STANZAS.

YE cliffs, in your whiteness, Thou sea, in thy sleep,

Yon pale orb, in brightness, Illuming the deep!

From scenes of such gladness
I rather would flee,

Meek spirit of sadness,
To linger with thee!

Yon orb, in its splendour,

Yon sky, and that sea,

Are objects too tender,
Too gentle for me!

The deep gloom of sorrow

The stillness of night,

From these I can borrow

A dearer delight!

RONALD AND ELLEN.

A BALLAD.

YE ask, why o'er the self same grave
The laurel and the willow weep,

Since this should o'er the warrior wave,

And that should mark the maiden's sleep.

Alas! they lie united here,

O!

United only in the tomb

pause and learn their fate severe,

O! pause, and weep their early doom!

Lord Ronald was as brave a youth
As e'er in lists of honour strove,
The maid who won his plighted truth
Was worthy of Lord Ronald's love.

For she was fair, her mild blue eye
Beamed with Affection's soft salute!
Her voice was plaintive, like the sigh
Of some forsaken lover's lute!

But Ronald's sire was stern, and he
The low-born maiden's worth denied;
And vow'd that Ellen ne'er should be
Lord Ronald's love, Lord Ronald's bride.

And why, he cried, thus meanly yield
Thy prime to Love's inglorious truce?
Go! seek for fame in honour's field,

Go fight for Freedom and for Bruce!

The youth obedient heard, but soon

Perceived his sire's insidious snare ;

For oft had he refused the boon,

Though sought by Ronald's earliest prayer.

He bade the lovely maid adieu,

His bosom bursting with its ire,

But, when the gentle Ellen knew
The mandate of his sullen sire,

Adieu, my lord!" she faintly sigh'd,

"And when to distant scenes remov'd,

Forget, with some illustrious bride

"That Ellen lived, that Ellen loved!"

"Ah, no!" he wild exclaimed, "my life "Is thine, if spared by Fate's decree ; "And safe from yon victorious strife,

"If Ronald lives, he lives for thee."

They heard the clarion's loud alarms,
That bade two hearts united sever;
And rushing to each others' arms,

They wept adieu,—alas, for ever!

For, foremost in the ranks of fame,
His bosom pierced with many a dart,
He fell and when the tidings came

To Ellen's ear,-to Ellen's heart!

Her feeble life-strings sever'd then,

She sunk ere half the tale was told; And when they raised her up again,

Her pulse was still, her heart was cold!

And now they lie united here,

United only in the tomb!

And while ye learn their fate severe,

O drop the tear that mourns their doom!

ON HEARING A FLUTE.

How sweet at this secluded hour, While all the list'ning scene is mute, To catch, from Echo's secret bower, The murmurs of yon plaintive flute !

For, hark! accordant note with note, Her viewless reed so sweetly blends, That one the mingling measures float, In one the sinking cadence ends.

As when two minds congenial meet,
Subdued to Love's divine control,
And softly blend, in cadence sweet,

The kindred echoes of the scul!