The blooming god-the spirit fair-
Oh! sweet, oh heavenly sweet!
Now, Sympathy, the hour is thine;
All nature feels the thrill divine,
The veil of Chaos is withdrawn,

And their first kiss is great Creation's dawn!

TO

HIS SERENE HIGHNESS

THE DUKE OF MONTPENSIER,

ON HIS

PORTRAIT OF THE LADY ADELAIDE FRBS.

Donington Park, 1802.

To catch the thought, by painting's spell,

Howe'er remote, howe'er refin'd,

And o'er the magic tablet tell
The silent story of the mind;

O'er nature's form to glance the eye,
And fix, by mimic light and shade,
Her morning tinges, ere they fly,

Her evening blushes, ere they fade!

These are the pencil's grandest theme,
Divinest of the powers divine,

That light the Muse's flowery dream,

And these, O Prince! are richly thine.

Yet, yet, when Friendship sees thee trace,

In emanating soul exprest,

The sweet memorial of a face

On which her eye delights to rest;

While o'er the lovely look serene

The smile of peace, the bloom of youth, The cheek, that blushes to be seen, The eye, that tells the bosom's truth;

While o'er each line, so brightly true,
Her soul with fond attention roves,
Blessing the hand, whose various hue
Could imitate the form' it loves;

She feels the value of thy art,
And owns it with a purer zeal,
A rapture, nearer to her heart

Than critic taste can ever feel!

THE

PHILOSOPHER* ARISTIPPUS

TO

A LAMP WHICH WAS GIVEN HIM BY LAIS.

DULCIS CONSCIA LECTULI LUCERNA.

Martial, Lib. xiv, Epig. 39.

66

OH! love the Lamp,” (my Mistress said) "The faithful Lamp, that, many a night, "Beside my LAIS' lonely bed

"Has kept its little watch of light!

* It was not very difficult to become a philosopher amongst the ancients. A moderate store of learning, with a considerable portion of confidence, and wit enough to produce an occasional apophthegm, were all the necessary qualifications for the purpose. The principles of moral science were so very imperfectly understood, that the founder of a new sect, in forming his ethical code, might consult either fancy or temperament, and adapt it to his own passions and propensities; so that Mahomet, with a little more learning, might have flourished as a philosopher in those days, and would have required but the polish of the schools to

"Full often has it seen her weep,
"And fix her eye upon its flame,
"Till, weary, she has sunk to sleep,
"Repeating her beloved's name !

"Oft has it known her cheek to burn
"With recollections, fondly free,
"And seen her turn, impassion'd turn,
"To kiss the pillow, love! for thee,

And, in a murmur, wish thee there,

"That kiss to feel, that thought to share!

"Then love the Lamp-'twill often lead

Thy step through learning's sacred way; "And, lighted by its happy ray, "Whene'er those darling eyes shall read

become the rival of Aristippus in morality. In the science of nature too, though they discovered some valuable truths, yet they seemed not to know they were truths, or at least were as well satisfied with errors; and Xenophanes, who asserted that the stars were igneous clouds, lighted up every night and extinguished again in the morning, was thought and styled a philosopher, as generally as he who anticipated Newton in developing the arrangement of the universe.

For this opinion of Xenophanes, see Plutarch, de Placit. Philosoph. Lib. ii, Cap. 13. It is impossible to read this treatise of Plutarch, without alternately admiring and smiling at the genius, the absurdities, of the philosophers.