To three LADIES, on the Death of a favourite PARROQUET.
[From the late Mr. PENROSE'S POEMS.]
EEP from your hallow'd, filent shades
Attend, attend, ye tuneful maids;
Ye Mufes, hafte along.
Infpire the tender, moving lay,
For furely fuch a mournful day
Demands a ferious fong.
See where with Pity's force oppreft,
(While rifing forrows heave each breaft)
Three gentle Sifters weep.
See how they point with streaming eyes,
Where Parroquetta flumb'ring lies,
Her last, eternal fleep.
In vain the pride of Beauty's bloom,
The vivid dye, the varied plume
O'er her fair form were spread:
In vain the fcarlet's blushing ray,
Bright as the orient beam of day,
Adorn'd her lovely head.
Love, beauty, youth, perfection,
Together undiftinguifh'd fall
Before the oppofing Fates.
The lifping tongue, the filver hairs,
One common ruin overbears,
One common lot awaits.
Then calm, dear Maids, your woes to peace,
With unavailing forrow cease
Your Favourite to deplore;
For know, that time will furely come
When you (tho' now in beauty's bloom)
When you fhall charm no more.
Learn then your moments to employ
In virtuous love, in Hymen's joy,"
Ere yet thofe moments fly;
For Fate has doom'd this lot severe,
The brightest belle, the loveliest Fair,
Like Parroquets, must die.
[From the BEVY of BEAUTIES.]
HAT form how reftlefs, thofe features how fair,
T Each look is a whifper the heart fprings to hear!
And fond to interpret, too roguishly given,
Conceives a foft meaning that lifts it to Heaven,
And yet thofe dear features, I'd readily fwear,
The meaning which innocence gives, only wear.
O bow ye trangreffors, in penitence bend ;-
Against fuch perfection, what fin to offend!
Yet fee-in the brightnefs which darts from her eyes,
With Beauty's mild luftre her clemency flies!
That fmile juft difplay'd, to the foul has expreft
The tranquil compofure that reigns in her breast.
May thofe eyes, and that bofom, for ever, bleft Fair,
Be undarken'd by forrow, unruffled by care!
Or if a tear start, or a figh gently move,
May the tear be of rapture, the figh be of love!
May your moments all fly on the wings of delight,
And Pleafure's wide region be ftill in your fight;
And while you are tempted to ramble the ground,
Let the mufic of gladnefs ftill echo around!
Scene, the Vicinity of Belvoir Castle.
IRST in thefe fhades, remember'd with delight,
The gentle RUTLAND ftruck my dazzled fight
As on the came her eyes diffus'd a-far
The peerlefs luftre of the morning star!
Upon her beauteous check a blufh was spread,
Superior to the lovlieft day-break red;
Her waving locks were twin'd with flow'ry braid;
Her veft was with he bloom of Spring array'd;
And to the breeze, that veft difplay'd the form
Of limbs, which muft to love an hermit warm!-
Her panting bofom -to the wind unbrac'd,
Shew'd more of heav'n than zealot ever trac'd!
An air fupreme in every step was feen ?—
The nymphs and fhepherds hail'd their rural queen:
And as the graceful beauty pafs'd along,
The village minstrel greeted her in fong ;
At intervals, a choral ftrain arose,
And RUTLAND's name was heard in ev'ry clofe!
[From the BEAUTIES of the SPRING. A Poem,]
Yorifons devoutly breath'd to Heaven,
Before th' increafing heat or rifing gale
Have wholly dried the pearly drops away,
With deepest fenfe of gratitude imprefs'd,
Forth let me hafte, and with a walk amufe
My leifure hours. Of two delightful paths
Oft with my steps imprinted, which to chufe
I hefitate, uncertain. Downward, this
Directs me to the bottom of the dale;
That, ftretch'd through roughest woodlands, upward leads
To where the heath, with fupercilious pride,
The plain o'erlooks. Along the fide of each
A riv'let murmurs. In the firit, my limbs,
Tho' able down the flope to pafs with ease,
May deem the toil of re-afcending hard;
While, if exhaufted with the latter's height,
Refreshment in returning they may find.
Permit me, then, the latter to purfsue,
Nor think I walk in folitude. Each tree
Prefents an old acquaintance, and each bufh
A friend, whofe bounty often hath regal'd
My ravish'd fenfes with a rich perfume.
The fame few objects long remain. I meet
With fomething new each moment. Lo! this oak
Supports a woodbine unobferv'd before.
An infant ivy round another twines.
That bufh, with thorn impervious to the hand,
A linnet's nest hath in its bofom gain'd.
And hark! yon excavated trunk refounds
With hum of bees, a colony till now
Unnoticed there. But pleasure every change
Beftows not. Who, with grief unmov'd, can fee
What ravages the cruel herds have made
Among the lower boughs of yonder ash?
Not diftant far, another ftands, depriv'd
Of all its spreading honours, by the hand
Of fome unfeeling woodman. There his ax,
Refiftiefs weapon, to the ground hath hewn
The venerable monarch of the grove.
Adieu, my ancient guardian! It imparts
A melancholy joy to recollect
How oft, beneath thy hofpitable shade,
I thoughtlefs wont to loiter; from the world,
And all the cares of bufy life, absolv❜d.
Thy fall, not I alone regret: thy fall,
In long protracted lamentable ftrain,
The stock-dove mourns; while of their favourite tree
Bereft, the jay and cuckoo, chatt'ring loud,
Arraign the author of thine overthrow.
Onward, the road continues ftill to wind,
And I, within the limits of its track,
My steps confine. A fmooth inclosure now
I measure o'er, and now remove aside
The rambling fhoots of bramble, that oppofe
My paffage thro' a thicket. Here, a fold,
And there, a fhed for cattle, ftrikes mine eye.
Before me often shoots a timid hare ;
Nor start I feldom at the whirring flight
Of partridge, on her brittle store furpris'd.
Meantime, on this fide, high above me fwells
A rugged mountain, overgrown with wood;
The riv'let, on the other, brawls along.
Now, down a fair declivity of fand,
It babbles cheerful; now it foams o'er rocks,
Fretful and discontented. Deep conceal'd,
Beneath incumbent willows, and the boughs
Of hazel, darkling there its current flows;
And yonder, in a pure tranflucent pool,
Diffufive fpreads, as of the level fpot
Enamour'd. Nigh the bank, with whifp'ring found,
Soft figh the reeds; and fmiling, half immers 'd,
The water-lily, all fubmiffion, turns
Her fpotlefs bofom, as the gale directs.
EXTRACT from Mifs SEWARD'S MONODY on Major ANDRE.
ND fhall the Mufe, that mark the folemn fcene,
"As bufy fancy lifts the veil between,"
Refuse to mingle in the awful train,
Nor breathe with glowing zeal the votive strain ?
From public fame hall admiration fire
The boldeft numbers of her raptur'd lyre
To hymn a ftranger ?-and with ardent lay
Lead the wild mourner round her Cook's morai
While Andrè fades upon his dreary bier,
Dear, lovely youth! whofe gentle virtues stole
And* Julia's only tribute is her tear?
Thro' friendship's foft'ning medium on her foul!
Ah no!-with every strong refiftlefs plea,
Rife the recorded days the pass'd with thee,
Julia-The name by which Mr. Andrè address'd the author in his correfpondence with her,
While each dim fhadow of o'erwhelming years,
With eagle-glance reverted, memory clears.
Belov'd companion of the fairest hours,
That rofe for her in joy's refplendent bow'rs,
How gaily fhone on thy bright morn of youth
The ftar of pleafure, and the fun of truth!
Full from their fource defcended on thy mind
Each gen'rous virtu, and each tafte refin'd.
Young Genius led thee to his varied fane,
Bade thee afk all his gifts, nor afk in vain ;
Hence novel thoughts, in ev'ry luftre drest
Of pointed wit, that diamond of the breast;
Hence glow'd thy fancy with poetic ray,
Hence mufic warbled in thy fprightly lay;
And hence thy pencil, with his colours warm,
Caught ev'ry grace, and copied ev'ry charm,
Whofe tranfient glories beam on beauty's cheek,
Ana bid the glowing ivory breathe and fpeak.
Blet pencil! by kind fate ordain'd to fave
Honora's femblance from her early grave,
Oh! while on Julia's arm it fweetly fmiles,
And each lorn thought, each long regret beguiles,
Fondly the weeps the hand, which form'd the fpell,
Now throudlets mould'ring in its earthy cell!
But fure the youth, whofe ill-ftarr'd paffion ftrové
With all the pangs of inaufpicious love,
Full oft' deplor'd the fatal art, that stole
The jocund freedom of its mafter's foul!
While with nice hand he mark'd the living grace,
And matchlefs fweetness of Honora's face,
Th' enamour'd youth the faithful traces bleft,
That barb'd the dart of beauty in his breast;
Around his neck th' enchanting portrait hung,
While a warm vow burft ardent from his tongue,
That from his bofom no fucceeding day,
No chance fhould bear that talifman away.
'Twas thus Apelles bafk'd in beauty's blaze,
And felt the mifchief of the ftedfaft gaze;
Early Grave, Mis Honora Sto whom Mr. Andre's attachment was of fuch fingular conftancy, died in confumption a few months before he suffer'¿ death at Tappan. She had married another gentleman four years after her eagagement with Mr. Andrè had been diffolv'd by parental authority.
+ Julia's arm. Mr. Andrè drew two miniature picures of Mifs Honora Sant on his first acquaintance with her at Buxton, in the year 1769, one for himself, the other for the author of this poem.
↑ Texas thus pelles. Prior is very elegant upon this circumftance in an Ode to his find Mr. Howard the painter.
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