And there, when moon-beams frost the green, The youths and maids on light feet hie, And as the cates and cup pass round, Ah! how with joy my heart would swell, TRANSLATIONS OF AN EPITAPH. FROM THE FRENCH OF M. SELIS. HERE lies a man who never married. Ah! on the tomb to which his Sire was carried, This short memorial of the dead, Here lies a man who never married! WITHIN this grave a Batchelor lies, By follies and by vices only known! Why could there not be written on his stone, Within this grave a Batchelor lies! R. A. DAVENPORT. TRANSLATION FROM THE 13th BOOK OF THE GERUSALEMME Enchantment of the Forest, by Ismeno, the Magician. NIGH where the Christian camp the hills inclose, Trees, old and horrid, thick beset the ground, Here, when the sun shoots down his brightest beams, When day and night at morn, or evening, vie. But when the sun is sunk, with darkness dread, Night, clouds and mists the vast extent o'erspread; Infernal seem the shades-they smite, all drear, The eye with blindness, and the heart with fear. Here never shepherd guides his flock to feed; Nor herdsmen here their hungry oxen lead; No pilgrim enters-but with awe-struck eye, And pointing finger, wheels and passes by. Here WITCHES meet-on sailing clouds convey'd ; Each with her lover nightly seeks the shade; Like a fierce dragon this terrific steers, And that, in shape, an uncouth goat appears; Assembly dire!--which baleful joys procure, And hence the timber for their engines brought. Meet for the deed!--of midnight's deep repose. His circle forms, and prints each mystic sign; "HEAR!-HEAR!-O YE! whom from the starry "The vengeful lightning of the Thunderer hurl'd! "And YE!-wild wanderers, spirits of the air! "Who rouse the whirlwinds, and the storms prepare: "And YE, who torture guilty souls below, "Fell ministers of everlasting woe! "Ye CITIZENS of HELL! your aid I claim, "And thine great Sovereign of the realms of flame! "Take charge of this vast forest-instant seize, "And guard with potent charm the number'd trees"As lurks the soul within the body's cell, "In each broad trunk let separate spirits dwell; "That the scar'd Franks may dread the wondrous spell; "Stay their rash strokes, nor try one plant to fell." -Then sounds he adds, for incantation meet, Sounds, which no human tongue may dare repeat. Astonish'd at the voice, each lamp of night (Dread pow'r of magic!) gleam'd with pallid light: The moon, disturb'd, her shining horns withdrew, And, veil'd in clouds, no more appear'd in view. He now repeats the call, with tone severe, "SPIRITS INVOK'D! nor do ye yet appear? "Perchance ye wait, and thus forego th' alarm, "For words more potent, or more secret charm; "Tho' long disus'd, full well I know t' impart, "Each powerful order of the magic art. 66 My tongue, defil'd with blood, that NAME sound, can "The great, the dreaded N A ME, whose note profound, "Each trembling fiend with awful reverence fears, "And Pluto's self is summon'd, when he hears. "Why dare ye thus delay ?-Obey with speed-" More had he spoke, but found the spell succeed. Unnumber'd spirits to the wood repair; Here speed the light-wing'd tribes that dwell in air; MISS S. WATTS. SONNET. ON THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE, FROM THE ITALIAN OF FILICAJA. As some fond mother views her infant race, Her feet supporting one, and one her knees; Then, as the winning gesture, speaking face, Or plaintive cry explain their different pleas, A look, a word she deals with various grace, And smiles, or frowns, as Love alone decrees. O'er man, frail kind, so Providence Divine Still watches; hears, sustains, and succours all, With equal eye beholding each that lives. If Heaven denies, oh! let not man repine! Heaven but denies to quicken duty's call, Or feigning to deny, more largely gives! |