The Approach of Winter.-The Lark. 99 THE APPROACH OF WINTER. THE sun far northward bends his annual way, The bleak north-east wind lays the forests bare, The fruit ungather'd quits the naked spray, And dreary winter reigns o'er earth and air. No mark of vegetable life is seen, No bird to bird repeats his tuneful call; Save the dark leaves of some rude evergreen, Save the lone redbreast on the moss-grown wall. THE LARK. SCOTT. SEE how the lark, the bird of day, Springs from the earth and wings his way! But when, contented with his height, WHITEHEAD. 100 Sunshine after a Shower. SUNSHINE AFTER A SHOWER. EVER after summer shower, When the bright sun's returning power WARTON. Epitaph on a Lap-dog.-Arabia. 101 EPITAPH ON A LAP-DOG. I NEVER bark'd when out of season; I ne'er insulted weaker brother; Nor wrong'd by force nor fraud another: ARABIA. BLACKLOCK. O'ER Arabia's desert sands The patient camel walks, 'Mid lonely caves and rocky lands The fell hyæna stalks. On the cool and shady hills Coffee-shrubs and tamarinds grow, Down the fruitful dells below. The fragrant myrrh and healing balm Thick hung with dates, the spreading palm Tow'rs o'er the peopled vale. Locusts oft, a living cloud, And often o'er the level waste Down falls the swain with trembling haste, Pitch their tents and wander free; Wealthy cities they disdain, Poor,-yet blest with liberty. ORIGINAL CHEERFULNESS. THE honest heart, whose thoughts are clear The greatness that would make us grave Is but an empty thing; What more than mirth would mortals have? The cheerful man's a king! BICKERSTAFF. The Cock.-The Fallen Oak. THE COCK. 103 WITHIN a homestead lived, without a peer THE FALLEN OAK. DRYDEN... THE lofty oak, whose vigorous branches form « And still the glory, though the guard no more.` CRABBE. |