1796.) 
Zn vain he feapes from human law ; 
Her airy minifters ftill haunt the bad, 
Sink deep into his foul, and keep him {till in 
awe. 
Sweet Mufe! thy leffons teach the foul 
The wayward paflions to controul ; 
By heaven implanted they for nobijeit ends, 
When reafon’s fober lamp attends, . 
Afar from error’s dark and devious way, 
To guide our iteps to truth’s effulgent day. 
Ah foolifh man! why quit her cheering ray ? 
The tranquil pleafures her’s that never cloy 
With her alone dwells virtue, happinefs, and joy. 
j | ¥r7zMorRis, 
oo 
SONNET ON EARLY IMPRESSIONS. 
WARMD with the gen’rous flame that 
fpreads a glow 
O’er youth’s gay breaft, with boundlefs joy 
we view, 
The objects to our ravifh’d fenfes new, 
And hail the fun, whofe glorious rays beftew 
Such vary’d beauties on Creation’s form: 
So when we wond’ring fee a mighty mind, 
Sent to delight, inftruét, and guide man- 
kind, 
-Our breafts with rapt’rous praifes, kindling 
warm— : 
Sudden we fee its fhade,—and backward ftart, 
Checking the loud applaufe ;—in meafur’d 
space, 
Comes cold Difcretion with her doubting 
nC Tace.s y 
And claps her frigid hand upon the heart ; 
Ah! when fhall man his praife unbounded 
ay?— 
When Cod fhall be the theme—and heav’n’s 
own light the day. j. x. 
——— EE 
TO HEALTH. 
FEALTH, refy nymph, the pleafing boon. 
Of happinefs thou can’ft beftow——= 
Without thee, life’s beft journey feon 
Becomes a pilgimage of woe. 
* Shunning the palace, did’ft thou dwell 
With Slav’ry in his gloomy cell, 
More bieft the captive in the mine, 
Than he for whom the metals fhine, 
But no—thy haunt cannot be there 
Th’ abode of pining mifery, 
Where the fad bofom of defpair 
Heaves with unpity’d agony ——. 
Nor, wanton, doft thou love to f{port, 
In pleafure’s gay delufive court. 
Over the gem-imbofled vafe, 
Yo {mile in Bacchus’ ruddy face. 
Thou fly’ fl th’ intoxicating bow], 
Fountain of madnefs and difeafe, 
Whofe wild and abfolute controul, 
The vanquith’d reafon fways, 
Original Poetry. 
315 
‘Thou fhun’ft the fragrant myrtle grovesy, 
Which the Paphian Venus loves— 
Where, while Pan pipes a roundelay, 
Th’ unblufhing nymphs and fatyrs play. 
Ah, modeft Health, from fcenes like thefey 
Thou turn’ft thy fteps afide, to hafte 
And catch the balmy morning breezey 
Its {pirit-giving breath to tafte ; 
Where bath’d in dew fome valley lies, 
Or up a mountain’s woody rife— 
Whence ftretching to the eaftern fky, 
Bright rural profpects greet the eye. 
Here, a deep foreft widely {pread, 
Its variegated foliage thows,——= 
There, rolling thro’ a flowery mead, 
With rapid courfe, a river flows 
On to the fea—where meets the view 
Thro’ opening hills its bofom blue, 
Save when a white-fail flies the gale before, 
Or a wave breaks upon the rocky fhore. 
And as thou dart’{t thy looks around, 
O’er the lively landfeape {miling, 
_ More blythe the plowman’s carols found, 
His tedious furrow’d way beguiling—— 
More {weet the birds their fongs renew; 
More frefh each blooming flowrets hue=—=« 
From every valley {pringsy without alloy, 
A. general cheerfulne{s—a burit of joy. 
oe 
VERSES TO A YOUNG LADY AT THE DOOR 
OF HER CARRIAGE IN HYDE PARK, 
WILT thou, wilt thou really fly 
From vanity and folly, 
And quit their pomp without a figh, 
My own dear Dolly ? 
And wilt thou, wilt thou then forfake 
What all the world’s admiring, 
Qjd men their laft-lov’d objeét make, 
And young grow old acquiring ? 
From out this gaudy harnefs’d coach 
Wilt thou ftep gently down? 
To meet thy lover’s meek approach, 
Break thro’ the gazing town? 
And to the filent valley move 
With me and melancholy ; 
There live and die in lonely love, 
My own dear Dolly ? GEO. SKENE: 
EEE + 
MARIA, 
Wit tears pour’d down from Sorrow’ s fount, 
Wetting the new-laid ftone, 
And drooping as the widow’d dove, 
Maria made her moan.—= 
6é¢ And is he gone? for ever gone ? 
s¢ My hope, my joy, my all ! 
66 What could not virtue, merit, love, 
66 Life’s flattering breath recal ? 
5S 2 6 Tis 
