626 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1815. 
For when Ambition bade his steps advance 
‘'To scenes where Painting spreads her vast expanse ; 
When all the charts of taste before him lay, 
That showed how former keels had cut their way ; 
With fearless prow he put to sea, and steered 
His steady course, where her pure light appeared. 
His vigorous pencil in pursuit of Art, 
Disdained to dwell on each minuter part ; 
Impressive force—impartial truth—he sought, 
And travelled in no beaten track of thought : 
Unlike the servile herd whom we behold; 
Casting their drossy ore in Fashion’s mould ; 
His metal by no common die is known, 
The coin is sterling, and the stamp: his own. 
Opie, farewell—accept this feeble verse, 
This flower of friendship—cas* upon thy hearse. — 
Though Fate severe. in life’s unfaded prime, 
Hath shook thee rudely from the tree of time ; 
Thy laurel thro’ the lapse of years shall bloom, 
And weeping Art attend thee to the tomb. 
While taste, no longer tardy to bestow 
The garland due to graphic skill below, » 
Shall point tu time thy labours, as he flies, 
And brighten all their beauties in his eyes ; 
Exalt the Painter, now the Man’s no more, 
And bid thy country honour and deplore ! 
a ne a Te al 
A NORTHERN SPRING. 
From Helga, a Poem, by the Hon. William Herbert. 
YESTRENE the mountain’s rugged brow 
Was mantled o’er with dreary snow; 
The sun sat red behind the hill, 
And every breath of wind was still : 
But ere he rose, the southern blast 
A veil o’er heaven’s blue arch had cast ; 
Thick roll’d the clouds, and genial rain 
Pour'd the wide deluge o’er the plain. « - 
Fair glens and verdant vales:appear, 
And warmth awakes the budding year. ° 
O ’tis the touch of fairy hand ad 
That wakes the spring of northern land! 
