Such pleasing scenes Edina cannot boast; For there the slothful slumber sealed mine eyes, Till nine successive strokes the clock had knelled. There not the lark, but fishwives' noisy screams, And inundations plunged from ten house height, With smell more fragrant than the spicy groves Of Indus, fraught with all her orient stores, Roused me from sleep ;-not sweet refreshing sleep, But sleep infested with the burning sting And Death, grim Death! with all his ghastly train, Watched the broke slumbers of Edina's sons. Hail! rosy Health! thou pleasing antidote 'Gainst troubling cares! all hail, these rural fields! Those winding rivulets, and verdant shades, Where thou, the heaven-born goddess deign'st to dwell! With thee the hind, upon his simple fare, T Lives cheerful, and from Heaven no more demands. But, ah! how vast, how terrible the change scene. But, Carlos, if we court this maid celestial; Whether we thro' meandering rivers stray, Or 'midst the city's jarring noise remain ; Let Temperance, Health's blithe concomitant, To our desires and appetites set bounds; Else, cloyed at last, we surfeit every joy : Our slackened nerves reject their wonted spring; We reap the fruits of our unkindly lusts, And feebly totter to the silent grave. A SATURDAY'S EXPEDITION, IN MOCK HEROICS. Non mira, sed vera, canam. Ar that sweet period of revolving time Fair smiled the wakening morn on our design; And we, with joy elate, our march began With, Ho! Kinghorn, oho! come straight aboard." We failed not to obey the stern command, "Hoist up your sails," the angry skipper While fore and aft the busy sailors run, wave. Now o'er the convex surface of the flood Precipitate we fly. Our foaming prow Divides the saline stream. On either side Ridges of yesty surge dilate apace; In eddies smoothly floating o'er the main. Here let the Muse in doleful numbers sing The woeful fate of those, whose cruel stars Have doom'd them subject to the languid powers Of watery sickness.-Tho' with stomach full They brave the elements,-yet the rocking bark, Truly regardless of their precious food, the cause Why those of Scotia's sons, whose wealthy store Hath blessed them with a splendid coach and six, Rather incline to linger on the way, And cross the river Forth by Stirling Bridge, |