THE VIRGIN's CRADLE-HYMN. Copied from a Print of the Virgin, in a Catholic village in Germany. DORMI, Jesu! Mater ridet, Si non dormis, Mater plorat, Inter fila cantans orat Blande, veni, somnule. ENGLISH. Sleep, sweet babe! my cares beguiling: Mother sits beside thee smiling: Sleep, my darling, tenderly! If thou sleep not, mother mourneth, Come, soft slumber, balmily! EPITAPH, ON AN INFANT. Its balmy lips the Infant blest Relaxing from its Mother's breast, How sweet it heaves the happy sigh Of innocent Satiety ! And such my Infant's latest sigh! MELANCHOLY.* A FRAGMENT. STRETCH'D on a moulder'd Abbey's broadest wall, The dark green Adder's Tongue § was there; The long lank leaf bow'd fluttering o'er her cheek. That pallid cheek was flush'd: her eager look And her bent forehead work'd with troubled thought. A mystic tumult, and a fateful rhyme Mixt with wild shapings of the unborn time. * First published in the Morning Chronicle, in the year 1794. § A botanical mistake. The plant, I meant, is called the Hart's Tongue; but this would unluckily spoil the poetical effect. ergo Botanice. Cedat TELL'S BIRTH-PLACE. Imitated from Stolberg. I. MARK this holy chapel well! The Birth-place, this, of WILLIAM TELL. Here, where stands God's altar dread, Stood his parents' marriage-bed. II. Here first, an infant to her breast, Him his loving mother prest; And kiss'd the babe, and bless'd the day, And pray'd as mothers use to pray. III. "Vouchsafe him health, O God! and give The child thy servant still to live!” But God had destined to do more Through him, than through an armed power. IV. God gave him reverence of laws, Yet stirring blood in Freedom's cause A spirit to his rocks akin, The eye of the Hawk, and the fire therein! V. To Nature and to Holy writ Alone did God the boy commit: Where flash'd and roar'd the torrent, oft His soul found wings, and soar'd aloft! VI. The straining oar and chamois chase Had form'd his limbs to strength and grace: On wave and wind the boy would toss, Was great, nor knew how great he was! VII. He knew not that his chosen hand, |