Be gentle in thy course, pure in thy wish,
And soothing in thy soft control: or else,
Far let us fly, and fire the eager soul

To deeds of high emprise; to raise the spear
In patriot armaments, at her command,
Who bears the OAKEN wreath of civic worth,
Enchanting LIBERTY: or sink, retired,

In FRIENDSHIP's more indulgent arms, and, with
Her social VINE, o'ershade the tranquil bower
Of Fancy; sheltered, from the ruder blast,

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And scattering of thy light-winged flowers, O Love!

And it is theirs, to rouse the mortal thought, 700 Above all low affections, and the vile

Bent of the selfish intellect; yet all
Are vain, with mightier energies, to clothe
The panting soul, and, with ethereal fire
Repurify the essence, still, immersed

In sublunary darkness, chained to earth 1;
If mild RELIGION, with her charms unveiled,
Effect no miracle, nor strew with PALMS
The way to immortality. For her, should rise
The poet's latest theme, and melt these songs,

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Of wayward lore, and various texture wrought,

Into one, just, premeditate design.

Then, may the lyre, not idly waste in air Her desultory breath: though, vain the wish, Her vagrant minstrelsy, may earn a wreath Fair as the Rose, or deathless as the Palm.

715

NOTES.

NOTES

ON

THE ROSE.

12. Thy flower.-The nightingale, is a bird of passage in the East, and appears in Persia, at the season when the Rose begins to blow. Thence, originated the story, of its love for that flower, so often alluded to by oriental poets. "These birds," says Sonnini, "are silent in Egypt, which they leave early in the year, to warble out their songs of love, and hail the arrival of spring in other countries."-The following lines are imitated, from some Persian poetry, upon this subject :

"Delightful are the gales of spring!

Oh, Rose! where dost thou stay?
Dost thou not hear, the nightingale
Lamenting thy delay?

"Bear to the nightingale, each flower,
Each fragrant herb, that grows,
His constant heart, will only prize
The sweet breath of his Rose.

"But, Azza, should the nightingale
Thy beauteous features see;
He would no longer seek, his dear

Beloved Rose, but thee."

16. Her roseate harvest.-In Herbert's Travels, there is a long panegyric of Shiraz, which he compares to the Elysium of Tibullus,