For fhe fhall read (apt scholar at this fore)
With what fond paffion my true bofom glows,
How hopeless of return I still adore,

Nor dare the boldness of my wifh disclose.

Should the then smile,-yet ah! fhe fmiles on all,
Her gentle temper pities all diftrefs;

On every hill, each vale, the fun-beams fall,

Each herb, and flow'r, each tree, and shrub they bless.

Alike all nature grateful owns the boon,
The univerfal ray to all is free;

Like fond Endymion should I hope the moon,
Because among the reft she shines on me?

Hope, vain prefumer, keep, oh keep away:
Ev'n if my woe her gentle bofom move,
Pity fome look of kindness may display;
But each foft glance is not a look of love.

Yet heav'nly vifitant, thou doft not quit.
Those bow'rs where angels fweet divifion fing,
Nor deigneft thou on mortal shrine to fit
Alone, for round thee ever on the wing,

Glad choirs of loves attend, and hov'ring wait
Thy mild command; of these thy blooming train
Oh bid fome fylph in morning dreams relate,

Ere yet my love awake, my secret pain.

The

W

The DOWAGE R.

By the Same.

HERE aged elms in many a goodly row

Give yearly shelter to the constant crow,

A manfion ftands: -long fince the pile was rais'd,
Whofe Gothic grandeur the rude hind amaz'd.
For the rich ornament on ev'ry part,

Confefs'd the founder's wealth, and workman's art :
Tho' as the range of the wide court we tread,
The broken arch now totters o'er the head;
And where of old rofe high the social smoke,
Now swallows build, and lonely ravens croak.
Tho' Time, whofe touch each beauty can deface,
Has torn from ev'ry tow'r the sculptur'd grace;
Tho' round each ftone the fluggard ivy crawls,
Yet ancient state fits hov'ring on the walls.

Where wont the feftal chorus to refound,
And jocund dancing frequent beat the ground,
Now Silence spreads around her gloomy reign,
Save when the maftiff clanks his iron chain,

Save when his hoarfe bark echoes dire alarm,
Fierce to protect the place from midnight harm,
Its only guard; no revel founding late

Drives the night villain from the lonely gate.
An hallow'd matron and her simple train
These folemn battlements alone contain;
An hoary dowager, whofe placid face
Old age has deck'd with lovely aweful grace;
With almost vernal bloom her cheek still strow'd,
As beauty ling'ring left her lov'd abode;
That lov'd abode, where join'd with truth and sense
She form'd the features to mute eloquence,
And bade them charm the ftill attentive throng,
Who watch'd the facred leffons of her tongue.
For not thro' life the dame had liv'd retir'd,
But once had fhone, e'en 'midst a court admir'd:
What time the lov'd poffeffor of her charms
Returning from the war in victor arms,

Call'd from his monarch's tongue the plaufive praife,
While honour wreath'd him with unfading bays.
She, happy partner of each joyful hour,
Then walk'd ferene amid the pomp of pow'r:
While all confefs'd no warrior's wifh could move
For fairer prize, than fuch accomplish'd love :
Nor to that love could aught more tranfport yield,
Than graceful valour from the victor field.
Thus flourish'd once the beauteous and the brave;
But mortal blifs meets fill th' untimely grave:

Aurelius

Aurelius died

-his relict's pious tear

O'er his lov'd ashes frequent flow'd fincere,
Each decent rite with due obfervance paid,
Each folemn requiem offer'd to his fhade,
Plac'd 'mid the brave his urn in holy ground,
And bade his hallow'd banners wave around.

Then left the gaudy scenes of pomp and power,
While prudence beckon'd to that ancient bower,
And thofe paternal fields, the fole remains
Of ample woods and far-extended plains,
Which tyrant custom rudely tore away
To diftant heirship an expected prey.
Serene he fought the far-retired grove,
Once the blefs'd manfion of her happy love,

Pleas'd with the thought, that memory oft would raise
A folemn profpect of those blooming days

Aurelius gave her pious purpose now

:

To keep ftill conftant to her sacred vow;
In lonely luxury her forrows feed,

And pass her life in widow's decent weed.
One pledge of love her comfort ftill remain❜d,
Whom in this folitude fhe careful train'd
To virtuous lore; and while as year by year
New graces made Aurelia ftill more dear;

Full
many an hour unheeded fhe would trace
The father's femblance in the daughter's face;
While tender fighs oft heav'd her faithful breast,
And fudden tears her lafting love exprest.

3

Thus

Thus long the dwelt in innate virtues great,
Amid the villagers in facred state:

For ev'ry grace to which fubmiffion bows,
The pow'r which conscious dignity beftows,
She felt fuperior; for from ancient race
She gloried her long ancestry to trace;
And ever bade Aurelia's thought aspire
To every grace, each ray of facred fire,
That full of heav'n-born dignity informs
The mortal breast which ardent virtue warms;
Then led her to the venerable hall

Where her fucceffive fires adorn'd the wall,
And arched windows with their blazon bright
Shed thro' the herald glow a folemn light:
There clad in rough habiliments of war
Full many a hero bore a glorious fcar;
There in the civic fur the fons of peace,

Whofe counfels bade their country's tumults cease;
While by their fide, gracing the ancient scene,
Hung gentle ladies of moft comely mien.
'Then eager thro' the well-known tale fhe run,
In what fair caufe each honour had been won,
What female grace each virgin had poffefs'd
To charm to gentle love the manly breast;
Pleas'd to obferve how long her gen'rous blood
Thro' fair and brave had pafs'd a fpotless flood.
Mean while the young Aurelia's bosom fir'd
With emulation by each tale infpir'd,