But now, thro' facred prefcience, well they know
• The near approach of elemental ftrife;
The bluftry tempeft, and the chilling fnow,
With ev'ry want, and fcourge of tender life!

Thus taught, they meditate a fpeedy flight;
For this, e'en now they prune their vig'rous wing;
For this, confult, advise, prepare, excite,
• And prove their ftrength in many an airy ring.

No forrow loads their breaft, or fwells their eye,
To quit their friendly haunts, or native home;
Nor fear they, launching on the boundless sky,
• In fearch of future fettlements, to roam.

They feel a pow'r, an impulfe all divine!

That warns them hence; they feel it, and obey:

• To this direction all their cares refign,

• Unknown their deftin'd stage, unmark'd their way!

• Well fare your flight, ye mild, domestick race!
Oh! for your wings to travel with the fun!

Health brace your nerves, and Zephyrs aid your pace,
Till your long voyage happily be done!

See, Delia, on my roof your guests to-day;

To-morrow on my roof your guests no more! Ere yet 'tis night, with hafte they wing away, To-morrow lands them on fome safer shore.'

How just the moral in this scene convey'd !

And what without a moral would we read?

Then mark what Damon tells his gentle maid;
And with his leffon regifter the deed.

"Tis

• 'Tis thus life's chearful seasons roll away;
Thus threats the winter of inclement age:
• Our time of action but a fummer's day;
. And earth's frail orb the fadly-varied ftage!

And does no pow'r it's friendly aid difpenfe,
Nor give us tidings of fome happier clime?
Find we no guide in gracious Providence,

Beyond the ftroke of Death, the verge of time?

Yes, yes, the facred oracles we hear,

That point the path to realms of endless day: • That bid our hearts nor death nor anguish fear; • This future transport, that to life the way.

< Then let us timely for our flight prepare, And form the foul for her divine abode ;

Obey the call, and truft the Leader's care,

• To bring us fafe, thro' Virtue's paths, to God.

• Let no fond love for earth exact a figh;

No doubts divert our steady steps afide;

Nor let us long to live, nor dread to die : • Heav'n is our hope, and Providence our guide.'

ΑΤ

PART II.

WRITTEN IN APRIL.

T length the winter's furly blafts are o'er ; Array'd in smiles the lovely fpring returns: Health to the breeze unbars the screaming door, And ev'ry breast with heat celestial burns.

Again the daifies peep, the violets blow,

Again the tenants of the leafy grove (Forgot the patt❜ring hail, the driving (now) Resume the lay to melody and love.

And fee, my Delia, fee o'er yonder ftream, • Where, on the funny bank, the lambkins play; • Alike attracted to th' enliv'ning gleam,

The stranger-fwallows take their wonted way.

Welcome, ye gentle tribe, your sports purfue;
Welcome again to Delia and to me:
Your peaceful councils on my roof renew,
⚫ And plan your fettlements, from danger free,

No tempeft on my shed it's fury pours;

My frugal hearth no noxious blaft fupplies: Go, wand'rers, go; repair your footy bow'rs; Think, on no hoftile roof my chimnies rife.

Again I'll listen to your grave debates,

I'll think I hear your various maxims told; < Your numbers, leaders, policies, and ftates, • Your limits fettled, and your tribes enroll'd.

I'll think I hear you tell of distant lands;
• What infect nations rife from Egypt's mud;

• What painted fwarms fubfift on Lybia's fands,
• What mild Euphrates yields, and Ganges' flood.

Thrice happy race! whom Nature's call invites
To travel o'er her realms with active wing;

To tafte her choiceft ftores, her beft delights,
The fummer's radiance, and the sweets of spring.

While

• While we are doom'd to bear the restlefs change
• Of shifting seasons, vapours dank, or dry,
• Forbid, like you, to milder climes to range,
• When wint'ry clouds deform the troubled fky.

But know the period to your joys affign'd!

• Known ruin hovers o'er this earthly ball;

Certain as fate, and fudden as the wind,

• It's fecret adamantine props fhall fall.

• Yet when your fhort-liv'd fummers fhine no more, My patient mind, fworn foe to Vice's way, Suftain'd on lighter wings than yours, fhall foar

• To fairer realms, beneath a brighter ray.

To plains etherial, and Elyfian bow'rs,

• Where wint❜ry ftorms no rude access obtain ; • Where blasts no lightning, and no thunder louis, But fpring and joy, unchang'd, for ever reign,'

IL LATTE.

E fair, for whom the hands of Hymen weave The nuptial wreathe to deck your virgin brow, While pleasing pains the conscious bofom heave,

And on the kindling cheeks the blushes glow;

Whofe fpotlefs foul contains the better dower;

Whofe life, unftain'd, full many virtues vouch; For whom now Venus frames the fragrant bower,

And scatters rofes o'er th' expecting couch;

Το

To you I fing.-Ah! ere the raptur'd youth
With trembling hand removes the jealous veil,
Where, long regardless of the vows of truth,
Unfocial coynefs ftamp'd th' ungrateful feal,

Allow the poet round your flowing hair,

Cull'd from an humble vale, a wreathe to twine; To Beauty's altar with the Loves repair,

And wake the lute befide that living fhrine;

That facred shrine, where female virtue glows,
Where e'en the Graces all their treasures bring,
And where the lily, temper'd with the rofe,
(Harmonious contraft!) breathes an Eden spring;

That shrine, where Nature, with presaging aim,
What time her friendly aid Lucina brings,
The fnowy nectar pours, delightful stream!
Where flutt'ring Cupids dip their purple wings:

For

you who bear a mother's facred name,
Whofe cradled offspring, in lamenting strain,
With artless eloquence afferts his claim,
The boon of Nature, but afferts in vain.

Say why, illuftrious daughters of the great,
Lives not the nurfling at your tender breast ?

By you protected in his frail estate ?

By you attended, and by you carefs'd?

To foreign hands, alas! can you refign

The parent's task, the mother's pleasing care?

To foreign hands the smiling babe confign,
While Nature ftarts, and Hymen sheds a tear?