CHILDE ALARIQUE.

PART FIRST.

1.

"YE forests wide, from whom I feel the breath Of spring, that bears ten thousand odours, blow! Ye mountains, gay with purple blooming heath, Once more your scenery vanquishes my woe! Once more I feel poetic ardours glow!

Through shadowy groves of never-fading pine, I watch the crystal currents glittering flow;Nor fairer rays within those waters shine, Than bright responsive gleams of rapture that are

mine!

2.

"O fool, to think that never, never more

For me the pulse of joy would throb again, While yet far distant from the peaceful shore I combated the waves and wintry rain,

And my frail bark was beaten back amain

To the wild sea where ceaseless tempests blew fast moor'd, I smile at former pain;

But now,

Soft are the gales, the skies of lovely hue,

And all my infant raptures swell my heart anew.

3.

"Oh, Heaven! what ecstacy to weave again

The purple heath-bell into garlands wild!
To meet in haunted glades the dryade train,
And tread the path I loved while yet a child!
No more from these calm solitudes exiled,

Struggling I'll join Ambition's venal crew;
But here, mid mountain steeps and woodlands wild,
The path of joy and ecstacy pursue,

And the sweet Muse that loves the mountain forest

woo!"

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4.

Thus, as the well known landscape open'd wide
Its varied treasures to his raptured sight,
With vernal hues and white haze beautified, (2)
And tinted here and there with radiance bright,
Childe Alarique 'gan utter his delight (3)

To the rude cliffs, beneath whose rocky steep,
In early days, full many a summer night

'Twas his in transport all dissolved to weep, What time the fairy train their mystic revels keep.

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5.

Oh, who can tell the varied joys that wait

The young enthusiast in the lonely shade,
When, all entranced, he goes to meditate

On Nature, in her richest charms array'd!
What artist e'er the magic hues pourtray'd

That float on hill and dale!-Ah, happy he,
If joys like these had not been doom'd to fade,
Like leaves in autumn withering on the tree,
And yield to pale decay and ceaseless misery!

6.

Go then, unapprehensive youth! explore

Whate'er of rapture woodland scenes can yield!
On dauntless pinion let thy fancy soar,
And thousand airy structures busy build!

Be all of Nature's richest stores reveal'd
In sweet succession to thy watchful eye,
While yet the hues of glory light the field,
And yet is heard celestial harmony

From every copse wood grey and haunted steep on

high!

7.

See now the Childe to coverts green repair
In the fair, blushing, dewy morn of May;
What bliss in every breath of "common air?" (4)
What transport in the blackbird's choral lay!
What grandeur in the landscape's fair array !-
But, ah! what mortal strain his thoughts can tell,
What pencil could the melting forms pourtray,

That on his ravish'd sight inviting swell!-Oh, dreams beloved! whilom I knew your influence well!

8.

But now, alas! my feeble mind no more

Is borne aloft on Fancy's azure wing;

Those dreams have died, like ice-built temples hoar, That fade before the first warm breath of spring; Or like the wreck of dry leaves rustleing,

That choak the pathway in November chill. Childe Alarique! thy songs of gladness sing; For thee they blossom yet on dale and hill; Pursue thy woodland path; of joyaunce take thy

fill!

Behold the youth that late we left at morn,

Now eager watching the mild rays of even ; While the loved woodlark from his flowery thorn Carols a vesper hymn of praise to Heaven; And in the breeze ten thousand odours driven

Bathes the Childe's forehead in ambrosial dew! What visions to his raptured sight are given! What shapes are glittering the copsewood through,

What-while fair Twilight sheds her own enchanting hue!