My soul should yield thee willing thanks and praise, COWPER. LIBERTY. HALL Britain, where the soul of freedom reigns, Forge chains for others she herself disdains? Forbid it, Heaven! Oh, let the nations know The liberty she loves she will bestow; Not to herself the glorious gift confined, She spreads the blessing wide as human kind, And, scorning narrow views of time and place, Bids all be free in earth's extended space. What page of human annals can record A deed so bright as human rights restored? Oh, may that God-like deed, that shining page, Redeem our fame, and consecrate our age; And let this glory mark our favoured shore, To curb false freedom, and the true restore. And see! the cherub Mercy from above, Descending softly, quits the sphere of love! On Britain's isle she sheds her heavenly dew, And breathes her spirit o'er the enlightened few; From soul to soul the generous influence steals, Till every breast the soft contagion feels. She speeds exulting to the burning shore, With the best message angel ever bore; Hark! 'tis the note which spoke a Saviour's birth,— 66 Glory to God on high, and peace on earth!" As the mild spirit hovers o'er the coast, A fresher hue the withered landscapes boast; *The abolition of the slave trade. Her healing smiles the ruined scenes repair, All that your sires possessed, or you have sown— HANNAH MORE PLEASURES EVANESCENT. LEASURES are like poppies spread; A moment white-then melt for ever; That flit ere you can point their place; BURNS. KNOWLEDGE. NOWLEDGE, of all, avails the human kind, For all beyond the grave are joys of mind. HAPPINESS. NE morning in the month of May Though nature all around was gay My heart was heavy still. HOGG. Can God, I thought, the good, the great, And yet deny our human state The boon of happiness? Tell me, ye woods, ye smiling plains, Ye blesséd birds around, Where, in creation's wide domains, The birds wild carolled overhead, I questioned Love, whose early ray I questioned Friendship,-Friendship mourned, The friends whom fortune had not turned I asked of Feeling, if her skill Could heal the wounded breast; And found her sorrows streaming still I asked if Vice could bliss bestow ;- I questioned Virtue ;-Virtue sighed, I questioned Death ;-the grisly shade And, "I am Happiness," he said, "If Virtue guides thee here!" HEBER. FANCIED HAPPINESS. OE to the youth whom Fancy gains, Is soft, contemplative, and kind; SCOTT. TRUE HAPPINESS NOT LOCAL. RUE Happiness had no localities, went, And went with Meekness, Charity, and Love. POLLOK. THE HAPPY MAN. E is the happy man, whose life e'en now come; Who, doomed to an obscure but tranquil state, fruit Of virtue, and whom virtue, fruit of faith, |