I come, my dear fhepherd, I come ;
Ye friends and companions, adieu ;
I hafte to my Collins dark home,
To die on his bofom fo true.

All mournful the midnight bell rung,
When Lucy, fad Lucy arofe;
And forth to the green-turf fhe fprung,
Where Collins pale ashes repose.
All wet with the nights chilling dew,
Her bofom embrac'd the cold ground,
While ftormy winds over her blew,

And night-ravens croak'd all around.

How long, my lov'd Collin, fhe cried,
How long muft thy Lucy complain?
How long fhall the grave my love hide?
How long ere it join us again?
For thee thy fond fhepherdefs liv'd,

With thee o'er the world would she fly,
For thee has fhe forrow'd and griev'd,
For thee would fhe lie down and die.

Alas! what avails it how dear

Thy Lucy was once to her fwain !

Her face like the lily so fair,

And eyes that gave light to the plain !
The fhepherd that lov'd her is gone,
That face and those eyes charm no more,
And Lucy forgot and alone,

To death fhall her Collin deplore.

While thus fhe lay funk in despair,
And mourn'd to the echos around,
Inflam'd all at once grew the air,

And thunder shook dreadful the ground.
I hear the kind call, and obey,

Oh, Collin, receive me, fhe cried!
Then breathing a groan o'er his clay,
She hung on his tomb-ftone and died.

'TWA

WAS when the seas were roaring
With hollow blafts of wind;

A damfel lay deploring,

All on a rock reclin'd.

Wide o'er the foaming billows

She caft a wiftful look;

Her head was crown'd with willows

That trembled o'er the brook.

Twelve months are gone

and over,

And nine long tedious days.
Why didst thou, vent'rous lover,

Why didft thou truft the feas?
Ceafe, cease thou cruel ocean,
And let my lover rest:
Ah! what's thy troubled motion
To that within my breaft?

* In The What D'ye call it.

The

SONG LXVI.

THE DESPAIRING SHEPHERD.

BY MATHEW PRIOR ESQ

A

LEXIS fhunn'd his fellow fwains,

Their rural fports, and jocund ftrains:
(Heav'n guard us all from Cupids bow!)
He loft his crook, he left his flocks;
And wand'ring through the lonely rocks,
He nourish'd endless woe.

The nymphs and fhepherds round him came:
His grief fome pity, others blame;

He

The fatal caufe all kindly feek:

He mingled his concern with theirs ;
gave 'em back their friendly tears;
He figh'd, but would not speak.

Clorinda came among the reft;
And she too kind concern express'd,
And afk'd the reafon of his woe:
She ask'd, but with an air and mien,
That made it easily foreseen,

She fear'd too much to know.

The fhepherd rais'd his mournful head;
And will you pardon me, he faid,

While

While I the cruel truth reveal?

Which nothing from my breast should tear:
Which never fhould offend your ear,
But that you bid me tell.

"Tis thus I rove, 'tis thus complain,
Since you appear'd upon the plain;
You are the cause of all my care:
Your eyes ten thousand dangers dart :
Ten thousand torments vex my heart:
I love, and I despair.

Too much, Alexis, I have heard:
'Tis what I thought; tis what I fear'd:
And yet I pardon you, fhe cried:

But you fhall promise ne'er again

To breathe your vows, or speak your pain:
He bow'd, obey'd, and died.

HA

SONG LXVII.

ARD by the hall, our masters house,
Where Merfey flows to meet the main ;

Where woods, and winds, and waves difpofe
A lover to complain.

With arms across; along the ftrand,

Poor Lycon walk'd, and hung his head; Viewing the footsteps in the fand,

Which a bright nymph had made.

The