Where late we thoughtless stray'd; T was not for us, whom Heaven intends To be no more than simple friends, Such lonely walks were made. That little bay where, winding in (As lovers steal to bliss), The billows kiss the shore, and then Flow calmly to the deep again, As though they did not kiss! Remember, o'er its circling flood In what a dangerous dream we stoodThe silent sea before us, Around us, all the gloom of grove, That e'er was spread for guilt or love, No eye but Nature's o'er us! I saw you blush, you felt me tremble, Twas more than tongue could dare reveal, I stoop'd to cull, with faltering hand, Before us faintly gleam'd; I raised it to your lips of dew, You kiss'd the shell, I kiss'd it too- Oh! trust me, 't was a place, an hour, You read it in my languid eyes, And there alone should love be read; You hear me say it all in sighs, And thus alone should love be said. Then dread no more; I will not speak; Although my heart to anguish thrill, I'll spare the burning of your cheek, And look it all in silence still! Heard you the wish I dared to name, Divinely through the graceful dance, Oh! how could others dare to touch With smiling eyes, that little thought How fatal were the beams they threw, My trembling hands you lightly caught, And round me, like a spirit, flew, Heedless of all, I wildly turn'd, My soul forgot-nor, oh! condemn, That when such eyes before me burn'd, My soul forgot all eyes but them! I dared to speak in sobs of bliss, Rapture of every thought bereft me, I would have clasp'd you-oh, even this!- T was love, 't was passion-soul and sense- That moment did the mingled eyes Of heaven and earth my madness view, I should have seen, through earth and skies, But you alone, but only you! Did not a frown from you reprove, Myriads of eyes to me were none; A DREAM OF ANTIQUITY. I JUST had turn'd the classic page, And wisdom grace the tenderest lover! Before I laid me down to sleep, Upon the bank awhile I stood, Her tears of light on Ariel's flood. I felt as if the scenery there Were lighted by a Grecian skyAs if I breathed the blissful air That yet was warm with Sapphio's sigh! ↑ Gassewer thinks that the gardens which Pausanias mentions, in his first Book, we e those of Epicurus; and STUART says, in his Antiquities of Athens, Near this convent (the convent of Hagios Assomatos) is the place called at present Kepoi, or the Gardens; and Ampelos Kepos, or the Vineyard Garden; these were probably the gardens which Pausanias visited. Chap. ii, vol. 1. This method of polishing pearls, by leaving them awhile to be played with by doves, is mentioned by the fanciful CARDANUS, de Rerum Varietat. lib. vii, cap. 34. 'T was one of those delicious nights To make the coldest learn to love! And now the fairy pathway seem'd Of love or luxury bloom'd around! Soft lamps, that hung like buruing flowers, And gone to seek its heavenly home! But now, methought, we stole along Or wanton'd in Milesian story!2 And nymphs were there, whose very eyes Shedding the flowery wines of Crete,3 Entwined by suakes of burnish'd gold,5 In Hercynio Germaniæ saltu inusitata genera alitum accepimus, quarum plume, igoium modo, colluceant noctibus. Plin. lib. x. cap. 47. The Milesiace, or Milesian fables, had their origin in Miletus, a luxurious town of Jonia. Aristides was the most celebrated author of these licentious fictions. See PLUTARCA (in Crasso), who calls them axonasi tibnia. And showing limbs, as loth to show, With vases, all respiring spring, Oh, Nea! why did morning break The spell that so divinely bound me? With thee my own and Heaven around me! WELL-peace to thy heart, though another's it be, If I were yonder wave, my dear, And thou the isle it clasps around, I would not let a foot come near If I were yonder couch of gold, And thou the pearl within it placed, The sacred gem my arms embraced! πεδαι Θαιδος και Αρισαγόρας και Λαίδος φάρμακα. PRILOSTHAT. epist. xl. LUCIAN too tells of the Epaxicios de axoTTES. See his Amores, where he describes the dressing-room of a Grecas lady, and we find the silver vase, the rouge, the tooth-powder, | and all the mystic order of a modern toilet. · Ταραντινιδίον, διαφανές ενδυμα, ωνομασμένος από της Ταραντίνων χρήσεως και τρυφής.-Pollux. 2 Apiana, mentioned by PLIST, lib. xis, and now called the Mu 3. Some of the Cretan wines, which Athenæus calls orvos av Joo-Grifuns which he encountered.-Travels of the Jesuits, vol. 1. 4 It appears that, in very splendid mansions, the floor or pavement was frequently of onyx. Thus MARTIAL. Calcatusque tuo sub pede lucet onyx.-Epig. 50. lib. xii. 5 Bracelets of this shape were a favourite ornament among the women of antiquity. Oi Tix2рrio ou xai ai xfucxl afraid, however, it would take the Patriarch rather too much cat of his way. 4 Jonsson does not think that Waller was ever at Bermuda; bat the Account of the European Settlements in America aftirms it fidently. (Vol. i) I mention this work, however, less for its au thority, than for the pleasure I feel in quoting an unacknowledged production of the great Edmund Burke. F If I were yonder orange-tree, And thou the blossom blooming there, I would not yield a breath of thee, To scent the most imploring air! Oh! bend not o'er the water's brink, Give not the wave that rosy sigh, Nor let its burning mirror drink The soft reflection of thine eye. That glossy hair, that glowing cheek, Upon the billows pour their beam So warmly, that my soul could seek Its Nea in the painted stream. The painted stream my chilly grave And nuptial bed at once may be, I'll wed thee in that mimic wave, And die upon the shade of thee! Behold the leafy mangrove bending O'er the waters blue and bright, Like Nea's silky lashes, lending Shadow to her eyes of light! Oh, my beloved! where'er I turn, Some trace of thee enchants mine eyes, In every star thy glances burn, Thy blush on every flow'ret lies. But then thy breath!-not all the fire I pray thee, on those lips of thine All other charms of thine I meet In nature, but thy sigh alone; Then take, oh! take, though not so sweet, The breath of roses for thine own! So while I walk the flowery grove, May seem to give their perfume too! ON SEEING AN INFANT IN NEA'S ARMS. THE first ambrosial child of bliss That Psyche to her bosom press'd, Her dark hair fell, in mazes bright, ' Referunt tamen quidam in interiore India avem esse, nomine Semendam, etc. CARDAN. 10 de Subtilitat. CESAR SCALIGER seems to think Semenda but another name for the Phoenix. Exercitat. 233. Faint as the lids of maiden eyes A little dove, of milky hue, To lead me, where my soul should meetI know not what, but something sweet! Bless'd be the little pilot dove! He had indeed been sent by Love, One of those rare and brilliant hours, Just where the margin's opening shade What spell, what magic raised her there? The broad banana's green embrace Her eyelid's black and silken fringe Was ever witchery half so sweet! Think. think how all my pulses beat, As o'er the rustling bank I stole— Oh! you that know the lover's soul, It is for you to dream the bliss, The tremblings of an hour like this! The Age. I know that this is an erroneous idea, but it is quite true enough for poetry, Pro, I think, allows a poet to be ⚫ three removes from truth; TfITATOS ATO THE dan Jelas. ON THE LOSS OF A LETTER INTENDED FOR NEA. OH! it was fill'd with words of flame, With all the wishes wild and dear, Which love may write, but dares not name, Of many a nightly dream it told, Free from the senses guilty shame, As Virtue's self would blush to blame! How could he lose such tender words! Words! that of themselves should spring To Nea's car, like panting birds, With heart and soul upon their wing! Oh! fancy what they dared to speak; Think all a virgin's shame can dread, Nor pause until thy couscious cheek Shall burn with thinking all they said! And I shall feign, shall fancy, too, Some dear reply thou might'st have given; Shall make that lip distil its dew In promise bland and hopes of Heaven! Shall think it tells of future days, When the averted cheek will turn, When eye with eye shall mingle rays, And lip to lip shall closely burn! Ah! if this flattery is not thine, If colder hope thy answer brings, I'll wish thy words were lost like mine, Since I can dream such dearer things! I FOUND her not-the chamber seem'd Like some divinely haunted place, Where fairy forms had lately beam'd, And left behind their odorous trace! It felt as if her lips had shed A sigh around her, ere she fled, Of melodies which had been there! I saw the web, which, all the day, Had floated o'er her check of rose; I saw the couch, where late she lay In langour of divine repose! And I could trace the hallow'd print Her limbs had left, as pure and warm Thou neer hast bid a ringlet shine, There never yet a murmur fell From that beguiling tongue, Which did not, with a lingering spell, Upon my charmed senses dwell, Like something Heaven had sung' Ah! that I could, at once, forget No, if this slighted heart must se Its faithful pulse decay, Oh! let it die, remembering thee. And, like the burnt aroma, be Consumed in sweets away! EPISTLE V. TO JOSEPH ATKINSON, ESQ. FROM BERMUDA. March. « THE daylight is gone-but, before we depart, One cup shall go round to the friend of my heart, PINSERTON has said that a good history and description of the Bermudas might afford a pleasing addition to the geographical library, but there certainly are not materials for such a work. The island, since the time of its discovery, has experienced so very few vicissi tudes, the people have been so indoleat, and their trade so limited, that there is but little which the historian could amplify into importance; and, with respect to the natural productions of the country, the few which the inhabitants can be induced to cultivate, are so common in the West Indies, that they have been described by every naturalist who has written any account of these islands. It is often asserted by the trans-atlantic politicians, that this little colony deserves more attention from the mother-country than it receives, and it certainly possesses advantages of situation, to which we should not be long insensible if it were once in the hands of an enemy. I was told by a celebrated friend of Washington, at New York, that they had formed a plan for its capture, towards the conclusion of the American War; with the intention (as he expressed himself) of making it a nest of hornets for the annoyance of British trade in that part of the world.. And there is no doubt, it hes so fairly in the track to the West Indies, that an enemy might with ease convert it into a very harrassing impediment. a more The plan of Bishop Berkeley for a college at Bermuda, where American savages might be converted and educated, though concurred in by the government of the day, was a wild and useless specalation. Mr Hamilton, who was governor of the island some years since, proposed, if I mistake not, the establishment of a marine academy for the instruction of those children of West Indians, who might be intended for any nautical employment. This was rational idea, and for something of this nature the island is admirably calculated. But the plan should be much more extensive, and embrace a general system of education, which would entirely remove the alternative in which the colonists are involved at present, of either sending their sons to England for instruction, or entrusting them to colleges in the States of America, where ideas by no means favourable to Great Britain are very sedulously inculcated. The women of Bermuda, though not generally handsome, have an affectionate langour in their look and manner, which is always interesting. What the French imply by their epithet aimante seems very much the character of the young Bermudian girls-that predisposition to loving, which, without being awakened by any particular object, diffuses itself through the general manner in a tone of tenderness that never fails to fascinate. The men of the island, I con |