Let, from a neigbouring thicket's gloom,
Beneath the sweetbriar's tender bloom,
A gushing rill be heard to chide;
Let it run sparkling by my side:
Let thrushes pour their melody;
The bees" their murmuring labours ply;
Along the tumid verdure roam,
Imbibe the honey-suckle's bloom,
And cling to every bending flower,
Whose beauties veil the golden shower.

Such strains the softened soul compose;
Lull every mental gust that blows:
Such fairy joys fell woe beguile;
Teach the care-clouded front to smile;
The throes assuage of thorny pain;
And gently,-faltering life sustain.

But thou fair Health, thy aid impart;
Breathe warmth and vigour o'er my heart!
My languors charm,-my pangs allay,
And feed and fan the vital ray :

Then quick to daisied meadows bring,
And yield me to the fostering spring!
Haste lovely Dryad! quickly turn!
And bid me-bid me-cease to mourn.

ODE ON SPRING.

TO JOHN DAWSON SHAW, ESQ.*

Le doux Printemps revient; et ranime, â la fois,
Les Oiseaux, les Zephirs, et les fleurs, et ma voix.
DE LILLE.

LO! APRIL gems her emerald bowers:

Teems the young glebe with opening flowers;
And lucid skies appear:

Gay verdure robes the brightening plain;
And blossom-breathing gales again

Perfume the liquid year.

Through groaning forests heard to roar,

The whelming hurricane no more

Impels its wild career:

While clouds their gloom-born horrors lend,

And forth the stormy deluge send,

To blot the murky year.

Nature revives! the nuptial groves
Echo the keenly warbled loves
Of all the feather'd train :
Entranc'd the rigorous winter long,
I slumber'd with the choral throng;
With these come forth again.

What tho' unskilful-let me raise

With these the festal note of praise!

Soft inspiration hail!

Mr. SHAW died (at one and twenty) in October, 1784. The above poem was written in the preceding Spring.

Lark-like, my vernal fancies soar:

Throbs my glad heart: I mope no more:
Ethereal influence hail!

Yet still I pant for thee my friend;
To thee my faithful DAWSON bend;
O! hither quick repair!

The pleasures of the rural May,

The solace Health and Hope convey,
With thee permit to share!

With thee to range the purple heath,
Inhale the morning's odorous breath,
Or sweets of evening still:
From blaze of noon exenipt, to rove
Thro' freshening gloom of shadowy grove,
With glimpse of tinkling rill.

The haunts of Science to explore,

And turn with thee the volumes o'er

Of wise Antiquity;

With thee to moralize the while,

Discinct, and early learn to smile
At human vanity.

O balmy FRIENDSHIP! thou the tide
Of anxious life canst teach to glide,
In soft tranquillity :

To thee I owe the transient joy
That wavers in my glistening eye;
To Spring, the Muse, and thee.

C.

Vain fantaisies! that Friendship we miscall;
How frail; how transitory are you all;

SIR,

To the Anonymous.

REFLECTING on the precarious nature of what is too commonly called Friendship, and the frequent and sudden dissolution of such frail connexions, I was lately led, by the train of my ideas, to form the following Friendly Obituary; which I am ambitious of seeing preserved amongst your literary records. I have the honour to be,

&c. &c. &c.

POSTHUMUS.

Friendly Obituary, for March, 1808.

On the first of the month, the friendship of Oliver Bluster for Rowland Roaragain perished in a storm. It had for some time been in a very crazy

state. On the fourth, departed that of The Lady Sophia Surface for Miss Sarah Sensitive. It caught cold during the winter; and after lingering for some time, died at length of an expostulation.

Same day, of a paralysis on one side, that of Charles Stessamor for Philip Frankly. It is remarkable that the disease, though mortal, never affected the side on which the heart lay.

On the fifth, the connexion between Captain Fireandtow and his brother of the whole blood, was terminated by a cholera morbus.

On the sixth, the confidence of Thomas Trustall in Henry Blab was put an end to by a Diarrhoea;— and on the evening of the same day, the intimacy between Robert Wrangle and Peter Positive was cut short by a dissent-ery.

On the seventh, expired the Regards of Peter Peevish; with whom something, or somebody-had disagreed and soon after, those of his neighbour, Samuel Querulous, were carried off by a complaint, for which no person has yet been able to assign a

cause.

On the eighth, the Regards too delicate Mr. Heartsick.

of the amiable, but

The complaint to

which they fell a victim, was originally slight.

On the same day, of a cut, his relative, Mr.

Falkland.

*Of the connexion.