My soul should yield thee willing thanks and praise,
For the chief blessings of my fairest days:
But that were sacrilege-praise is not thine,
But His who gave thee, and preserves thee mine.

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,
And blasted Nature wears a joyous air;
While she proclaims through all her spicy groves,
"Henceforth your fruits, your labours, and your
loves,

All that your sires possessed, or you have sown—
Sacred from plunder-all is now your own.'

HANNAH MORE

PLEASURES EVANESCENT.

LEASURES are like poppies spread;
You seize the flower-its bloom is shed!
Or like the snow-falls in the river;

A moment white-then melt for ever;
Or like the borealis race,

That flit ere you can point their place;
Or like the rainbow's lovely form
Evanishing amid the storm.

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
I wandered o'er the hill;

Though nature all around was gay

My heart was heavy still.

HOGG.

Can God, I thought, the good, the great,
These meaner creatures bless,

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,
Can perfect bliss be found?

The birds wild carolled overhead,
The breeze around me blew,
And Nature's awful chorus said,
No bliss for man she knew!

I questioned Love, whose early ray
So heavenly bright appears;
And Love in answer seemed to say,
His light was dimmed by tears.

I questioned Friendship,-Friendship mourned,
And thus her answer gave:

The friends whom fortune had not turned
Were vanished in the grave!

I asked of Feeling, if her skill

Could heal the wounded breast;

And found her sorrows streaming still
For others' griefs distrest.

I asked if Vice could bliss bestow ;-
Vice boasted loud and well;
But fading from her pallid brow
The venomed roses fell.

I questioned Virtue ;-Virtue sighed,
No boon could she dispense;
Nor Virtue was her name, she cried,
But humble Penitence!

I questioned Death ;-the grisly shade
Relaxed his brow severe,

And, "I am Happiness," he said,

"If Virtue guides thee here!"

HEBER.

FANCIED HAPPINESS.

OE to the youth whom Fancy gains,
Winning from Reason's hand the reins!
Pity and woe! for such a mind

Is soft, contemplative, and kind;
And woe to those who train such youth,
And spare to press the rights of truth,
The mind to strengthen and anneal,
While on the stithy glows the steel!
Oh, teach him, while your lessons last,
To judge the present by the past;
Remind him of each wish pursued,
How rich it glowed with promised good;
Remind him of each wish enjoyed,
How soon his hopes possession cloyed!
Tell him, we play unequal game,
Whene'er we shoot by Fancy's aim;
And, ere he strip him for her race,
Show the conditions of the chase.
Two Sisters by the goal are set,—
Cold Disappointment and Regret;
One disenchants the winner's eyes,
And strips of all its worth the prize;
While one augments its gaudy show,
More to enhance the loser's woe:
The victor sees his fairy gold,
Transformed, when won, to drossy mold;
But still the vanquished mourns his loss,
And rues, as gold, that glittering dross.

SCOTT.

TRUE HAPPINESS NOT LOCAL.

RUE Happiness had no localities,
No tones provincial, no peculiar garb.
Where Duty went, she went, with Justice

went,

And went with Meekness, Charity, and Love.
Where'er a tear was dried, a wounded heart
Bound up, a bruiséd spirit with the dew
Of sympathy anointed, or a pang
Of honest suffering soothed, or injury
Repeated oft, as oft by Love forgiven;
Where'er an evil passion was subdued,
Or virtue's feeble embers fanned; where'er
A sin was heartily abjured, and left;
Where'er a pious act was done, or breathed
A pious prayer, or wished a pious wish ;-
There was a high and holy place, a spot
Of sacred light, a most religious fane,
Where Happiness, descending, sat and smiled.

POLLOK.

THE HAPPY MAN.

E is the happy man, whose life e'en now
Shows somewhat of that happier life to

come;

Who, doomed to an obscure but tranquil state,
Is pleased with it, and, were he free to choose,
Would make his fate his choice;-whom peace, the

fruit

Of virtue, and whom virtue, fruit of faith,
Prepare for happiness; bespeak him one
Content indeed to sojourn while he must
Below the skies, but having there his home.
The World o'erlooks him in her busy search