He did not think, as fome have thought, He better thought, a noble fire, The fairest ancestry on earth Sir ELDRED's heart was good and kind A crowd of virtues grac'd his mind, When merit raifed the fufferer's name, He fhower'd his bounty then ; And those who could not prove that claim, He fuccour'd still as men. But facred truth the Mufe compels And yet the Mufe reluctant tells Tho' kind and gentle as the dove, Yet if the paffions ftorm'd his foul, The whirlwind rage difdain'd controul, And bore his virtues down. Not Thule's waves fo wildly break As when on fummer's fweetest day, Sudden the lightning's blaft defcends, But when, to clear his ftormy breaft, And ebb ng paffions funk to rest, O then what anguish he betray'd! The meek-ey'd dawn, in faffron robe, The birds their vernal notes repeat, When pious ELDRED walk'd abroad That done-he left his woodland glade, He lov'd to court the ftranger fhade, Within the bofom of a wood, While many a prouder caftle fell, Of Eglantine an humble fence Around the manfion ftood, Which charm'd at once the ravish'd sense, And fcreen'd an infant wood. The wood receiv'd an added grace, The fmallnefs of the ftream did well This manfion own'd an aged Knight, As heaven just hews to human fight His youth in many a well fought field His bofom like a well worn fhield, And forrow more than age can break, One darling daughter footh'd his cares, Her heart a little facred fhrine, She rear'd a fair and fragrant bower Of wild and ruftic taste, And there fhe screen'd each fav'rite flower From every ruder blast. And not a fhrub or plant was there But did fome moral yield; For wifdom, by a father's care, Was found in every field. The trees whofe foliage fell away, While fair, perennial greens that stood, As types of the fair mind he viewed He taught her that the gaudiet flowers While the fweet-fcented rose shall last, And beauty's fhorter hour. And here the virgin lov❜d to lead And here the oft retir'd to read, And oft reti'd to pray. Embower'd the grac'd the woodland fhades, From courts and cities far, The pride of Caledonian maids, The peerless northern star. As fhines that bright and blazing ftar, When failing thro' the cloudlefs air, SO BIRTHA fhone -But when she spoke As on the ravish'd air she broke, "O blefs thy BIRTHA, Power Supreme, "In whom I live and move, "And blefs me molt by bleffing him "Whom more than life I love.". |