Good reader! if you e'er have seen,
When Phoebus hastens to his pillow,
The mermaids, with their tresses green,
Dancing upon the western billow:
If you have seen, at twilight dim,
When the lone spirit's vesper hymn
Floats wild along the winding shore,
If you have seen, through mist of eve,
The fairy train their ringlets weave,
Glancing along the spangled green:—
If you have seen all this, and more,
God bless me, what a deal you've seen!
EPIGRAM.
FROM THE FRENCH.
"I never gave a kiss (says Prue),
"To naughty man, for I abhor it."
She will not give a kiss, 'tis true;
She'll take one though, and thank you for it.
ON A SQUINTING POETESS.
To no one Muse does she her glance confine,
But has an eye, at once, to all the Nine!
TO …. ….
Maria pur quando vuol, non è bisogna mutar ni faccia ni voce per esser un Angelo.[1]
Die when you will, you need not wear
At Heaven's Court a form more fair
Than Beauty here on earth has given;
Keep but the lovely looks we see—
The voice we hear—and you will be
An angel ready-made for Heaven!
[1] The words addressed by Lord Herbert of Cherbury to the beautiful Nun at Murano.—See his Life.