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‹ The dew, the blossoms of the tree,

With charms inconftant fhine:

Their charms were his; but, woe to me !
Their conftancy was mine.

.

• For

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• No, never from this hour to part; d

• We'll live and love so true,

• The figh that rends thy constant heart • Shall break thy Edwin's too!'

THE ENTHUSIAST.

AN

ODE.

BY WILLIAM WHITEHEAD, ESQ

NCE, I remember well the day,...

ONCE

'Twas ere the blooming fweets of May

Had loft their fresheft hues;

When every flower on every hill,

In every vale, had drank it's fill

Of funshine and of dews.

In fhort, 'twas that sweet season's prime,
When Spring gives up the reins of Time)
To Summer's glowing hand,
And doubting mortals hardly know
By whofe command the breezes blow
Which fan the fmiling land.

'Twas then, befide a green-wood fhade,
Which cloath'd a lawn's afpiring head,
I urg'd my devious way,
With loit'ring fteps, regardless where,
So foft, fo genial was the air,

So wond'rous bright the day.

And now my eyes with transport rove
O'er all the blue expanse above,

Unbroken by a cloud!

And

And now beneath delighted pass,

Where winding thro' the deep-green grafs
A full-brimm'd river flow'd. {

I ftop, I gaze; in accents rude,
To thee, ferenest Solitude,

Burst forth th' unbidden lay : ›

Be gone, vile world! the learn'd, the wife,
The great, the busy I despise,

And pity e'en the gay.

Thefe, these are joys alone,' I cry; 'Tis here, divine Philosophy,

• Thou deign'ft to fix thy throne! • Here Contemplation points the road, • Thro' Nature's charms, to Nature's God! These, these are joys alone!

"

Adieu, ye vain low-thoughted cares,
Ye human hopes, and human fears,

Ye pleasures and ye pains !'
While thus I fpake, o'er all my foul
A philofophick calmness stole,

A ftoick ftillness reigns.

The tyrant paffions all fubfide,
Fear, anger, pity, fhame and pride,

No more my bosom move;
Yet still I felt, or feem'd to feel,
A kind of visionary zeal

Of univerfal love.

When, lo! a voice, a voice I hear !

'Twas Reafon whisper'd in my ear

These monitory strains:

• What

• What mean'ft thou, man? would't thou unbind

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• Shall light and fhade, and warmth and air, • With thofe exalted joys compare

• Which active Virtue feels!

When on she drags, as lawful prize, Contempt, and Indolence, and Vice, • At her triumphant wheels.

As reft to labour ftill fucceeds...

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