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'Twas here a tender mother strove
To keep my happiness in view;
I fmil'd beneath a parent's love,
Who foft compaffion ever knew;
In whom the virtues all combin'd,
On whom I could with faith rely;
To whom my heart and foul were join'd
By mild affection's primal tie:

Who fmiles in heav'n, exempt from care,
Whilft I remember-fuch things were.

'Twas here, (where calm and tranquil reft
O'erpays the peafant for his toil,)
That firft, in bleffing, I was bleft
With growing friendship's open fmile.
My friend, far diftant, doom'd to roam,
Now braves the fury of the seas;
He fled his peaceful, happy home,
His little fortune to increase:
Whilft bleeds afresh the wound of care,
When I remember-fuch things were.

'Twas here-ev'n in this blooming grove,
I fondly gaz'd on Laura's charms,
Who blushing own'd a mutual love,
And melted in my youthful arms.
Though hard the foul-conflicting ftrife,
Yet fate, the cruel tyrant, bore
Far from my fight the charm of life—
The lovely maid I did adore.
'Twould eafe foul of all its care,
my
Could I forget that-fuch things were.

Here firft I faw the morn appear
Of guilelefs pleafure's fhining day;
I met the dazzling brightness here,

Here mark'd the foft declining rayBeheld the skies, whofe ftreaming light Gave fplendour to the parting fun; Now loft in forrow's fable night,

And all their mingled glories gone
Till death, in pity, end my care,
I must remember-fuch things were.

!

ON SEEING

CHILDREN GATHERING FLOWERS.

L

BY T. SMART.

OVELY Innocents! what pleasures
Meet you in this happy hour!

Richer far than monarchs' treasures

Seems each vari'gated flow'r.

Oh! that joys fupreme may ever
In each bofom find abode!
And no villain's base endeavour
Lead your fteps to forrow's road!
Should fome monster, iron-hearted,

From their home you parents tear;
Heedlefs of each wound that smarted,
Wounds which wives and children bear:

Doom'd awhile, like mine, to languish,
Rapidly your tears would flow;
While the wretch, who caus'd your anguish,
Smiles, infulting, on your woe.

R

THE RETROSPECT OF LIFE.

ANONYMOUS.

ICHES chance may take or give;

Beauty lives a day, and dies!

Honour lulls us while we live,

Mirth's a cheat, and pleasure flies.

Is there nothing worth our care?

Time, and chance, and death our foes

If our joys fo fleeting are,

Are we only ty'd to woes ?

Let bright Virtue answer,no;
Her eternal pow'rs prevail

When honours, riches, cease to flow,

And beauty, mirth, and pleafure fail.

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SONNET.

WRITTEN ON THE SEA SHORES

BY CHARLOTTE SMITH.

N fome rude fragment of the rocky fhore, Wome, un fracture of cliff, the billows break, Mufing, my folitary feat I take,

And liften to the deep and folemn roar.

O'er the dark waves the winds tempeftuous howl;
The fcreaming fea-bird quits the troubled fea:
But the wild gloomy fcene has charms for me,
And fuits the mournful temper of my foul.
Already fhipwreck'd by the ftorms of fate,
Like the poor mariner methinks I ftand,
Caft on a rock; who fees the distant land,
From whence no fuccour comes-or comes too late.
Faint and more faint are heard his feeble cries,
Till, in the mingled tide, th' exhaufted fuff'rer dies.

ELEGY TO PITY.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN.

HALL, lovely pow'r! whole bofom heaves the figh,

When fancy paints the scene of deep distress;

Whofe tears fpontaneous cryftallize the eye,

When rigid fate denies the pow'r to bless.

Not all the sweets Arabia's gales convey,

From flow'ry meads, can with that figh compare;
Not dew-drops, glitt'ring in the morning ray,
Seem half fo beauteous as that falling tear.

Devoid of fear, the fawns around thee play;
Emblem of peace, the dove before thee flies
No blood-ftain'd traces mark thy blamelefs way,
Beneath thy feet no hapless insect dies.

Come, lovely nymph! and range the mead with me,
To fpring the partridge from the güileful foc,

From fecret fnares the struggling bird to free,
And stop the hand uprais'd to give the blow.
And when the air with heat meridian glows,
And nature droops beneath the conqu❜ring gleam,
Let us, flow wand'ring where the current flows,
Save finking flies that float along the stream.
Or turn to nobler, greater tasks thy care,
To me thy fympathetic gifts impart;
Teach me in friendship's griefs to bear a fhare,
And juftly boaft the gen’rous feeling heart.
Teach me to footh the helpless orphan's grief,
With timely aid the widow's woes affuage,
To mis'ry's moving cries to yield relief,

And be the fure resource of drooping age.
So when the genial fpring of life fhall fade,
And finking nature own the dread decay,
Some foul congenial then may lend its aid,
And gild the close of life's eventful day.

EPITAPH ON AN INFANT.

BY S. T. COLERIDGE.

ERE could forefally cares

RE fin could blight or forrow fade,

The op'ning bud to heav'n convey'd,
And bade it bloffom there.

THE ROSE.

BY COWPER.

THE

HE Rofe had been wash'd, just wash'd in a fhow'r,
Which Mary to Anna convey'd;

The plentiful moisture encumber'd the flow'r,

And weigh'd down its beautiful head.

The cup was all fill'd, and the leaves were all wet,
And it feem'd, to a fanciful view,
To weep for the buds it had left, with regret,
On the flourishing bush where it grew.

I hastily seiz❜d it, unfit as it was

For a nofegay, fo dripping and drown'd;
And fwinging it rudely-too rudely-alas!
I fnapp'd it-it fell to the ground.

And fuch, I exclaim'd, is the pitiless part
Some act by the delicate mind,
Regardless of wringing and breaking a heart,
Already to forrow refign'd.

This elegant rofe, had I fhaken it lefs,

Might have bloom'd with its owner awhileAnd the tear that is wip'd, with a little address, May be follow'd perhaps with a smile.

The DOG and the WATER-LILY.

BY THE SAME.

HE noon was fhady, and foft airs
Swept Oufe's filent tide,

When 'fcap'd from literary cares,

I wander'd on its fide.

My fpaniel, prettiest of his race,
And high in pedigree;

(Two nymphs adorn'd with every grace
That spaniel found for me ;)

Now wanton'd loft in flags and reeds,
Now ftarting into fight,

Purfu'd the fwallows o'er the meads,
With scarce a flower flight.

It was the time when Ouse display'd
His lilies newly blown ;

Their beauties I intent furvey'd,
And one I wish'd my own.

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