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And, sitting by my fire, I see

Eight sorry Carts, no less a train !
Unworthy Successors of thee,

Come straggling through the wind and rain:
And oft, as they pass slowly on,

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See, perched upon the naked height
The summit of a cumbrous freight,
A single Traveller- and there

Another then perhaps a Pair —

The lame, the sickly, and the old;
Men, Women, heartless with the cold;
And Babes in wet and starveling plight;
Which once, be weather as it might,
Had still a nest within a nest,

Thy shelter - and their Mother's breast!

Then most of all, then far the most,

Do I regret what we have lost;

Am grieved for that unhappy sin
Which robbed us of good Benjamin ;-
And of his stately Charge, which none
Could keep alive when he was gone!

VOL. I.

POEMS

OF THE FANCY.

P

I.

A MORNING EXERCISE. •

FANCY, who leads the pastimes of the glad,
Full oft is pleased a wayward dart to throw;
Sending sad shadows after things not sad,
Peopling the harmless fields with signs of woe:
Beneath her sway, a simple forest cry

Becomes an echo of Man's misery.

Blithe Ravens croak of death; and when the Owl Tries his two voices for a favourite strain —

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Tu-whoo! the unsuspecting fowl Forebodes mishap, or seems but to complain; Fancy, intent to harass and annoy,

Can thus pervert the evidence of joy.

Through border wilds where naked Indians stray, Myriads of notes attest her subtle skill;

A feathered Task-master cries "WORK AWAY!"
And, in thy iteration," WHIP POOR WILL,"*
Is heard the Spirit of a toil-worn Slave,
Lashed out of life, not quiet in the grave!

* See Waterton's Wanderings in South America.

What wonder? at her bidding, ancient lays
Steeped in dire griefs the voice of Philomel;
And that fleet Messenger of summer days,
The Swallow, twittered subject to like spell;
But ne'er could Fancy bend the buoyant Lark
To melancholy service-hark! O hark!

The daisy sleeps upon the dewy lawn,
Not lifting yet the head that evening bowed;
But He is risen, a later star of dawn,
Glittering and twinkling near yon rosy cloud;
Bright gem instinct with music, vocal spark;
The happiest Bird that sprang out of the Ark!

Hail, blest above all kinds! - Supremely skilled Restless with fixed to balance, high with low, Thou leav'st the Halcyon free her hopes to build On such forbearance as the deep may show ; Perpetual flight, unchecked by earthly ties, Leav'st to the wandering Bird of Paradise.

Faithful, though swift as lightning, the meek Dove; Yet more hath Nature reconciled in thee;

So constant with thy downward eye of love,
Yet, in aerial singleness, so free;

So humble, yet so ready to rejoice

In power of wing and never-wearied voice!

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