THE BRAES OF YARROW. THY braes were bonny, Yarrow stream! "When firft on them I met my lov'r; "Thy braes how dreary, Yarrow ftream! "When now thy waves his body cov'r! "For ever now, O Yarrow stream!

"Thou art to me a ftream of forrow; "For never on thy banks fhall I, "Behold my love, the flow'r of Yarrow. "He promis'd me a milk-white fteed, "To bear me to his father's bow'rs; "He promis'd me a little page,

"To 'fquire me to his father's tow'rs; "He promis'd me a wedding-ring,— "The wedding-day was fix'd to-morrow; Now he is wedded to his grave, "Alas! his wat'ry grave in Yarrow! "Sweet were his words when laft we met; My paffion I as freely told him!

Clafp'd in his arms, I little thought

"That I fhould never more behold him! "Scarce was he gone, I faw his ghoft;

"It vanish'd with a fhriek of forrow; "Thrice did the water-wraith afcend,

"And gave a doleful groan through Yarrow. "His mother from the window look'd, "With all the longing of a mother; "His little fifter weeping walk'd

"The green-wood path to meet her brother; "They fought him east, they fought him weft, They fought him all the foreft thorough; They only faw the cloud of night,

66

They only heard the roar of Yarrow.

"No longer from thy window look,

"Thou haft no fon, thou tender mother!

"No longer walk, thou lovely maid!

"Alas, thou haft no more a brother!

"No longer feek him eaft or weft,

"And fearch no more the foreft thorough, "For, wand'ring in the night fo dark,

"He fell a lifelefs corfe in Yarrow.

"The tear fhall never leave my cheek,
"No other youth fhall be my marrow;
"I'll feek thy body in the ftream,

"And then with thee I'll fleep in Yarrow."
The tear did never leave her cheek,
No other youth became her marrow;
She found his body in the stream,

And now with him she fleeps in Yarrow.

EVENING.

EVENING now from purple wings
Sheds the grateful gifts fhe brings;
Brilliant drops bedeck the mead,
Cooling breezes fhake the reed;
Shake the reed, and curl the stream,
Silver'd o'er with CYNTHIA's beam;
Near the chequer'd, lonely grove,
Hears, and keeps thy fecrets, LOVE.
STELLA, thither let us ftray!
Lightly o'er the dewy way.
PHOEBUS drives his burning car,
Hence, my lovely STELLA, far;
In his ftead, the queen of night
Round us pours a lambent light;
Light that feems but juft to fhow
Breafts that beat, and cheeks that glow;
Let us now, in whisper'd joy,
EVENING'S filent hours employ,

Silence beft, and confcious fhades,

Please the hearts that LOVE invades :

Other pleasures give them pain,

LOVERS all but LOVE difdain.

CONTENT.

THOU, the nymph with placid eye!
O feldom found, yet ever nigh;
Receive my temp'rate vow;

Not all the storms that shake the pole
Can e'er difturb thy halcyon foul,
And smooth, unalter'd brow.

O come! in fimpleft veft array'd,
With all thy fober cheer difplay'd,
To blefs my longing fight;
Thy mien compos'd, thy even pace,
Thy meek regard, thy matron grace,
And chafte fubdu'd delight.

No more my varying paffions beat,
O gentle guide my pilgrim feet
To find thy hermit cell;
Where in fome pure and equal sky,
Beneath thy foft indulgent eye,

The modeft VIRTUES dwell.

SIMPILCITY, in attic veft,

And INNOCENCE, with candid breast,
And clear undaunted eye;

And HOPE, who points to diftant years,
Fair op'ning through the vale of tears
A vifta to the fky.

There HEALTH, through whose calm bofom glide
The temp'rate joys in even tide,

That rarely ebb or flow;
And PATIENCE there, thy fifter meek,
Prefents her mild, unvarying check,
To meet the offer'd blow.

Her influence taught the Phrygian fage,
A tyrant mafter's wanton rage

With fettled fmiles to meet:

Inur'd to toil, and bitter bread,
He bow'd his meek, fubmitted head,
And kifs'd thy fainted feet.

But thou, Oh, nymph! retir'd and coy;
In what brown hamlet doft thou joy
To tell thy tender tale:

The lowlieft children on the ground;
Mofs-rofe and violet-bloffom round,
And lily of the vale.

O! fay, what foft propitious hour
I beft may choofe to hail thy pow'r,
And court thy gentle fway?
When Autumn, friendly to the mufe,
Shall thy own modeft tints diffuse,
And fhed thy milder day.
When eve, her dewy-ftar beneath,
Thy balmy fpirit loves to breathe,
And ev'ry storm is laid;

If fuch an hour was e'er thy choice,
Oft let me hear thy foothing voice
Low whifpering through the fhade.

FRIENDSHIP.

FRIENDSHIP, peculiar boon of heav'n, The noble mind's delight and pride,

To men and angels only giv'n,

To all the lower world deny'd.

While LOVE, unknown among the bleft,
Parent of thousand wild defires,
The favage and the human breast
Torments alike, with raging fires.
With bright, but oft deftructive gleam,
Alike o'er all his lightnings fly,
Thy lambent glories only beam
Around the fav'rites of the sky.
Thy gentle flows of guiltless joys
On fools and villains ne'er defcend,
In vain for thee the tyrant fighs,
And hugs a flatt'rer for a friend.

Q

Directrefs of the brave and juft,

O guide us through life's darkfome way! And let the tortures of miftruft,

On felfish bofoms only prey.

Nor fhall thine ardours ceafe to glow,
When fouls to peaceful climes remove:
What rais'd our VIRTUE here below,
Shall aid our HAPPINESS above.

INNOCENCE.

TWAS when the flow declining ray
Had ting'd the cloud with ev'ning gold;
No warbler pour'd the melting lay,
No found difturb'd the fleeping fold;
When by a murm'ring rill reclin'd,

Sat wrapt in thought a wand'ring fwain ;
Calm PEACE Compos'd his mufing mind;
And thus he rais'd the flowing strain :
"Hail, INNOCENCE! celeftial maid!
"What joys thy blushing charms reveal!
"Sweet, as the arbour's cooling shade,
"And milder than the vernal gale.
"On thee attends a radiant quire,

"Soft fmiling PEACE, and downy REST, "With LOVE, that prompts the warbling lyre, "And HOPE, that soothes the throbbing breaft. "O, fent from heav'n to haunt the grove, "Where fquint-ey'd ENVY ne'er can come! "Nor pines the cheek with luckless love, "Nor anguish chills the living bloom: "But spotlefs BEAUTY, rob'd in white, "Sits on yon mofs-grown hill reclin'd, "Serene as heav'n's unfully'd light,

"And pure as DELIA's gentle mind: