1802. ] 
{ 481 
) , 
ORIGINAL POETRY. 
— aE 
THE INVITATION, 
(.4 Pafforal.) 
COME, ‘lovely Laura, fhare with me 
a‘ The rural charms our village yields, 
For beauty hangs on every tree, 
And fragrance breathes o’er all our fields. 
The thrufh begins his fprightly fong 
High on the twig at op’ning day, 
And where the ftreamlet winds along 
The blackbird tunes his varied lay. 
Come then, fair maid, while Nature fpreads 
Her choiceft fweets to deck the ground, 
And May’s. delightful morning fheds 
Refrefhing odours all around. 
Yor when alone I[ chance to ftray, 
' No vernal beauties fmile for me; - 
In vain the meads their charms difplay., 
For all my thoughts are fix’d on thee. 
Yes, Laura, one {weet fmile-of thine 
Would fill my heart with more delight 
Than all thefe fcenes, that gaily fhine, 
When thou art abfent from my fight. 
O! let us.then, my deareft maid, 
Together wander in the grove, 
Where tending hazles form a fhade, 
Congenial to the voice of love. 
Ah! wouldf thou then thy love declare, 
- How bleft, my Laura, fhould I be; — 
*Tis all I with that thou would’ft fhare 
Contentment’s rural joys with me. 
, TERPE, 
ST 
EFFUSION, after reading the interefting Ac- 
~ count, recently publifhed, of the young SAVAGE 
caught in the Woods wear AVEYRON, in the 
Year 1798. 
YE guardian fhades! ye foftering folitudes! 
Why have-ye thus.relinquifhed your high 
charge, 
O woods of Aveyron? 
He, whofe myfterious infancy ye nurs‘d, 
>Mid your deep labyrinths had dwelt in peace, 
Feafting on Nature’s ever-varying forms, 
Nor afking what her wifdom had denied. 
He would have {miled amid the thunder’s ire, 
Danced while the lucid lightning gleamed 
around, ; 
Gr frolicked in his Reecy robe of fnow. 
Pure genuine rapture then had fill’d his foul, 
Such as Art’s fickly children never feel, 
When, in his ramb’lings wild, fome fudden 
break 
Bade the wide champaign greet his eager eye; 
Or when the weftern beam, at evening hour, 
Darting its golden fplendour through the 
gloom, 
Shew’d the coy ftrawberry in her verdant 
bow’r, 
Aad tinged the lufcious prize with lov’lier red. 
Why did ye thenrelinquith your high charge, 
Montury Maa. No. 87. 
O woods of Aveyron? 
Proud Eutove’s o’er-fill’d cities furely boaft 
Corrupted, and corrupting, fons enow. 
O! unfufpecting, happy innocent, 
What will deluded mortals teach thee there ° 
To think, to hope, tofeel, to agonize 5 
Yes! fhould thy-dawning foul be taught to 
know 
All fond affe&tion’s blifsful tendernefs, 
Should’ thou abhor whate’er pollution 
taints, 
And fir’d, and fill’d, while moral lov’linefs 
Unfolds her heavenly beauties to thy fight, 
Seelz, cherifh, and adore that facred good ; 
O what keen torture then fhall pierce thy foul! 
How wilt thou ftart with horror and difmay, 
To find that fpecious, polifh’d, reafoningy 
man, 
Lives the deceitful, cruel foe of man! 
To fee low felfithnefs, and grofs delight, 
Polluting all the fcene that féem’d fo fair! 
How wilt thou ftand aghaft, to find thy zeal 
For all the good, the pure, derided, mock’d! 
Thy high-toned feelings, and thy vaft defires, 
By narrow views and chilling cuftoms chain’d! 
But who, with daring hand, thy woe 
shall paint, 
When kindling withes fer congenial worth 
Ruth on thy foul—————fhall folly’s fhame- 
lefs flaves, y 
Eurfting from midnight orgies, wantonly, 
in more indecent nakednefs than thine 
When in thy native woods, lure thee to blifs? 
Or, fhail her fons, to awful frenzy ftung, 
O’erwhe!m’d with all a gambler’s guilty pangs, 
Greet thee with virtues aid, or friendfhip’s 
joys? 
Thy foul abhorrent turns; and thy wild woods 
Ruth on thy fancy, hung with tenfold charms. 
O, unfufpecting, happy innocent, 
Why, when from Montmorencie’s* lovely 
vale, 
Gazing at Nature’s foul-enlarging fcenes, 
With -big enraptured heast, and ardent eye, 
Did’ thou not burft the barrier art had rais’dy 
And sufh, Uncheck’d, ‘unfetter’d, and un- 
{chool’d, 
To Aveyron’s wild woods, thy facred home? 
Ah fay, for thee can fancy paint more blifs? 
No, happy innocent; unlefs foon taught 
‘To own that Powerwho made, and who can 
blefs, 
SE OO 
* It was a very curious and interefting 
fpeftacle, to obferve the joy which was paint- 
ed in his eyes, in all the motions and poftures 
of his body, at the view of the hills and the 
woods of this charming valley: in fpite of 
the moft affiduous attention that was paid to 
his wifhes, and the moft affeGtionate regard 
that was exprefled for him, he feemed to be 
occupied only with an anxious defire of taking 
his flight.—Tran/flaticn of the work of M. Itard, 
3N Then 
