free.

’Tis there that riper manhood goes And feeble age reclines; For it the genial sunshine knows, Which on her pathway shines.

True friendship’s fervour ne’er grows cold; Its lamp doth alway burn; Its beauty never waxeth old; Its shadows never turn.

The waters are both sweet and pure, Which through its courses flow; Such as would souls of trouble lure;  ’Tis they who try them know.

p. 176Were old and young together joined, In friendship’s paths to tread, What blessings would thereby rebound On many a sorrowing head!

p. 176

p. 177TO THE SPIRIT OF POETRY.

p. 177

Hail, spirit of poetic flame! Thine is the theme for me; Thine are the realms—the glorious realms My fancy longs to see.

What seraph on the wings of light Can bear a charm like thee? And where, in fancy’s wide domain, Can fitter grandeur be?

Behold thy shadows on the sky, Thy glory in the sun; And o’er the earth, as light as air, Thy fairy footsteps run.

I see thee in the smiling morn And in the glowing noon, Thy sparkling brightness in the stars, Thy beauties in the moon.

p. 178I see thy bark go gliding on O’er all the mighty seas. I hear thy voice upon the storm, And gentler on the breeze,

p. 178

Comes thrilling with the warbling notes The lark pours out on high, And in the blackbird’s evening song Flows to my pathway nigh;

Comes with the brooklet’s murmuring voice, And from the ocean wave, Which Neptune in his choice sees fit Upon the shore to lave.

I hear the rude, prosaic law Pour out its vile abuse, In earnest with its bitter vice My fancy to seduce.

Yet let the sceptic whet his scythe, Thy beauties to deplore; So shall I love them fonder still, And seek thy presence more.

p. 179The 

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