THE SPARROW.

To me shall be never imputed the heinous

Offence of unjustly dishonouring Venus,

By tasting the pleasures that drop

From her liberal hand, unacknowledged in words

Of befitting regard for the gayest of birds,

The sparrow "upon the house-top."

No colours of delicate tincture belong

To his plumage in Summer or Winter, no song

Of inspiriting compass has he;

But courage, attuned to the purpose of love,

Supplies him with rapture unknown to the Dove,

Or the Lark on the flowering lea.

Unaffected by change, as the Robin, that prays For a Winter's sojourn in the city, and strays

To the fields in the following Spring,

He renews, at the dawn of the season, his vow Of attachment to place, as on turret or bough He disports upon fluttering wing.

If a loftier reason were needed to show

The demand that this little bird has to a glow
Of compassion in word as in look,

The poet, the scholar, and others inclined
To learn of oracular wisdom, may find

It recorded in Heaven's own book.

SONNET.

LIGHT.

By one great irreversible decree

Are countless worlds indebted to thy sway,

For universal empire is with thee,

And heaven is filled with thy divine display. Swift-winged as thought does thy illustrious ray Pierce the dread chambers that no eye shall see, Until the coming of that glorious day

When thou shalt brighten immortality.

Fair emblem of the Source from which thou art, All Nature quickens at thy genial smile; Even icy plains with soft emotions start,

And melt with fruitful tenderness the while : Earth pays thee homage as do distant spheres, And often mourns thy absence in her tears.

AN EPICUREAN ADDRESS

TO A LADY ENGAGED IN READING GOOD'S TRANS

LATION OF LUCRETIUS.

I AM not inclined to indulge in the sin

Of drinking too freely of brandy or gin;

But having just swallowed a "drop of the cratur,"

Along with a very nice mealy potato,

By way of repairing the sudden decline

That occurs on the absence of victuals and wine,

I feel as some fanciful writers have done,
Disposed to conclude my repast with the fun
Of telling my friends, or yourself at the least,
How much I have gained by this casual feast.
On ceasing to eat and to drink, as you know
I did pretty nearly a few days ago,

My head, while the body got rapidly lighter,
Became in effect correspondingly brighter---

A fact which I never can duly explain,
Unless I admit that the call on the brain
For nervous supply in the work of digestion,
Thus being reduced, any difficult question
That could not by labour be treated before,
The mind is at liberty now to explore.

My theory you can reject if you choose,

Or welcome, as best shall accord with your Muse. Pursuing the story with which I set out,

I hasten to say that, while others about

Me were eating and drinking as fast as they could,

I poured on them all an impetuous flood

Of rhyme, in the form of this little facetia,
Concluding with stanzas addressed to Lucretia.
But abstinence even, when practised too long,
Disqualifies man for the purpose of song;

And nervous excitement, though serving awhile
To glut with revenge as to bless with a smile,