Then blest be Nature's guardian Muse, From Love began thy high descent; And call thee brightest of the Nine! LINES INSCRIBED ON THE MONUMENT LATELY FINISHED BY MR. CHANTREY, Which has been erected by the Widow of Admiral Sir G. Camp bell, K. C. B., to the memory of her Husband. To him, whose loyal, brave, and gentle heart, And, more, to speak his memory's grateful claim THE MAID'S REMONSTRANCE. NEVER wedding, ever wooing, All my life with sorrow strewing, Wed, or cease to woo. Rivals banish'd, bosoms plighted, Still our days are disunited; Now the lamp of hope is lighted, Now half quench'd appears, Damp'd, and wavering, and benighted, Midst my sighs and tears. Charms you call your dearest blessing, Dim, and worthless your possessing STANZAS ON THE BATTLE OF NAVARINO. HEARTS of oak that have bravely deliver'd the brav ›, For the guerdon ye sought with your bloodshed and toil, Was it slaves, or dominion, or rapine, or spoil? No! your lofty emprise was to fetter and foil The uprooter of Greece's domain ! When he tore the last remnant of food from her soil, Till her famish'd sank pale as the slain ! Yet, Navarin's heroes! does Christendom breed Are they women?—to Turkish serails let them speed; Abettors of massacre! dare ye deplore That the death-shriek is silenced on Hellas's shore? And that stretch'd on yon billows distain'd by their gore Prouder scene never hallow'd war's pomp to the mind, Than when Christendom's pennons woo'd social the wind, And the flower of her brave for the combat combined Their watch-word, humanity's vow: Not a sea-boy that fought in that cause, but mankind Owes a garland to honor his brow! Nor grudge, by our side, that to conquer or fall, That star of thy day-spring, regenerate Greek! ABSENCE. "Tis not the loss of love's assurance, The fondest thoughts two hearts can cherish, Are fruits on desert isles that perish, Or riches buried in the deep. What though, untouch'd by jealous madness, Absence! is not the soul torn by it From more than light, or life, or breath? "Tis Lethe's gloom, but not its quiet,— The pain without the peace of death! LINES ON REVISITING A SCOTTISH RIVER. AND call they this Improvement?-to have changed, Whose banks, that sweeten'd May-day's breath before, With sooty exhalations cover'd o'er ; And for the daisied greensward, down thy stream Unsightly brick-lanes smoke, and clanking engines gleam. Speak not to me of swarms the scene sustains; One heart free tasting Nature's breath and bloom Is worth a thousand slaves to Mammon's gains. But whither goes that wealth, and gladdening whom? The hunger and the hope of life to feel, From morn till midnight task'd to earn its little meal. |