"Il primo albor non appariva ancora."
No blush of morn yet o'er th' horizon stole,
When with my Phillis 'neath a mountain tree
I stood, now listening to her joyous soul,
Now praying Heaven to woo the daylight free:
Thou wilt behold, I said, far o'er the sea
The fair Aurora make her sweet return,
And paling, as with fear, away shall flee
The timid stars that round Olympus burn:
And then thou❜lt see the Sun, before whose light
Alike Aurora and the stars shall wane:
But I shall see what thou wilt not, more bright
Than Sun, or Morning, or the Starry train ;--
Thy beauteous eyes look up with fond delight,
Against whose beams all other shine in vain.
"Sed' Icara leggesti," &c.
OFT have we heard, in Po's imperial tide
How hapless Phaeton was headlong thrown,
Who durst aspire the Sun's bright steeds to guide,
And wreathe his brows with splendors not his own!
Oft have we heard, how 'midst th' Icarian main,
Fell the rash youth who tried too bold a flight;
Thus shall it fare with him, who seeks in vain
On mortal wings to reach th' empyreal height.
But who inspired by love can dangers fear!
What cannot love, who guides the rolling sphere;
Whose powerful magic, earth and heaven controls?
Love brought Diana from the starry skies,
Smit with the beauties of a mortal eye;
Love snatched the boy of Ida to the poles.
THREE Courtly dames before my presence stood;
All lovely formed, though differing in grace :
Yet each resembled each; for Nature showed
A sister's air in every mein and face.
Each maid I praised; but one above the rest,
Soon kindled in my heart the lover's fire:
For her these sighs still issue from my breast;
Her name, her beauties, still my song inspire.
Yet though to her alone my thoughts are due,
Reflected in the rest her charms I view,
And in their semblance still the nymph adore:
Delusion sweet! from this to that I rove;
But while I wander, sigh, and fear to prove
A traitor thus to Love's almighty power.
"Vasco! le cui felici," &c.
VASCO, whose bold and happy bowsprit bore
Against the rising morn; and, homeward fraught,
Whose sails came westward with the day, and brought
The wealth of India to thy native shore;
Ne'er did the Greek such length of seas explore,
The Greek who sorrow to the Cyclop wrought;
And he, who victor, with the harpies fought,
Never such pomp of naval honours wore.
Great as thou art, and peerless in renown,
Yet thou to Camoens owest thy noblest fame;
Further than thou didst sail, his deathless song
Shall bear the dazzling splendour of thy name;
And under many a sky thy actions crown,
While time and fame together glide along.
Leonora d'Este, the real object of Tasso's adoration; Leonora di Sanvitali, Countess of Scandiano, is the other Leonora, who has puzzled all the biographers; a third Leonora was said to exist in the person of the Countess's favorite attendant: but this is untrue. The name of Leonora's waiting maid was Laura."-MRS. JAMESON.
FABLES and dreams I frame, and while I turn
My dreams and fables in poetic strains,
I take a part in visionary pains,
And at my own invention fondly mourn.
But am I wiser when my mind is freed
From these illusions of an idle hour?
Does Reason then exert her calmer power,
And juster causes love or sorrow breed?
Ah! no-not that which makes the poet's theme
Alone is fiction: all I hope or fear
Alike is false: I dwell with shadows here,
And life's whole course is but an empty dream.
O! when I wake from fancied joys and woes,
Heaven grant me in the arms of Truth repose.
THOU virgin rose! whose opening leaves so fair
The dawn has nourished with her balmy dews;
While softest whispers of the morning air
Called forth the blushes of thy vermeil hues.
That cautious hand, which cropped thy youthful pride,
Transplants thy honours, where from death secure,
Stripped of each thorn offensive to thy side,
Thy nobler part alone shall bloom mature.
Thus, thou, a flower, exempt from change of skies,
By storms and torrents unassailed, shalt rise,
And scorn the winter colds, and summer heats:
A guard more faithful now thy growth shall tend,
By whom thou may'st in tranquil union blend
Eternal beauties, with eternal sweets.
ON THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
As some fond mother views her infant race, With tender love o'erflowing while she sees; She kisses one, one clasps in her embrace,
Her feet supporting one, and one her knees; Then, as the winning gesture, speaking face, Or plaintive cry, explain their different pleas, A look, a word, she deals with various grace, And smiles, or frowns, as Love alone decrees. O'er man, frail kind, so Providence divine
Still watches; hears, sustains, and succours all, With equal eye beholding each that lives. If Heaven denies, oh! let not man repine! Heaven but denies to quicken duty's call, Or feigning to deny, more largely gives.
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