Each scene of bliss reveal’d, since chaos fled, And dawning light its dazzling glories spread; Each chain of wonders that sublimely glow’d, Since first Creation’s choral anthem flow’d; Each ready flight, at Mercy’s smile divine, To distant worlds that undiscover’d shine; Full on her tablet flings its living rays, And all, combin’d, with blest effulgence blaze. There thy bright train, immortal Friendship, soar; No more to part, to mingle tears no more! And, as the softening hand of Time endears The joys and sorrows of our infant-years, So there the soul, releas’d from human strife, Smiles at the little cares and ills of life; Its lights and shades, its sunshine and its showers; As at a dream that charm’d her vacant hours! Oft may the spirits of the dead descend To watch the silent slumbers of a friend; To hover round his evening-walk unseen, And hold sweet converse on the dusky green; To hail the spot where first their friendship grew, And heav’n and nature open’d to their view! Oft, when he trims his cheerful hearth, and sees A smiling circle emulous to please; There may these gentle guests delight to dwell, And bless the scene they lov’d in life so well! Oh thou! with whom my heart was wont to share From Reason’s dawn each pleasure and each care; With whom, alas! I fondly hop’d to know The humble walks of happiness below; If thy blest nature now unites above An angel’s pity with a brother’s love, Still o’er my life preserve thy mild controul, Correct my views, and elevate my soul; Grant me thy peace and purity of mind, Devout yet cheerful, active yet resign’d; Grant me, like thee, whose heart knew no disguise, Whose blameless wishes never aim’d to rise, To meet the changes Time and Chance present, With modest dignity and calm content. When thy last breath, ere Nature sunk to rest, Thy meek submission to thy God express’d; When thy last look, ere thought and feeling fled, A mingled gleam of hope and triumph shed; What to thy soul its glad assurance gave, Its hope in death, its triumph o’er the grave? The sweet Remembrance of unblemish’d youth, The still inspiring voice of Innocence and Truth! Hail, MEMORY, hail! in thy exhaustless mine From age to age unnumber’d treasures shine! Thought and her shadowy brood thy call obey, And Place and Time are subject to thy sway! Thy pleasures most we feel, when most alone; The only pleasures we can call our own. Lighter than air, Hope’s summer-visions die, If but a fleeting cloud obscure the sky; If but a beam of sober Reason play, Lo, Fancy’s fairy frost-work melts away! But can the wiles of Art, the grasp of Power, Snatch the rich relics of a well-spent hour? These, when the trembling spirit wings her flight, Pour round her path a stream of living light; And gild those pure and perfect realms of rest, Where Virtue triumphs, and her sons are blest! NOTES ON THE FIRST PART. [1] _Up springs at every step to claim a tear_,