From the Latin by Leigh Hunt
WE the fairies blithe and antic,
Of dimensions not gigantic,
Though the moonshine mostly keep us,
Oft in orchards frisk and peep us.
Stolen sweets are always sweeter;
Stolen kisses much completer;
Stolen looks are nice in chapels;
Stolen, stolen be your apples.
When to bed the world are...
Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl’s feather!
Down along the rocky shore
Some make their home,—
They live on crispy pancakes
Of yellow tide-foam;
...
From “The Queen’s Wake”
BONNY KILMENY gaed up the glen;
But it wasna to meet Duneira’s men,
Nor the rosy monk of the isle to see,
For Kilmeny was pure as pure could be.
It was only to hear the yorlin sing,
And pu’ the cress-flower round the spring,—
The scarlet hypp, and the hindberrye,
And the nut that hung frae the hazel-tree;...
The Summer sun was sinking
With a mild light, calm and mellow;
It shone on my little boy’s bonnie cheeks,
And his loose locks of yellow.
The robin was singing sweetly,
And his song was sad and tender;
And my little boy’s eyes, while he heard the song,
Smiled with a sweet, soft splendor.
My little boy lay on my bosom...
Keen was the air, the sky was very light,
Soft with shed snow my garden was, and white,
And, walking there, I heard upon the night
Sudden sound of little voices,
Just the prettiest of noises.
It was the strangest, subtlest, sweetest sound,
It seemed above me, seemed upon the ground,
Then swiftly seemed to eddy round and round,...
From “Hymnes of Astræa, in Acrosticke Verse”
E ARTH now is green, and heaven is blue,
L ively Spring which makes all new,
I olly Spring, doth enter;
S weet young sun beams do subdue
A ngry, agèd Winter.
B lasts are mild, and seas are calm,
E very meadow flows with balm,
T he Earth wears all her riches;
H armonious birds...
From the French by Louise Stuart Costello
ALL beauty, granted as a boon to earth,
That is, has been, or ever can have birth,
Compared to hers, is void, and Nature’s care
Ne’er formed a creature so divinely fair.
In spring amidst the lilies she was born,
And purer tints her peerless face adorn;
And though Adonis’ blood the rose may paint...
Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud,
Not of war only, but detractions rude,
Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,
To peace and truth thy glorious way hast ploughed,
And on the neck of crownèd fortune proud
Hast reared God’s trophies, and his work pursued,
While Darwen stream, with blood of Scots inbued,
And Dunbar field...
Robert Emmet
O, BREATHE not his name! let it sleep in the shade,
Where cold and unhonored his relics are laid;
Sad, silent, and dark be the tears that we shed,
As the night-dew that falls on the grave o’er his head.
But the night-dew that falls, though in silence it weeps,
Shall brighten with verdure the grave where he sleeps;
And the...
From “The Vanity of Human Wishes”
ON what foundations stands the warrior’s pride,
How just his hopes, let Swedish Charles decide:
A frame of adamant, a soul of fire,
No dangers fright him, and no labors tire;
O’er love, o’er fear, extends his wide domain,
Unconquered lord of pleasure and of pain.
No joys to him pacific sceptres yield,...
