294

LINES WRITTEN IN THE ALBUM OF

Loving the dewy shade,-a humble band,
Modest and sweet, a progeny of earth,
Congenial with thy mind and character,
High-born Augusta!

Witness Towers, and Groves!

And Thou, wild Stream, that giv'st the honoured name
Of Lowther to this ancient Line, bear witness
From thy most secret haunts; and ye Parterres,
Which She is pleased and proud to call her own
Witness how oft upon my noble Friend
Mute offerings, tribute from an inward sense
Of admiration and respectful love,

Have waited-till the affections could no more
Endure that silence, and broke out in song,
Snatches of music taken up and dropt
Like those self-solacing, those under, notes
Trilled by the redbreast, when autumnal leaves
Are thin upon the bough. Mine, only mine,
The pleasure was, and no one heard the praise;
Checked, in the moment of its issue, checked
And reprehended, by a fancied blush
From the pure qualities that called it forth.

Thus Virtue lives debarred from Virtue's meed;
Thus, Lady, is retiredness a veil

That, while it only spreads a softening charm
O'er features looked at by discerning eyes,

Hides half their beauty from the common gaze;

And thus, even on the exposed and breezy hill
Of lofty station, female goodness walks,
When side by side with lunar gentleness,
As in a cloister. Yet the grateful Poor
(Such the immunities of low estate,
Plain Nature's enviable privilege,

Her sacred recompence for many wants)
Open their hearts before Thee, pouring out
All that they think and feel, with tears of joy;
And benedictions not unheard in heaven:

And friend in the ear of friend, where speech is free
To follow truth, is eloquent as they.

Then let the Book receive in these prompt lines
A just memorial; and thine eyes consent
To read that they, who mark thy course, behold
A life declining with the golden light

Of summer, in the season of sere leaves;
See cheerfulness undamped by stealing Time;
See studied kindness flow with easy stream,
Illustrated with inborn courtesy;

And an habitual disregard of self

Balanced by vigilance for others' weal.

And shall the Verse not tell of lighter gifts With these ennobling attributes conjoined And blended, in peculiar harmony,

By Youth's surviving spirit? What agile grace ! A nymph-like liberty, in nymph-like form,

Beheld with wonder; whether floor or path
Thou tread, or sweep-borne on the managed steed-
Fleet as the shadows, over down or field,

Driven by strong winds at play among the clouds.

Yet one word more-one farewell word—a wish
Which came, but it has passed into a prayer—
That, as thy sun in brightness is declining,
So-at an hour yet distant for their sakes
Whose tender love, here faltering on the way
Of a diviner love, will be forgiven—

So may
For everlasting glory won by faith.

it set in peace, to rise again

THE EGYPTIAN MAID;

OR.

THE ROMANCE OF THE WATER LILY,

[For the names and persons in the following poem, see the "History of the renowned Prince Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table;" for the rest the Author is answerable; only it may be proper to add, that the Lotus, with the bust of the Goddess appearing to rise out of the full-blown flower, was suggested by the beautiful work of ancient art, once included among the Townley Marbles, and now in the British Museum.]

WHILE Merlin paced the Cornish sands,
Forth-looking toward the rocks of Scilly,
The pleased Enchanter was aware

Of a bright Ship that seemed to hang in air,
Yet was she work of mortal hands,

And took from men her name-THE WATER LILY.

Soft was the wind, that landward blew;

And, as the Moon, o'er some dark hill ascendant,
Grows from a little edge of light

To a full orb, this Pinnace bright

Became, as nearer to the coast she drew,

More glorious, with spread sail and streaming pendant.

Upon this winged Shape so fair

Sage Merlin gazed with admiration:
Her lineaments, thought he, surpass

Aught that was ever shown in magic glass;

Was ever built with patient care;

Or, at a touch, produced by happiest transformation.

Now, though a Mechanist, whose skill

Shames the degenerate grasp of modern science,

Grave Merlin (and belike the more

For practising occult and perilous lore)

Was subject to a freakish will

That sapped good thoughts, or scared them with defiance.

Provoked to envious spleen, he cast

An altered look upon the advancing Stranger
Whom he had hailed with joy, and cried,
"My Art shall help to tame her pride—”
Anon the breeze became a blast,

And the waves rose, and sky portended danger.

With thrilling word, and potent sign

Traced on the beach, his work the Sorcerer urges;

The clouds in blacker clouds are lost,

Like spiteful Fiends that vanish, crossed

By Fiends of aspect more malign;

And the winds roused the Deep with fiercer scourges.