fweet as truth,

That beams in beauty's eyes.

Not all the little waking elves, that rife
From out their rofy bowers of velvet buds,
Where they had slept the day,

To dance thy rays beneath,

Feel fuch delight as does this breast, when thou
With radiant luftre fhew'ft the happy hour,
That leads from fcenes of care

To ftill domeftic blifs.

BIDLAKE.

ON DIVINE POETRY.

IN Nature's golden Age, when new-born Day,
Array'd the skies, and earth was green and
gay;
When God with pleasure all his works furvey'd,
And virgin Innocence before him play'd,
In that illuftrious 'morn, that lovely spring,
The Mufe, by Heaven infpir'd, began to fing:
Defcending angels in harmonious lays,

Taught the first happy pair their Maker's praise.
Such was the facred art-We now deplore
The Mufe's lofs, fince Eden was no more.
When Vice from hell rear'd up its hydra-head,
Th' affrighted maid, with chafte Aftræa fled,
And fought protection in her native sky;

In vain the heathen Nine her absence would fupply.
Yet to fome few, whofe dazzling virtues fhone
In ages paft, her heavenly charms were known.
Hence learn'd the Bard, in lofty strains to tell
How patient Virtue triumph'd over hell;
And hence the chief, who led the chosen race
Thro' parting feas, deriv'd his fongs of praife:
She gave the rapt'rous ode, whofe ardent lay,
Sings female force, and vanquish'd Sifera;
She tun'd to pious notes the Pfalmift's lyre,
And filled Ifaiah's breaft with more than Pindar's

fire!

HUGHES.

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