Oh! when I think on what thou art,
On what my soul to make thee strove,
Fresh tears of agony will start,

And angry sorrow melt to love.

Go, false one! lov'd one! learn to know
The anguish thou hast bade me feel,
Learn disappointment's ruthless blow,
More poignant than the venom'd steel.
Learn jealous love's impetuous woes,
And blighted hope's corroding grief,
The pang ingratitude bestows,

And dark despair that spurns relief.
But by my griefs, an endless train,
Nay, by my very wrongs, I swear-
To see thee suffer is a pain,

I cannot !-No! I cannot bear.
NOV. 22, 1798.

BEATRICE.

How fragrant blows
That lovely rose !
I'll gather it to-morrow:

I came; but to my sorrow

The leaves had fallen before I could return;

And where the rose had been, I found a thorn.

ETONENSIS.

וי

CONFIRMATION DAY,

at highgate, MIDDLESEX, JULY 9, 1810.

Ir was a spectacle of hallow'd joy,

Though tears it drew from fond parental eyes,
To see the fair resort of either sex

From hamlets round convening, and before
The temple porch of their celestial Lord
Assembled, greeting each with chasten'd mien;
The youths all neatness, and the vestal train
In whitest garb of saintly innocence
Waiting the reverend prelate ;-eager all
To ratify their Christian covenant,
And in the sweet untainted spring of life,
(Most grateful to the God of holiness)
By early vow to dedicate themselves
Unto their Maker; and to seal that vow
In presence of their pastors and their friends.
A verger first appears with mitred mace;
The concourse cluster, and in sidelong rows
Border the pathway from the church-yard gate.
At that the Prelate enters, and he seems
As one commission'd from a heavenly sphere
To breathe salvation, and the earthly pure
In heart and mind to render purer still.
He passes through the portal, and his flock
Press close behind, as if his very robe

Held secret virtue. To their seats beneath
The sacred dome with hasten'd step they move,
While the loud organ peals its swelling chords
To welcome in the pious votaries.

It ceases-for the holy man his charge Assumes; and from their seats all rise. Himself, Within the sacramental rail enclos'd,

Greets his fair fold with gentle dignity;
Bland admonition wafting on the ear,

That it may dwell in the retentive thought.
He trusts this goodly throng of youthful saints,
Here met to testify a firm belief

In their Redeemer's love, will boldly dare
To struggle with temptation, and put on
The panoply of Him who did repel
The wiles of Satan, that so each may cast
Far off the works of darkness, and still live
As fitteth the "redeemed of the Lord."
So need they never fear His tender care
Will, from the powers of darkness, rescue them,
And be their safe-guard, if they own his sway,
Whose" yoke is easy, and his burden light."

A glow of high resolve, and ardent hope,
Beam'd o'er the face of every candidate
For confirmation; and like glow diffus'd
O'er those who came as guardian-witnesses.
Mean time, a vestur'd priest the rubric reads
Which prefaces this ghostly ordinance:
The Prelate then his awful question asks—
"Do before the presence of
ye,

your

God

"And of this congregation, here renew
"The solemn and baptismal promise made
"In all your names, when ye were infants all;

Confirming now the same with your own lips, "And binding each both to believe and do "Those things, which at a weak and tender age "You by respective sureties undertook?" A loud-" I do," gave sanction to the service. And now the young noviciates lowly bend :They pray; they kneel in silence round the altar; The bishop's blessing broods upon their heads, (As once o'er Jordan did the dove-like form) While he alone implores the Saviour-God, "To succour these his servants with his grace, "That they may live for ever, and receive "An increase of his spirit more and more, "Until they come to his eternal kingdom!"

No shrill" Amen" was wanted from the clerk's Sonorous voice; the hearts of all around Echo'd responses, and their orisons

In soft and secret whispers, or in tears

Of gushing fondness, spoke the soul's regard.
For all around were mothers, sponsors, friends,

And sires, and sisters; those who the young thus far
Had train'd upon their way to blessedness,
With those who came to see the rite performed,
Which they might soon be sanction'd to partake,
And the joint privilege of Christians claim,
To banquet at the table of their Lord!
There oft approaching, may they still recal
This day's solemnity, and hence become
The children of their God: so shall no blight
Of sin the promise of their vernal bloom
Destroy, but when from earth transplanted, bear
Rich fruit within the glorious paradise of heaven!

KING LEAR'S SPEECH TO EDGAR.

VERSIFIED AND PARAPHRASED BY MR. COBBE.

SEE where the solitary creature stands,
Just as he issued out of nature's hands;

No hopes he knows, no fears, no joys, no cares,
Nor pleasure's poison, nor ambition's snares;
But shares, from self-forg'd chains of life releas'd,
The forest kingdom with his fellow beast.
Yes, all we see of thee is nature's part,
Thou art the creature's self, the rest is art.
For thee the skilful worm of spacious hue
No shining threads of ductile radiance drew;
For thee no sun the ripening gem refin'd,
No bleating innocence the fleece resign'd;
The hand of luxury never taught to pour
O'er thy faint limbs the oil's refreshing show'r :
His bed the flinty rock; his drink, his food,
The running brook and berries of the wood.
What have we added to this plain account?

What passions? What desires? A huge amount!
Cloth'd, fed, warm'd, cool'd, each by his brother's toil,
We live upon the wide creation's spoil.

Quit, monarch, quit thy vain superfluous pride,
Lay all thy foreign ornaments aside,

Bid art no more its spurious gifts supply,

Be man, mere man, thirst, hunger, grieve and die.