Do these allure thee to the west ? The idlest of the idle train, The meanest too, with heart forlorn, He pours to thee his lonely strain, And gazes on thy parting horn. He hails thee as a well known friend, His sad heart lightens in thy rays. But not for man's frail plaints her laws Ah no! tho' once a hero's tongue Unmindful of his ardent prayer, Thou shalt thy steady course pursue, And to each clime alike shalt bear Of light and joy proportion due. Oh could I mount and soar with thee, Far, far above this world of care! And, sailing with thee o'er the sea, Look down upon the nether air! Then, as upon the mimic sphere, And view where Europe roll'd beneath And where old Ocean heav'd below As shifting Moon-beams o'er them dance. And there, perhaps, we should survey, Still westward in our course we glide, That land whence Order slow retires, And headlong Faction rears her claim; * But Commerce quench'd the rising flame. *The author does not mean to depreciate the value of commerce, of whose importance to the national prosperity, when confined within its proper channel, he is fully sensible. His only aim is to protest against a mercantile spirit which has been so frequently Yet tho' the realm of trade it be, For 'tis my country-'tis my home. And liberal Nature there has spread, To soothe the feeling mind, her stores: And winding waters wash the shores. And there, more worth than groves or streams, From many an eye its lustre gleams, And tho' with thee secure I range But ah, I dream!-no starry plain Beneath in varied prospect spread; No once lov'd beauty cheers my sight; Tells me I tread on Scottish ground. manifested in the legislative deliberations of his country, where there have been found men, who when the dearest interests of the nation are at stake, sit down calmly to calculate the expence of defending them, and who conclude when money is saved nothing is lost. Go then, and from this troubled breast Go! while the Wanderer tarries here, And thou wilt find one little spot, When o'er that spot thy rays shall stream, That eye, responsive to thy light, And often when the young and gay, And oft alone shall she be seen, When thou shalt in the west be found, And by the wonted pillar lean, Where twines the honey-suckle round. Let then no cloud obscure thy face, For while to lonely musing given, Then, could the skies a message bear, The truth that still I love, I love. But how should'st thou my Delia know? And weary evening with my prayer? O! thou wilt know her, should'st thou spy Yet tho' unconscious of her power, And thou wilt know her, for thou oft Oft when thy rays illum'd the dome, With secret step I left my home, To meet my love so fair, so true. |