School Days

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Sennacherib's Army, the Destruction of Byron
Shepherd and the Philosopher, the

Skylark, to a
Sleep, to

...

Sleeping Babe, the

Solemn Music, at a

...

...

Gay
Wordsworth
Shakspere
Hinds

Milton

...

...

Byron
Mrs. Sigourney
Wordsworth
Pringle
Macaulay
Byron

...

Mrs. Hemans

158
181

...

...

182

...

...

27

...

Warton

X

STUDIES

IN

ENGLISH POETRY.

PART I.

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS AND EXTRACTS.

PRAYER FOR DIVINE AID.

AUTHOR of Good! to thee I turn :
Thy ever-wakeful eye
Alone can all my wants discern,
Thy hand alone supply.

Oh let thy fear within me dwell,
Thy love my footsteps guide!
That love shall meaner loves expel,
That fear all fears beside.2

And oh! by Error's force subdued,
Since oft my stubborn will,3
Preposterous, shuns the latent good,
And grasps the specious ill;4

Not to my wish, but to my want,

Do thou thy gifts apply:

Unasked, what good thou knowest, grant;

What ill, though asked, deny.

Merrick.

Thy love, &c.-let my love towards thee (not thy love towards me) guide my footsteps, i.e. influence my actions.

? The line in Racine's Athalie in which Joad says, "Je crains Dieu, cher Abner, et n'ai point d'autre crainte," has been deservedly admired, but the above expression conveys the same sentiment with at least equal force.

3 And oh! &c.-i.e. And oh! since my stubborn will, subdued by the force of error, often preposterously shuns.

Specious-from the Latin species, an appearance; hence specious ill is evil which has the appearance of good.

B