CCIV. INVITATION. Thou must not linger, lovely one, The lily, bending on its stem, Waves graceful o'er the silver stream; Bedeck'd with many a bonny gem, The fields glance in the morning beam. Nurst by the genial sun and breeze, The blossom swells upon the trees, The briar and broom put forth their flower. Now frisk the lambs along the lea, Or peaceful brouze the tender blade; The nimble hares, in amorous glee, Are sporting down the hawthorn glade. The mingling concert of the grove, We'll bend our steps to yonder hill, Or stray where flows the murm'ring rill, Thou must not linger, lovely one, CCV. DRIED BE THAT TEAR.* Dried be that tear, my gentlest love! Be hush'd that struggling sigh, *The author of this poctical effusion, was R. B. Sheridan, Esq;.-Hazlitt, in his critique on that eminent man, says, he has justly been called" a star of the first magnitude," and indeed among the Comic writers of the last century Nor season's day, nor fate shall prove, Hush'd be that sigh, be dried that tear; Dost ask how long my vows shall stay, Dried be that tear, be hush'd that sigh, And does that thought affect thee too, Nor let us lose our heaven while here. he shines," like Hesperus among the lesser lights." He has left four excellent Dramas behind him, all different, or of different kinds, and all excellent in their way, viz. the School for Scandal, the Rivals, the Duenna, the Critic. His songs are not to be equalled; they have a joyous spirit of intoxication in them, and a spirit of the most melting tenderness. Sheridan was not only a dramatic writer, but a first-rate parliamentary speaker. His characteristics as an orator, were manly, unperverted good sense, and keen irony. Wit, which has been thought a two-edged weapon, was by him always employed by the same side of the question-I think, on the right one. His set and more laboured speeches, were proportionably abortive, and unimpressive; but no one was equal to him in replying on the spur of the moment to pompous absurdity, and unravelling the web of flimsy sophistry. He was the last accomplished debater of the House of Commons; an ornament of private and public life; universally beloved; a wit and a patriot, to boot; a poet and an honest man." Born 1751, Died 1816. CCVI. THE TWIN ROSES. The night-dew fell on a lovely rose, Fresh op'ning to the view, That soft reclin'd upon its twin, Of rich and damask hue. Fan'd by the breeze, they gently form'd And seem'd to live as one; And smil'd, sweet as the pearly drops, That in the sunbeam shone. Secure amidst the sheltering bower, The rose upon its slender stem, No more by smiles caress'd. Maria mark'd the lovely gem, Fresh glittering in the ray; The tear-drop dew'd its kindred flower, That withering died away. 'Twas thus love twin'd around that heart, CCV1I. BLOW ON, YE WILD WINDS. * AIR.-My lodging is on the cold ground. Blow on, ye wild winds, o'er his hallow'd grave, And lovely thy mountains, though mantl'd in snow, * These lines were composed for, and sung at the celebration of the birth of Burns, held at Paisley, on the 29th of January 1819. |