Imagens da página
PDF
ePub

Love sat on a lotos-leaf afloat,

And saw old Time in his loaded boat;
Slowly he cross'd Life's narrow tide,

While Love sat clapping his wings, and cried "Who will pass Time?"

Patience came first, but soon was gone
With helm and sail to help Time on;

Care and Grief could not lend an oar,

And Prudence said (while he stay'd on shore), "I wait for Time!"

Hope fill'd with flowers her cork-tree bark, And lighted its helm with a glow-worm spark: Then Love, when he saw her bark fly fast,

[ocr errors]

Said "Lingering Time will soon be past!
Hope out-speeds Time!"

Wit went nearest old Time to pass,
With his diamond oar and his boat of glass;
A feathery dart from his store he drew,
And shouted, while far and swift it flew-
"O Mirth kills Time!"

But Time sent the feathery arrows back,
Hope's boat of amaranths miss'd its track,
Then Love bade his butterfly pilots move,
And laughing said, "They shall see how Love
Can conquer Time."

[ocr errors]

His gossamer sails he spread with speed,
But Time has wings when Time has need;
Swiftly he cross'd Life's sparkling tide,

And only Memory stay'd to chide
Unpitying Time!

Waken and listen then, Bride of May!
Listen and heed thy minstrel's rhyme-
Still for thee some bright hours stay,
For it was a hand like thine, they say,
Gave wings to Time.

CCLXXI.

THE SOLDIER IN EGYPT.

From my slumber I woke at the dead hour of night,
And down to the ocean I sped;

The moon on the billows was trembling and bright

As it rose o'er the Pyramid's head.

John Findlay, the author of this piece, was born at Glasgow in 1782. His parents were in a humble condition of life, but of a most respectable character, and they gave their son all the advantages of a good education. From the academy of Mr. Hall of that city, he was sent, at the age of fourteen, to the university. He there soon distinguished himself above most of his contemporaries, and became an excellent Greek and Latin Scholar. In the Philosophy class he was distinguished for the excellence of his prose com

Its beams lent a magic far dearer than sleep,
As I trode my lone course on the sand;
And dear was the blast as it blew o'er the deep,
For it came from my native land.

The battle had ceas'd with the sweet setting sun,
But I heard its dread tumults again;

I paus'd-it was nought but the answering gun
Of the watchman afar on the plain.

positions; and during his academical career he wrote various short poems, chiefly on classical subjects, remarkable for ease, elegance and spirit. While yet a student, living within the walls of the college, he published, in 1802, a volume entitled "Wallace, or the vale of Ellerslie," with other poems. These were composed when he was about nineteen years of age, and are generally esteemed. Wallace may be called his principal performance. It is doubtless an imperfect composition; but it displays a wonderful power of versification, and contains many splendid descriptions of external nature. It was shortly afterwards republished with considerable additions.—Soon after he published an edition of the " Grave" with many admirable notes; wrote a learned and ingenious life of Cervantes, and edited an edition of Smith's Wealth of Nations, a task that might have been supposed out of his province, but which he executed with considerable ability, displaying an intimate acquaintance with the principles of political economy, and with the works of all the most eminent French writers on that science. The prospect of a situation in one of the public offices led him to London in 1807, where he wrote many learned articles, particularly on antiquarian subjects, for different periodical publications, and busily employed himself in the study of old English Litera ture, in which he was excelled by few, and in which he ever afterwards delighted. Being disappointed in his hope of a permanent establishment, he returned in 1808 to Glasgow, and in that year published a collection of "Historical and Romantic Ballads," in two volumes. The notes with which they are illustrated are interesting and valuable. In these volumes are to be found two ballads of Findlay's own composition, written in imitation of "Songs of the olden time," which have been pronounced by very able critics to be in their kind almost perfect.

At the close of the year 1810, his hopes of a permanent situation in London

I thought of the woe and the carnage again—
I look'd o'er the wave's distant foam;

And the tear that had started at sight of the slain,
I shed for the friends of my home.

Oh pleasant it is, on a far foreign shore,
To think on the days that are past—

It awakes the dull spirit that slumber'd before,
Like the rain 'mid the burning waste.

Was it hope or illusion my bosom that warm'd,
When I thought on the birch of the grove;
Like a wretch half-bewilder'd with magic that charm'd,
I heard the sweet voice of my love.

To the spot, O for ever be fetter'd my sight-
With the sound ever charm'd let me be;

Even this corse cover'd strand is a couch of delight,

When such visions my fancy can see.

were again revived, and he left Glasgow with a view of consulting two of his friends then resident in England. He had, however, only proceeded to Moffat, when he was struck with a kind of apopletic siezure, which in a short time terminated, in the very prime of life, the existence of a man, who possessing unquestionable ability, promised fair to be an ornament to literature, and society in general.

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

CCLXXII.

THE FISH-HAWK, OR OSPREY *.

Soon as the sun, great ruler of the year!
Bends to our northern climes his bright career,
And from the caves of ocean calls from sleep
The finny shoals and myriads of the deep,
When freezing tempests back to Greenland ride,
And day and night the equal hours divide;
True to the season, o'er the sea-beat shore,
The sailing Osprey high is seen to soar
With broad unmoving wing; and, circling slow,
Marks each loose straggler in the deep below:
Sweeps down like lightning! plunges with a roar †!
And bears the struggling victim to the shore.

* This is another poetical extract from Wilson's Ornithology, illustrative of the Fish-hawk, or Osprey, whose regular arrival at the vernal equinox, the busy season when fishing commences, procures it many a benediction from the fishermen.

"The Italians are said to compare its descent upon the water to a piece of lead falling upon that element, and distinguish it by the name of Aquila Piumbina, or the Leaden Eagle."

« AnteriorContinuar »