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Him, with her pureft flames the Mufe endow'd,
Flames never to th' illiberal thought ally'd;
The facred fifters led where Virtue glow'd

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In all her charms; he faw, he felt, and dy'd.vivte

Oh, partner of my infant griefs and joys!

Big with the scenes now paft, my heart o'erflows;
Bids each endearment, fair as once to rise,
And dwells luxurious on her melting woes :

Oft with the rifing fun, when life was new,
Along the woodland have I roam'd with thee;
Oft by the moon have brush'd the evening dew,
When all was fearless innocence and glee.

The fainted well, where yon bleak hill declines,
Has oft been conscious of those happy hours;
But now the hill, the river crown'd with pines,
And fainted well, have loft their chearing powers:

For thou art gone. My guide, my friend! oh, where,
Where haft thou fled, and left me here behind! \

My tenderest wish, my heart to thee was bare,
Oh, now cut off each paffage to thy mind!

How dreary is the gulph! how dark, how võid,
The trackless fhores that never were repafs'd!.
Dread separation! on the depth untry'd,

Hope faulters, and the foul recoils aghaft! :

Wide round the spacious heavens I caft my eyes:
And shall these ftars glow with immortal fire!

Still shine the lifeless glories of the skies!

And could thy bright, thy living foul expire!!

Far

Far be the thought! The pleasures most sublime;
The glow of friendship, and the virtuous tear,
The towering with that fcorns the bounds of time,
Chill'd in this vale of death, but languish here.

So plant the vine on Norway's wint❜ry land,

The languid ftranger feebly buds, and dies: Yet there's a clime where Virtue shall expand With godlike ftrength beneath her native skies!

The lonely shepherd on the mountain's fide,
With patience waits the rofy opening day;
The mariner at midnight's darksome tide,

With chearful hope expects the morning rayi

Thus I, on life's ftorm-beaten ocean toss'd,
In mental vifion view the happy shore,
Where Pollio beckons to the peaceful coast,

Where fate and death divide the friends no more!

Oh, that fome kind, fome pitying kindred shade,
Who now, perhaps, frequents this folemn grove,
Would tell the awful fecrets of the dead,

And from my eyes the mortal film remove !

Vain is the wish yet furely not in vain
Man's bofom glows with that celestial fire,
Which fcorns earth's luxuries, which fmiles at pain,
And wings his fpirit with sublime defire!

To fan this spark of Heaven, this ray divine,
Still, O my foul! ftill be thy dear employ;
Still thus to wander thro' the fhades be thine,
And fwell thy breast with vifionary joy!

So

So to the dark-brow'd wood, or facred mount,
In ancient days, the holy feers retir'd;
And, led in vifion, drank at Siloe's fount,
While rifing extafies their bofoms fir'd:

Reftor'd creation bright before them rose,

The burning defarts fmil❜d as Eden's plains, One friendly fhade the wolf and lambkin chofe, The flowery mountain fung, Meffiah reigns!"

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Tho' fainter raptures my cold breast inspire,
Yet let me oft frequent this folemn fcene;
Oft to the abbey's fhatter'd walls retire,

What time the moonshine dimly gleams between:

There, where the cross in hoary ruin nods,

And weeping yews o'erfhade the letter'd ftones,
While midnight filence wraps these drear abodes,
And foothes me wandering o'er my kindred bones;

Let kindled Fancy view the glorious morn,

When from the bursting graves the juft shall rife, All Nature fmiling, and by angels borne,

Meffiah's crofs far blazing o'er the skies!

ODE TO INDEPENDENCE.

BY DR. SMOLLETT.

STROPHE.

HY fpirit, Independence, let me share!

TH

Lord of the lion-heart and eagle-eye,

Thy steps I follow with my bofom bare,
Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky.
Deep in the frozen regions of the north,
A goddess violated brought thee forth,

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Immortal Liberty, whose look fublime

Hath bleach'd the tyrant's cheek, in ev'ry varying clime;
What time the iron-hearted Gaul

With frantick Superstition for his guide,
Arm'd with the dagger and the pall,

The fons of Woden to the field defy'd ;
The ruthless hag, by Wefer's flood,

In Heaven's name urg'd th' infernal blow,
And red the ftream began to flow:

The vanquish'd were baptiz'd with blood *.

ANTI STROP HE.

The Saxon prince in horror fled

From altars ftain'd with human gore ; And Liberty his routed legions led

In fafety to the bleak Norwegian shore : There in a cave afleep the lay, vi gl hon

Lull'd by the hoarfe refounding main; When a bold favage pafs'd that way,

Impell'd by destiny, his name Difdain. Of ample front the portly chief appear'd; The hunted bear fupply'd a fhaggy.veft, The drifted fnow hung on his yellow beard,

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And his broad fhoulders brav'd the furious blaft. He stopp'd; he gaz'd; his bofom glow'd,

And deeply felt th' impreffion of her charms:

He feiz'd th' advantage Fate allow'd,

And straight comprefs'd her in his vigorous arms.

STROPHE.

The curlieu fcream'd; the tritons blew

Their fhells to celebrate the ravish'd rite;

Old Time exulted as he flew;

And Independence faw the light.

* Baptiz'd with blood, &c.] Charlemaigne obliged four theofand Saxon prifoners to embrace the Chriftian religion, and immediately after they were baptized, ordered their throats to be cut. Their Prince Vitikind fled for fhelter to Gotrick King of Denmark.

The

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The light he saw in Albion's happy plains;

Where, under cover of a flowering thorn,
While Philomel renew'd her warbled strains,
Th' aufpicious fruit of ftol'n embrace was born.
The mountain dryads feiz'd with joy

The fmiling infant to their charge confign'd;
The Dorick Mufe carefs'd the fav'rite boy;
The hermit, Wisdom, ftor'd his op'ning mind.
As rolling years matur'd his age,

He flourish'd bold and finewy as his fire;
While the mild passions in his breast assuage
The fiercer flames of his maternal fire.

ANTISTROP.HE.

Accomplish'd thus, he wing'd his way,

And zealous rouz'd from pole to pole,

The rolls of right eternal to display,

And warm with patriot thoughts th' aspiring foul. On défart ifles 'twas he that rais'd

*

Those fpires that gild th' Adriatick wave,

Where tyranny beheld amaz'd

Fair Freedom's, temple, where he mark'd her grave.

He fteel'd the blunt Bardavian's arms

To burft th' Iberian's double chain +;

And cities rear'd, and planted farms,.

Won from the skirts of Neptune's wide domain,

He, with the generous rufticks, fate

On Uris' rocks in close divan ‡,

And wing'd that arrow fure as fate

Which ascertain'd the facred rights of man.

* On defart ifles, &c.] Although Venice was built a confiderable time before the æra here affigned for the birth of Independence, the Republick had not yet attained to any great degree of power and fplendour.

To burft th' Iberian's double chain, &c.] The Low Countries were not only oppreffed by grievous taxations, but likewife threatened with the establishment of the inquifition, when the Seven Provinces revolted, and shook off the yoke of Spain.

On Uris' rocks, &c.] Alluding to the known ftory of William Tell and his affociates, the fathers and founders of the Confederacy of the Swifs Cantons.

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