438

OVELY nymph, with eye serene,

come, with airy step advancing,
come, with blooming Hebe dancing:
o'er the meads I see thee straying-
Youth and Sport around thee playing—
gay Content, thy sister fair,

twines a garland round thy hair.
Thine the lips of roseate dye;
thine the pleasure-sparkling eye;
thine the cheek that softly glows,
brighter than the blushing rose!
guide me to thy favourite bowers,
to deck thy rural shrine with flowers.
In thy lowly, sylvan cell,

Peace and Virtue love to dwell;

ever let me own thy sway,

still to thee my tribute pay

when Zephyr waves his balmy wing,
to kiss the sweets of May;

when the soft melodies of spring

resound from every spray;

with thee, sweet maid! I'll rove along,
and tread the morning dews;

to hear the wood-lark's early song,
to court the laughing muse.

SUN

UN-GIRT City! thou hast been
Ocean's child, and then his queen;
now is come a darker day,

and thou soon must be his prey,
if the power that raised thee here
hallow so thy watery bier.

A less drear ruin then than now
with thy conquest-branded brow
stooping to the slave of slaves
from thy throne among the waves,
wilt thou be,-when the sea-mew
flies, as once before it flew,

F. HEMANS

o'er thine isles depopulate,
and all is in its ancient state,
save where many a palace-gate
with green sea-flowers overgrown,
like a rock of ocean's own,
topples o'er the abandon'd sea
as the tides change sullenly.
The fisher on his watery way
wandering at the close of day,
will spread his sail and seize his oar
till he pass the gloomy shore,
lest thy dead should, from their sleep
bursting o'er the starlight deep,
lead a rapid masque of death
o'er the waters of his path.

ES, I remember well

440 YE

the land of many hues,

whose charms what praise can tell,
whose praise what heart refuse?
Sublime, but neither bleak nor bare,
nor misty are the mountains there,—
softly sublime, profusely fair!

P. B. SHELLEY

up to their summits clothed in green,
and fruitful as the vales between,
they lightly rise

and scale the skies,

and groves and gardens still abound;

for where no shoot

could else take root,

the peaks are shelved and terraced round;
earthward appear, in mingled growth,

the mulberry and maize,-above

the trellised vine extends to both

the leafy shade they love.

Looks out the white-walled cottage here,
the lowly chapel rises near;

far down the foot must roam to reach
the lovely lake and bending beach;
whilst chestnut green and olive grey
chequer the steep and winding way.

441 MARIUS AMID THE RUINS OF CARTHAGE

ARTHAGE! I love thee-thou hast run

CART

as I, a warlike race!

and now thy glory's radiant sun
hath veil'd in clouds his face:
thy days of pride-as mine-depart;
thy Gods desert thee, and thou art,
a thing as nobly base

as he whose sullen footstep falls
to-night around thy crumbling walls.

And Rome hath heap'd her woes and pains

alike on me and thee,

and thou dost sit in servile chains,—

but mine they shall not be!
though fiercely o'er this aged head
the wrath of angry Jove is shed,
Marius shall still be free,

free-in the pride that scorns his foe,
and bares the head to meet the blow.

I wear not yet thy slavery's vest,

as desolate I roam;

and though the sword were at my breast,
the torches in my home,

still-still, for orison and vow,

I'd fling them back my curse; as now
I scorn, I hate thee-Rome!

my voice is weak to word and threat-
my arm is strong to battle yet!

W. M. PRAED

442

THE POWER OF MUSIC

WOW strike the golden lyre again:

a louder yet, and yet a louder strain!

Break his bands of sleep asunder

and rouse him like a rattling peal of thunder.

Hark, hark! the horrid sound

has raised up his head:

as awaked from the dead

and amazed he stares around.

443

Revenge, revenge, Timotheus cries,

see the Furies arise!

see the snakes that they rear

how they hiss in their hair,

and the sparkles that flash from their eyes!
Behold a ghastly band

each a torch in his hand!

these are Grecian ghosts, that in battle were slain and unburied remain

inglorious on the plain:

give the vengeance due

to the valiant crew!

Behold how they toss their torches on high,
how they point to the Persian abodes

and glittering temples of their hostile gods.

-The princes applaud with a furious joy;

and the King seized a flambeau with zeal to destroy; Thais led the way,

to light him to his prey,

and, like another Helen, fired another Troy !

RULE BRITANNIA

J. DRYDEN

HEN Britain first at Heaven's command

WH

arose from out the azure main,

this was the charter of her land,

and guardian angels sung the strain:

rule Britannia! Britannia rules the waves!
Britons never shall be slaves.

The nations not so blest as thee

must in their turn to tyrants fall, whilst thou shalt flourish great and free the dread and envy of them all.

Still more majestic shalt thou rise,

more dreadful from each foreign stroke;
as the loud blast that tears the skies
serves but to root thy native oak.

Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame;
all their attempts to bend thee down
will but arouse thy generous flame,

and work their woe and thy renown.

To thee belongs the rural reign;
thy cities shall with commerce shine;
all thine shall be the subject main,
and every shore it circles thine!

The Muses, still with Freedom found,
shall to thy happy coast repair;
blest isle, with matchless beauty crown'd,
and manly hearts to guard the fair:-
rule Britannia! Britannia rules the waves!
Britons never shall be slaves!

J. THOMSON

444 PRIMVM BONVM EST NON NASCI, SECVNDVM

CITIVS MORI

NOT to be were best for man,
or else in infancy

ere life hath well commenced its span
to draw one breath-and die.

When life's faint flame begins to shine,
to wane away to-night;

O, this were better than to pine
through years of withering blight.

For soon as youth unfolds its years,
each hour unfolds its care-

its pleasures, snatch'd mid grief and tears,
are pleasures vain as air.

Then, too, the passions urge their sway,
and gender countless woes-
wrath, envy, murder, wait their way,
till manhood sees its close.

At length with sullen, tottering pace,
comes solitary age,―

the last of all his fleeting race,
life's last and dreariest stage.

Friendless, alone, and desolate-
he wanders to the tomb,
all ills attend his wretched fate
and centre in his doom.