WITH how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the sky, "How silently, and with how wan a face!" Where art thou? Thou so often seen on high Running among the clouds a wood-nymph's race! Unhappy Nuns, whose common breath's a sigh Which they would stifle, move at such a pace! The northern Wind, to call thee to the chase, Must blow to-night his bugle horn. Had I The power of Merlin, Goddess! this should be: And all the stars, fast as the clouds were riven, Should sally forth, to keep thee company, Hurrying and sparkling through the clear blue heaven; But, Cynthia! should to thee the palm be given, Queen both for beauty and for majesty. XXIV. EVEN as a dragon's eye that feels the stress While hearts and voices in the song unite. XXV. THE stars are mansions built by Nature's hand, And, haply, there the spirits of the blest Dwell, clothed in radiance, their immortal vest; Huge Ocean shows, within his yellow strand, A habitation marvellously planned, Glad thought for every season! but the Gave it while cares were weighing on my heart, 'Mid songs of birds, and insects murmuring; And while the youthful year's prolific artOf bud, leaf, blade, and flower-was fashioning Abodes where self-disturbance hath no part. XXVI. DESPONDING Father! mark this altered bough, So beautiful of late, with sunshine warmed, Or moist with dews; what more unsightly now, Its blossoms shrivelled, and its fruit, if formed, Invisible? yet Spring her genial brow FOUR fiery steeds, impatient of the rein Whirled us o'er sunless ground beneath a sky As void of sunshine, when, from that wide plain, Clear tops of far-off mountains we descry, All light and lustre. Did no heart reply? And the fair front of many a happy Home; Such tempting spots as into vision come While Soldiers, weary of the arms they wield Is busiest to confer and to bereave; THIS, AND THE TWO FOLLOWING, WERE Then, pensive Votary! let thy feet repair SUGGESTED BY MR. W. WESTALL'S VIEWS OF THE CAVES, ETC., IN YORK- PURE element of waters wheresoe'er Rise into life and in thy train appear: year, Swift insects shine, thy hovering pursui vants : To Gordale-chasm, terrific as the lair Where the young lions couch, for so, by leave Of the propitious hour, thou may'st per ceive The local Deity, with oozy hair • Waters (as Mr. Westall informs us in the letter-press prefixed to his admirable views) are invariably found to flow through these caverns. the white-rimmed bonnet, fardescried. Who trembles now at thy capricious mood? 'Mid those surrounding Worthies, haughty King, We rather think, with grateful mind sedate, How Providence educeth, from the spring Of lawless will, unlooked-for streams of good, Which neither force shall check nor time abate. V. A PARSONAGE IN OXFORDSHIRE. WHERE holy ground begins, unhallowed ends, ON THE DEATH OF HIS MAJESTY (GEORGE Is marked by no distinguishable line; THE THIRD). WARD of the Law!-dread Shadow of a King Whose realm had dwindled to one stately room, Whose universe was gloom immersed in gloom, Darkness as thick as life o'er life could fling, The turf unites, the pathways intertwine; And, wheresoe'er the stealing footstep tends, Garden, and that Domain where kindred, friends, And neighbors rest together, here confound Their several features, mingled like the sound Waliachia is the country alluded to. |