MUNITO.

FROM A POEM ON DOGS.

THOUGH great Spadille, or that famed Prince of Lov
All conqu'ring Pam, turn backward from his view,-
Swift in the noble chase, Munito tracks

The Royal guests amid Plebeian packs ;

And though the cards in mixed confusion lie,
And mock the vigour of a human eye,

Munito still, with more than human art,

Knows Kings from Knaves, the Diamond from the

Heart:

Happy were men, if thus in graver things

Our Knaves were always parted from our Kings;
Happy the maid, who in Love's maze can part

The miser's Diamond from the lover's Heart!

1818.

LINES

WRITTEN IN THE FIRST LEAF OF VOLTAIRE'S "HISTOIRE DE CHARLES XII."

THOU little Book, thy leaves unfold
A tale of wonder and of glory,
And warring kings and barons bold.
Adorn the pages of thy story.

Thy vein is noble; meet and fit

To catch and charm a youthful eye ;
Thou teem'st with wonder and with wit ;
And yet I look on thee, and sigh:

Thy tales are sweet, but they renew
Visions how sad, yet ah, how dear!
Vain fancies mock my wandering view,
And recollection wakes a tear.

Thou bid'st me think upon the hours
When giddy Tizy round me ran ;
When glad I left Etona's bowers,

To laugh with laughing Mary Anne :

WRITTEN IN VOLTAIRE'S " CHARLES XII."

When Susan's voice of tenderness

My darkest sorrows could beguile ; When study wore its fairest dress,

Adorned by good Eliza's smile.

Alas! too soon before mine eye

Was spread the page of ancient lore; Too soon that meeting fleeted by,

Too soon those dreams of bliss were o'er.

I look on thee, and think again

Upon those halcyon days of gladness,
While Memory mingles joy and pain,
A mournful bliss, a pleasing sadness.

Ye friends with whom I may not be,

Ye forms that I have loved and left, What pleasure now shall beam on me, Of home and of your smiles bereft ?

My lot and yours are parted now;

And oh! I should not thus repine,
If Fortune would on you bestow
The happiness-which is not mine.

Long weeks must pass, ere I may greet
The glad return of former bliss,-

Ere I may fly again to meet

A cousin's smile, a sister's kiss. ETON, 1820.

VOL. II.

S

257

TO FLORENCE.

LONG years have passed with silent pace,
Florence since thou and I have met;
Yet, when that meeting I retrace,
My cheek is pale, my eye is wet;
For I was doomed from thence to rove
O'er distant tracts of earth and sea,
Unaided, Florence !-save by love;

And unremembered- -save by thee!
We met, and hope beguiled our fears-
Hope, ever bright, and ever vain ;
We parted thence in silent tears,
Never to meet in life again.
The myrtle that I gaze upon,

Sad token by thy love devised,

Is all the record left of one

So long bewailed, so dearly prized.

You gave it in an hour of grief,

When gifts of love are doubly dear;

You gave it, and one tender leaf

Glistened the while with beauty's tear.

A tear-oh! lovelier far to me,
Shed for me in my saddest hour,

Than bright and flattering smiles could be,
In courtly hall or summer bower.

You strove my anguish to beguile

With distant hopes of future weal;
You strove-alas! you could not smile,
Nor speak the hope you did not feel.
I bore the gift affection gave

O'er desert sand and thorny brake,
O'er rugged rock and stormy wave,—
I loved it for the giver's sake;
And often in my happiest day,

In scenes of bliss and hours of pride,
When all around was glad and gay,

I looked upon the gift, and sighed : And when on ocean or on clift

Forth strode the Spirit of the storm,
I gazed upon thy fading gift,

I thought upon thy fading form;
Forgot the lightning's vivid dart,
Forgot the rage of sky and sea,
Forgot the doom that bade us part,
And only lived to love and thee.
Florence!-thy myrtle blooms! but thou,
Beneath thy cold and lowly stone,
Forgetful of our mutual vow,

And of a heart-still all thine own,

Art laid in that unconscious sleep

Which he that wails thee soon must know,

Where none may smile, and none may weep,

None dream of bliss, nor wake to woe.