More mournful then each falling surge I heard, Then dropp'd the stagnant tear upon my beard. Methought the wild waves said, amidst their roar At midnight, “Thou shalt see thy son no more!' Now thrice twelve moons through the mid heavens have roli’d, And many a dawn, and slow night have I told; And still, as every weary day goes by, A knot recording on my line I tie * ; But never more, emerging from the main, I see the stranger's bark approach again. Has the fellstorm o'erwhelm'd him? Has its sweep Buried the bounding vessel in the deep? Is he cast bleeding on some desert plain ? Upon his father did he call in vain ? Have pitiless and bloody tribes defiled The cold limbs of my brave, my beauteous child ! Oh! I shall never, never hear his voice; The spring-time shall return, the isles rejoice; But faint and weary I shall meet the morn, And mid the cheering sunshine droop forlorn. The joyous conch sounds in the high wood loud, O'er all the beach now stream the busy crowd ; Fresh breezes stir the waving plantain grove; The fisher carols in the winding cove; * I find by referring to the book that I have here made a mistake, which I hope the reader will pardon. The knots were tied at the time of Le Boo's departure, and one untied every, moon by the disconsolate father. There is a very interesting relation on this subject in Dixon's Voyage round the World, who, some years afterwards, sailing near the Pelew Islands, observed a person on shore making signs to the vessel, whom we have reason to suppose from subsequent accounts to have been the unfortunate father of Le Boo.' Captain Dixon at the time was ignorant of every circnmstance relating to this interesting story, with which Mr. Keate concludes bis account of the Pelew Islands. And light canoes along the lucid tide REV. W. L. BOWLES. THE EXILE. FAREWELL, oh native Spain ! farewell for ever! These banish'd eyes shall view thy coasts no more: A mournful presage tells my heart that never Gonzalvo's steps again shall press thy shore. Hush'd are the winds, while soft the vessel sailing With gentle motion ploughs the’unruffled main, Spain. Still do the spires, so well beloved, appear. Still wafts my native accents to mine ear. Propp'd on some moss-crown'd rock, and gaily singing, There in the sun his nets the fisher dries; Oft have I heard the plaintive ballad, bringing Scenes of past joys before my sorrowing eyes. Ah! happy swain; he waits the accustom'd hour * When twilight gloom obscures the closing sky; Then gladly seeks his loved paternal bower, And shares the feast his native fields supply. Friendship and Love, his cottage guests, receive him With honest welcome and with smile sincere: No threatening woes of present joys bereave him; No sigh his bosom owns, his cheek no tear. Fortune thy lot with envy bids me view; Bid all I value, all I love, adieu. Sung by some mountain girl who tends her goats, Or shepherd chanting wild his rustic notes. No more my arms a parent's fond embraces, No more my heart domestic calm must know; Far from these joys, with sighs which memory traces, To sultry skies and distant climes I go. Where Indian suns engender new diseases, Where snakes and tigers breed, I bend my way, To brave the feverish thirst no art appeases, The yellow plague and madding blaze of day. But not to feel slow pangs consume my liver, To die by peacemeal in the bloom of age, My boiling blood drunk by insatiate fever, And brain delirious with the daystar's rage Can make me know such grief as thus to sever, With many a bitter sigh, dear land! from thee; To feel this heart must dote on thee for ever, And feel that all thy joys are torn from me! Ah me! how oft will fancy's spells, in slumber, . Recall my native country to my mind! How oft regret will bid me sadly number Each lost delight, and dear friend left behind ! Wild Murcia's vales and loved romantic bowers, The river on whose banks a child I play'd, My castle's ancient halls, its frowning towers, Each much regretted wood and well known glade ; Dreams of the land where all my wishes centre, Thy scenes, which I am doom'd no more to know, Full oft shall memory trace, my soul's tormentor, And turn each pleasure past to present woe. But, lo! the sun beneath the waves retires ; Night speeds apace her empire to restore ! Clouds from my sight obscure the village spires, Now seen but faintly, and now seen no more. Oh! breathe not, winds! Still be the water's motion! Sleep, sleep, my bark, in silence on the main ! So, when to-morrow's light shall gild the ocean, Once more mine eyes shall see the coast of Spain. Vain is the wish! My last petition scorning, Fresh blows the gale, and high the billowsswell: Far shall we be before the break of morning : Oh! then, for ever, native Spain, farewell! M, G. LEWIS. THE ADIEU. Ye hills of my country, soft fading in blue; mine. for me; Ye scenes of remembrance that sorrow beguiled, [stream, bestow The colours of heaven on the dwellings of woe! Too faithful recorders of times that are pass’d, The Eden of Love, that was ever to last! Once more may soft accents your wild echoes fill, And the young and the happy be worshippers still. To me ye are lost! but your summits of green Shall charm through the distance of many a scene, |