NOTHING. "Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken out of men's minds, vain opinions, flattering hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one would,' and the like, but it would leave the minds of a number of men, poor shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition, and unpleasing to themselves?"-BACON. WHAT wild ambitious schemes Their sweet attractive power, And pleasure vainly woos The statesman to her bower. Youth, manhood, and old age, have each their vice, First lust, ambition next, then avarice. Some mount on high like rockets, That blaze, then die away; And folly loves to mock its Or Juans, or Napoleons, 'tis the same— The slaves of passion are the fools to fame. "To-morrow and to-morrow" Men never think that sorrow Can rob them of their toys; Or death-they heedless hear the passing bell; Where be his fond conceits for whom it tolls a knell ? Þ VERSES WRITTEN IN STONELEIGH PARK. THE rudest trunk by Nature's hand that's wrought Ye patriarchal oaks, that mock the span Ye teach me this, that even in decay Ye thrive, when the proud mind is worn away. Ye richly-foliaged woods, that seem but one, Youth's liveliness, and your most cheerful green. When sombre shades the brightest hues displace, Steals o'er our hearts their "melancholy grace," 'Tis the bard's golden chain that seems to bind Nature's best energies with those of mind; For when creation's wonder-works we see, Whence springs this holy feeling? from delight Here might Zeluco for a moment feel WRITTEN AT ROME. WE need not fear, in these enlighten'd times, Of Roman faith, who grasp'd the temporal sword. November, 1818. * Julius II. says, CASTI, a profligate writer, author of certain "Novelle," as Forsyth "too excellently wicked." |