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WILLIAM SHENSTONE.

1714-1763.

THE SCHOOLMISTRESS'S GARDEN.

HERBS too she knew, and well of each

could speak,

That in her garden sipped the silvery dew, Where no vain flow'r disclosed a gaudy streak,

But herbs for use and physic; not a few Of gay renown within those borders grew. The tufted basil, pun-provoking thyme, Fresh balm, and marigold of cheerful hue, The lowly gill, that never dares to climb, And more I fain would sing, disdaining here to rhyme.

Yet euphrasy may not be left unsung, That gives dim eyes to wander leagues around,

And pungent radish biting infant's tongue, And plantain ribbed that heals the reaper's [found,

wound;

And marjoram sweet, in shepherd's posie And lavender, whose spikes of azure bloom Shall be erewhile in arid bundles bound, To lurk amidst the labours of her loom, And crown her kerchiefs clean with mickle rare perfume.

[crowned

And here trim rosemarine that whilome The daintiest garden of the proudest peer, Ere, driven from its envied site, it found A sacred shelter for its branches here, Where edged with gold its glittering skirts appear. [well!

Oh, wassail days! oh, customs meet and Ere this was banished from its lofty sphere! Simplicity then sought this humble cell, Nor ever would she more with thane and lordling dwell,

SAMUEL JOHNSON.

1709-1784. WOLSEY.

IN full-blown dignity see Wolsey stand, Law in his voice, and fortune in his hand : To him the Church, the realm, their powers consign,

[shine, Through him the rays of regal bounty Turned by his nod the stream of honour

flows,

His smile alone security bestows: Still to new heights his restless wishes [power;

tower; Claim leads to claim, and power advances Till conquest unresisted ceased to please, And rights subverted left him none to seize. At length his sovereign frowns--the train of state [to hate:

Mark the keen glance, and watch the sign Where'er he turns he meets a stranger's [lowers fly.

eye,

His suppliants scorn him, and his fol.
Now drops at once the pride of awful state,
The golden canopy, the glittering plate,
The regal palace, the luxurious board,
The liveried army, and the menial lord.
With age, with cares, with maladies op-
pressed,

He seeks the refuge of monastic rest.
Grief aids disease, remembered folly stings,
And his last sighs reproach the faith of
kings.

Speak thou, whose thoughts at humble peace repine, [be thine? Shall Wolsey's wealth with Wolsey's end Or liv'st thou now, with safer pride content, The wisest justice on the banks of Trent? For why did Wolsey, near the steeps of fate, On weak foundations raise th' enormous weight? [blow, Why, but to sink beneath misfortune's With louder ruin to the gulfs below?

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Should reason guide thee with her brightest

ray,

And pour on misty doubt resistless day; Should no false kindness lure to loose delight,

Nor praise relax, nor difficulty fright; Should tempting novelty thy cell refrain, And sloth effuse her opiate fumes in vain; Should beauty blunt on fops her fatal dart, Nor claim the triumph of a lettered heart; Should no disease thy torpid veins invade, Nor melancholy's phantom haunt thy shade;

Yet hope not life from grief or danger free, Nor think the doom of man reversed for thee: [eyes,

Deign on the passing world to turn thine And pause a while from learning, to be wise: There mark what ills the scholar's life assail, Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail. See nations slowly wise, and, meanly just, To buried merit raise the tardy bust.

If dreams yet flatter, once again attend, Hear Lydiat's life, and Galileo's end.

Nor deem, when Learning her last prize bestows,

The glittering eminence exempt from foes; See when the vulgar 'scapes, despised or

awed,

Rebellion's vengeful talons seize on Laud; From meaner minds though smaller fines content,

The plundered palace or sequestered rent, Marked out by dangerous parts he meets the shock,

And fatal learning leads him to the block: Around his tomb let art and genius weep, But hear his death, ye blockheads, hear and sleep.

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THE MELODIES OF MORNING. BUT who the melodies of morn can tell? The wild brook babbling down the mountain side; [bell; The lowing herd; the sheepfold's simple The pipe of early shepherd dim descried In the lone valley; echoing far and wide The clamorous horn along the cliffs above; The hollow murmur of the ocean tide; The hum of bees, the linnet's lay of love, And the full choir that wakes the universal grove.

The cottage curs at early pilgrim bark; Crowned with her pail the tripping milk

maid sings;

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Could nature's bounty satisfy the breast, The sons of Italy were surely blest. Whatever fruits in different climes are found, [ground

That proudly rise, or humbly court the Whatever blooms in torrid tracts appear, Whose bright succession decks the varied

year

Whatever sweets salute the northern sky With vernal lives, that blossom but to dieThese, here disporting, own the kindred soil,

Nor ask luxuriance from the planter's toil; While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand [land. To winnow fragrance round the smiling

But small the bliss that sense alone bestows,

And sensual bliss is all the nation knows.
In florid beauty groves and fields appear,
Man seems the only growth that dwindles
here.
[reign;
Contrasted faults through all his manners
Though poor, luxurious; though submis-
sive, vain;
[untrue;

Though grave, yet trifling; zealous, yet
And even in penance planning sins anew.
All evils here contaminate the mind,
That opulence departed leaves behind;
For wealth was theirs-not far removed
the date

When commerce proudly flourished through the state.

At her command the palace learned to rise, [skies;

warm,

Again the long-fall'n column sought the The canvas glowed beyond e'en nature [form; The pregnant quarry teemed with human Till, more unsteady than the southern gale, Commerce on other shores displayed her sail, [gave

While nought remained of all that riches But towns unmanned, and lords without a slave; [skill, And late the nation found, with fruitless Its former strength was but plethoric ill.

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Processions formed for piety and love-
A mistress or a saint in every grove.
By sports like these are all their cares
beguiled;

The sports of children satisfy the child.
Each nobler aim, repressed by long control,
Now sinks at last, or feebly mans the soul;
While low delights succeeding fast behind,
In happier meanness occupy the mind.
As in those domes where Cæsars once
bore sway,

Defaced by time and tottering in decay,
There in the ruin, heedless of the dead,
The shelter-seeking peasant builds his

shed;

[pile, And, wondering man could want the larger Exults, and owns his cottage with a smile.

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Yet still, e'en here, content can spread a charm,

Redress the clime, and all its rage disarm. Though poor the peasant's hut, his feast though small,

He sees his little lot the lot of all;
Sees no contiguous palace rear its head
To shame the meanness of his humble
shed;

No costly lord the sumptuous banquet deal
To make him loathe his vegetable meal;
But calm, and bred in ignorance and toil,
Each wish contracting, fits him to the soil.
Cheerful at morn, he wakes from short

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At night returning, every labour sped,
He sits him down the monarch of a shed;
Smiles by his cheerful fire, and round
[blaze,

surveys

His children's looks that brighten at the While his loved partner, boastful of her hoard,

Displays her cleanly platter on the board; And haply too some pilgrim, thither led, With many a tale repays the nightly bed.

Thus every good his native wilds impart Imprints the patriot passion on his heart; And e'en those ills that round his mansion rise

Enhance the bliss his scanty fund supplies. Dear is that shed to which his soul conforms, [storms;

And dear that hill which lifts him to the And as a child, when scaring sounds molest, Clings close and closer to the mother's breast,

[roar, So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind's But bind him to his native mountains more.

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Honour, that praise which real merit gains,
Or e'en imaginary worth obtains, [hand,
Here passes current-paid from hand to
It shifts, in splendid traffic, round the land;
From courts to camps, to cottages it strays,
And all are taught an avarice of praise:
They please, are pleased; they give to get
esteem,
[seem.

Till, seeming blest, they grow to what they

But while this softer art their bliss supplies,

It gives their follies also room to rise; For praise too dearly loved or warmly sought,

Enfeebles all internal strength of thought, And the weak soul, within itself unblest, Leans for all pleasure on another's breast. Hence, ostentation here, with tawdry art, Pants for the vulgar praise which fools impart ;

Here vanity assumes her pert grimace, And trims her robes of frieze with copper lace;

Here beggar pride defrauds her daily cheer, To boast one splendid banquet once a year: The mind still turns where shifting fashion draws,

Nor weighs the solid worth of self-applause.

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Industrious habits in each bosom reign, And industry begets a love of gain. Hence all the good from opulence that springs, [brings, With all those ills superfluous treasure Are here displayed.

:0:- --

ERASMUS DARWIN.

1731-1802.

ELIZA.

Now stood Eliza on the wood-crowned height

[fight;

O'er Minden's plains, spectatress of the Sought with bold eye amid the bloody strife Her dearer self, the partner of her life; From hill to hill the rushing host pursued, And viewed his banner, or believed she viewed. [tread,

Pleased with the distant roar, with quicker Fast by his hand one lisping boy she led; And one fair girl, amid the loud alarm, Slept on her kerchief, cradled on her arm; While round her brows bright beams of honour dart, [heart.

And love's warm eddies circle round her -Near and more near th' intrepid beauty pressed, [crest, Saw through the driving smoke his dancing Heard the exulting shout, "They run !they run!" [battle's won!"

"He's safe!" she cried, "he's safe! the -A ball now hisses through the airy tides (Some Fury wings it, and some demon guides), [deck, Parts the fine locks her graceful head that Wounds her fair ear, and sinks into her neck; [veins The red stream issuing from her azure Dyes her white veil, her ivory bosom stains. "Ah me!" she cried, and sinking on the ground, [wound: Kissed her dear babes, regardless of the "Oh, cease not yet to beat, thou vital urn, Wait, gushing life, oh! wait my love's return!"[from far,

Hoarse barks the wolf, the vulture screams The angel, Pity, shuns the walks of war ;"Oh, spare, ye war-hounds, spare their [rage!"

tender age!

On me, on me," she cried, "exhaust your Then, with weak arms, her weeping babes caressed, [vest. And sighing, hid them in her blood-stained

From tent to tent th' impatient warrior flies,

Fear in his heart, and frenzy in his eyes: Eliza's name along the camp he calls, "Eliza" echoes through the canvas walls; Quick through the murmuring gloom hi footsteps tread, [dead,

O'er groaning heaps, the dying and the Vault o'er the plain,-and in the tangled wood,

Lo! dead Eliza-weltering in her blood! Soon hears his listening son the welcome sounds, [bounds: With open arms and sparkling eyes he "Speak low," he cries, and gives his little

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