countenance so informed with beauty, with intellect and with sensibility, as in parting for ever from old friends and familiar scenes. At such a time every one is a poet, and looks upon human life and external nature with a deep and solemn feeling. They who are apt in ordinary seasons to take a literal and vulgar view of all things, assume a higher tone, and see something to feel, to admire, and to cherish beyond the range of their daily thoughts and avocations. But let us pass over the trial of separation, and trace the after progress of the friends who leave us. The hurry and excitement of embarkation, and the novelty of their position, are circumstances well calculated to shorten the pain of parting, and give a fresh impulse to the mind. When they are once fairly launched on the wide blue ocean, the relief from all common cares and duties the holiday feeling-the exultation of spirit occasioned by a change of air and scene-all dispose them to give a ready welcome to cheerful thoughts, and to banish every unpleasing recollection. Then grave men become as frolicksome as children, and take a deep interest in those trifles and amusements which during their long weary exile and amidst far higher cares were either forgotten or despised. They seem as if they had taken a new lease of life. The fountain of early pleasure is unlocked. Their first fresh feelings return upon their hearts, and they become as frank and social, and as sanguine and as willing to be pleased, as in the generous ardor of their boyhood. Each new occurrence in their progress-a change of wind or weather-the capture of a fish or bird-the discovery of a ship, like a speck of cloud on the far horizon-a dinner or a dance with the strangers, when the two little oaken worlds in the vast space of waters, arrive in contact the touching at some small uninhabited island, as solitary and romantic as the residence of Robinson Crusoe-and finally the first pale glimmering of the snow-white cliffs of Albion, make their hearts bound within them, and they feel as they have often thought that they should never feel again! As they approach the shores hallowed by so many early associations and of which they have thought and dreamt for so many years, with what tumultuous eagerness they crowd into the first boat that reaches the vessel's side! At last they leap upon their native earth; and they who mix reflection with their transport, look back with grateful wonder at their escapes by land and sea, and rejoice in the consummation of their long cherished hopes. No language could paint the feelings with which those Indian. parents who have sent children home at an early age hurry from the sea-port town at which they land, to embrace again their living treasures! The first excess of joy at such a meeting may border upon pain; but when the deep and wild emotion begins to moderate, there is no earthly felicity with which it could be compared. It is almost a compensation for the pangs of parting, and the miseries of exile. SONNET-WRITTEN IN INDIA. THE scene is sweetly changed! The lord of day That seared the green earth's breast! A veil doth hide As some fond lover's smile that melts away Meek Twilight comes! From zephyr-haunted bowers Arise the tuneful Shama's evening peals, Blent with the far wave's murmur, and the songs Of village maids, that Echo's voice prolongs. LINES TO A LADY WHO PRESENTED THE AUTHOR WITH SOME ENGLISH FRUITS AND FLOWERS. GREEN herbs and gushing springs in some hot waste, Though grateful to the traveller's sight and taste, Seem far less fair and fresh than fruits and flowers That breathe, in foreign lands, of English bowers. Thy gracious gift, dear Lady, well recalls Sweet scenes of home,-the white cot's trellised walls- The jasmine-covered arbour, fit retreat For hearts that love repose. Each spot displays Of exile wakes, and sees the morning beam That float o'er fields his happy childhood knew. How small a spark may kindle fancy's flame, And light up all the past! The very same Glad sounds and sights that charmed my heart of old, Arrest me now-I hear them and behold. Ah! yonder is the happy circle seated Within the favourite bower! I am greeted With joyous shouts; my rosy boys have heard Gone is the sweet illusion-like a scene Formed by the western vapours, when between The dusky earth and day's departing light, The curtain falls of India's sudden night. MENTAL CHANGES. As o'er the fairest skies The dream-like shadows steal, So dim mysterious cares surprize The heart whose human weal Would seem secure from aught less bright As when this outward world Attracts the mortal eye, A vapour on the light air curled Between us and the sky May make its blue depths cold and dun, And place in brief eclipse the sun; So in the realms of mind, The meanest things have power, With thoughts as wayward as the wind When fitful tempests lour, The loveliest hues of life to cloud, And Hope's resplendent orb enshroud. SONNETS-WRITTEN AT SEA. [FINE WEATHER.] THE plain of ocean 'neath the crystal air Methinks they glitter in the proud sun's wake, And breathe a glorious beauty on the day! [A CALM, AFTER A GALE.] LIKE mountain-mists that roll on sultry airs, That lately roared in wrath. The storm-fiend, bound The vexed and wearied main. The moon appears, Is memory's lingering echo. Ocean's zone And home's dear forms are like departed dreams! |