Every ruder gust of passion Lulled with music dies away, Till within the charmed bosom None but soft affections play: Soft as when the evening breezes Brighter than the smile of Summer, Sweeter than the breath of Love. Thee the' enchanted Muse shall follow, And each careless note repeating, Not the maid who crowned with cypress Sweeps along in sceptred pall, And in sad and solemn accents Mourns the crested hero's fall ; But that other smiling sister, With the blue and laughing eye, Singing, in a lighter measure, Strains of woodland harmony : All unknown to fame and glory, Easy, blithe and debonair, Crowned with flowers, her careless tresses Loosely floating on the air. Then when next the star of evening Softly sheds the silent dew, Let me in this rustic temple, Lissy! meet the Muse and you. THE MOUSE'S PETITION*. O HEAR a pensive prisoner's prayer, For liberty that sighs; And never let thine heart be shut Against the wretch's cries! For here forlorn and sad I sit, Within the wiry grate; And tremble at the' approaching morn, Which brings impending fate. * Found in the trap where he had been confined all night by Dr. Priestley, for the sake of making experiments with different kinds of air. D 2 If e'er thy breast with freedom glowed, And spurned a tyrant's chain, Let not thy strong oppressive force A free-born mouse detain ! O do not stain with guiltless blood Thy hospitable hearth! Nor triumph that thy wiles betrayed A prize so little worth. The scattered gleanings of a feast But if thine unrelenting heart That slender boon deny, The cheerful light, the vital air, The well-taught philosophic mind To all compassion gives; Casts round the world an equal eye, And feels for all that lives. If mind, as ancient sages taught, A never dying flame, Still shifts through matter's varying forms, In every form the same; Beware, lest in the worm you crush, A brother's soul you find; And tremble lest thy luckless hand Dislodge a kindred mind. Or, if this transient gleam of day Be all of life we share, Let pity plead within thy breast That little all to spare. |