The Approach of Winter.-The Lark. 99

THE APPROACH OF WINTER.

THE sun far northward bends his annual way, The bleak north-east wind lays the forests

bare,

The fruit ungather'd quits the naked spray,

And dreary winter reigns o'er earth and air. No mark of vegetable life is seen,

No bird to bird repeats his tuneful call; Save the dark leaves of some rude evergreen, Save the lone redbreast on the moss-grown

wall.

THE LARK.

SCOTT.

SEE how the lark, the bird of day,

Springs from the earth and wings his way!
To heav'ns high vault his course he bends,
And sweetly sings as he ascends.

But when, contented with his height,
He shuts his wings and checks his flight,
No more he chants the lively strain,
But sinks in silence to the plain.

WHITEHEAD.

100

Sunshine after a Shower.

SUNSHINE AFTER A SHOWER.

EVER after summer shower,

When the bright sun's returning power
With laughing beam has chas'd the storm,
And cheer'd reviving Nature's form;
By sweet-briar hedges, bath'd in dew,
Let me my wholesome path pursue;
There, issuing forth, the frequent snail
Wears the dank way with slimy trail;
While, as I walk, from pearled bush
The sunny sparkling drop I brush,
And all the landscape fair I view
Clad in a robe of fresher hue;
And so loud the blackbird sings,
That far and near the valley rings,
From shelter deep of shaggy rock
The shepherd drives his joyful flock;
From bowering beech the mower blythe
With new-born vigour grasps the scythe:
While o'er the smooth unbounded meads
Its last faint gleam the rainbow spreads.

WARTON.

Epitaph on a Lap-dog.-Arabia. 101

EPITAPH ON A LAP-DOG.

I NEVER bark'd when out of season;
I never bit without a reason;

I ne'er insulted weaker brother;

Nor wrong'd by force nor fraud another:
Though brutes are placed a rank below,
Happy for man could he say so!

ARABIA.

BLACKLOCK.

O'ER Arabia's desert sands

The patient camel walks, 'Mid lonely caves and rocky lands

The fell hyæna stalks.

On the cool and shady hills

Coffee-shrubs and tamarinds grow,
Headlong fall the welcome rills

Down the fruitful dells below.

The fragrant myrrh and healing balm
Perfume the passing gale;

Thick hung with dates, the spreading palm

Tow'rs o'er the peopled vale.

Locusts oft, a living cloud,
Hover in the darkened air,
Like a torrent dashing loud,
Bringing famine and despair:

And often o'er the level waste
The stifling hot winds fly;

Down falls the swain with trembling haste,
The gasping cattle die.
Shepherd-people on the plain

Pitch their tents and wander free;

Wealthy cities they disdain,

Poor,-yet blest with liberty.

ORIGINAL

CHEERFULNESS.

THE honest heart, whose thoughts are clear
From fraud, disguise, and guile,
Needs neither Fortune's frowning fear,
Nor court her fickle smile.

The greatness that would make us grave

Is but an empty thing;

What more than mirth would mortals have?

The cheerful man's a king!

BICKERSTAFF.

The Cock.-The Fallen Oak.

THE COCK.

103

WITHIN a homestead lived, without a peer
For crowing loud, the noble chanticleer.
More certain was the crowing of this cock
To number hours than is an abbey clock;
And sooner than the morning bell was rung
He clapp'd his wings upon his roost and sung.
High was his comb, and coral-red withal,
In dents embattled like a castle-wall :
His bill was raven black, and shone like jet;
Blue were his legs, and orient were his feet;
White were his nails, like silver to behold;
His body glitter'd like the burnish'd gold.

THE FALLEN OAK.

DRYDEN...

THE lofty oak, whose vigorous branches form «
An ample shade, and brave the wildest storm,
High o'er the subject wood is seen to grow,
The guard and glory of the trees below;
Till on its head the fiery bolt descends,
And on the plain the shatter'd trunk extends:
Yet, then, it lies majestic as before,

And still the glory, though the guard no more.`

CRABBE.