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TO MARY.

[Autumn of 1793.]

THE twentieth year is well nigh past
Since first our sky was overcast,

Ah would that this might be the last!

Thy spirits have a fainter flow,

I see them daily weaker grow

My Mary

My Mary'

'Twas my distress that brought thee low,

Thy needles, once a shining store,
For my sake restless heretofore,
Now rust disus'd, and shine no more,

or though thou gladly wouldst fulfil The same kind office for me still, Thy sight now seconds not thy will,

My Mary'

My Mary!

But well thou play'dst the housewife's part,
And all thy threads, with magick art,
Have wound themselves about this heart,

My Mary'

Thy indistinct expressions seem

Like language utter'd in a dream;

Yet me they charm, whate'er the theme,

My Mary'

Thy silver locks once auburn bright,
Are still more lovely in my sight
Than golden beams of orient light,

For could I view nor them nor thee,
What sight worth seeing could I see?
The sun would rise in vain for me,

Partakers of thy sad decline,
Thy hands their little force resign;
Yet gently prest, press gently mine,

My Mary

My Mary'

My Mary!

Such feebleness of limbs thou prov'st,
That now at every step thou mov'st,
Upheld by two, yet still thou lov'st,

My Mary!

And still to love, though prest with ill,

In wintry age to feel no chill,

With me is to be lovely still,

My Mary'

But ah! by constant heed I know,

How oft the sadness that I show,

Transforms thy smiles to looks of wo,

My Mary!

And should my future lot be cast

With much resemblance of the past,

Thy worn-out heart will break at last,

My Mary!

MONTES GLACIALES,

IN OCEANO GERMANICO NATANTES.

[March 11, 1799.]

EN, quæ prodigia ex oris allata remotis,
Oras adveniunt pavefacta per æquora nostras
Non equidem prisce sæclum rediisse videtur
Pyrrhæ, cum Proteus pecus altos visere montes
Et sylvas, egit. Sed tempora vix leviora
Adsunt, evulsi quando radicitus alti

In mare descendunt montes, fluctusque pererrant
Quid vero hoc monstri est magis et mirabile visu!
Splendentes video, ceu pulchro ex ære vel auro
Conflatos, rutilisque accinctos undique gemmis,
Bacca cærulea, et flammas imitante pyropo,
Ex oriente adsunt, ubi gazas optima tellus
Parturit omnigenas, quibus æva per omnia sumptu
Ingenti finxere sibi diademata reges?

Vix hoc crediderim. Non fallunt talia acutos
Mercatorum oculos: prius et quam littora Gangis
Liquissent, avidis gratissima præda fuissent.
Ortos unde putemus? An illos Ves'vius atrox
Protulit, ignivomisve ejecit faucibus Ætna?
Luce micant propria, Phobive, per æra parum
Nunc stimulantis equos argentea tela retorquent ?
Phabi luce micant. Ventis et fluctibus altis
Appulsi, et rapidis subter currentibus undis,
Tandem non fallunt oculos. Capita alta videre est
Multa onerata nive, et canis conspersa pruinis

Cetera sunt glacies. Procul hume, ubi Bruma fere

Contristat menses, portenta hæc horrida nobis
Illa strui voluit. Quoties de culmine sumHRO
Clivorum fluerent in littora prona, solutæ
Sole, nives, propero tendentes in mare cursu,
Illa gelu fixit. Paulatim attollere sese
Mirum cœpit opus; glacieque ab origine rerum
In glaciem aggesta sublimes vertice tandem
Equavit montes, non crescere nescia moles.
Sic immensa diu stetit, æternumque stetisset
Congeries, hominum neque vi neque mobilis arte,
Littora ni tandem declivia deseruisset,
Pondere victa suo. Dilabitur. Omnia circum
Antra et saxa gemnunt, subito concussa fragore,
Dum ruit in pelagus tanquam studiosa natandi,
Ingens tota strues. Sic Delos dicitur olim,
Insula, in Ægæo fluitasse erratica ponto.
Sed non ex glacic Delos; neque torpida Delum
Bruma inter rupes genuit nudam sterilenique.
Sed vestita herbis erat illa, ornataque nunquam
Decidua lauro; et Delum dilexit Apollo.
At vos, errones horrendi, et caligine digni
Cimmeria, Deus idem odit. Natalia vestra,
Nubibus involvens frontein, non ille tueri
Sustinuit. Patrium vos ergo requirite cœlum !
Ite! Redite! Timete motas; m leniter austro
Spirante, et nitidas Phobo jaculante sagittas
Hostili vobis, pcreatis gurgite misti

ON THE ICE ISLANDS,

SEEN FLOATING IN THE GERMAN OCEAN.

[March 19, 1799.]

WHAT portents, from what distant region, ride,
Unseen till now in ours, th' astonish'd tide
la ages past, old Proteus, with his droves

Of sea-calves, sought the mountains and the groves.
But now, descending whence of late they stood,
Themselves the mountains seem to rove the flood,
Dire times were they, full charg'd with human woes ;
And these, scarce less calamitous than those,
What view we now? More wondrous still! Behold!
Like burnish'd brass they shine, or beaten gold;
And all around the pearl's pure splendour show,
And all around the ruby's fiery glow.

Come they from India, where the burning Earth,
All bounteous, gives her richest treasures birth;
And where the costly gems, that beam around
The brows of mightiest potentates, are found ?
No. Never such a countless dazzling store
Had left, unseen, the Ganges' peopled shore
Rapacious hands, and ever-watchful eyes,

Should sooner far have marked and seized the prize.
Whence sprang they then? Ejected have they come
From Ves'vius', or from Ætna's burning womb ?
Thus shine they self-illum'd, or but display
The borrow'd splendours of a cloudless day?

With borrow'd beams they shine. The gales, that

breathe

Now landward, and the current's force beneath,

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