Into the half-sunk cell, darksome and damp; O HEALTH! thou sun of life, without whose beam The fairest scenes of nature seem involv'd In darkness, shine upon my dreary path Though transient be the hope, 'twill be most sweet, Then gliding past, and dying slow away. So light displays its loveliest effect In low'ring skies, when thro' the murky rack This breast perturb'd; thy voice, tho' mournful, soothes; And mournful ay are thy most beauteous lays, Where TWEED or YARROW flows; or, spurning time, Recal red FLODDEN field; or suddenly Transport, with alter'd strain, the deafen'd ear Soars to the throne of God, and ravish'd hears The Sabbath worship of the friendless sick. BLEST be the female votaries, whose day No Sabbath of their pious labours prove, Whose lives are consecrated to the toil Of minist❜ring around th' uncurtain'd couch That mix the cup medicinal, that bind The wounds which ruthless warfare and disease Have to the loathsome lazar-house consign'd. FIERCE Superstition of the mitred king! Almost I could forget thy torch and stake, When I this blessed sisterhood survey,Compassion's priestesses, disciples true Of him whose touch was health, whose single word Electrified with life the palsied arm,— Of him who said, Take up thy bed, and walkOf him who cried to Lazarus, Come forth. AND he who cried to Lazarus, Come forth, Will, when the Sabbath of the tomb is past, Call forth the dead, and re-unite the dust (Transform'd and purified) to angel souls. Extatic hope! belief! conviction firm! How grateful 'tis to recollect the time When hope arose to faith! Faintly at first The heavenly voice is heard: then by degrees Its music sounds perpetual in the heart. Thus he, who all the gloomy winter long Has dwelt in city-crowds, wand'ring a field Betimes on Sabbath morn, ere yet the spring Unfold the daisy's bud, delighted hears The first lark's note, faint yet, and short the song, Check'd by the chill ungenial northern breeze ; But, as the sun ascends, another springs, |