A model more exact than dancing name,

Of the creation's univerfal frame?

Where worlds unnumber'd, o'er th' ætherial way,
In a bright regular confufion ftray;

Now here, now there, they whirl along the sky,
Now near approach, and now far distant fly,
Now meet in the fame order they began,
And then the great celeftial dance is done.
Where can the moralift find a juster plan
Of the vain labours, and the life of man?
Awhile thro' juftling crowds we toil and sweat,
And eagerly pursue we know not what ;
Then, when our trifling fhort-liv'd race is run,
Quite tir'd, fit down, juft where we first begun.
Tho' to your arms kind Fate's indulgent care
Has giv❜n a partner exquifitely fair,

Let not her charms fo much engage your heart,
That you neglect the skilful dancer's part;
Be not, when you the tuneful notes fhould hear,
Still whifp'ring idle prattle in her ear;
When you should be employ'd, be not at play,
Nor for your joys all other steps delay:

But when the finish'd dance you once have done,
And with applaufe thro' ev'ry couple run,
There reft awhile; there fnatch the fleeting blifs,
The tender whifper, and the balmy kifs;
Each fecret wish, each fofter hope confefs,

And her moist palm with eager fingers prefs.
With fmiles the fair fhall hear your warm defires,
When mufick melts her foul, and dancing fires.

L

Thus, mix'd with love, the pleafing toil parfue, Till the unwelcome morn appears in view; Then, when approaching day it's beams displays, And the dull candles fhine with fainter rays; Then, when the fun juft rifes o'er the deep, And each bright eye is almoft fet in fleep;

With ready hands, obfequious youths, prepare,
Safe to her coach to lead each chosen fair,
And guard her from the morn's inclement air:
Let a warm hood enwrap her lovely head,
And o'er her neck a handkerchief be spread;
Around her shoulders let this arm be caft,
Whilft that from cold defends her flender waist;
With kiffes warm her balmy lips fhall glow,
Unchill'd by nightly damps, or wint'ry fnow;
While gen'rous white-wine, mull'd with ginger warm,
Safely protects her inward frame from harm.

But ever let my lovely pupils fear

To chill their mantling blood with cold fmall-beer.
Ah, thoughtless fair! the tempting draught refuse,
When thus forewarn'd by my experienc'd Mufe;
Let the fad confequence your thoughts employ,
Nor hazard future pains, for prefent joy;
Destruction lurks within the pois'nous dofe,
A fatal fever or a pimpled nofe.

Thus thro' each precept of the dancing art
The Mufe has play'd the kind inftructor's part;
Thro' ev'ry maze her pupils fhe has led,
And pointed out the fureft paths to tread;
No more remains; no more the goddess fings;
But drops her pinions, and unfurls her wings.
On downy beds the weary dancers lie,
And Sleep's filk cords tie down each drowzy eye;
Delightful dreams their pleafing fports reftore,
And e'en in fleep they feem to dance once more.
And now the work compleatly finish'd lies,
Which the devouring teeth of Time defies.
Whilft birds in air, or fish in ftreams we find,
Or damfels fret with aged partners join'd;
As long as nymphs fhall with attentive ear
A fiddle rather than a sermon hear ;.

So long the brightest eye shall oft perufe

The useful lines of my instructive Muse;

Each belle fhall wear them wrote upon her fan,
And each bright beau fhall read them-if he can.

THE TOMB OF SHAKESPEARE.

W

A VISION.

BY JOHN GILBERT COOPER, ES Q

HAT time the jocund rofy-bofom'd hours

Led forth the train of Phoebus and the spring,
And Zephyr mild profufely fcatter'd flowers
On Earth's green mantle from his mufky wing;

The Morn unbarr'd th' ambrofial gates of light,
Weftward the raven-pinion'd Darkness flew;
The landscape fmil'd in vernal beauty bright,
And to their graves the fallen ghosts withdrew;

The nightingale no longer fwell'd her throat
With love-lorn plainings tremulous and flow,
And on the wings of Silence ceas'd to float
The gurgling notes of her melodious woe:

The God of fleep myfterious vifions led
In gay proceffion 'fore the mental eye,
And my freed foul awhile her manfion fled,
To try her plumes for immortality.

Thro' fields of air, methought I took my flight,
Thro' ev'ry clime, o'er ev'ry region pass'd
No paradife or ruin 'fcap'd my fight,
Hefperian garden, or Cimmerian wafte.

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On Avon's banks I lit, whose streams appear
To wind with eddies fond round Shakespeare's tomb;
The year's first feath'ry fongfters warble near,

And violets breathe, and earliest roses bloom.

Here Fancy fat, (her dewy fingers cold,

Decking with flow'rets fresh th' unfullied fod) And bath'd with tears the fad fepulchral mold, Her fav'rite offspring's long and last abode..

* Ah! what avails,' fhe cry'd, a poet's name?
Ah! what avails th' immortalizing breath,

To fnatch from dumb Oblivion other's fame ?
My darling child here lies a prey to Death!

Let gentle Otway, white-rob'd Pity's prieft,
From grief domestick teach the tears to flow;
Or Southern captivate th' impaffion'd breast
< With heart-felt fighs, and fympathy of woe!

For not to these HIS genius was confin'd,
• Nature and I each tuneful pow'r had giv'n;

⚫ Poetick transports of the madding mind,

And the wing'd words that waft the foul to heav'n :

The fiery glance of th' intellectual eye,

Piercing all objects of creation's ftore,

< Which on this world's extended surface lie;

And plastick thought, that still created more."

O grant,' with eager rapture I reply'd,

⚫ Grant me, great goddess of the changeful eye, •To view each being in poetick pride,

To whom thy Son gave immortality!"

Sweet

Sweet Fancy fmil'd, and wav'd her myftick rod, When straight these visions felt her pow'rful arm; And one by one fucceeded at her nod,

As vaffal fprites obey the wizard's charm.

First a celeftial form (of azure hue,

Whose mantle, bound with brede ætherial, flow'd To each foft breeze it's balmy breath that drew) Swift down the fun-beams of the noon-tide rode.

Obedient to the necromantick fway

Of an old fage, to folitude refign'd, With fenny vapours he obfcur'd the day,

Launch'd the long lightning, and let loose the wind.

He whirl'd the tempeft thro' the howling air,
Rattled the dreadful thunder-clap on high,
And rais'd a roaring elemental war

Betwixt the fea-green waves and azure sky.

Then, like Heav'n's mild ambaffador of love
To man repentant, bade the tumult cease;
Smooth'd the blue bofom of the realms above,
And hufh'd the rebel elements to peace.

Unlike to this in fpirit or in mien,

Another form + fucceeded to my view ;

A two-legg'd brute, which Nature made in fpleen,
Or from the loathing womb unfinish'd drew.

Scarce could he fyllable the curfe he thought;
Prone were his eyes to earth, his mind to evil;

A carnal fiend to imperfection wrought,

The mongrel offspring of a witch and devil.

Ariel in the Tempeft.

+ Caliban in the Tempe.