Fate heard her prayer: a lover came, Who felt, like her, the innoxious flame; One who had trod, as well as she, The flowery paths of poesy; Had warmed himself with Milton's heat, Could every line of Pope repeat, Or chant in Shenstone's tender strains, 'The lover's hopes,' 'the lover's pains.' Attentive to the charmer's tongue, With him she thought no evening long; With him she sauntered half the day; And sometimes, in a laughing way, Ran o'er the catalogue by rote Of who might marry, and who not; 'Consider, sir, we're near relations--' 'I hope so in our inclinations.'-- In short, she looked, she blushed consent; He grasped her hand, to church they went; And every matron that was there, With tongue so voluble and supple, Said for her part, she must declare, She never saw a finer couple. halcyon days! 'Twas Nature's reign, 'Twas Tempe's vale, and Enna's plain, The fields assumed unusual bloom, And every zephyr breathed perfume, The laughing sun with genial beams Danced lightly on the exulting streams; And the pale regent of the night In dewy softness shed delight. 'Twas transport not to be expressed; 'Twas Paradise!--But mark the rest. Two smiling springs had waked the flowers That paint the meads, or fringe the bowers, (Ye lovers, lend your wondering ears, Who count by months, and not by years,) Two smiling springs had chaplets wove To crown their solitude, and love: When lo, they find, they can't tell how, Their walks are not so pleasant now. The seasons sure were changed; the place Had, somehow, got a different face. Some blast had struck the cheerful scene; The lawns, the woods, were not so green. The purling rill, which murmured by, And once was liquid harmony, Became a sluggish, reedy pool: The days grew hot, the evenings cool. The moon, with all the starry reign, Were melancholy's silent train. And then the tedious winter night-- They could not read by candle-light. Full oft, unknowing why they did, They called in adventitious aid. A faithful, favourite dog ('twas thus With Tobit and Telemachus) Amused their steps; and for a while They viewed his gambols with a smile. The kitten too was comical, She played so oddly with her tail, Or in the glass was pleased to find Another cat, and peeped behind. A courteous neighbour at the door Was deemed intrusive noise no more. For rural visits, now and then, Are right, as men must live with men. Then cousin Jenny, fresh from town, A new recruit, a dear delight! Made many a heavy hour go down, At morn, at noon, at eve, at night: Sure they could hear her jokes for ever, She was so sprightly, and so clever!