O'er my pale front with mutter'd sleight to strew! Aloof, in sullen apathy repos'd,

Yon demon huge I dread, of deadliest hue:

He rises ghastly, to my path oppos'd.

Ah! close the fearful scene :-the fearful scene is clos'd.

Now down the smooth declivity I float
Of nether ether, to a shelter'd vale;

Where, in its balmy bosom lodg'd remote,

A bevy of bright beings I may hail,

Hark! what sweet murmurs swell the musky gale, Whose honey'd whispers joy and gladness give; What tides of lusty health my lungs inhale; What florid flushes my blank cheeks receive; Here, in this happy dell, for ever would I live,

Minions of moonlight, let my slow step steal, Unblam'd and guiltless, on your secret sport; Removing soft the visionary veil That wraps from vulgar ken the elfin-court, Where no unhallow'd visitants resort. Lo where the lords of Faery-land appear! Chieftains, and frowning peers of princely port; Sage counsellors, with piercing eye severe ; And less distinguish'd knights fast trooping in the rear.

The monarch's self majestic terrors grace : Tipp'd with a horse-fly's tongue, a rush his spear; A gnat's slight pinion shades his martial face; A fish's scale his armed shoulders wear, Lin'd with a scarf of shining gossamer; Unknown in listed fray the prize to yield, His rapier is a hornet's sting severe ; Superior to the rest, his shelly shield Undauntedly he shakes, and overlooks the field.

But, moving slow upon my dazzled sight,
What miracle is this of loveliest charm?
Luxuriate in unspeakable delight,

I feel, I feel my shiv'ring senses warm :
All my best feelings own the fond alarm :
The courteous semblance becks me to her side:
That beamy smile secures me from all harm :
Her mandate I obey with pleasing pride :
'Tis she, the sylphid she, my late aerial bride.

"Full ill," she cries "my pupil, has thine ear
Receiv'd the moral lore I whilom taught;
Though prodigal of fancy, who will hear
Thy numbers vague, with no instruction fraught,

* See the poem of the Extravaganza.

And destitute of heav'n-descended thought? Though, slighting the severer rules of art, With choicest cunning is thy descant wrought, If thou to lull the sense neglect the heart, Trust me, advent'rous youth, we suddenly must part."

She spoke; conviction follow'd as she spoke:
And though uncurb'd imagination scorn

To bend submissive to the servile yoke,
A temporary bondage must be borne.

The flaunting wild rose decks the crabbed thorn:
From surly rules sublimest labours grew.

No afore my stricter song must you adorn,
Ye phantoms ever fair and ever new :

Adieu, delightful dreams; ye faery scenes, adieu.

VOL. 1.

SONNET

TO SIR JAMES BLAND BURGES,

With the following Romance.

AGAIN my spirit wakes from deep repose,
Though deep not joyless; and each faery dream
That Fancy on the pregnant trance bestows,
Bids o'er the page in lasting beauty stream.
But, ah! no dazzling glories shalt Thou find,
Such as illume thy own consummate lay ;
No miracles of the effulgent mind
To guide Thee through invention's milky-way :
A shepherd's simple song; of ardent youth
A rude narration, and of love sincere ;
Which Nature's mighty self, and virgin Truth,
Instill'd erewhile into his raptur'd ear.
Nor only shall it charm the village train,
If Thou wilt deign to list so low a strain.

THOMAS DERMODY.

LOVE'S LEGEND:

OR.

ARIBERT AND ANGELA.

A Romance, in Three Parts.

Rien n'est beau que le vrai; le vrai seul est aimable:
Il doit regner partout, et même dans la fable.

De tout fiction l'adroit fausseté

Ne tend qu'à faire briller aux yeux la vérité.

BOILEAU.

PART THE FIRST.

SAD-swelling on the evening gale
That moan'd along the purple heath,
Was heard an infant's helpless wail,
By him that pensive walk'd beneath.

The shepherd turn'd in haste around;
And as he turn'd, a beauteous child,
Cradled in moss and wild flow'rs, found:
The little mourner faintly smil'd,