182

THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE.

All round our sinking souls, like those fair birds
O'er whose soft plumes the tempest hath no power,
Waving their snow-white wings amid the darkness,
And wiling us with gentle motion, on

To some calm island! on whose silvery strand
Drooping at once, they fold their silent pinions-
And, as we touch the shores of paradise,

In love and beauty walk around our feet!"

PROFESSOR WILSON.

The Castle of Indolence.

N lowly dale, fast by a river's side,

With woody hill o'er hill encompassed round,
A most enchanting wizard did abide,

It

Than whom a fiend more fell nowhere is found.
was, I ween, a lovely spot of ground;

And there, a season atween June and May,
Half-prankt with spring, with summer half-embrowned,
A listless climate made, where, sooth to say,
No living wight could work, nor caréd e'en for play:

Was nought around but images of rest;

Sleep-soothing groves and quiet lawns between ;
And flowery beds, that slumb'rous influence kest,
From poppies breathed; and beds of pleasant green,
Where never yet was creeping creature seen.

Meantime, unnumbered glittering streamlets played,
And hurléd everywhere their waters sheen,

That as they bickered through the sunny glade,
Though restless still themselves, a lulling murmur made.

Joined to the prattle of the purling rills,

Were heard the lowing herds along the vale, And flocks loud bleating from the distant hills, And vacant shepherds piping in the dale; And now and then sweet Philomel would wail, Or stock-doves plain amid the forest deep, That drowsy rustled to the sighing gale,

And still a coil the grasshopper did keep; Yet all these sounds yblent inclinéd all to sleep.

184

THE FEMALE CONVICT TO HER INFANT.

Full in the passage of the vale above,

A sable, silent, solemn forest stood,

Where nought but shadowy forms were seen to move,
As Idlesse fancied in her dreaming mood,
And up the hills, on either side, a wood

Of blackening pines, aye waving to and fro,
Sent forth a sleepy horror through the blood;

And where this valley wended out below,

The murmuring main was heard, and scarcely heard to flow.

THOMSON.

The Female Convict to her Infant.

H! sleep not, my babe, for the morn of to-morrow
Shall soothe me to slumber more tranquil than thine;
The dark grave shall shield me from shame and from
sorrow,

Though the deeds and the doom of the guilty are
mine.

Not long shall the arm of affection enfold thee;

Not long shalt thou hang on thy mother's fond breast;
And who with the eye of delight shall behold thee,

And watch thee, and guard thee, when I am at rest?

And yet it doth grieve me to wake thee, my dearest,
The pangs of thy desolate mother to see;

Thou wilt weep when the clank of my cold chain thou hearest,
And none but the guilty should mourn over me.

And yet I must wake thee-for while thou art weeping,
To calm thee, I stifle my tears for awhile;

But thou smil'st in thy dreams, while thus placidly sleeping,
And, oh! how it wounds me to gaze on thy smile!

THE FEMALE CONVICT TO HER INFANT.

Alas! my sweet babe, with what pride had I pressed thee
To the bosom that now throbs with terror and shame,
If the pure tie of virtuous affection had blessed thee,
And hailed thee the heir of thy father's high name!
But now-with remorse that avails not-I mourn thee,
Forsaken and friendless as soon thou wilt be,

In a world, if it cannot betray, that will scorn thee-
Avenging the guilt of thy mother on thee.

And when the dark thought of my fate shall awaken
The deep blush of shame on thy innocent cheek!
When by all but the God of the orphan forsaken,

A home and a father in vain thou shalt seek;
I know that the base world will seek to deceive thee,
With falsehood like that which thy mother beguiled;
Yet, lost and degraded-to whom can I leave thee?
O God of the fatherless! pity my child!

REV. T. DALE.

X

185

"Arcadia," a Romance. "Astrophel and Stella." "A Defence of Poesy."
MICHAEL DRAYTON

born 1563; died 1631.

"Polyolbion." "Nymphydia, or the Fairy Court." "The Shepherd's Garland."
"England's Heroical Epistles."

"The

Baron's Wars."

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

born 1564; died 1616.

Historical Dramas, Tragedies, Comedies, Poems, Sonnets, &c.

BEN JONSON

born 1574; died 1637.

A Dramatic Poet. "Every Man in his Humour." And many other plays and masques.

JOHN FLETCHER

FRANCIS BEAUMONT

Dramatic poets, who wrote in conjunction. "The Faithful Shepherdess," a poem, was written
by Fletcher.

born 1585; died 1615.

born 1576; died 1625.

"The Book of Emblems." "Divine Fancies." "Enchiridion of Meditations." "The
Shepherd's Oracles."

SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT

"Gondibert," an heroic poem. Songs, odes, &c.

JOHN MILTON

born 1606; died 1668.

born 1608; died 1674.

"Paradise Lost." "Paradise Regained." "Samson Agonistes." "Lycidas." "Comus."
Sonnets, &c. &c.

SIR JOHN DENHAM

born 1615; died 1668.

"The Sophy," a tragedy. "Cooper's Hill," a poem.