POETIC GEMS:

Partly Original;

BUT CHIEFLY SELECTED FROM THE

BEST AUTHORS:

DESIGNED TO

ENRICH THE MEMORIES AND FORM THE TASTE

OF

YOUNG PERSONS OF BOTH SEXES.

By S. BLACKBURN, A. M.

MASTER OF THE ACADEMY, SIR ISAAC's WALK, COLCHESTER.

Colchester:

PRINTED BY AND FOR G. DENNIS; AND SOLD BY SIMPKIN AND MARSHALL, DARTON AND SON, AND H. WASHBOURNE,

LONDON; AND BY MOZLEY AND SON, DERBY.

Having stated the faults of other Collections of Poetry for Schools, it is hardly necessary to say I have endeavoured to avoid them. No piece of an objectionable tendency will be found in the following pages : consequently the whole is available for the purposes for which Poetical Works are used in Schools. My object has been to furnish the Heads of Seminaries and Private Teachers with a little Work which they may with confidence place in the hands of their Pupils; and my hope is, that these “Poetic Gems” will enrich their memories and form their taste for the writings of our best Poets, at an age when the mind most readily receives and tenaciously retains whatever is presented to it through the medium of verse.

S. BLACKBURN.

Sir Isaac's Walk Academy,

Colchester, June, 1833.

CONTENTS

25

PAGE

The Better Land ...................... Mrs. Hemans. 1

The First Grave. ...........................L. E. L. 2

Memory .................................. Slatter, 4

A Retrospective Review ....................T. Hood. 5

Soliloquy of a Water-Wagtail ..........J. Montgomery. 9

Yardley Oak .......

............... Cowper. 11

On a Picture of Yardley Oak ..........J. Montgomery. 12

The Slave's Avenger.

....Holland. 12

The Felon ....

................Mrs. Gilbert. 13

The Path of the Wind...... .............. Original. 15

Child and Flowers ...

......... Mrs. Hemans. 16

On seeing Flags Hanging in a Country Church B. Barton. 18

April .......

...... Clare, 19

The Dead ....

..........B. Barton.

The Masque of Nature................ Mrs. Barbuuld.

The Orphan Boy ............

......... Fox.

The Old Man's Comforts .................... Southey.

The Sea .....................

...... Anon.

To a Mountain Daisy ........

..... Burns.

The African Boy.............

Jerninghum.

The Battle of Crecy .......

.... Southey.

To a Youth, with a Watch ....

....... Anon,

The Hour of Prayer.......

Mrs. Hemans.

The Stream of Knowledge ............. ..Miss Mitford.

The Complaints of the Poor ..

..... Southey.

The Withered Leaves .......

Bishop Horne.

Inscription for an Hour-Glass ..........

The Shepherd Boy ................ccccccc.:

To a Boy robbing a Bird's Nest .............. Original.

Sonnet to a Sister ..................

The contrast ................................ Anon.

The Grasshopper.........

...... Cowley. 45

A Happy Country Dwelling .......... ....... Coleridge.

Hymn to Nature ....... ............... Rev. A. Reed.

The Rose ...........

............. Original,

Simple Pleasures commemorated.......... Rev. A. Reed.

The Blind Boy ........

................. Bloomfield. 50

PAGE

Amon

............ Anon.

Female Benevolence......................Dr. Aikin. 51

On my Mother's Picture .................... Cowper. 52

On visiting a Scene of Childhood .............. Anon.

The World we have not seen .................. Anon. 56

The Sin of War ............................ Mellen.

Retaliation .................................. Anon.

Elijah fed by Ravens ......................Grahame.

The Bees .....

....Mrs. Hemans.

The Dervise and his Garden .............W. Shoberl.

A Forest Scene ..........

..... Miss Mitford.

Childhood and Manhood ...

d and Manhood .................... Crabbe.

The Balloon and the Eagle ..

Lullaby .......

........ Anon,

The Frailty of Beauty ................ Rev. C. Wolfe.

Human Life compared to the Seasons ............ Anon. 68

The School Boy.......

..............R.V. 69

Youth ...........

........ Anne,

Burial of Sir John Moore .............. Rev. C. Wolfe.

Voltaire compared with a Cottager ............ Cowper.

The Little Graves .....

Slavery injurious to Man and offensive to God .. Cowper. 76

To the Clouds .......

.......B, Barton. 78

To my Daughter, on her Birth-Day ... ........ Byron. 79

Mary, the Maid of the Inn ....

..... Southey. 82

... Shakspeare. 86

The Orphan Boy .....

.... Thelwall. 87

The Studious Mechanic.....

Miss J. Taylor. 89

The Voice of Nature ..... .........

...Anon. 91

Divine Providence....

... Cowper.

Llewellyn's Dog ........

.... Anon. 94

Gipsies

..... Cowper. 97

An Enigma..........

.... Miss Fanshawe. 98

To-Morrow ........

.. Anon. 99

The Three Warnings ..

.....Mrs. Thrale, 100

The Blasphemer Punished.......

.... ....... Cowper. 103

Fidelity ...........

...... Wordsworth. 105

Elegy written in a Country Churchyard..........Gray. 107

Love of Country .........

.....Sir W. Scott. 112

Where is He?............................H. Neele, 112

Recollections of Boyhood.................... Cowper. 113

Sabbath Morning.....

......... Grahame, 114

The Clock and the Sun-Dial............... De la Motte, 116

The Muffled Drum ...............

.........Mayne. 117

To-morrow ................................ Cotton. 118

Report of an Adjudged Case........ ......... Cowper. 119

Mercy

e.........................

122

128

Delta

155

PAGE

Inscription under the Picture of an aged

of an aged J. Montgomery. 121

M

Negro Woman ...............

Pleasures of Memory ........................ Icogers.

The Needless Alarm .........

123

Henry the Fourth's Soliloquy on Sleep ...... Shakspeare. 127

Cardinal Wolsey's Lamentation on his Fall

On a Distant Prospect of Eton College ..........Gray. 130

Ode to Poverty ..........................W.Furk.

...W. Park. 133

The Solitary .............................. Cowper. 136

On the New Year....................11

........ Mrs. Wakeford. 138

The Power of Music ...................

...... Collins. 139

:

The Aged Beggar ..................

....W. P. Brown. 143

Anm. 145

Address to a Mummy

The Butterfly ...

147

The Negro's Complaint ......... ...... Cowper. 148

First Inquiries

....... Anon. 150

The Byron Oak...

...... Byron. 151

Childhood ..............................R. Howitt, 133

Human Life..........

............. Rogers. 154

To the Memory of a Favourite

The Homes of England ................ Mrs. Hemans. 158

An Epistle to a Friend ..

........ Cowper. 159

Maternal Solicitude........... ........... Rogers. 161

The Wild Boy......

C. W. Thompson. 163

To the Rainbow ......

.........T. Campbell. 164

Sonnet to a Fountain ...,

....... Anon. 166

Conscience ......

167

William the Thresher ....

.... Holloway. 168

Twilight ...............

.J. Montgomery.

Birds' Nests ........

..W. Howitt. 170

The First Grief .......

. Mrs. Hemans, 172

The Illuminated City ....

..........ditto. 173

The Spring Journey .

...Bishop Heber. 175

Christmas Morn .......

.... Carrington. 175

To a Butterfly, on giving it liberty ........ Miss Taylor, 177

The First Wanderer ..................J. Montgomery. 178

Tyre ................................ Mary Howitt. 180

The Glow Worm .................... Mrs. C. Smith, 181

On Planting a Tulip Root ............J. Montgomery. 182

The Traveller at the Source of the Nile.... Mrs. Hemans. 183

The West Indian Slave Owner ........J. Montgomery. 185

Motion for a New Trial, in the Cause of Nose v. Apon 186

Eyes ........................

The Cotton Factory .................... Wordsworth. 188

On the Death of an Infant ............ Miss J, Taylor. 189