Its inmate quick approach'd the door,
With ruddy offspring, half a fcore,
Whom he in hafty words befought,
Romantic as his ftyle of thought:
"Fair dame, does here the goddess dwell,
Secluded in this rural dell?

Retir'd fhe lives, like you, no doubt ;-
Or thousands erft had trac'd her out.".
She answer'd with regretful mien;

"We once enjoy'd her smile ferene :
But, when yon dazzling dome aspir'd,
Expell'd by envy, fhe retir'd."

Hence he the great man's manfion fought,-
Found him of gentle temper wrought,
Seeming to prove, though ftrange, fometimes,
True joy up flippery grandeur climbs.
Yet now and then fome fign of wo
'Lit darkling on his furrow'd brow,
Whose growing gloom may bar, one day,
Each thought, that beams a livelier ray.
Fortune had match'd his every prayer,
Were not his name denied an heir,
Who might to future times proclaim,
His fire through merit rofe to fame,
And, bleft with wealth, was, when he died,
'Tomb'd with all pomp of funeral pride.
And now the Confort interven'd;

Though ftricken in years, fhe marks retain'd,
How envied once her beauty reign'd.
Though prudent too, her heart had glow'd
With blifs, that 'bounds from blifs bestow'd.
A fingle weakness she poffefs'd:

If in her mirror, when fhe drefs'd,

Her lucklefs grey locks chanc'd to fhine,
Contrafted with her florid skin,
She heav'd a figh, and back recoiling,
Fancied, 'twas death with Cupid foiling.
To parties led, she'd inly pine,

If doom'd on fofa to recline

With elder dames, and there fit prating,
How were all things degenerating!
Judging, who's bleft with competence,
With learning fraught, and polish'd fenfe,
Might ills, that to our nature join,
To mental grace by thought refine.

In peace, that peace-makers abide,
Next, to the parfonage he hied.
Knocking, the noife of weaving ceas'd,
And welcom'd in, he views, well pleas'd,
Simplicity, thy trim abode.

Supplying want of chairs, there ftood
The focial fettle, feftoon'd neat
With apples, dried for winter treat.
Fresh spare-ribs too the dreffer lin❜d,
And spoke the parish not unkind.
A fifter kept the house, a maid
In times much better born and bred;
Of wondrous skill in forming schemes,
Contriving matches, folving dreams,
Whose praise the neighbours join to tell
For medicines, that never fail.
But should some parent's only love
Quit this vain world for blifs above,
She'd feelingly outweep their grief,
And, furnishing her beft relief,

Tell them, that did their child furvive,
He might perhaps their torment live,
And would," did thanklefs he behave,
Bring their grey hairs in forrow to the grave."
With fo much worth still forrow mix'd ;-
The youth, who firft her fondnefs fix'd,
For whom, her doubts had quell'd defire,
Now wedded struts the village fquire.

The while his hoft our pilgrim waits,
His heart with flattering hope dilates.
But what amazement fhrunk his breaft,
When in his face the entering priest
Reveal'd fuch marks of fore distress,
Not Chriftian meeknefs could reprefs.

This morning call'd him to attend
The ordination of a friend.
An upftart there, as he demurr'd,
The hand of fellowship conferr'd;
A junior too, to his rejection,

Was chos'n to preach at May election.

"What, can't content," the pilgrim cried,
"In rural fcenes with worth refide?
And muft I feek th' infected town,
Where vice and folly rear their throne;
And, as to diffipate the fog

Its alleys damp the fmoke muft clog,
By turns invade man's blackening heart,
Vicious when dulnefs' clouds depart?
Where pleasure forms the general bent,
Fashion explodes too rude content.
Towns feek not blifs to realize,
Suffic'd to appear in happy guise.
Howe'er, before the evening star
Lock'd up the day, and shone afar
Juft like the key-hole of the fky,
Where still the fun would feem to spy.
He near approaches, and admires
Half-circling glories gild its fpires,
Whence on the abject ground dispread
There gloom'd behind enormous shade.
So the few joys, in life that glow,
Long fhades of grief behind them throw.

(To be continued.)

IT has been faid by fome critics, that amidst a profusion of images, the poet's ingenuity is to be chiefly exercised in selection and arrangement. If in the enfuing poem, neither the exercise nor existence of ingenuity appear, it is prefumed, that the good-natured reader will receive fome gratification in finding, that in the favage scenes of the District of Main, there lives fomething, like poetic fenfibility, and a willingness to conceive and to defcribe fuch objects, as are here brought to view.

MUSING ON THE SCENES OF

SPRING.

No more rude winter's angry blast
Howls o'er the hill, or fweeps the plain;
His frowning terrors now are past,
And spring refumes her genial reign.

The heav'ns, fo lately hung with gloom,
Now beam with warm effulgence bright;
The earth again puts forth its bloom,
The grove refounds with new delight.

The streams, from icy fetters freed,

In pebbled paths now cheerly glide
Along the vale, and through the mead,
Or murmur down the mountain's fide,

Again the merry flocks repair,
Exulting, to the bloffom'd green,
To feast upon the banquet there,
And frolic on the smiling scene.

Charm'd by the fmile of lovely spring,
With life and joy all nature glows;
Sweet fragrance floats on zephyr's wing;
The defert bloffoms, like the rofe.

At morn each bright'ning charm invites
To spend abroad the rofy hours,
While health in ev'ry breeze delights,
And mufic fongs of rapture pours.
At eve, when day's effulgence fled,
The sky with foften'd tints appears,
'Tis fweet o'er twilight fcenes to tread,
And gaze, till beauty fleeps in tears;

Or when night's queen with penfive ray
Looks down upon the flumb'ring earth,
Congenial fouls delight to stray,

And give each tender paffion birth,

Lives there beneath yon radiant sky,

Whom nature's charms cannot endear? "With him, sweet spring, may fancy die, And joy defert the blooming year." Now is the time, the feafon fair,

"To wake the foul and mend the heart ;" The sweetest joys of life to share,

The joys, which tafte and love impart.

With temples, furrow'd o'er with time,
With hoary locks, and thoughtful gaze,
E'en wisdom views with joy fublime
The youthful charms, that spring displays,

Thee, faireft daughter of the year,

With facred vows the mufes court;
Stern winter's ruffian frowns they fear,
And love with thee alone to sport,

The winding vale, the tow'ring hill
The woodland, tun'd to native joy,
Their fwelling breasts with rapture fill,
And all their glowing thoughts employ.
Chief, lovely spring, in thee we trace

The fmiles of all creating love;
The charms, that brighten on thy face,
Our heavenly Father's goodness prove,

Then, while o'er vernal scenes we stray,
And taste the bleffings they beftow,
Our hearts should breathe a grateful lay
To him, who bade each beauty glow.

Diftria of Main, May, 1804.

THE MINSTREL.

MONTHLY CATALOGUE

OF

Publications in the United States, for April, 1804. DURING the prefent month, no original work of importance has come to our obfervation; and republications have been un