BALLADS AND SONGS. BLACK AND BLUE EYES. THE brilliant black eye May in triumph let fly All its darts, without caring who feels 'em; But the soft eye of blue, Though it scatter wounds too, Is much better pleased when it heals 'em. Dear Fanny! dear Fanny! Though it scatter wounds too, Es much better pleased when it heals 'em, dear Fanny ! The black eye may say, By adoring, perhaps you may move me!' But the blue eye, half hid, 'I love, and I'm yours if you love me!' I love, and am yours if you love me!' dear Fanny! Then tell me, oh! why, In that lovely eye, Not a charm of its tint I discover; Or why should you wear The only blue pair That ever said 'No' to a lover? Dear Fanny! dear Fanny! That ever said No' to a lover, dear CEASE, OH CEASE TO TEMPT. CEASE, oh cease to tempt It never, never can So wild a flame approve. The careless bosom mine. So wild a flame approve. Say, oh say no more That lovers' pains are sweet! I never, never can Believe the fond deceit. Weeping day and night, Consuming life in sighs,This is the lover's lot, And this I ne'er could prize. Then say, oh say no more That lovers' pains are sweet! I never, never can Believe the fond deceit. Nights of song and nights of splendour, | To win thy smile, I speed from shore to Filled with joys too sweet to lastJoys that, like your star-light tender, While they shone no shadow cast; Though all other happy hours From my fading memory fly, OUR FIRST YOUNG LOVE. OUR first young love resembles That short but brilliant ray, Which smiles, and weeps, and trembles, Through April's earliest day. No, no-all life before us; Howe'er its lights may play, Can shed no lustre o'er us Like that first April ray. Our summer sun may squander A blaze serener, grander, Our autumn beam may, like a dream Bring all the light it may, shore, While Hope's sweet voice is heard in every blast, Still whisp'ring on, that, when some years are o'er, One bright reward shall crown my toil at last, Thy smile alone, thy smile alone. Oh! place beside the transport of that hour All earth can boast of fair, of rich, and bright, Wealth's radiant mines, the lofty thrones of power, Then ask where first thy lover's choice would light? On thee alone, on thee alone. LOVE'S VICTORY. SING to Love-for, oh, 'twas he Who won the glorious day; Strew the wreaths of victory Along the conq'ror's way. Yoke the Muses to his car, Let them sing each trophy won; While his mother's joyous star Shall light the triumph on. Hail to Love, to mighty Love, Let spirits sing around; While the hill, the dale, and grove, With "mighty Love" resound; Or, should a sigh of sorrow steal Amid the sounds thus echoed o'er, 'Twill but teach the god to feel His victories the more. See his wings, like amethyst Of sunny Ind their hue; Bright as when, by Psyche kist, They trembled through and through. Flowers spring beneath his feet; Angel forms beside him run; While unnumbered lips repeat "Love's victory is won!' Hail to Love, to mighty Love, &c. SONG OF HERCULES TO HIS DAUGHTER.1 "I've been, oh, sweet daughter, To fountain and sea, To seek in their water Some bright gem for thee. With Naiads have sported But sportive or tender, Still sought I around, That gem, with whose splendour 1 Founded on the fable reported by Arrian (in Indicis) of Hercules having searched the Indian Ocean to find the pearl with which he adorned his daughter Pandrea. EVENINGS IN GREECE 1827. IN thus connecting together a series of Songs by a thread of poetical narrativa, the object has been to combine Recitation with Music, so as to enable a greater number of persons to join in the performance, by enlisting, as readers, those who may not feel themselves competent to take a part as singers. The Island of Zia, where the scene is laid, was called by the ancients Ceos, and was the birthplace of Simonides, Bacchylides, and other eminent persons. An account of its present state may be found in the Travels of Dr. Clarke, who says, that it appeared to him to be the best cultivated of any of the Grecian Isles.'-Vol. vi. p. 174. T. M. When, bess'd by heaven, the Cross shall sweep The Crescent from the Egean deep, And your brave warriors hastening back, Will bring such glories in their track, There is a Fount on Zia's isle, Pleas'd as a lover on the crown Hangs radiant round the Cypriot shrines. And here those bramble-flowers, that breathe Their odours into Zante's wines :The splendid woodbine, that, at eve, To grace their floral diadems, The lovely maids of Patmos weave :3And that fair plant, whose tangled stems Shine like a Nereïd's hair, spread, Dishevell'd o'er her azure bed; when All these bright children of the clime, (Each at its own most genial time, The summer, or the year's sweet prime,) Like beautiful earth-stars, adorn The Valley, where that Fount is born: Fair oaks, that over Zia's vales, Stand with their leafy pride unfurl'd; While Commerce, from her thousand sails, Scatters their acorns through the world !5 'Twas here--as soon as prayer and sleep (Those truest friends to all who weep) Had lighten'd every heart, and made Ev'n sorrow wear a softer shade"Twas here, in this secluded spot, Amid whose breathings calm aud sweet Grief might be sooth'd, if not forgot, The Zian nymphs resolv'd to meet Each evening now, by the same light That saw their farewell tears that night; And try, if sound of lute and song, If wandering 'mid the moonlight. flowers In various talk, could charm along With lighter step, the lingering hours, Till tidings of that Bark should come, Or Victory waft their warriors home! When first they met-the wonted smile "Twould touch ev'n Moslem heart to see Of greeting having beam'd awhileThe sadness that came suddenly O'er their young brows, when they look'd round Upon that bright, enchanted ground; And thought, how many a time, with those Who now were gone to the rude wars, They there had met, at evening's close, And danced till morn outshone the stars! But seldom long doth hang th' eclipse Of sorrow o'er such youthful breastsThe breath from her own blushing lips, That on the maiden's mirror rests, Cuscuta europea. From the twisting and twining of the stems, it is compared by the Greeks to the dishevelled hair of the Nereïds.”— Walpole's Turkey. 5 The produce of the island in these acorns alone amounts annually to fifteen thousand quin Lonicera Caprifolium, used by the girls of tals.'-Clarke's Travels. Patmos for garlands. |