Dim not the sinking sun, whose lustre fires

The old cathedral and its gorgeous spires,

The ruin'd abbey, garlanded and pale

The vesper choristers in each lone wood

Chant to the peeping moon their serenade;

Now creeps the far-off forest into shade,

And twilight comes o'er heath, and field, and flood.

Oh! had I genius now the task to try,

My picture should Italian Claude's outvie!

* * H.