's flood
Hang on the frowning rock, and trace
The characters, that wove in blood,
Stamp'd the dire fate of Edward's race;
Proud tyrant, tear thy laurel'd plume;
How poor thy vain pretence to deathless fame!
The injur'd muse records thy lasting shame,
And she has power to "ratify thy doom."
Nature, when first she smiling came,
To wake within the human breast
The sacred muses hallow'd flame,
And earth, with heav'n's rich spirit blest!
Nature in that auspicious hour,
With aweful mandate, bade the bard
The register of glory guard,
And gave him o'er all mortal honours power.

Can fame on painting's aid rely,
Or lean on sculpture's trophy'd bust?
The faithless colours bloom to die,
The crumbling pillar mocks its trust;
But thou, oh muse, immortal maid!
Canst paint the godlike deeds that praise inspire,
Or worth that lives but in the mind's desire,
In tints that only shall with Nature fade!
Oh tell me, partial nymph! what rite,
What incense sweet, what homage true,
Draws from thy fount of purest light
The flame it lends a chosen few?
Alas! these lips can never frame
The mystic vow that moves thy breast;
Yet by thy joys my life is blest,
And my fond soul shall consecrate thy name.


JULIA, for the first time, accepted with pleasure Mrs. Melbourne's invitation; for her former visits to that lady had been productive only of weariness and disgust. She had always been treated by Miss Melbourne with great neglect, and by her most intimate companions, the Hon. Miss C_+'s, with particular rudeness. Miss Melbourne had discernment enough to perceive Julia's merit, and, had she been more obliged to fortune, and less to nature, would have valued her acquaintance highly; but no honour could have been gained with people of ton, by an intimacy with one in Julia's situation; while, at the same time, her engaging qualities would have been perpetually in the way, and obtruded themselves in a manner very

troublesome to Miss Melbourne. Her bosom friends, the Hon. Miss C_+'s, had an unconquerable antipathy to female beauty: they agreed with many wise men in the opinion, that beauty often proves fatal to the possessor; but, notwithstanding this conviction, these ladies had the magnanimity to wish that this dangerous property had been entirely confined to themselves.
The eldest of these sisters, who had just reached her
