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So must the Lover find his way

To move the heart he hopes to win Must not in distant forms delay Must not in rude assaults begin.

fear

:

For such attractive power has Love,
We justly each extreme may
'Tis lost when we too distant prove,
And when we rashly press too near.

STORM AND CALM.

[FROM THE ALBUM OF THE DUCHESS of rutland.]

Ar sea when threatening tempests rise, When angry winds the waves deform, The seaman lifts to Heaven his eyes, And deprecates the dreaded storm. "Ye furious powers, no more contend; "Ye winds and seas, your conflict end; "And on the mild subsiding deep, "Let Fear repose and Terror sleep!"

At length the waves are hush'd in peace,
O'er flying clouds the sun prevails;
The weary winds their efforts cease,
And fill no more the flagging sails;
Fix'd to the deep the vessel rides
Obedient to the changing tides;

No helm she feels, no course she keeps,
But on the liquid marble sleeps.

Sick of a Calm the sailor lies,

And views the still, reflecting seas; Or, whistling to the burning skies,

He hopes to wake the slumbering breeze:
The silent noon, the solemn night,

The same dull round of thoughts excite,
Till, tired of the revolving train,

He wishes for the Storm again.

Thus, when I felt the force of Love,
When all the passion fill'd my breast,
When, trembling, with the storm I strove,
And pray'd, but vainly pray'd, for rest;
'T was tempest all, a dreadful strife
For ease, for joy, for more than life:
'Twas every hour to groan and sigh
In grief, in fear, in jealousy.

I suffer'd much, but found at length
Composure in my wounded heart;
The mind attain'd its former strength,
And bade the lingering hopes depart;
Then Beauty smiled, and I was gay,
I view'd her as the cheerful day;
And if she frown'd, the clouded sky
Had greater terrors for mine eye.

I slept, I waked, and, morn and eve,
The noon, the night appear'd the same;

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No thought arose the soul to grieve,
To me no thought of pleasure came;
Doom'd the dull comforts to receive

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Of wearied passions still and tame."Alas!" I cried, when years had flown"Must no awakening joy be known? "Must never Hope's inspiring breeze "Sweep off this dull and torpid ease "Must never Love's all-cheering ray Upon the frozen fancy play –

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"Unless they seize the passive soul, "And with resistless power control? “Then let me all their force sustain, "And bring me back the Storm again."

SATIRE.

I LOVE not the satiric Muse:
No man on earth would I abuse;
Nor with empoison'd verses grieve
The most offending son of Eve.
Leave him to law, if he have done
What injures any other son:
It hardens man to see his name
Exposed to public mirth or shame;
And rouses, as it spoils his rest,
The baser passions of his breast.

-

Attack a book-attack a song You will not do essential wrong; You may their blemishes expose, And yet not be the writer's foes. But when the man you thus attack, And him expose with critic art, You put a creature to the rack You wring, you agonise, his heart. No farther honest Satire can In all her enmity proceed, Than passing by the wicked Man, To execrate the wicked Deed.

If so much virtue yet remain

That he would feel the sting and pain,
That virtue is a reason why

The Muse her sting should not apply:
If no such Virtue yet survive,
What is your angry Satire worth,
But to arouse the sleeping hive,
And send the raging Passions forth,
In bold, vindictive, angry flight,
To sting wherever they alight?

BELVOIR CASTLE.

[WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF THE DUCHESS DOWAGER OF RUTLAND, AND INSCRIBED IN HER ALBUM, 1812.]

WHEN native Britons British lands possess'd, Their glory freedom — and their blessing rest — A powerful chief this lofty Seat survey'd,

And here his mansion's strong foundation laid:
In his own ground the massy stone he sought,
From his own woods the rugged timbers brought;
Rudeness and greatness in his work combined, -
An humble taste with an aspiring mind.

His herds the vale, his flocks the hills, o'erspread ;
Warriors and vassals at his table fed;

Sons, kindred, servants, waited on his will,
And hail'd his mansion on the mighty hill.

In a new age a Saxon Lord appear'd, And on the lofty base his dwelling rear'd: Then first the grand but threatening form was known,

And to the subject-vale a Castle shown,

Where strength alone appear'd, -the gloomy wall
Enclosed the dark recess, the frowning hall;
In chilling rooms the sullen fagot gleam'd;
On the rude board the common banquet steam'd;
Astonish'd peasants fear'd the dreadful skill
That placed such wonders on their favourite hill:
The soldier praised it as he march'd around,
And the dark building o'er the valley frown d.

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