A window vainly stuffed about, My furniture, I sure may crack— From which, my night-parched throat I lave, A chest of drawers, in antique sections, A pair of globes, electric balls, Scales, quadrants, prisms, and cobbler's awls, I think, dear Ned, you curious dog, But stay, I nearly had left out And on the walls,-Good heavens! why there Of heads, and coins, and silver medals, And organ works, and broken pedals, (For I was once a building music, Though soon of that employ I grew sick), All out of one primordial root; That you, at such a sight, would swear A neck, on which by logic good Because they both have beards, which you know Will mark them well from Joan, and Juno), For some great man, I could not tell Then all around in just degree, With these fair dames, and heroes round, For though confined, 'twill well contain Thus, though my heart may seem so small, No more may heaven her blessings give, TO AN EARLY PRIMROSE. MILD offspring of a dark and sullen sire! And cradled in the winds. Thee, when young spring first questioned winter's sway, And dared the sturdy blusterer to the fight, Thee on this bank he threw To mark his victory. In this low vale, the promise of the year, Thy tender elegance. So Virtue blooms, brought forth amid the storms Of life, she rears her head Obscure and unobserved; While every bleaching breeze that on her blows, And hardens her to bear Serene the ills of life. SONNETS. SONNET I. TO THE RIVER TRENT.-WRITTEN ON RECOVERY FROM SICKNESS. ONCE more, O TRENT! along thy pebbly marge From the close sick-room newly let at large, Woos to his wan-worn cheek the pleasant gale. Which fills with joy the throstle's little throat! And all the sounds which on the fresh breeze sail, How wildly novel on his senses float! It was on this, that many a sleepless night, As, lone, he watched the taper's sickly gleam, And at his casement heard, with wild affright, The owl's dull wing, and melancholy scream, On this he thought, this, this his sole desire, Thus once again to hear the warbling woodland choir. SONNET II. GIVE me a cottage on some Cambrian wild, I shall not want the world's delusive joys; Shall think my lot complete, nor covet more; POEMS OF And when, with time, shall wane the vital fire, SONNET III.* SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED BY A FEMALE LUNATIC TO A LADY. LADY, thou weepest for the Maniac's woe, And thou art fair, and thou, like me, art young, Oh may thy bosom never, never know The pangs with which my wretched heart is wrung. I had a mother once-a brother too— (Beneath yon yew my father rests his head :) I had a lover once,-and kind, and true, But mother, brother, lover, all are fled! The green sod soon upon my breast will lie, And soft and sound, will be my peaceful sleep. Go thou, and pluck the roses while they bloomMy hopes lie buried in the silent tomb. SONNET IV. SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN BY THE UNHAPPY POET DERMODY, IN A STORM, Lo! o'er the welkin the tempestuous clouds This quatorzain had its rise from an elegant sonnet, "occasioned by seeing a young female lunatic," written by Mrs. Lofft, and published in the "Monthly Mirror." |