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XXXVII.

TO THE MEMORY

OF

RAISLEY CALVERT.

CALVERT! it must not be unheard by them
Who may respect my name that I to thee
Owed many years of early liberty.

This care was thine when sickness did condemn
Thy youth to hopeless wasting, root and stem :
That I, if frugal and severe, might stray
Where'er I liked; and finally array

My temples with the Muse's diadem.

Hence, if in freedom I have loved the truth,
If there be aught of pure, or good, or great,
In my past verse,—or shall be, in the lays
Of higher mood, which now I meditate,-
It gladdens me, O worthy, short-lived Youth!
To think how much of this will be thy praise.

SONNETS

DEDICATED

TO LIBERTY.

PART FIRST.

I.

COMPOSED BY THE SEA-SIDE, NEAR CALAIS,

August, 1802.

FAIR Star of Evening, Splendor of the West,
Star of my Country!-on the horizon's brink
Thou hangest, stooping, as might seem, to sink
On England's bosom; yet well pleased to rest,
Meanwhile, and be to her a glorious crest
Conspicuous to the Nations. Thou, I think,

Should'st be my Country's emblem; and should'st wink,
Bright Star! with laughter on her banners, drest
In thy fresh beauty. There! that dusky spot

Beneath thee, it is England; there it lies.
Blessings be on you both! one hope, one lot,
One life, one glory! I, with many a fear
For my dear Country, many heartfelt sighs,
Among Men who do not love her, linger here.

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