TO ELLEN.

WELL! thou art fair, and oftentimes

This passing thought will lure my breast,

The proudest maids of Eastern climes

Have not so sweet a form possessed.

But thou art specious as yon orb

That glitters with delusive ray, Before the vagrant clouds absorb Its lustre in advancing day.

For if the smile of jocund morn

Give promise of a lasting reign,

The lovely tints that most adorn

That smile thou dost but ill sustain.

And if at eve my longing sight

Be witness of thy calm decline,

Thy spirit through the watchful night
Lives not in intercourse with mine.

But widely does it range the skies,
Exulting upon Fancy's wing,

Where odours in profusion rise,

And greet thee with the sweets they bring.

TO A DISTANT FRIEND.

My dearly beloved and pretty Miss Stone,

To you

and your mother this letter comes greeting:

Nor does it convey my affection alone,

But that of the circle we all of us meet in.

Your snug little hearth is reputedly graced

Just now with a somewhat remarkable feature,

Which, were it not yet in a vessel encased,

Might fitly be deemed a celestial creature.

A conjunction of qualities lofty and rare

As those we discover in this clever girl,
Has entitled her long you are doubtless aware

To be called, in poetical language," the Pearl."

And claiming, as gems of a high order do,

The treatment adapted to one of her class,

We humour her more, and I beg you will too,

Than we should if we viewed her as one of the mass.

Provided her passion for young Mr. Slater

Induce you to walk with her some day to see him, Be careful to subject my friend to no greater

Expense than the kisses with which she will fee him.

The dangers to one of her exquisite mould
Are many when slowly returning by night;

And should she again take a very bad cold,

Consumption will steal her away from your sight.

Present me as faithful and just an account

As

you can of Miss Pattison's sayings and doings; And do me the favour to swell the amount

With an accurate list of her numerous wooings.

Moreover, convey to "the Pearl" my regard,

In language as tender as love can apply; And tell her I say she must not study hard, Well knowing as she and the doctor do why.

Nor would I omit in the end to say shall you
Consider it prudent to place in the van,

A lady surpassing all others in value,

And let her return with an ignorant man?

If so, we shall fully expect her by Crampton:
And lest she or I should her visit bewail,

Take care that she comes with a hardiness stamped on
The face that was lately deplorably pale.