And we the mirror hold, where imaged shine Pause-ere their feebler offspring you condemn, Friends of the stage! to whom both Players and Plays Must sue alike for pardon, or for praise, And made us blush that you forbore to blame; This greeting o'er, the ancient rule obey'd, Receive our welcome too, whose every tone Springs from our hearts, and fain would win your own. The curtain rises-may our stage unfold Scenes not unworthy Drury's days of old! Britons our judges, Nature for our guide, Still may we please-long, long may you preside. XXIV. To Time. TIME! on whose arbitrary wing The varying hours must flag or fly, Hail thou! who on my birth bestow'd Those boons to all that know thee known; Yet better I sustain thy load, For now I bear the weight alone. I would not one fond heart should share The bitter moments thou hast given; To them be joy or rest, on me Thy future ills shall press in vain; A debt already paid in pain. Retards, but never counts the hour. Thy cloud could overcast the light, For then, however drear and dark, My soul was suited to thy sky; One star alone shot forth a spark To prove thee-not Eternity. That beam hath sunk, and now thou art The limit of thy sloth or speed, When future wanderers bear the storm Which we shall sleep too sound to heed: And I can smile to think how weak Thine efforts shortly shall be shown, When all the vengeance thou canst wreak Must fall upon-a nameless stone ! XXV. Translation of a Romaic Love Song. 1. AH! Love was never yet without The pang, the agony, the doubt, Which rends my heart with ceaseless sigh, While day and night roll darkling by. 2. Without one friend to hear my woe, That Love had arrows, well I knew Alas! I find them poison'd too. 3. Birds, yet in freedom, shun the net, Which Love around your haunts hath set; Or circled by his fatal fire, Your hearts shall burn, your hopes expire. 4. A bird of free and careless wing Was I, through many a smiling spring; I burn, and feebly flutter there. 5. Who ne'er have loved, and loved in vain, Can neither feel nor pity pain, The cold repulse, the look askance, The lightning of Love's angry glance. 6. In flattering dreams I deemed thee mine; |