"Where unknown horror lurks, and hidden fnares.
"This day is facred to the rites of love;
"This anniverfal of the happy year
"Since firft our hands we join'd; and mutual pledg'd
"Our faith. This happy day with me confume;
"With me, I pray, and with our little race."
And then the turn'd delighted looks to where
Their rofy infants, dew-drops of gay health,
Spring buds of purple youth, fported around.
To this, of anfw'ring feelings raptur'd full,
Though all the father, all the husband rofe
At once; and tides o'erflowing of rich joy
Almost his bofom burst, he answer made.
"Sweet fharer of my days! partner of my blifs!
"Fear not. I leave thee for a little space;
"And long before brown night its fhades extends,
"Shall to thy arms return. Short abfence makes
"True love more fweet." O blindness to the future!
That kindly veils fharp pain's perfpective ills :
Hides what no caution can avoid, or keeps
From greater ills of choice! Silent, deprefs'd
Almeria fat; placid, though not content;
And forc'd a fmile that would confent have spoken,
And wip'd in hafte, a ftealthful tear unfeen,
That fear had drop'd upon her downcaft eye;
And check'd a figh that apprehenfion breath'd,
Soft as the fummer evening zephyr curls
The crimson bofom of the fleepy lake.
Now from the port the impatient veffel fteers,
And to the wanton gales the fwelling fails
Their bofoms gave; and gliding fwift before
The freth'ning breeze, that brushing kiss'd the wave,
The painted veffel danc'd, light, trim, and gay.
With equal speed the fhores receding flew,
Till far into the azure main they gain'd.
Deceitful morn! why dost thou fmile so fair?
Shall nature be fo falfe? Frefh'ning the breeze
Swells to a gale: the fhifting gale a storm;
That adverfe foon forbad all hop'd return,
And access to the wifhed-for land denied.
Alas! poor Thelamont! thy drifting bark
Flies faft before the furious winds, that mad
And cruel wing thee from thy fading home;
The lov'd, the happy fpot, where wait thy own
Thy dear delights, thy rofy finiling babes;
The fofteft, fweeteft, partner of thy care.
Nor evening greets thee now with promis'd joy;
Nor infant fports; nor her kind arms that wrap
Thee in the lap of love; the flowery bow'r,
That fhields from every blaft, from every pain.
Far, far, from these, and every foothing joy;
Art thou to dreary, friendless night conuga'd;
And all the horrors of the rough rude ftorm.
The clofing eve, meantime with moisten'd lids,
Sunk flow, and fad, on ocean's troubled bed,
In fympathy of melancholy fate.
On the remorfelefs main, ber anxious eye
Almeria caft, where madness furious play'd,
And through the thick'ning mist did fancy paint
Laft friend of grief, the veffel's distant form,
That held the lord, the fharer of her heart.
Her children oft, O happy age! whom yet
Hope e'er delights, look'd through the darkning fcene,
And in imagination's picture faw
The bark, and hail'd their parent's bleft return:
And made more keen Almeria's frantic woe,
When e'en deceptive promife fail'd to cheat,
And dull, blank difappointment coldly frown'd.
Go wrap your fondling arms, ye fmiling babes!
Strain close your fainting mother's breast! kiss, kiss
Away the tears! that flowing fountains run,
And mingle pity's ftream, with her full tide.
She needs your every foothing art, your wiles
To mellow fharp diftrefs! for never more
Shall he fave in your sweetly-dimpling cheeks,
That picture fweet remembrance of paft love,
The unfading image of your fire behold.
Laft fancy fail'd, and cruel frowning night
Denied e'en chearing hope, and rolling flow
In pitchy darkness wrap'd the ruin'd fcene.
INVOCATION to FANCY and FORGETFULNESS to chafe away the Demon
MEMORY.
[From the PAINS of MEMORY, a Posм, by ROBERT MERRY, A. M.}
NOME then, creative Fancy! hither bend
Thy fportive flight, and prove thy felf a friend;
Raife by thy potent fpells the castles fair,
Which charm the eye, thought built but in the air;
Confole the poor with visionary wealth,
And lure the fick man to the bow'rs of health;
To myrtle groves the panting lover bring,
And fcatter roles from thy fairy wing;.
The maid ador'd, though faithlefs as the wind,
Shall there be ever conftant, ever kind,
With fond approval liften to his tale,
Melt at his fighs, and let his vows prevail.
Thou bidft the foldier win, with proud delight,
The deathlefs laurel of imagin'd fight,
Spur his bold fteed the routed foe to reach,
Or foremost, fword in hand, afcend the breach,
Thy magic influence makes the coward brave,
Gives eafe to anguish, freedom to the flave:
Yet, he alas! condemn'd for evermore,
To tug with hopeless toil the heavy oar,
To guide the galley thro' the boift'rous fea,
In ev'ry hour of refpite, flies to thee:
On the cold pallet ftretch'd, his pangs fubfide,
O'er his rapt thought thy pageant pleafures glide,
Bright views entrance him, foft illufions rife,
Diffolve his chains, and lift him to the skies.
The niggard wretch at thy benign command,
Feels with new tendernefs his foul expand,
Wakens to charity, and grants relief,
At least in thought, to ev'ry human grief;
Then, to reward his fympathetic tears,
Invokes profperity, and length of years.
View'd thro' the medium of thy magic glass,
The lovelieft fcenes in gay fucceffion país,
Each virtue glows in pureft tints array'd,
In native uglinefs is vice difplay'd:
For never yet has mortal predefign'd
Himself unjuft, deceitful, or unkind,
To gain the prize on which he loves to brood,
The means are proper, and the end is good.
Where'er thou deignft thy cheering glance to throw,
Full harvests bend, falubrious rivers Яow,
Long lakes their gloffy furfaces unfold,
And heaven is deck'd with more refplendent gold.
Spontaneous forefts cloathe the lonely heath,
And all creation brightens at thy breath.
Then Fancy, hither come, exert thy fway,
And chace the demon Mem'ry far away!
Thou too, Forgetfulness! whofe opiate charm
Can hush the paffions, and their rage difarm;
Approach, O kindly grant thy fuppliant aid!
Wrap him in fweet oblivion's placid flade;
Veil the gay, tranfitory fcenes, that fled,
Like gleamy funfhine o'er the mountain's head;
Sink in the dark abyfs of endless night
The artificial phantoms of delight;
Nor let his early ign'rance, and mistake,
The fober blifs of age and reafon shake.
Hide from his heart each fuff'ring country's woe,
And o'er its chains thy cov'ring mantle throw;
Hide yon deluded agonizing train,
Who bleed by thoufands on the purple plain;
Their piercing cries, their dying groans controul,
And lock up all the feelings of his foul.
Shield him from flander's perfecuting race,
Who feek to wound, and labour to disgrace,
Who view the humbleft worth with jealous eye,
The viper brood of black malignity!
So fhall, perchance, content with thee return,
'Mongft vernal fweets to raise his wintry urn;
To his retreat tranquillity repair,
"And freedom dwell a penfive hermit there."
HOYLE LAKE, a POEM, written on that COAST, and addressed to its PROPRIETOR, SIR JOHN STANLEY.
[From LLANGOLLEN VALE, with other POEMS, by ANNA SEWARD.}
HEE, Stanley, thee, our gladden'd spirit hails,
Since life's first good for us thy efforts gain,
Who, habitants of Albion's inland vales,
Refide far distant from her circling main.
Thefe lightfome walls, beneath thy generous cares
Arofe, the lawny fcene's convivial boast,
While at thy voice clear-cheek'd Hygeia rears
Her aqueous altars on this tepid coast.
This coaft, the nearest to our central home,
That green Britannia's watry zone difplays,
Now gives the drooping frame a cheerful dome *,
Whose lares + fmile, and promife lengthen'd days.
When gather'd fogs the pale horizon steep,
Falling in heavy, deep, continual rain,
If, ere the fun fink fhrouded in the deep,
His cryftal rays pervade the vapory train,
Dry are the tufty downs, diffufive spread
O'er the light furface of the fandy mound,
Where e'en the languid form may fafely tread,
Drink the pure gale, and eye the blue profound.
Dear fcene!-that ftretch'd between the filver arms
Of Deva, and of Merfey, meets the main,
And when the fun-gilt day illumes its charms,
Boats of peculiar grace, nor boasts in vain.
*The large and handfome hotel, built in the year 1792, by fir John Stanley, and which converts thefe pleafant downs into a commodious fea-bathing place.
Tho' near the beach, dark Helbrie's lonely ifle,
Reposes fullen in the watry way,
Hears round her rocks the tides, returning, boil,
And o'er her dufky fandals dafh their spray.
Mark, to the left, romantic Cambria's coast,
Her curtain'd mountains rifing o'er the floods;
While feas on Orm's beak'd promontory burst,
Blue Deva fwells her mirror to the woods.
High o'er that varied ridge of Alpine forms,
Vaft Moel-y-Fammau* towers upon the fight,
Lifts her maternal bofom to the ftorms,
And screens her filial mountains from their blight.
Far on the right, the dim Lancaftrian plains,
In pallid diftance, glimmer thro' the sky,
Tho', hid by jutting rocks, thy fplendid fanes,
Commercial Liverpool, elude the eye.
Wide in the front the confluent oceans roll,
Amid whofe reftlefs billows guardian Hoyle,
To screen her azure lake when tempefts howl,
Spreads the firm texture of her amber ifle t.
And tho' the furging tide's refiftlefs waves
Roll, day, and night, its level furface o'er,
Tho' the skies darken, and the whirlwind raves,
They froth, but rush innoxious to the fhore.
When fear-ftruck fea-men, 'mid the raging flood,
Hear thundering fhipwreck yell her dire decrees,
See her pale arm rend every fail, and shroud,
And o'er the high maft lift her whelming feas,
If to thy quiet harbour, gentle Hoyle,
The hatter'd navy thro' the tempest flies,
Each joyous mariner forgets his toil,
And carols to the vainly angry fkies.
What tho' they vex the lake's cerulean stream,
And curl its billows on the fhelly floor,
Yet, in despite of Fancy's timid dream,
Age, and infirmity, inay plunge fecure.
* Moel-y-Fammau, the firft word spoken as one fyllable, as if fpelt Mole. The name fignifies in Welch Mother of Mountains. It is feen in the Hoyle-Lake profpect, behind the Flintshire hills, and confiderably higher than any of them.
Amber fle, the San! Iland, ix miles long, and four broad, which lying in the fea, a mile from thore, forras the lake; and breaking the force of the tides, constitutes the fafety of that lake as an harbour and bathing-place.
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