ON A TEAR.

OH! that the Chemift's magic art

Could crystallize this facred treasure!

Long fhould it glitter near my heart,

A fecret source of penfive pleasure.

The little brilliant, ere it fell,

Its luftre caught from CHLOE's eye;

Then, trembling, left it's coral cell

The fpring of Senfibility!

Sweet drop of pure and pearly light!

In thee the rays of Virtue shine;

More calmly clear, more mildly bright,

Than any gem that gilds the mine.

Benign reftorer of the foul!

Who ever fly'st to bring relief,

When first she feels the rude controul

Of Love or Pity, Joy or Grief.

The fage's and the poet's theme,

In every clime, in every age;

Thou charm'ft in Fancy's idle dream,

In Reason's philosophic page.

M

That very law which moulds a tear,

And bids it trickle from its fource,

That law preferves the earth a sphere,

And guides the planets in their course.

*The law of Gravitation.

то A

FRIEND

ON HIS

MARRIAGE.

ON thee, bleft youth, a father's hand confers

The maid thy earliest, fondest wishes knew.

Each soft enchantment of the soul is hers;

Thine be the joys to firm attachment due.

As on fhe moves with hesitating grace,

She wins affurance from his foothing voice;

And, with a look the pencil could not trace,

Smiles thro' her blushes, and confirms the choice.

Spare the fine tremors of her feeling frame!
To thee fhe turns-forgive a virgin's fears!
To thee she turns with fureft, tenderest claim;
Weakness that charms, reluctance that endears!

At each response the facred rite requires,
From her full bosom bursts the unbidden figh.
A strange mysterious awe the scene inspires;
And on her lips the trembling accents die.

O'er her fair face what wild emotions play!

What lights and shades in sweet confufion blend! Soon fhall they fly, glad harbingers of day,

And fettled funfhine on her foul defcend!