Thus when Thou with Time hast travell'd Tow'rds the mighty gulf of things, And the mazy Stream unravell'd With thy best imaginings; Think, if thou on beauty leanest, Did not virtue give the meanest Duty, like a strict preceptor, Choose her thistle for thy sceptre, While thy brow youth's roses crown. Grasp it, if thou shrink and tremble, Thou wilt lack the only symbol That proclaims a genuine Queen ; And ensures those palms of honour Bending low before the Donor, Lord of Heaven's unchanging Year! Of the Poems in this class, "THE EVENING WALK" and "DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES" were first published in 1793. They are reprinted with some unimportant alterations that were chiefly made very soon after their publication. It would have been easy to amend them, in many passages, both as to sentiment and expression, and I have not been altogether able to resist the temptation: but attempts of this kind are made at the risk of injuring those characteristic features, which, after all, will be regarded as the principal recommendation of juvenile poems. I. EXTRACT FROM THE CONCLUSION OF A POEM, Composed upon leaving School. DEAR native Regions, I foretell, From what I feel at this farewell, My soul will cast the backward view, Thus, when the Sun, prepared for rest, To illuminate the hollow Vale, A lingering light he fondly throws On the dear mountain-tops where first he rose. |