His comrades had plotted an orchard to rob,
And ask'd him to go and assist in the job.

He was shock'd, sir, like you, and answer'd

"Oh no!

What! rob our good neighbour! I

go;

pray you don't

Besides the man's poor, his orchard's his bread, Then think of his children, for they must be fed.”

"You speak very fine, and you look very grave, But apples we want, and apples we'll have;

If you will go with us, you shall have a share,

If not, you shall have neither apple nor pear."

30

They spoke, and Tom ponder'd-" I see they will go:

Poor man! what a pity to injure him so!

Poor man! I would save him his fruit if I could,

But staying behind will do him no good.

"If the matter depended alone upon me,

His apples might hang till they dropp'd from the

tree;

But, since they will take them, I think I'll go too, He will lose none by me, though I get a few." 40

His scruples thus silenc'd, Tom felt more at ease, And went with his comrades the apples to seize; He blam'd and protested, but join'd in the plan: He shar'd in the plunder, but pitied the man. 44

THE

MORNING DREAM.

"TWAS in the glad season of spring,
Asleep at the dawn of the day,

I dream'd what I cannot but sing,
So pleasant it seem'd as I lay.1

I dream'd, that, on ocean afloat,
Far hence to the westward I sail'd,

While the billows high lifted the boat,

And the fresh blowing breeze never fail'd,

In the steerage a woman I saw,

Such at least was the form that she wore, 10

Whose beauty impress'd me with awe,

Ne'er taught me by woman before. She sat, and a shield at her side

Shed light, like a sun on the waves,

And smiling divinely, she cried

46

I go

to make freemen of slaves.".

Then raising her voice to a strain
The sweetest that ear ever heard,

She

sung of the slave's broken chain,
Wherever her glory appear'd.

Some clouds, which had over us hung,
Fled, chas'd by her melody clear,
And methought while she liberty sung,

'Twas liberty only to hear,

20

Thus swiftly dividing the flood,

To a slave-cultur'd island we came,
Where a demon, her enemy, stood-
Oppression his terrible name.

In his hand, as the sign of his sway,
A scourge hung with lashes he bore,
And stood looking out for his prey
From Africa's sorrowful shore.

30

But soon as approaching the land
That goddesslike woman he view'd,
The scourge he let fall from his hand,
With the blood of his subjects imbru'd.
I saw him both sicken and die,

And the moment the monster expir'd,
Heard shouts that ascended the sky,
From thousands with rapture inspir'd. 40

Awaking, how could I but muse

At what such a dream should betide?

But soon my ear caught the glad news,

Which serv'd my weak thought for a guideThat Britannia, renown'd o'er the waves

For the hatred she ever has shown

To the black-sceptred rulers of slaves,

Resolves to have none of her own.

48

THE

NIGHTINGALE AND GLOW-WORM.

A NIGHTINGALE, that all day long
Had cheer'd the village with his song,
Nor yet at eve his note suspended,
Nor yet when eventide was ended,
Began to feel, as well he might,
The keen demands of appetite;
When, looking eagerly around,

He spied far off, upon the ground,