ELE GY.

Written in the Garden of a Friend.
By W. MASON, A. M.

HILE o'er my head this laurel-woven bow'r
Its arch of glittering verdure wildly flings,
Can fancy flumber? can the tuneful pow'r,
That rules my lyre, neglect her wonted ftrings?

No; if the blightning Eaft deform'd the plain,
If this gay bank no balmy sweets exhal'd,

Still should the grove re-echo to my strain,

And friendship prompt the theme, where beauty fail'd.

For he, whofe careless art this foilage dreft,

Who bad these twining braids of woodbine bend, He firft with truth and virtue taught my breast Where beft to chufe, and best to fix a friend.

How well does mem'ry note the golden day,

What time reclin'd in Marg'ret's ftudious glade, My mimic reed first tun'd the * Dorian lay,

"Unseen, unheard, beneath an hawthorn fhade !"

* Mufæus, the firft poem which the author published, written while he was a scholar of St. John's college in Cambridge.

"Twas

'Twas there we met: the mufes hail'd the hour;
The fame defires, the fame ingenuous arts
Infpir'd us both: we own'd and bless'd the pow'r
That join'd at once our studies and our hearts.

O! fince thofe days, when fcience fpread the feast,
When emulative youth its relish lent,

Say has one genuine joy e'er warm'd my breast ?
Enough if joy was his, be mine content.

To thirst for praise his temperate youth forbore;
He fondly wish'd not for a poet's name;

Much did he love the mufe, but quiet more,
And, tho' he might command, he flighted fame.

Hither in manhood's prime he wifely fled
From all that folly, all that pride approves ;
To this foft scene a tender partner led;

This laurel fhade was witness to their loves.

"Begone (he cry'd) ambition's air-drawn plan;
"Hence with perplexing pomp's unweildy wealth:
"Let me not seem, but be the happy man,

66

Poffeft of love, of competence, and health."

VOL. II.

Smiling

Smiling he fpake, nor did the fates withstand:
In rural arts the peaceful moments flew :
Say, lovely lawn! that felt his forming hand,
How foon thy furface fhone with verdure new:

How foon obedient Flora brought her store,

And o'er thy breaft a fhower of fragrance flung Vertummus came; his earlieft blooms he bore, And thy rich fides with waving purple hung:

Then to the fight he call'd yon ftately spire,
He pierc'd th' oppofing oak's luxuriant shade.
Bad yonder crowding hawthorns low retire,
Nor veil the glories of the golden mead.

Hail, fylvan wonders, hail! and hail the hand
Whose native taste thy native charms display'd,

And taught one little acre to command

Each envied happiness of scene and shade.

Is there a hill, whose distant azure bounds

The ample range of Scarfdale's proud domain, A mountain hoar, that yon' wild peak furrounds, But lends a willing beauty to thy plain ?

And,

And, lo! in yonder path, Ifpy my friend;
He looks the guardian genius of the grove,
Mild as the fabled form that whilom deign'd,
At Milton's call, in Harefield's haunts to rove.

*

Blefs'd fpirit, come! tho' pent in mortal mould,
I'll yet invoke thee by that purer name;
O come, a portion of thy blifs unfold,

From folly's maze my wayward steps reclaim.

Too long, alas! my inexperienc'd youth,
Mifled by flatt'ring fortune's fpecious tale,
Has left the rural reign of peace and truth,

The huddling brook, cool cave, and whifp'ring vale.

Won to the world, a candidate for praise,
Yet, let me boast, by no ignoble art,

Too oft the public ear has heard my lays,

Too much its vain applaufe has touch'd my heart:

But now, e'er cuftom binds his powerful chains,
Come from the bafe enchanter fet me free,

While yet my foul its first best taste retains,
Recall that foul to reafon, peace, and thee.

* See the description of the Genius of the Wood in Milton's Arcades. For know by lot, from Jove I am the power

Of this fair wood, and live in oaken bower;
To nurse the faplings tall, and curl the grove
With ringlets quaint, &c.

O 2

Teach

Teach me, like thee, to muse on nature's page,
To mark each wonder in creation's plan,
Each mode of being trace, and humbly sage,
Deduce from these the genuine powers

of man.

Of man, while warm'd with reason's purer ray,
No tool of policy, no dupe to pride;

Before vain science led his taste astray;

When confcience was his law, and God his guide.

This let me learn,

and learning let me live

The leffon o'er.

From that great guide of truth

O may my fuppliant foul the boon receive

To tread thro' age the footsteps of thy youth.
Written in 1758.

On feeing a faded Rofe in a nofegay, worn by Mrs. B--

at RANELAGH.

'N vain, Maria, do you ftrive,

IN To keep the fading Rofe alive;

With Nature for your foe,

To Phoebus rays the fragrant flower,
Alone can owe its vivid hour;

And not to hills of fnow.

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