Altior emicat illa, et celso vertice nutat, Ceu flores inter non habitura parem, Fastiditque alios, et nata videtur in usus Imperii, sceptrum, Flora quod ipsa gerat. Nec Dea non sensit civilis murmura rixæ, Dum licet et locus est, ut tueatur, adest. Et tibi forma datur procerior omnibus, inquit, 20 His ubi sedatus furor est, petit utraque nympham, Qualem inter Veneres Anglia sola parit; Hanc penes imperium est,nihil optant amplius,hujus Regnant in nitidis, et sine lite, genis. 28 THE POPLAR FIELD. THE poplars are felled, farewell to the shade, And the whispering sound of the cool colonnade; The winds play no longer and sing in the leaves, Nor Ouse in his bosom their image receives. Twelve years have elaps'd since I last took a view Of my favourite field, and the bank where they grew; And now in the grass behold they are laid, And the tree is my seat, that once lent me a shade. The blackbird has fled to another retreat, 9 Where the hazels afford him a screen from the heat, And the scene where his melody charm'd me before, Resounds with his sweet flowing ditty no more. My fugitive years are all hasting away, 1 With a turf on my breast, and a stone at my head, Ere another such grove shall arise in it's stead. 'Tis a sight to engage me, if any thing can, To muse on the perishing pleasures of man; Though his life be a dream, his enjoyments, I see, Have a being less durable even than he.' 20 IDEM LATINE REDDITUM. POPULEÆ cecidit gratissima copia silvæ, f Mr. Cowper afterward altered this last stanza in the following man ner: The change both my heart and my fancy employs, Hei mihi! bis senos dum luctu torqueor annos, His cogor silvis suetoque carere recessu, Ah ubi nunc merulæ cantus? Felicior illum Sed qui succisas doleo succidar et ipse, Tam subitò periisse videns tam digna manere, 10 Sit licèt ipse brevis, volucrique simillimus umbræ, Est homini brevior citiùsque obitura voluptas. 20° VOTUM. O MATUTINI Tores, auræque salubres, O nemora, et lætæ rivis felicibus herbæ, bat, Antelarem proprium placidam expectare senectam, CICINDELA. BY VINCENT BOURNE. SUB sepe exiguum est, nec rarò in margine ripæ, |