1000 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



Prey on thine altcr'd form, (which late had glow'd 

 With beauty and with strength above thy peers) 

 A bodeful tear would rush into njine eyes ; 

 And a wild thought would beat against my heart 

 That life's eventful journey must be trod 

 Without that loved companion, whom my soul 

 Ifad chosen In the guileless hour of youtii ; 

 Who should with me have strctch'd the towering wing 

 E'en to ambition's height; and should (if ere 

 Propitious fortune smiled) have shared the meed 

 Of that fair fame, we panted to deserve. 

 Thy lamp soon wasted ; it had burnt too bright, 

 And suruler'd the frail tenement of life, 

 That shrowded its pure beams. O ! thou art gone ; 

 Thy grave has long been strewn ; and those, who erst 

 Sported with thee in youth or turn'd the page 

 Of infaut learning; have well nigh forgot 

 That once thou wert, anddid'stin all excelf. 

 But never from this breast, tJiis mijicifiil soul, 

 Shall pass thine image, which is graven there 

 With friendship's first impression ; nor the thou 

 Of those delightful days, when life was new, 

 And we together cuU'd its budding sweets 

 Careless of coming woe. But ne'er for thee 

 Pale sorrow spread her melancholy board ; 

 Thou ne'er didst taste of grief. The tender down 

 Of manhood scarce had tinged thy blooming cheek, 

 When the cold hand of all-consuming death 

 Nipp'd thy fair promise. Thou didst never learn 

 * The treachery of joy, the loss of friends. 



The pangs of hapless love : thy glowing heart 



Imagin'd days of rapture, fondly dream'd 



Of more than mortal charms ; nor ever waked 



To wipe fell sorrow's tear : — for few are they. 



Whose earliest fancy crowns their days m ith joy ; 



But oft through woe, and anguish, and despair, 



Man wanders t'wards the port of tranquil bHss. 



Thou didst not hear the deadly cry of France, 



Which, like the crash of an upbrcaking world, 



Appall'd all Europe, from the utmost bound 



Of Finisterre to Moscow's forests hoar. 



And shook old ocean's reign ; thou didst not see 



The impious fiend of democratic war 



Let loose its havoc, tearing from their base 



The monuments of power, the massive scats 



Of ancient empire and religious sway ; 



Thou didst not mark from every mangled realm 



The pang of horror vibrate to the heart 



Of 



