The vain coquet, whofe empty pride
A fading face fupplies,
May justly dread the wintry gloom
Where all its glory dies.
Leave fuch a ruin to deplore
To fleeting forms confin'd;
Nor age, nor wrinkles, difcompofe
One feature of the mind.
Amidst the univerfal change,
Unconscious of decay,
It views unmov'd the fcythe of Time
Sweep all befides away.
Fix'd on its own eternal frame
Eternal are its joys,
While borne on tranfitory wings.
Each mortal pleasure flies.
While every short-liv'd flower of fenfe.
Destructive years confume,
Through friendship's fair enchanting walks.
Unfading myrtles bloom.
Nor with the narrow bounds of time
Its beauteous prospect ends,
But lengthen'd through the vale of death
To paradife extends.
ODE to SPRING. By Mifs F.
AIL, genial goddess, blooming Spring!
Thy bleft return, O let me fing,
And aid my languid lays :
Let me not fink in sloth supine,
While all creation at thy shrine
Its annual tribute pays.
Escap'd from Winter's freezing power
Each bloffom greets thee, and each flower;
And, foremost of the train,
By Nature, (artlefs handmaid!) dreft,
The fnow-drop comes in lilly'd veft,
Prophetic of thy reign.
The lark now ftrains his warbling throat,
While every loud and sprightly note
Calls Echo from her cell.
Be warn'd, ye fair, that liften round,
A beauteous maid became a found,
A maid who lov'd too well.
The bright-hair'd fun with warmth benign
Bids tree, and fhrub, and swelling vine
Their infant-buds display:
Again the streams refresh the plains,
Which Winter bound in icy chains,
And sparkling bless his ray.
Life-giving Zephyrs breathe around,
And inftant glows th' enamel'd ground
With Nature's vary'd hues :
Not fo returns our youth decay'd,
Alas! nor air, nor fun, nor shade
The spring of life renews.
The fun's too quick-revolving beam
Will foon diffolve the human dream,
And bring th' appointed hour:
Too late we catch his parting ray,
And mourn the idly-wafted day
No longer in our power.
Then happiest he, whose lengthen'd fight
Pursues, by virtue's conftant light,
A hope beyond the skies;
Where frowning Winter ne'er shall come,
But rofy Spring for ever bloom,
And funs eternal rise.
Of afpect mild and brow ferene,
Whofe friendly beams by night appear,
The lonely traveller to cheer;
Attractive Power; whofe mighty fway
The ocean's fwelling waves obey,
And, mounting upward, feem to raise
A liquid altar to thy praise :
Thee wither'd hags, at midnight hour,
Invoke to their infernal bower;
But I to no fuch horrid rite,
Sweet Queen, implore thy facred light,
Nor feek, while all but lovers fleep,
To rob the mifer's treasur'd heap:
Thy kindly beams alone impart
To find the youth who ftole my heart,
And guide me, from thy filver throne,
To fteal his heart, or find my own.
WEET warbler! to whose artless song
Soft Mufic's native powers belong,
Here fix thy haunt; and o'er these plains
Still pour thy wild untutor'd strains,
Still hail the morn with sprightly lay,
And sweetly hymn the parting day:
But fprightlier ftill, and sweeter pour
Thy fong o'er Flavia's favorite bower;
There foftly breathe the vary'd found,
And chant thy loves, or woes around.
So may'ft thou live fecurely bleft,
And no rude storms disturb thy neft;
No bird-lime twig, or gin annoy,
Or cruel gun thy brood deftroy;
No want of shelter may'ft thou know,
Which Ripton's lofty shades bestow;
No dearth of winter berries fear,
But haws and hips blush half the year.
H me! that reftlefs blifs fo foon fhould flie!
Still as I think my yielding maid to gain,
And flatt'ring hope fays all my joys are nigh,
- Officious jealousy renews my pain.
When cold fufpenfe and torturing despair,
When paufing doubt, and anxious fear's no more,
Some idle falfhood haunts my lift'ning ear,
And wakes my heart to all it felt before.
One treads the mazes of the puzzled dance,
With easy step, and unaffected air,
Falfe rapture feigns, or rolls a meaning glance,
To catch the open, easy-hearted fair.
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