.~>(50 SONNETS. 



SONNET 1236. 



1 hold iny head above the pelting storm, 

 And bend not to the fury of the blast : 

 Not yet I crouch beneath the rod of wrong;, 

 But, round, the mantle of defiance cast. 



The agony from first assault is past: 



Danger no longer wears a withering form ; 

 Nor by the terror of his threat is strong ; 

 But only by the vigour of the blow 



Can crush his victim helpless to the ground ! 

 Not I by horror's aspect fly the foe, 

 But at the advance the counter-trumpet sound, 

 And at my post in stern defence am found. 



Thus, though my aged limbs their nerve have lost, 

 The palm a mighty price the toe shall cost. 



9th October, 1834. 



SONNET 1262. 



Blood is corporeal ; whence descends the mind ? 



Breathes some celestial spirit on the birth ? 



Perchance, from earthly atoms genius owns 



No spring of thought, no mental energy. 

 Deep on the inward mirror are design *d 



At infant age the forms of truth and worth : 



Then fairies whisper their mellifluous tones ; 



And wings angelic o'er the favour'd fly ! 

 Not in this shape of clay the light is born : 



It issues from the glory of the sky ; 



It blazes like the rosy beams of morn ; 



It is an effluence from the throne on high : 

 Upon the mortal particle it throws 

 Flames of its own ; but no communion knows. 



27th February, 1835. 



