Engraved by V.Balch from a sketch by JL Morton, SCENIC ON THE HUDSON.

A SCENE ON THE BANKS OF THE HUDSON.

25

Loveliest of lovely things are they
On earth that soonest pass away ;
The rose that lives its little hour,
Is prized beyond the sculptured flower;
Even love, long tried, and cherished long,
Becomes more tender and more strong,
At thought of that insatiate grave
From which its yearnings cannot save.

River! in this sweet hour thou hast
Too much of heaven on earth to last;
Nor long shall thy still waters lie,
An image of the glorious sky.
Thy fate and mine are not repose ;
And ere another evening close,
Thou to thy tides shalt turn again,
And I to seek the crowd of men.

STANZAS.

FROM POLIZIANO.

Vaghe le Montanine, e Pastorelle, etc.

“Sweet mountaineers, young shepherdesses, say, Whence, in your grace and beauty, do ye stray ?"

“Oh! from beside an Alpine grove we come,

And there we dwell, beneath an humble shed, We and our parents, in our woodland home;

There by kind nature's genial bounty fed ;

And thither still our mountain flocks are led, From flowery meadows, at the close of day.”

“What is that land where first ye saw the light,

Which fruitage bears, none other ever knew? To me ye seem Love's own creations, bright,

Gleaming like radiant visions on my view.

All unadorned, in coarsest garments too, Yet, like young cherubs, ye have cross’d my way.

“Well might such lovely forms of fate complain,

Obscured in darksome glen or pathless hill; There is no clime of wealth and beauty vain,

Which ye would not with love and wonder fill.

And tell me, if ye are contented still, Among your Alpine wilds, unknown to stay ?”

“Each one of us is better pleased to hie

Behind our pastures, to the sheltered stall, Than is your grandest dame, at night, to fly

Where whirls the dance, within the cumbrous hall.

Riches we ask not, nor on fortune call, Save for our wealth of flowers, and chaplets gay.”