EVENING. O'ER the heath the heifer ftrays Free (the furrow'd task is done) Now he hides behind the hill, Trudging as the plowmen go, (To the smoking hamilet bound) Giant-like, their shadows grow, Lengthen'd o'er the level ground. Where the rifing foreft fpreads To their high-built airy beds As the lark, with vary'd tune, Breaking thro' a parted cloud! As you begin the last line but one to the finishing of the verfe, if you look upward, the words will be delivered with more force and beauty. Innumerable are the situa SONGS. It has been admitted by moft critics that the English excel all other nations in thofe compofitions which come under the denomination of "Songs," or "Ballads." In a mifcellany like ours, which has for its object the improvement of the fcholar, in reading almoft every fpecies of poetry, it would be defective on our part to omit the insertion of a few productions of this defcription; efpecially, when we reflect, that to read them with propriety requires no fmall degree of taste and difcrimination. Confiderable pleasure may be afforded, if they are done juftice to. Any thing in the least laboured or heavy in your expreffion, will fuit but very few, as the measure in which they are ufually written is fhort, and the language eafy and fimple. There are fome fentiments, in many of them, expreffive of grief and difquietude, that of courfe demand rather a more Now, tardy mode of utterance, than those of a warm and animated nature, which ought to accelerate your method of delivery.-This difference is to be found in all other compofitions as well as thefe; and your own judgment must teach you to find out the proper places where to reduce the diftinction into practice. We fhall begin the number of fongs which we purpofe to introduce here, with one written by Cunningham, which, in our opinion, poffeffes confiderable merit.-Let the tone of your voice be Smooth and harmonicus; and, as you begin to read it, if you look upwards, it will have a good effect. MAY MAY-EVE; OR KATE OF ABERDEEN. By CUNNINGHAM. THE filver moon's enamour'd beam Steals foftly thro' the night, To wanton with the winding stream, To beds of state go, balmy fleep, Upon the green the virgins wait, Till Morn unbar her golden gate, As Kate of Aberdeen. In the last line of each verfe you may throw more tenderness in your expreffion than in the others. Strike up the tabor's boldest notes, We'll roufe the nodding grove; The nested birds fhall raise their throats, And hail the maid I love. ( 204 ) And fee-the matin lark mistakes, Fond bird! 'tis not the morning breaks, 'Tis Kate of Aberdeen. Now lightsome o'er the level mead, For fee, the rofy May draws nigh; The following, by GAY, is replete with fimplicity of thought and expreffion. The two first lines must be read with more energy than any other part of the poem. "TWAS when the feas were roaring, Now foften your voice.. A damfel lay deploring, All on a rock reclin'd |