And lo! the stream, renowned in classic song, Sad Lethe, glides the silent vale along. On mossy banks, beneath the citron grove, The youthful wanderers found a wild alcove; Soft o’er the fairy region languor stole, And with sweet melancholy charmed the soul. Here first Palemon, while his pensive mind For consolation on his friend reclin’d, In Pity’s bleeding bosom, poured the stream Of Love’s soft anguish, and of grief supreme: “Too true thy words! by sweet remembrance taught, My heart in secret bleeds with tender thought; In vain it courts the solitary shade, By every action, every look betrayed: The pride of generous woe disdains appeal To hearts, that unrelenting frosts congeal; Yet sure, if right Palemon can divine, The sense of gentle pity dwells in thine: Yes! all his cares thy sympathy shall know, And prove the kind companion of his woe. “Albert thou know’st, with skill and science graced; In humble station though by fortune placed, Yet never seaman more serenely brave Led Britain’s conquering squadrons o’er the wave: Where full in view Augusta’s spires are seen With flowery lawns, and waving woods between, An humble habitation rose, beside Where Thames meand’ring rolls his ample tide: There live the hope and pleasure of his life, A pious daughter, and a faithful wife: For his return with fond officious care Still every grateful object these prepare: Whatever can allure the smell or sight, Or wake the drooping spirits to delight. “This blooming maid in Virtue’s path to guide Th’ admiring parents all their care applied: Her spotless soul to soft affection trained, No voice untuned, no sickening folly stained: Not fairer grows the lily of the vale, Whose bosom opens to the vernal gale: Her eyes unconscious of their fatal charms, Thrilled every heart with exquisite alarms: Her face, in Beauty’s sweet attraction drest, The smile of maiden innocence exprest; While health, that rises with the new-born day, Breathed o’er her cheek the softest blush of May: Still in her look complacence smiled serene; She moved the charmer of the rural scene! “’Twas at that season, when the fields resume Their loveliest hues, arrayed in vernal bloom: Yon ship, rich freighted from th’ Italian shore, To Thames’ fair banks her costly tribute bore: While thus my father saw his ample hoard, From this return, with recent treasures stor’d; Me, with affairs of commerce charg’d, he sent } To Albert’s humble mansion—soon I went! } Too soon, alas! unconscious of th’ event. } There, struck with sweet surprise and silent awe, The gentle mistress of my hopes I saw; There, wounded first by Love’s resistless arms, My glowing bosom throbbed with strange alarms;