That prompts his hand to draw the sword,

Force through the Greeks, and pierce their lord;
This whispers soft, to control his vengeance,

And calm the tempest of his soul.

610

Achilles bore not his loss so:

But, returning to the shore, sad,

He hung o'er the margin of the deep,

That kindred deep, from which sprung his mother; There, bath'd in tears of disdain and anger, Lamented loud to the main, thus.

611.-The Farmer's Boy.

He hies, with many a shrug, from the fire-side,
Glad, if the moon salute his eyes,

And, through the stillness of the night,

Shed her beams of light on his path.

The distant stile he climbs with saunt'ring step,

Whilst all wears a smile around him;
There views the clouds driv'n in clusters,

And all the pageantry of heav'n.

612

The goddess flies swift* to the seas,
Jove to his mansion in the skies.

* As some grammarians loudly condemn an adjective thus employed in conjunction with a verb, and maintain, that, in all such cases, in poetry equally as in prose, the adverb alone is correctly admissible, viz. "the goddess flies swiftly"-let me caution my young readers against that doctrine, which, if adopted, would prove the ruin of poetry, and debase it to the

The synod of th' immortals wait

The god coming, and, from their thrones of state,
Arising silent, rapt in fear,

Appear before the Majesty of heav'n.

While Jove assumes the throne, they stand trembling, All but the god's queen alone.

low level of tame, vulgar prose. In poetry, an adjective may very properly be thus used-agreeing, of course, with the nomi native to the verb, as here," the goddess, swift in her motion, flies:" and, in cases innumerable, it is by far more elegant and poetic than the adverb. That such has ever been the unanimous opinion of our best and most admired poets-in short, of all our poets most distinguished for correctness of diction and taste-is evident from their own practice, in which they have judiciously copied the example of the Greek and Roman bards, who, much oftener than our English writers, use the adjective in lieu of the adverb, and with very fine poetic effect, as must be acknowledged by every reader who is capable of perceiving and relishing their beauties. To my conception, the mode or quality, thus ex pressed by the adjective, appears more perfectly identified with the substantive-becoming, for the moment at least, one of its characteristic features, and forming with it a more complete unity of object, than could possibly result from the addition of the ad verb.--At the same time, I cannot approve the improper substi tution of the adjective for the adverb, which too often takes place in careless conversation, as when a person says he is “very bad," instead of" very ill :" and, although Dr. Johnson (without authority) has inadvertently suffered Bad, for Sick, to steal into his dictionary, I advise my young readers to avoid the phrase, lest they lay themselves open to such answer as a gentleman of my acquaintance jocularly made to a lady who complained that she was very bad" I always thought you bad: but now, that you confess it, I cannot doubt of your badness."

613

Lo! Faith's visions burst upon the sight,
And put to flight the host of Fear.
Terror's Myrmidons recede afar,

Before the beams of Hope's star,

That shoots rays, for ever clear sparkling,

Through Sorrow's realms, and Doubt's hemisphere ;
Cheers the pilgrim on his way,

With a happier day, and finer prospects;
And points the sage, oppress'd by toils,
To lasting pleasures, and a land of rest.

614

From this cliff, whose impending rough brow
Frowns o'er the cataract that foams below,
I view the plain, where many a hand
Tills the land for another's gain.
Borne on the ev'ning breeze, their song
Stamps images of ease on my soul.

Ah! why, dead to man and social converse,

Do I alone tread the mountain,

Where Nature, stubborn and coy, seems to fly

The human race, and defy all approach?

615

When gates diffuse on closing flow'rs

The fragrant tribute of the dews,

When, at her pail, the milkmaid chants,
And, o'er the vale, reapers whistle,
Charm'd by the murmurs of the shade,
I stray'd along the river's banks,

And, through the twilight way, calmly musing,

I fram'd my rustic lay in pensive mood;
When lo! a golden gleam, from clouds,
O'er the shadowy stream pour'd splendors,
And its guardian queen arose from the wave,
Known by her stole of green,

616

Oh! say, Muse, whose purer birth
Disdains the low ties of earth,
By what images shall be defin'd

The nature of th' eternal mind?

Or how shall thought explore the height,
When to adore is all that reason can ?.....
Through the tracts of space,

Go, Muse, and trace present Godhead.....
Could thy fond flight beyond the starry sphere
The morning's lucid pinions bear,

His presence should shine confess'd there,
His arm arrest thy course there.

617.-The imprisoned Debtor.

Hear the debtor's pray'r, O stranger!
From despair let pity snatch him.
Though here guilt and folly revel,
Many a tear the guiltless oft shed;

And they devour many a wrong in silence,
And feel the hand of pow'r.

For aid, my woes, my wants, cry loud in vain,
Since laws are obey'd with rigor.

On sickly and damp bed my wife lies there,

Her spirits and youth fled, her peace destroy'd.. She saw her child expire, with tearless eyeIndiff'rent to all-her sole desire, death.

618

O lasting infamy! O disgrace

To chiefs of manly race, and youth!
In you and the gods I trusted, to see
Greece victorious, and her navy free.
Ah no! you disclaim the combat,
And one day clouds all her former fame.
Heav'ns! what a prodigy these eyes survey,
Unseen, unthought, 'till this day!

Fly we at length from Troy's bands oft conquer'd? And falls our fleet by such hands

A straggling train, a rout,

Not born to glories of the plain ;
Like fawns, pursu'd from hill to hill,
A prey to ev'ry savage of the wood?

619

I dart my eye, with look erect,

Seem wing'd to part, and gain my native sky.
I strive, but, alas! strive in vain, to mount,
Tied with magic chain to this globe.

Now from pole to pole I range with swift thought,
View worlds roll around their centres;

What pow'rs guide their motions

Through the same paths of void.

I trace the comet's tail,

And in a scale weigh the planets.
While I eager pursue these thoughts,
Some trifle, offer'd to my view,
A gnat, an insect of the meanest kind,