"I hop'd to feal my faith :". This thought awak'd
Another fad foliloquy, which they,

Who e'er have lov'd, will from their hearts fupply,
And they who have not will but hear and smile.

And let them fmile, but let the scorners learn
There is a folemn luxury in grief

Which they shall never tafte; well known to those,
And only thofe, in Solitude's deep gloom

595

Who heave the figh fincerely: Fancy there

Waits the fit moment; and, when Time has calm'd

The first o'erwhelming tempeft of their woe,

601

Piteous she steals upon the mourner's breast

Her precious balm to fhed: Oh, it has power,

Has magic power to soften and to footh,

Thus duly minifter'd. ALCANDER felt

605

The charm, yet not till many a ling'ring moon

Had hung upon her zenith o'er his couch,

And heard his midnight wailings. Does he stray
But near the fated temple, or the bower?

He feels a chilly monitor within,

Who bids him pause. Does he at distance view
His grot? 'tis darken'd with NERINA's storm,
Yet there are walks

Ev'n at the blaze of noon.
VOL. II.

H

610

The

The loft one never trod; and there are feats
Where he was never happy by her fide,

And these he still can figh in. Here at length,

As if by chance, kind Fancy brought her aid,

When wand'ring thro' a grove of fable yew, om tot 7 Rais'd by his ancestors? their Sabbath-path

Led thro' its gloom, what time too dark a stole bo620 Was o'er Religion's decent features drawn

By Puritanic zeal. Long had their boughs

Forgot the sheers; the fpire, the holy ground

They banish'd by their umbrage. "What if here,”

Cry'd the fweet Soother, in a whisper foft,

66

Some open space were form'd, where other fhades, "Yet all of folemn fort, Cypress and Bay

"Funereal, penfive Birch its languid arms

625

"That droops, with waving Willows deem'd to weep, "And fhiv'ring Afpens mixt their varied

green;

"What if yon trunk, fhorn of its murky creft,
"Reveal'd the facred Fane ?" ALCANDER heard

The Charmer; ev'ry accent seem'd his own,

So much they touch'd his heart's fad unifon.

630

Yes, yes," he cry'd,« Why not behold it all? 635 "That bough remov'd fhews me the very vault

"Where my NERINA fleeps, and where, when Heav'n

"In

In pity to my plaint the mandate feals,

<< My duft with her's fhall mingle." Now his hinds,

3

Call'd to the task, their willing axes wield;

Joyful to fee, sas witless of the cause,.:

Their much-lov'd Lord his fylvan arts refume.)
And next, within the centre of the gloom,
A fhed of twisting roots and living mofs,
With rushes thatch'd, with wattled oziers lin'd,
He bids them raise +: it seem'd a Hermit's cell;
Yet void of hour-glafs, fcull, and maple difh,
Its mimic garniture: ALCANDER's tafte

640

645

Difdains to trick with emblematic toys

The place where He and Melancholy mean

650

To fix NERINA's bust, her genuine bust,

The model of the marble. There he hides,

Clofe as a Mifer's gold, the fculptur'd clay;

And but at early morn and latest eve

Unlocks the fimple fhrine, and heaves a figh:

655

Then does he turn, and thro' the glimm❜ring glade

Caft a long glance upon her house of death;

Then views the bust again, and drops a tear.

Is this idolatry, ye fage ones say?

Or, if ye doubt, go view the num'rous train

660

H2

Of

Ver. 646, Note XXXVII.

Of

poor The fight will tell thee, he that dries their tears Has unfeen angels hov'ring o'er his head,

and fatherless his care confoles;val 10 mis ju

Who leave their heav'n to fee him shed his own.1123 **)

Here close we, fweet SIMPLICITY! the tale, 665 And with it let us yield to youthful bards

That Dorian reed we but awak'd to voice paddi

When Fancy prompted, and when Leisure smil'd;f
Hopeless of general praise, and well repaid,

If they of claffic ear, unpall'd by rhyme,

Whom changeful pause can please, and numbers free,
Accept our fong with candour. They perchance,

Led by the Mufe to folitude and shade,

670

May turn that Art we fing to foothing use,

At this ill-omen'd hour, when Rapine rides

675

In titled triumph; when Corruption waves
Her banners broadly in the face of day,
And fhews th' indignant world the host of flaves
She turns from Honour's ftandard. Patient there,
Yet not defpending, fhall the fons of Peace

Await the day, when, fmarting with his wrongs,
Old England's Genius wakes; when with him wakes
That plain Integrity, Contempt of gold,

680

Difdain

Difdain of flav'ry; liberal Awe of ruled

Which fixt the rights of People, Peers, and Prince,

And on them founded the majestic piles or anime 686

Of BRITISH FREEDOM; bad fair Albion rife w

The scourge of tyrants; sovereign of the seas;
And arbitrefs of empires. Ch return,

Ye long-loft train of Virtues! fwift return

To fave ('tis ALBION prompts your Poet's prayer)
Her Throne, her Altars, and her laureat Bowers.

699

THE END,