I love thee,-when I read the lays Of British bards in elder days, Till, rapt on visionary wings, High o'er thy cliffs my spirit sings; For I, among thy living choir, I, too, can touch the sacred lyre.
I love thee,when I contemplate The full-orb'd grandeur of thy state; Thy laws and liberties, that rise, Man's noblest works beneath the skies, To which the Pyramids were tame, And Grecian temples bow their fame; These, thine immortal sages wrought Out of the deepest mines of thought! These, on the scaffold, in the field, Thy warriors won, thy patriots seal'd; These, at the parricidal pyre, Thy martyrs sanctified in fire,
And, with the generous blood they spilt, Wash'd from thy soil their murderers' guilt, Cancell'd the curse which vengeance sped,
And left a blessing in its stead.
-Can words, can numbers count the price Paid for this little paradise?
Never, oh! never be it lost;
The land is worth the price it cost.
I love thee,-when thy Sabbath dawns O'er woods and mountains, dales and lawns, And streams that sparkle while they run, As if their fountain were the sun : When, hand in hand, thy tribes repair, Each to their chosen house of prayer, And all in peace and freedom call On Him, who is the Lord of all.
"Busy people, great and small, Awkward dancers, short and tall, Ladies, fighting which shall call, Loungers, pertly quizzing all."
THIS is a night of pleasure! Care, I shake thee from me! do not dare To stir from out thy murky cell, Where, in their dark recesses, dwell Thy kindred Gnomes, who love to nip The rose on Beauty's cheek and lip, Until, beneath their venom'd breath, Life wears the pallid hue of Death. Avaunt! I shake thee from me, Care! The gay, the youthful, and the fair,
From "Lodge," and "Court," and "House," and "Hall,"
Are hurrying to the County Ball. Avaunt! I tread on haunted ground, And giddy Pleasure draws around, To shield us from thine envious spite, Her magic circle! nought to-night Over that guarded barrier flies But laughing lips and smiling eyes; My look shall gaze around me free And like my look my line shall be; While Fancy leaps in every vein, While love is life, and thought is pain, I will not rule that look and line By any word or will of thine.
The Moon hath risen! Still and pale Thou movest in thy silver veil,
Queen of the night; the filmy shroud Of many a mild transparent cloud Hides yet adorns thee-meet disguise To shield thy blush from mortal eyes. Full many a maid hath loved to gaze Upon thy melancholy rays;
And many a fond despairing youth Hath breathed to thee his tale of truth: And many a luckless rhyming wight Hath look'd upon thy tender light, And spill'd his precious ink upon it, In Ode, or Elegy, or Sonnet. Alas! at this inspiring hour I feel not, I, thy boasted power! Nor seek to gain thine approbation By vow, or prayer, or invocation; I ask not what the vapours are, That veil thee like a white cymar; Nor do I care a single straw For all the stars I ever saw! I fly from thee, I fly from these, To bow to earthly Goddesses, Whose forms in mortal beauty shine, As fair, but not so cold, as thine!
But this is foolish! Stars and Moon, You look quite beautiful in June; But, when a Bard sits down to sing, Your beauty is a dangerous thing; To muse upon your placid beam One wanders sadly from one's theme, And when weak poets go astray, The stars are more in fault than they.* The Moon is charming! so, perhaps, Are pretty maidens in mob-caps;
And when weak women go astray, The Stars are more in fault than they."
But, when a Ball is in the case, They're both a little out of place.
I love a Ball! there's such an air Of magic in the lustres' glare, And such a spell of witchery In all I hear, and all I see, That I can read in every dance Some relique sweet of old romance : As fancy wills, I laugh and smile, And talk such nonsense all the while, That when Dame Reason rules again, And morning cools my heated brain, Reality itself doth seem
Nought but the pageant of a dream: In raptures deep I gaze, as now, On smiling lip, and tranquil brow, While merry voices echo round, And music's most inviting sound Swells on mine ear; the glances fly, And love and folly flutter high, And many a fair romantic cheek, Redden'd with pleasure or with pique, Glows with a sentimental flush, That seems a bright unfading blush; And slender arms before my face Are rounded with a statue's grace; And ringlets wave, and beauteous feet Swifter than lightning part and meet; Frowns come and go; white hands are press'd, And sighs are heard, and secrets guess'd, And looks are kind, and eyes are bright, And tongues are free, and hearts are light.
the crowd I look,
Secure in some sequester'd nook,
And while from thence I look and listen, Though ladies' eyes so gaily glisten, Though ladies' locks so lightly float, Though music pours her mellow'd note,
Some little spite will oft intrude, Upon my merry solitude.
By turns the ever-varying scene Awakes within me mirth and spleen; By turns the gay and vain appear— By turns I love to smile and sneer, Mixing my malice with my glee, Good humour with misanthropy: And while my raptured eyes adore Half the bright forms that flit before, I notice with a little laugh
The follies of the other half.
That little laugh will oft call down, From matron sage, rebuke and frown; Little in truth for these I care- By Momus and his mirth I swear! For all the dishes Rowley tastes, For all the paper Courtenay wastes, For all the punch his subjects quaff, I would not change that little laugh."
Shall I not laugh, when every fool Comes hither for my ridicule, When every face, that flits to-night In long review before my sight, Shows off unask'd its airs and graces, Unconscious of the mirth it raises?
Skill'd to deceive our ears and eyes
By civil looks and civil lies,
Skill'd from the search of men to hide His narrow bosom's inward pride, And charm the blockheads he beguiles By uniformity of smiles,
Hoc ridere meum, tam nil, nullâ tibi vendo
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