9149 THOMAS PRINGLE. PRINGLE, THOMAS, a Scottish poet; born at Blaiklaw, in Teviotdale, Roxburghshire, January 5, 1789; died at London, December 5, 1834. He was graduated at the University of Edinburgh. In 1816 he wrote "The Autumnal Excursion." In 1817 he began the publication of the "Edinburgh Monthly Magazine," out of which subsequently grew "Blackwood's Magazine." He went to Cape Town in 1820, where he became the editor of the "South African Journal." Pringle returned to Great Britain in 1826, and in 1828 published a collection of his poems, entitled "Ephemerides." His verses on South African themes were issued in 1834 as "African Sketches," in the same volume with his "Narrative of a Residence in South Africa." A collection of his "Poems" appeared in 1838. AFAR IN THE Desert. AFAR in the desert I love to ride, With the silent Bush-boy alone by my side: And the shadows of things that long since have fled Thrills to the heart like electric flame; The home of my childhood the haunts of my prime; My high aims abandoned, my good acts undone, A-weary of all that is under the sun; With that sadness of heart which no stranger may scan, I fly to the desert, afar from man! Afar in the desert I love to ride, . With the silent Bush-boy alone by my side, Away, away from the dwellings of men, By the wild deer's haunt, by the buffalo's glen; By valleys remote where the oribi plays, Where the gnu, the gazelle, and the hartebeest graze, By the skirts of gray forests o'erhung with wild vine; With the silent Bush-boy alone by my side; With the silent Bush-boy alone by my side; Away, away in the wilderness vast, Where the white man's foot hatlı never passed, Which man hath abandoned from famine and fear; And here, while the night-winds round me sigh, A still small voice comes through the wild THE HIGHLANDS. THE Highlands! the Highlands! - O gin I were there: The Highlands! the Highlands! - My full bosom swells The Highlands! the Highlands! - Far up the grey glen An' a deas at the door, wi' my auld mother there, Crooning" Haste ye back, Donald, an' leave us nae mair!" VOL. XVII. — - 10 MATTHEW PRIOR. PRIOR, MATTHEW, an English poet and diplomatist; born probably at Wimborne, Dorset, July 21, 1664; died at Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, September 18, 1721. In 1686 he was graduated at Cambridge. To ridicule Dryden's "Hind and Panther" he wrote a poem entitled "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse." In 1700 he produced "Carmen Seculare," a poetical panegyric on William III. He held various civil and diplomatic positions, and was returned to Parliament in 1701. In 1711 he was made Ambassador at Paris; but when the Whigs came into power, in 1714, he was recalled, and imprisoned on a charge of treason. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, where a monument was erected to his memory. THE GARLAND. THE pride of every grove I chose, At morn the nymph vouchsaft to place The flowers she wore along the day: Undrest at evening when she found. That eye dropt sense distinct and clear, When from its lid a pearly tear Ran trickling down her beauteous cheek. Dissembling what I knew too well, She sighed; she smiled: and to the flowers Ah me! the blooming pride of May, At dawn poor Stella danced and sung; I saw, and kissed her in her shroud. Such as she is, who died to-day, Such I, alas! may be to-morrow; FOR HIS OWN MONUMENT. As doctors give physic by way of prevention, May haply be never fulfilled by his heir. Then, take Matt's word for it- the sculptor is paid; That the figure is fine, pray believe your own eye; Yet credit but lightly what more may be said, For we flatter ourselves, and teach marble to lie. Yet, counting as far as to fifty his years, His virtues and vices were as other men's are: High hopes he conceived, and he smothered great fears, In a life parti-colored-half pleasure-half care. Nor to business a drudge, nor to faction a slave, In public employments, industrious and grave, And alone with his friends, Lord! how merry was he. |