No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows,
The dreaded east is all the wind that blows.
Rape of the Lock.
[[050]] One sweet scene of early pleasures in my native land I have commemorated in the following sonnet:--
NETLEY ABBEY.
Romantic ruin! who could gaze on thee
Untouched by tender thoughts, and glimmering dreams
Of long-departed years? Lo! nature seems
Accordant with thy silent majesty!
The far blue hills--the smooth reposing sea--
The lonely forest--the meandering streams--
The farewell summer sun, whose mellowed beams
Illume thine ivied halls, and tinge each tree,
Whose green arms round thee cling--the balmy air--
The stainless vault above, that cloud or storm
'Tis hard to deem will ever more deform--
The season's countless graces,--all appear
To thy calm glory ministrant, and form
A scene to peace and meditation dear!
D.L.R.
[[051]] "I was ever more disposed," says Hume, "to see the favourable than the unfavourable side of things; a turn of mind which it is more happy to possess, than to be born to an estate of ten thousand a year."
[[052]] So called, because the grounds were laid out in a tasteful style, under the direction of Lord Auckland's sister, the Honorable Miss Eden.
[[053]] Songs of the East by Mrs. W.S. Carshore. D'Rozario & Co, Calcutta 1854.
[[054]] The lines form a portion of a poem published in Literary Leaves in the year 1840.