Oh! leave the chanting of their lewd amours,

To soft Italians, and gay TROUBADOURS!

Cast to the mercy of the comic hour,

Shall gay
And the rude Bacchanal's intemp❜rate glee,
Swell the loud laugh of lawless ribaldry?
Nature may sport in her prolusions gay,
And list the Muses on her festive day,
But not incite, the vaulted hall to rend,
Nor lyric sounds to Bromian orgies lend.

THALIA triumph in thy power,

The humorous BUTLER, in a merry age, When love and ribaldry were all "the rage," Wrote much less trash than might expected be; And, with a keen and well-timed pleasantry, Burlesqu'd the Hero of a rigid class,

Couch'd in the name of Old St. Hugh de Bras ;* Whose work was read till he was better known By name of "Hudibras" than by his own.

* The reputed tutelary Saint of Devonshire.

Of such-like poems, there appear'd no more,
Till learned SYNTAX took his Northern tour,
Sought, as he journey'd, in complete grotesque,
And when he found not, made "the picturesque."

Satire and wit, tho brighten'd up with rhyme, Are seldom read, by choice, a second time. For, when perus'd, the point, the pleasure's o'er, As tricks, once known, are never witness'd more. Yet may we learn, by such instructors taught,

That rhyme shows genius too as well as thought.

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Satire and Epigram may useful be, Caustic lampoon, and brilliant repartee; Wit may bring folly to it's sacrifice, And prove the scourge of vanity and vice; The rough LUCILIUS may his lash apply; Rome, 'neath her JUVENAL, may smarting lie; The brilliant HORACE may his "salt" bestow, And France be chasten'd by her keen BOILEAU.

'Twere well, had ROCHESTER his wit represt, Tho' when he "Nothing" wrote, he wrote the best. What of the rest, who ring the merry chime?

We only name them; (they deserve a rhyme) There's sprightly PRIOR, and there's playful GAY, Facetious SWIFT, and laughing RABELAIS.

"Tis worthier far, in NATURE's teemful scene

Of strange sublimity or fairy green,

To walk entranc'd, and, thro' the live-long day, Indulge the measures of the pastoral lay.

Forth at her call, as by enchanter's wand,

Spring to their harps a bright and various band.
Well may such crowds attend her jubilee,
Nature's a Theatre, to all men, free;

From all her scenes a general int'rest flows;
For every Bard her peerless beauty glows.

The sweet THEOCRITUS leads up the train; VIRGIL, in eclogues, imitates his strain,

And forms a model of the pastoral class,
Which none have yet been able to surpass.
GESSNER, indeed, has worn deserved bays,
And our own THOMSON has immortal praise.
With him you circle, as the "Seasons" move,
While every scene you know, admire and love.
Luxuriant Thomson sells at every stall,

Because he paints what suits and pleases all.

I hail thee, BURNS! the Bard whom Nature made, Inspir'd, when ploughing on the stubborn glade Of "Mossgiel;" "wandering, prest with care,” On "Coila's hills," and "bonny banks of Ayr." Burns draws from nature, what is drawn is seen; His Banks and Braes, Twa Dogs, and Halloween; We see his "Sheep-boy" wending up "the moor," And all the "guests" that crowd his "cottage" floor. In Lochs and Glens the fam'd SIR WALTER sings Of Ladies, Hunters, Castles, Knights, and Kings; Amusing, graceful, picturesque and gay,

His "Lake" must please; so must his “Minstrel's lay.”

Nurs'd by the Tweed, and pastoral Willenslee, The ETTRICK SHEPHERD breathes sweet minstrelsy; Shews to the world, for Caledonia's pride,

How genius blossoms on her mountains' side.

Tost on the Main, on Græcia's ramparts cast,
The hideous wreck, and the tremendous blast
Of midnight hurricane, loud with the yell
Of death, our FALCONER but escap'd to tell.
On Alpine cliff, or Europe's travers'd plain,
Enchanting GOLDSMITH pens his moral strain;
Bids every land before our vision glide,
Condemns it's luxury, or scorns it's pride;
At home, alas! on "Auburn's village green,”
Weeping, describes the desolated scene:

Rest, then, sweet moralist! thine Auburn may
"Deserted" be, but never will thy lay.

When village scenes invite the Harper's song, Let CRABBE his praise receive; and when among

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