Original IM etry, 
Elate with praife, and of their homage proud, 
“In lofty words he thus addrefs’d the croud— 
“© Sprung from the gods, no mortal birth 
am J, 
Apollo’s kindred fire illumes his fly ; 
on twinkling ftars, that light the throne of 
Jove, : 
Are but the fire-flies of the realms above ; 
With us from heaven defcends the {park di- 
vine, 
That gives the di’mond diadem to thine.” 
He fpoke, and vanish’d.—But the childifh 
crew 
With eager fteps the phantom fly purfue : 
Darkling through brakes and tangled thorns 
they run, 
Till, rifing from the waves, the eaftern fun 
Scattering with many a beam the fogs of night 
Flings on the rocks and hills his ruddy light. 
Where now th’ extinguithed glories of the 
fly ? 
Shorn of their beams on the low ground they 
lie; 
Contrafting darknefs fhew'd his feeble ray 
Unfeen, unnotic'd in the blaze of day. 
‘Hence infec tribes of vain pretenders, know 
What tranfient fame to ignorance you éwe 3 
Shine in the night of dulnefs fill—but fhun, 
Ye fire-fly-wits, the fplendour of the fun. 
R. L. E. and S.. E. x1 years old. 
—~=hee 
PROSERPINA, 
A MONODRAMA, 
From the German of F. W. Ven-Goethe, author 
of 6s Werter's Sorrows, Iphigenia in Tauris, 
Stella,” Fe. 
Scene.—4 cavernous rocky wilderne/s ; om one 
Jide a pomegranate-treé. 


PROSERPINA, 
TAY, wretched maid, in vain thou row’ 
acrofs ! 
This blafted wildernefs: the fields of woe 
Before thy footieps {pread their endiefs 
horror 3 
But what thou feek’ft, alas! is far behind thee, 
‘Forward nor upward dare I caft my eyes; 
The fwarthy caves of Tartarus conceal 
Heaven’s lovely face, in which with looks of 
fondnefs 
d oft have fought my father’s glad abode 5 
Daughter of Jupiter, how art thou fallen ! 
Ye nymphs, my loft companions, while 
together 
We loiter’d in the flow’ry vales of Enna, 
Or inthe fky-clear ftream of Alpheus plung’d, 
Sprinkl’d each other in the evening ray, 
Twin'd garlands for each other; but, imfecret, 
Thought on the youth for whom our hearts 
had meant them ; 
No midnight, then, had gloom to check our 
prattle 5 
No day was then too long to hear and tell 
» 
4? 
The tales of friendthip. Notthe fun himfel® 
started more gleeful from/his fiiver bed, 
Than we arofe, alive to ev’ry joy, - 
To drench our rofy feet in morning dew. 
But now, ye nymphs, in {catter’d folitude 
Ye fteal along the ftream, pick up thofe 
flow’rs 
‘Which I, the booty of a rayifher, 
Dropt from my lap, ftand gazing after me, 
And moan about the {pot that faw me vanith. 
Yes! the fwift fteeds of Orcus bore me off ; 
And with firm arm, relentlefs, Pluto heldme! 
Love! cruel love! flew laughing to Olympus— 
Art thou not fatisfied with heaven and earth, 
Ambitious boy ? muft thou have hell befides, 
And with thy flames increafe the flames be- 
LGN es Levine : 
Snatch’d hither to this endlefs deep, and made 
A queen—a queen ? whom only fhadows bow 
to. 
Hopelefs the woe, and hopelefs is the blifs 
Of the departed 5 and I may not change it. © 
Their awful doom fhall never be repeal’d 
By fate. . And I among them rove along, 
Queen, goddefs, but, like them, the flave of 
fate. ° 
How I could like to ftop for Tantalus 
The fleeting wave, or fatiate his dry lip 
With the coy fruit: I pity the old man, 
A victim of ungratify’d defire. ’ 
Fain would I feize Ixjon’s wheel to ftay 
His fufferings ; but we, gods, are pow’rlefe 
O’er th’ eternal torments. Then I wander 
And look upon the bufy Danaids 
Alike uncomforting, uncomforted : 
Still empty, empty ftill, 
No drop of water reaches to their lips, 
No drop of water loiters in the fiete: 
Still, empty fill, and fo art thou y 
My heart; and whence fhalt thou-be fill’d ? 
' and how ? 
Glide on, ye chofen fhades, glide calmly by me, 
My fteps.are not with yours. In your light 
ances 
In your deep groves, your whifpering dwell- 
ing-place, . ih 
I hear not, as on earth;-the ftir of life. 
No ; do ye know the agony of blifs 
That waits on fudden change from woe to joy? 
Joy—can it fettle on his gloomy brow, 
Or in the hollow of his eye, whom I. 
Mutt, tio’ Lloath the title, call my hufband? 
Love, wherefore didft thou for a moment open 
A-heart to me that foon.fhould élofe for ever ? 
Why chofe he not fome one of my com- 
panions . 
To place befide him on the doleful throne, 
And not thy daughter, Ceres >———Mother, 
mether, 
How little all thy godhead now avails thee, ~ 
That chou haft ioft thy daughter; whom thy 
. ' love 
Imagin’d in fecurity tofport 
And trifle the bright hours of youth away! 
Ere this thou haft been there to feels for me, 
And’afk my little wants, if I would have 
Seme 
