VALEDICTORY STANZAS.

MUST we then part, sweet maid, for aye?

And wilt thou not, when far away,
Remember him, who many a day

Hath loy'd thee most sincerely?

Canst thou, enchanting girl! forget

When absent that we once have met?

Or must that star for ever set

Which, rising, shone so brightly?

Oh! if it must, believe me, fair!

My warmest wishes thou shalt share;

And oft shall rise my fervent prayer

For one so good and lovely.

May guardian angels blessings shed, Watch o'er the path thy feet may tread;

Bright visions hovering round thy bed, Smile on thee late and early.

And, shouldst thou ever think on me,

Oh! be that thought but worthy thee!

'Tis all I ask: thy heart is free,

Though mine must suffer deeply.

Whate'er may be our future lot,

O dearest girl! forget me not:

This faithful heart, by thee forgot,

Would break with grief, or nearly.

But I would rather cease to live

In thy remembrance, than perceive
That any thought of me could give

Thy heart a moment's agony.

VERSES

ON READING HAYLEY'S LIFE OF COWPER.

THANKS, Hayley, for this portrait of the bard,

Whose sacred strain hath often charm'd mine ear;

Thou need'st not wish a more sublime reward,

Than thy own labours have secur'd thee here.

Posterity shall gratefully revere

Thy efforts to increase the poet's fame;

And, while they shed for him the tender tear,

Shall yield thy services the meed they claim,

And style thee Cowper's Friend, a proud and envied

name.

Cowper! in virtue's ever sacred cause,

Thy magic harp by power divine was strung,

To vindicate those just, those righteous laws

Once preach'd on earth by more than mortal tongue; And as thy hand across its cords was flung,

As keen reproof or consolation flow'd,

Vice own'd thy powers, by deep conviction stung; Reviving virtue lighter felt her load,

With

energy divine the christian's bosom glow'd.

But 'tis not in the Bard alone we trace

That peerless merit which we all admire; Though ruthless time itself can ne'er efface

The well earn'd triumphs of thy sacred lyre. Those modest charms which timidly retire, And shun the obtrusive glare of public day,

That winning gentleness which must inspire

With purest rapture friendship's hallow'd sway, Shed o'er thy private life a mild and sober ray.