English

ELEGY I.

Children of Fancy, whither are ye fled?
Where have ye borne those hope-enliven'd hours,
That once with myrtle garlands bound my head,
That once bestrew'd my vernal path with flowers?

In yon fair vale, where blooms the beechen grove,
Where winds the slow wave through the flowery plain,
To these fond arms you led the tyrant, Love,
With Fear and Hope and Folly in his train.

It is pitiful and sharp to-day are the wounds of Ireland,
From Galway of white flaggy stones to Cork of the white strand;
The branches that were full of leaves and honey on the leaves
Are torn and stripped and shortened by the stranger to our grief.

It is long, O Royal Ireland, you were mannerly and kind,
A nursing mother to your sons, fair, hospitable, wise;
Now you are wine spilled from a cup beneath the stranger's feet,
The English-speaking troops to-day have trodden down our wheat.

Yesterday travelling Connacht,
Drogheda has me to-day;
My back to the empty pockets,
My face to the place will pay!

Just roving around,
To my grief and my sorrow,
Under a rock to-day,
Under a bush to-morrow.

Syrupy sweet to-day,
Sour as sloes to-morrow;
Sweet to the lads that pay,
Sour to the lads that borrow!

At Ecclesmahin first this Prophet great
Had for a time his ministerial seat.
At Airth this silver trumpet long did sound,
To solemn feasts convening thousands round.
Stirling was bless'd next, e'er this herald's death,
With twelve years' warning of his dying breath.
But how he should with zeal proclaim the truth
Seem'd first to be predicted in his youth:
When bloody hands that gave the fatal blow,
Set up the martyrs' heads a public show;
To their disgrace, whose glory is their shame,

After the battle of Calais, King Edward returns to fair England,
And he invited his nobles to a banquet most grand,
That the like hadn't been in England for many a day,
And many of the guests invited had come from far away.

The large hall of Windsor Castle was ablaze with light,
And there sat King Edward and his Queen, a most beautiful sight —
To see them seated upon two thrones of burnished gold;
And near the King sat Jack o' the Cudgel, like a warrior bold.

And when the banquet was prepared, King Edward arose,

'T WAS in the famous town of Windsor, on a fine summer morn,
Where the sign of Windsor Castle did a tavern adorn;
And there sat several soldiers drinking together,
Resolved to make merry in spite of wind or weather.

And old Simon the landlord was at the head of the table,
Cutting slices of beef as quick as he was able:
And one of the soldiers was of rather superior rank,
And on his dress trinkets of gold and silver together did clank.

He was a free companion, but surly and hard,
And a soldier of fortune, and was named Croquard;

EPILOGUE.

B RITONS , who constant War, with factious Rage,
For Liberty against each other wage,
From Foreign Insult save this English Stage.
No more th' Italian squaling Tribe admit,
In Tongues unknown; 'tis Popery in Wit.
The Songs (their selves confess) from Rome they bring;
And 'tis High-Mass, for ought you know, they Sing.
Husbands take Care, the Danger may come nigher,
The Women say their Eunuch is a Friar.

But is it not a serious Ill to see

A Sonnet! pray repeat it.

1.

While Gentle Parthenissa walks,
And sweetly smiles, and gayly talks,
A thousand Shafts around her fly,
A thousand Swains unheeded die.

2.

If then she labours to be seen,
With all her killing Air and Mien;
From so much Beauty, so much Art,
What Mortal can secure his Heart?

SONG .

With Studied Airs, and practis'd Smiles,
Flavia my Ravish'd Heart beguiles,
The Charms we make, are Ours alone,
Nature's works are not our own;
Her Skilful Hand gives every Grace,
And shows her fancy in her Face.
She Feeds with Art an Amourous Rage,
Nor fears the Force of Coming Age.

AS ONG .

Design'd for the Fourth Act, but not Set.

I.

See , Britons , see with Awful Eyes,
Britannia from her Seas arise!
Ten Thousand Billows round Me roar,
While Winds and Waves engage,
That break in Froth upon my Shoar,
And impotently Rage.
Such were the Terrors, which of late
Surrounded my afflicted State;
United Fury thus was bent