Heavy and loud, has, 'mid the tempest's roar,
Fall'n vertical; and when the madden'd brook
No longer meets from tranquil human eye
The gaze contemplative. Appall'd we shrink
From the tumultuous flood, that tumbles down
Fearfully deep, and often hurling up
The yeasty billow, while the tide below
Thunders and groans. Remorseless in its rage,
But quickly spent, while under calmer skies,
Or 'mid the balmy drop of quiet rain,
Shallow it rushes, and innoxious ravės.
Innoxious, said I? Pardon, clamorous brook!
Thy general course, rage madly as thou may'
Beneath a storm'd horizon, kind is found
And ministrant to man, for pass we yet
A little way along thy turfy bank,
And we shall view, well pleased, thy useful waves
Leap o'er a clattering mill-wheel, high above
In the brook's hilly channel, 'mid whose brakes,
Thick and entangled, gleams the snowy foam.
See, higher yet on the still rising slope, Another hub-bub tenement obtains
Ability from this oft violent stream
To yield the first, best nutriment we gain.
Haste to the scene, benignant powers of life,
Mild Lachesis, and gay Hygeia, haste,
From day to day propitious!-on that bank,
Mossy and canopied with gadding boughs,
Spin firm the vital thread! and brim the cup
With juice salubrious! breathing soft, the while,
Dear Eleanora, and her Zara's name.
ADDRESSED TO MR THOS. H- -D, APRIL 1801,
ACCEPT this tribute, Hd, as the pledge
Of my assured conviction that thy trust
Ne'er had been stain'd by those imputed faults
Which hurl'd thee from thy station, where yon towers,
Gothic and grand, arise, diffusing far
The blessings of their Lord. Where still subsists
State, by swoln pride unstain'd; home-residence,
Munificence, with ever-open gate;
Ready supply to want; protection kind,
As Chieftains to their clans in olden time
When tenantry was filial. Haply now,
V-
V, in thy domain is found, exempt
From feudal vassalage, each feudal good.
H, 'twas lately thine those lofty halls Watchful to guard;-those fair and ample lawns
Flank'd with their woods luxuriant; numerous fields
Rich in the food of flocks and herds, that range
A second Canaan; or, of higher use,
Wave wide their bending gold in Ceres' smile.
Yes; to protect them e'en with Argus' eyes,
From menial riot, and the injurious arts,
Servile and peculant, was thine ;—to spread,
With even hand, the delegated store
Of liberal charity. Then didst thou rouse
To daily action thy experienced skill;
Talents commensurate to highest trust;
Attachment warm, and all the energies
That brave the winter storms, and scorn the suns
Parching the plains at noon-tide; strenuous still
Well to discharge thy duty. Ah, too well,
For thine own safety, was that duty done!
Less faithful service ill could brook the glance
Piercing extortion's veil; nor would endure
Thy voice of just reproof, nor the firm hand
Curbing profusion. Then were form'd those wiles,
That, woven round thy late confiding lord,
And his ingenuous lady, by degrees,
Disgraced thee in their trust; themselves all truth,
Long deeming faithful those who very long
Had bask'd in their bright rays, while thou to them Wert but a man of yesterday. And thus
Those smiles benign, that cheered thee through thy months
Of arduous designation, faded grown,
Sunk, ere 'twas long, in that unpierc'd eclipse
Suspicion gendered, which the kindling heart
Suspected without cause, so seldom knows
Patient to suffer. All the Briton woke,
And, for an interval, Discretion lost
Remembrance of that maxim, which enjoins
The servant to submission, meek of eye,
Of voice unmurmuring, howsoe'er accused
Where real fault is none. So did'st thou rush
Into the snare which Falsehood had prepared
To banish whom it fear'd; make thee provoke
The fate which Goodness, by delay, perchance
Had learnt thou did'st not merit. Much I grieved
Talents so rare, and energies so prompt,
Should, through misdeeming, be forsaken found
By thy thrice gracious lord. The deep, dark work
Of evidence untrue, from Hate avow'd,
And from dissembled Friendship; while the last,
Assuming grief for errors well devised,
Won thy abused master to belief.
So sly IAGO warp'd the noble MOOR!
So ZANGA pitied LEONORA'S guilt!
'Twas a black cloud burst o'er thee. For a time Thou stood'st like a young tree by lightning struck,
Struck, but not blasted.
As they would wither.
Yet thy leaves did droop Soon the timely dew
|