Unlocks each thought chained down by coward art, And to full day the latent passions start! -And she, whose first, best wish is your applause, Herself exemplifies the truth she draws. Born on the stage-through every shifting scene, Still has your smile her trembling spirit fired! All skill, all practice, now unmeaning things! TO TWO SISTERS.* WELL may you sit within, and, fond of grief, Changed is that lovely countenance, which shed Light when she spoke ; and kindled sweet surprise, As o'er her frame each warm emotion spread, Played round her lips, and sparkled in her eyes. Those lips so pure, that moved but to persuade, Yet has she fled the life of bliss below, And now in joy she dwells, in glory moves! WRITTEN IN A SICK CHAMBER. THERE, in that bed so closely curtained round, He stirs yet still he sleeps. May heavenly dreams Long o'er his smooth and settled pillow rise; Till through the shattered pane the morning streams, And on the hearth the glimmering rush light dies. * TO THE FRAGMENT OF A STATUE OF HERCULES, COMMONLY CALLED THE TORSO. AND dost thou still, thou mass of breathing stone, What though the spirits of the north, that swept * In the gardens of the Vatican, where it was placed by Julius II, it was long the favourite study of those great men, to whom we owe the revival of the arts, Michael Angelo, Raphael, and the Caracci. + Once in the possession of Praxiteles, if we may believe an ancient epigram on the Gnidian Venus. Analecta Vet. Poetarum, III. 200. IMITATION OF AN ITALIAN SONNET.* LOVE, under friendship's vesture white, 'Tis love; and love is still the same. * See Gray's Mem. sec. II. lett. 30. AN EPITAPH* ON A ROBIN REDBREAST. TREAD lightly here, for here, 'tis said, *Inscribed on an urn in the flower-garden at Hafod. ON A GIRL ASLEEP. SLEEP on, and dream of heaven awhile. And move, and breathe delicious sighs ! Ah, now soft blushes tinge her cheeks, She starts, she trembles, and she weeps! And now, how like a saint she sleeps! Sleep on secure! above control, Thy thoughts belong to heaven and thee! Repose within its sanctuary! TO AH! little thought she, when, with wild delight, By many a torrent's shining track she flew ; When mountain-glens and caverns full of night 'er her young mind divine enchantment threw. * On the death of her sister. |