Flash to confound, and penetrate to kill;
Lest, thus encompass'd with funeral gloom,
Like me, ye bend o'er some untimely tomb,
Pour your wild ravings in Night's frighted ear,
And half pronounce Heaven's sacred doom sev ere.
Wise, Beauteous, Good! O every grace combined,
That charms the eye, or captivates the mind!
Fair as the floweret opening on the morn,
Whose leaves bright drops of liquid pearl adorn!
Sweet, as the downy-pinion'd gale, that roves
To gather fragrance in Arabian groves!

Mild, as the strains, that, at the close of day,
Warbling remote, along the vales decay!

Yet, why with these compared? What tints so fine, What sweetness, mildness, can be matched with thine? Why roam abroad? Since still, to Fancy's eyes,

I see, I see thy lovely form arise.

Still let me gaze, and every care beguile,

Gaze on that cheek, where all the Gra ces smile;
That soul-expressing eye, benignly bright,
Where meekness beams ineffable delight;

That brow, where Wisdom sits enthroned serene,
Each feature forms, and dignifies the mien:
Still let me listen,, while her words impart
The sweet effusions of the blameless heart,
Till all my soul, each tumult charm'd away,
Yields, gently led, to Virtue's easy sway.

By thee inspired, o Virtue, Age is young,
And musick warbles from the faltering tongue:
Thy ray creative cheers the clouded brow,
And decks the faded cheek with rosy glow,
Brightens the joyless aspect, and supplies
Pure heavenly lustre to the languid eyes:
But when Youth's living bloom reflects thy beams,
Resistless on the view the glory streams,
Love, Wonder, Joy, alternately alarm,
And Beauty dazzles, with angelic charm.

Ah whither fled! ye dear illusions stay
Lo, pale and silent lies the lovely clay.
How are the roses on that cheek decay'd,
Which late the purple light of youth display'd!
Health on her form each sprightly grace bestow'd;

With life and thought each speaking feature glow'd.
Fair was the flower, and soft the vernal sky:
Elate with hope we deem'd no tempest nigh;
When lo, a whirlwind's instantaneous gust
Left all its beauties withering in the dust.

All cold the hand, that sooth'd Woe's weary head.
And quench'd the eye, the pitying tear that shed!
And mute the voice, whose pleasing accents stole.
Infusing balm, into the rankled soul"!

O Death, why arm with cruelty thy power,
And spare the idle weed, yet lop the flower!
Why fly thy shafts in lawless error driven!
Is Virtue then no more the care of Heaven!
But

peace, bold thought! be still my bursting heart! We, not Eliza, felt the fatal dart.

Scaped the dark dungeon does the slave complain,
Nor bless the hand that broke the galling chain?
Say, pines not Virtue for the lingering morn,
On this dark wild condemn'd to roam forlorn?
Where Reason's meteor-rays, with sickly glow,
O'er the dun gloom a dreadful glimmering throw?
Disclosing dubious to th' affrighted eye
O'erwhelming mountains tottering from on high,
Black billowy seas in storm perpetual toss'd,
And weary ways in wildering labyrinths lost.
O happy stroke, that bursts the bonds of clay,
Darts through the rending gloom the blaze of day,
And wings the soul with boundless flight to soar,
Where dangers threat, and fears alarm no more.

Transporting thought! here let me wipe away
The tear of grief, and wake a bolder lay.
But ah! the swimming eye o'erflows anew,
Nor check the sacred drops to pity due;

Lo, where in speechless, hopeless anguish, bend
O'er her loved dust, the Parent, Brother, Friend!

How vain the hope of man! But tease thy strain,
Nor Sorrow's dread solemnity profane;

Mix'd with yon drooping Mourners, on her bier
In silence shed the sympathetick tear.

JERNINGHA M.

--

Von JOHN JERNINGHAM können wir unsern Lesern nur folgende aus Reufs gelehrtem England entlehnte Titel seiner Gedichte mittheilen: Poems on various subjects, 1766, 8; Amabella, a poem, 1767, 4; the Deserter, a poem; 1769, 4; the funeral of Arabert, Monk of la Trappe, a poem, 1771, 4; Faldoni and Theresa, 1773. 4; the swedish Curate, a poem, 1773, 4; Poems, 1774, 8; the Fall of Mexico, a poem, 1775, 4; Fugitive poetical pieces, 1778, 8; the ancient English wake, a poem, 1779, 4; Honoria or the day of all souls, a poem, with other poetical pieces, 1782, 4; the rise and progress of Scandinavian poetry, a poem in two parts, 1784, 4; Poems, Vol. 1, 2, 1786, 8; Enthusiasm, a poem, 1789, 4. Uns sind von ihm nur drei Stücke näher bekannt, nämlich Yariko to Inkle, the Deserter, und die suerst 1762 erschienene Elegie: the Magdalens. Zu dem ersten, hier mitgetheilten Stücke ist der Stoff aus dem im ersten Theile unsers Handbuchs S. 86. abgedruckten Aufsatze des Spectator entlehnt. Was the Magdalens betrifft, so sicht man sogleich, dafs unter diesem Namen gefallene Personen des andern Geschlechts verstanden werden, Übrigens ist diese Benennung gegenwär tig zur Bezeichnung solcher unglücklichen Frauenzimmer sehr häufig, seitdem das bekannte Magdalenen - Hospital (von wel chem man eine schätzbare Nachricht in der Schrift: London und Paris, 1794, 2tes Stück, S. 110 116 findet), dessen Zweck es ist, gefallene Personen des andern Geschlechts durch eine zweckmässige Behandlung wieder auf den Weg der Tugend zu führen, in London existirt. Eine Gesellschaft, welche sich 1758 bildete, gab die Kosten zur Erbauung dieses Zufluchtsorts her.

1) YARICO TO INKLE.

With falsehood lurking in thy sordid breast,
And perj'ry's seal upon thy heart imprest,

Dar'st thou, oh christian! brave the sounding waves,
The treach'rous whirlwinds, and untrophied graves?
Regardless of my woes securely go!

No curse-fraught accents from these lips shall flow:

My fondest wish shall catch thy flying sail,
Attend thy course, and urge the fav'ring gale;
May ev'ry bliss thy God confers be thine,
And all thy share of woe compris'd in mine!

One humble boon is all I now implore,'
Allow these feet to print their kindred shore
Give me, oh Albion's son! again to roam, v
For thee deserted, my delightful home:
To view the groves that deck my native scene,
The limpid stream, that graceful glides between:
Retrieve the fame I spurn'd at love's decree,
Ascend the throne which I forsook for theezu ba
Approach the bow'r (why starts th' unbidden tear?) ›
Where once thy Yarico to thee was dear.

The scenes the hand of time has thrown behind,
Return impetuous to my busy mind: formed
,,What hostile vessel quits the roaring tide,
,,To harbour here its tempest-beaten side?

,, Behold the beach receives the ship-wreck'd crew:
,,Oh mark their strange attire and pallid hue!
,,Are these the christians, restless sons of pride,
By avarice nurtur'd, to deceit allied?

"

Who tread with cunning step the maze of art, ,,And mask with placid looks a canker'd heart? Yet note, superior to the numerous throng,

(Even as the citron humbler plants among) That youth! Lo! beauty on his graceful brow ,,With nameless charms bids every feature glow: „Ah! leave, fair stranger, this unsocial ground, Where danger broods, and fury stalks around:r ,,Behold thy foes advance my steps pursue ,,To where I'll screen thee from their fatal view: '.. ,,He comes, he comes! th' ambrosial feast prépare,« ,,The fig, the palm-juice, nor th' anana spare: ,,In spacious canisters nor fail to bring

,,Ye graceful handmaids, dress the roseate bow'r, And hail with music this auspicious hour e Ah no! forbear be every lyre unstrung,

., More pleasing music warbles from his tongue;' ,,Yet, utter not to me the lover's vów,

,,All, all is thine that friendship can bestow;

I'

"

1

Our laws, my station, check the guilty flame
Why was I born, ye powers, a Nubian dame?
Yet see around, at love's enchanting call,

Stern laws submit, and vain distinctions fall:

,,And mortals then enjoy life's transient day,

When smit with passion they indulge the sway:

,, Yes! crown'd with bliss, we'll roam the conscious grove, And drink long draughts of unexhausted love:

., Nor joys alone, thy dangers too I'll share,

,. With thee the menace of the waves I'll dare.

,, Invain for smiles this brow deep frowns involve.

,,The sacred ties of gratitude dissolve,

See faith distracted rends her comely hair,..
,,His fading vows while tainted zephyrs bear!'
Oh thou, before whose seraph-guarded throne
The christians bow, and other gods disown,
If, wrapt in darkness, thou deny'st thy ray,
And shroud'st from Nubia thy celestial day?
Indulge this fervent pray's, to thee address'd, 1
Indulge, tho' uttered from a sable breast:
May gath'ring storms eclipse the chear ul skies,
And mad'ning furies from thy hell arise:
With glaring torches meet his impious brow,
And drag him howling to the gulf below!
- Ah no!

1

May heaven's bright messengers descend,
Obey his call, his every wish attend!

Still o'er his form their hovering wings display!
If he be blest, these pangs admit allay:

Me still her mark let angry fortune deem,

1

So thou may'st walk beneath her cloudless beam.
Yet oft to my rapt ear didst thou repeat,
That I suffic'd to frame thy bliss compleat,
Deluded sex! the dupes of man decreed,
We, splendid victims, at his altar bleed.
The grateful accents of thy candy'd tongue,
Where artful flattery too persuasive hung.
Like flow'rs, adorn'd the path to my disgrace,
And bade destruction wear a smiling face.
Yet form'd by nature in her choicest mould,
While on thy cheek her blushing charms unfold,
Who could oppose to thee stern virtue's shield?
What tender virgin would not wish to yield?