For now alas, the jeft he cannot feel.

But ruddy damfels o'er thy thumb fhall bend,
And conscious weep for their and virtue's friend:
The milk-maid fhall reject the fhepherd's fong,
And cease to carol as fhe toils along :

All Auburn fhall bewail the fatal day,
When from her fields, their pride was fnatch'd
And even the matron of the creffy lake
In piteous plight, her palfied head shall shake,
While all adown the furrows of her face
Slow fhall the lingering tears each other trace.

away;

And, Oh my child! feverer woes remain,
To all the houseless, and unfhelter'd train:
Thy fate fhail fadden many an humble guest,
And heap fresh anguish on the beggar's breaft.
For dear wert thou to all the fons of pain;
To all that wander, forrow, or complain,
Dear to the learned, to the fimple dear,
For daily bleffings mark'd thy virtuous year;
The rich receiv'd a moral from thy head,
And from thy heart the ftranger found a bed.

Diftrefs

Diftrefs came always fmiling from thy door;
For God had made thee agent to the poor:
Had form'd thy feelings on the noblest plan,
To grace at once, the Poet, and the Man

EXTRACT

FROM

A

M

O N OD Y

DR.

DARK

ON

THE DEATH OF

OLIVER

GOLDSMITH.

ARK as the night, which now in dunneft robe,
Afcends her zenith, o'er the filent globe;
Sad melancholy wakes, awhile to tread,

With folemn step the manfions of the dead :
Led by her hand, o'er this yet recent shrine
I forrowing bend; and here effay to twine
The tributary wreath of laureat bloom,
With artless hands, to deck a poet's tomb ;

The tomb where Goldfmith fleeps. Fond hopes,

adieu!

No more your airy dreams shall mock my
Here will I learn ambition to controul,
And each afpiring paffion of the foul:

view :

Ev'n

When late he meditated flight from care,
When as imagination fondly hied

To scenes of sweet retirement, thus he cried.

"Ye fplendid fabricks palaces and towers, "Where diffipation leads the giddy hours, "Where pomp, disease, and knavery refide, "And folly bends the knee to wealthy pride; "Where luxury's purveyors learn to rife, "And worth, to want a prey, unfriended dies; "Where warbling Eunuchs glitter in brocade, "And hapless Poets toil for fcanty bread: "Farewel! to other fcenes I turn my eyes,

"Embofom'd in the vale where Auburn lies, "Deferted Auburn, thofe now ruin'd glades, "Forlorn, yet ever dear and honour'd fhades. "There though the Hamlet boafts no fmiling train, "Nor fportful paftime circling on the plain; "No needy villains proul around for prey, "No flanderers, no fycophants betray; "No gaudy foplings fcornfully deride "The fwain, whofe humble pipe is all his pride. "There will I fly to feek that foft repofe, "Which folitude contemplative bestows:

"Yet,

"Yet, oh fond hope! perchance there still remains "One lingering friend behind, to bless the plains;

"Some hermit of the dale, infhrined in ease,

Long loft companion of my youthful days;

"With whofe fweet converfe in his focial bower, "I oft may chide away fome vacant hour; "To whofe pure fympathy, I may impart "Each latent grief, that labours at my heart, "Whate'er I felt, and what I faw, relate, "The sholes of luxury, the wrecks of state; "Thofe bufy fcenes, where fcience wakes in vain, "In which I fhar'd, ah! ne'er to fhare again. "But whence that pang? does nature now rebel? "Why faulters out my tongue the word farewel? "Ye friends! who long have witness'd to my toil, "And feen me ploughing in a thankless foil, "Whose partial tenderness hufh'd every pain, "Whofe approbation made my bofom vain : "'Tis you, to whom my foul divided hies With fond regret, and half unwilling flies; "Sighs forth her parting wishes to the wind, "And lingering leaves her better half behind. "Can I forget the intercourfe I fhar'd,

"What friendship cherish'd, and what zeal endear'd?

"Alas!

"And to my latest hour, protract the long adieu. "Amid the woodlands, wherefoe'r I rove,

"The plain, or fecret covert of the

"Imagination fhall fupply her store

grove,

"Of painful blifs, and what she can restore;
"Shall ftrew each lonely path with flowrets gay,
"And wide as is her boundless empire stray.
"On eagle pinions traverse earth, and skies,
"And bid the loft and diftant objects rise.
"Here, where encircled o'er the sloping land
"Woods rife on woods, fhall Aristotle stand ;
Lyceum round the godlike man rejoice,

"And bow with reverence to wifdom's voice.

"There, spreading oaks fhail arch the vaulted dome, "The Champion, there, of liberty, and Rome, "In attick eloquence fhall thunder laws, "And uncorrupted fenates fhout applaufe. "Not more extatic vifions rapt the foul "Of Numa, when to midnight grots he ftole,"And learnt his lore, from virtue's mouth refin'd, "To fetter vice, and harmonize mankind. "Now ftretch'd at eafe befide fome fav'rite stream.

"Of beauty, and enchantment will I dream;