The tender speckled moth here dancing seen,
The vaulting grasshopper of glossy green,
And all prolific Summer's sporting train,
Their little lives by various powers sustain.
But what can unassisted vision do?
What, but recoil where most it would pursue;
His patient gaze but finish with a sigh,
When music waking speaks the sky-lark nigh!

THE FARMER'S BOY IN THE FIELDS.

Just starting from the corn she cheerly sings,
And trusts with conscious pride her downy wings;
Still louder breathes, and in the face of day
Mounts up, and calls on Giles to mark her way.
Close to his eyes his hat he instant bends,
And forms a friendly telescope, that lends
Just aid enough to dull the glaring light,
And place the wandering bird before his sight;
Yet oft beneath a cloud she sweeps along,
Lost for awhile, yet pours her varied song.
He views the spot, and as the cloud moves by,
Again she stretches up the clear blue sky;
Her form, her motion, undistinguish'd quite,
Save when she wheels direct from shade to light:
The fluttering songstress a mere speck became,
Like fancy's floating bubbles in a dream;
He sees her yet, but yielding to repose,
Unwittingly his jaded eyelids close.

Delicious sleep! From sleep who could forbear,
With no more guilt than Giles, and no more care?
Peace o'er his slumbers waves her guardian wing,
Nor Conscience once disturbs him with a sting:
He wakes refresh'd from every trivial pain,
And takes his pole and brushes round again.

ELLIOTT.

BURNS.

THAT heaven's belov'd die early,
Prophetic Pity mourns;

But old as Truth, although in youth,

Died giant-hearted Burns.

Oh that I were the daisy

That sank beneath his plough,

Or, "neighbour meet," that "skylark sweet!" Say, are they nothing now?

Thy Burns, child-honour'd Scotland!

Is many minds in one;

With thought on thought, 'the name is fraught, Of glory's peasant son.

Thy Chaucer is thy Milton,

And might have been thy Tell;
As Hampden fought, thy Sidney wrote,
And would have fought as well.

Be proud, man-childed Scotland!
Of earth's unpolished gem;

And "Bonny Doon," and "heaven aboon."
For Burns hath hallowed them.

Be proud, though sin-dishonour'd,
And grief baptized thy child;
As rivers run, in shade and sun,
He ran his courses wild.

Grieve not, though savage forests
Look'd grimly on the wave,

Where dim-eyed flowers and shaded bowers
Seem'd living in the grave.

Grieve not, though, by the torrent,

Its headlong course was riven,

When o'er it came, in clouds and flame,
Niagara from heaven!

For sometimes gently flowing,

And sometimes chafed to foam,

O'er slack and deep, by wood and steep,

He sought his heavenly home.

A POET'S EPITAPH.

STOP, Mortal! Here thy brother lies,
The Poet of the poor;

His books were rivers, woods, and skies,

The meadow and the moor;

His teachers were the torn heart's wail,
The tyrant and the slave,

The street, the factory, the jail,

The palace and the grave!
Sin met thy brother every where!
And is thy brother blamed?

F

From passion, danger, doubt, and care,
He no exemption claim'd.

The meanest thing, earth's feeblest worm

He fear'd to scorn or hate;

But, honouring in a peasant's form

The equal of the great.

He bless'd the Steward, whose wealth makes

The poor man's little more;

Yet loath'd the haughty wretch that takes

From plunder'd labour's store.

A hand to do, a head to plan,

A heart to feel and dare

Tell man's worst foes, here lies the man
Who drew them as they are.

SPRING.

AGAIN the violet of our early days

Drinks beauteous azure from the golden sun,

And kindles into fragrance at his blaze;

The streams, rejoic'd that Winter's work is done,
Talk of to-morrow's cowslips, as they run.

Wild apple, thou art blushing into bloom!

Thy leaves are coming, snowy-blossom'd thorn!

Wake, buried lily! spirit, quit thy tomb!

And thou, shade-loving hyacinth, be born!

Then, haste, sweet rose! sweet woodbine, hymn the morn,

Whose dew-drops shall illume with pearly light

Each grassy blade that thick embattled stands

From sea to sea, while daisies infinite

Uplift in praise their little glowing hands.

O'er every hill that under heav'n expands.