ON READING THE LOVE ELEGIES, 1742*.

HITHER your wreaths, ye drooping Muses, bring

The short-liv'd rose +, that blooms but to decay; Love's fragrant myrtles, that in Paphos spring, And deathless Poetry's immortal bay.

And oh thou gentlest shade accept the verse,
Mean tho' it be, and artlessly sincere,
That pensive thus attends thy silent hearse,
And steals, in secret shades, the pious tear.

What heart, by Heav'n with gen'rous softness blest,
But in thy Lines its native language reads?
Where hapless Love, in classic plainness drest,
Gracefully mourns, and elegantly bleeds.

In vain, alas, thy fancy fondly gay

Trac'd the fair scenes of dear domestic life,

The sportives forsook their wanton play,

To paint for thee the Mistress, Friend, and Wife.

These Lines were written after reading Hammond's Elegies in M.S. a year before they were published. See his Life prefixed to Foulis' edition, fol. 1787, in which these Lines are printed. Miss Talbot was then only 22 years of age. Later in life she would probably have admired them less.

Flores amænæ ferre jube rosæ. HOR. II. Ode 3.

One caught from Delia's lips the winning smile,
One from her eyes his little soul inspir'd;

Then seiz'd thy pen, and smooth'd thy flowing style,
Then wept, and trembled, and with sobs admir'd.

O luckless Lover! form'd for better days,
For golden years, and ages long ago,
For Thee Persephone impatient stays *,
For Thee the willow and the cypress grow.

* Oh spare, Persephone, this guiltless head. HAMMOND, Eleg. IV.

WRIT ON NEW-YEAR'S-EVE, WHILE THE BELLS WERE

RINGING OUT THE OLD YEAR.

I.

AGAIN the smoothly circling year,
Beneath fair skies serene and clear,
Completes its gentle round;
Sweet bells in tuneful sounds express
Gay thanks for rural happiness,

And months with plenty crown'd.

II.

While yet remains the courteous guest,
O be my grateful thoughts exprest
Unmixed with grief or fear.

Farewell ye seasons! roll away,
I wish not to prolong your stay,

Tho' age brings up the rear.

III.

Cheerful I trust, for future good,
The hand which all the past bestow'd,
Nor heed life's shifting scene.

Farewell kind year, which still has blest
My days with peace, my nights with rest,
And leav'st my mind serene.

IV.

Not yet-but now impends the stroke, The far resounding midnight clock

Has summon'd thee away;

Go mingle with the countless past,
Till time himself has liv'd his last,
In soft oblivion stay.

V.

But then with smiling grace appear,
Thou blameless, grief-unsullied year,
O smile once more on me,

And witness that thy golden hours
Have all been priz'd, as summer flow'rs
By some industrious bee.

TO CHEERFULNESS.

I.

FAIR Cheerfulness, nymph who all nymphs dost excel,
Ah tell me, sweet Cheerfulness, where dost thou dwell?
I would search the world round, thee dear charmer to find,
And with thy rosy chaplet my forehead to bind.

II.

When with thee, shall I drink of the clear crystal spring,
While birds on the branches rejoicingly sing?

When, with thee, on the sun-shiny hills shall I play?
When all nature around us, looks flow'ry and gay?

III.

Oh why have I lost thee? What heedless offence,
Delightful companion, has banish'd thee hence?
This heart, still thy own, has admitted no guest
By whom thou, dearest charmer, should be dispossest.

IV.

Thou ever wert known with Religion to dwell,
And gild with thy smiles her contemplative cell:
With Innocence thou trippest light o'er the green,
While the blue sky above shines all clear and serene.