The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1807-07-16 00:00:00, page 1

WHEELING REPOSITORY.
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(Vol. 1.) Thursday, i6th July, i8o*Jg (No. 20.) \
ORIGIN A L ROE I 'll 1 \
Epistles.
Tout Friend in England.
Written at fra, long 44’ 54’, lat. ^3' 51
[Continued.]
The voyager, who darts not gaze
At Noon’s intolerable blaze,
Now xvarmly courts the friendlv aid
Of some kind awning’s welcome shade,
• hick hedge,high rock,or nodding tow’r,
J o blunt the sun’s too subtil pow’r.
Vain search!—No shadowy defence
Is nigh to skreen his torpent sense,
Unless some straggling cloud should
A para-sol ahove his head : [spread
His eye, reliev’d, with eager glance
Now hurries o’er the broad txpanse,
Or rolls inquisitively round,
To find—what is not to be found—
Variety: with aspect tame,
) he scene is every where the same.
\ et naked Nature here delights
vV’uh (what we lack at puppet sights)
Things which, contemplatively view’d,
i'ted the heart with substantial food.
"What more can suit a mind that’s free,
Than this vast solitude of sea,—
This billowu wilderness! that awes
And snatches it to its First Cause !
Can mundane objects intervene
To filch tile moral from tkh scene?
Can Fame, or Glory, Pride, or Gain,
Spread o’er these realms its sordid reign?
f an—how 1 raw ! F ime, Gain and Pride
Hi re in triumphant Glorv ride :—
Else War, else Commerce ne’er had
Destruction to a distant world ; [hurl’d
Nor bloody Carnage fix'd her home
On this pale, palpitating foam ;
Nor Britain’s boast,* nor Europe's
scourge,f
its legions piled beneath the surge.
How still the midnight watch ? no sound
Disturbs the calm horizon round,
have the soft sighing of the gale
Fanning the bosom of the sail
That, fluttVing, f hrinks, yet yields,—and
fcliZrPs footsteps on the wave. [save
• Her narjr, | ABitition*
This floor, inlaid with many a stud
That links its shank, far in the flood,
Throws back upon the dazzled eye
The brilliant stucco of the sky.
Nor does the plump-faced moon with
Her robe of many a shining fold, [hold
To deck yon liquid plain that gleams,
Like Night’s wan queen, in borrow'd
beams,—
Beams which ingenuously betray
Their distant source—the solar ray/
Ah! ere we reach Columbia’s shore,
This imagery shall charm no more ;
Ibis transient midnight-colouring fade,
Anel Ocean roll his waves in shadei
Soon her hot rival will dispel
The pale rouge from yon painted Bellc-^
And see / his task the jealous Sun
('His monthly labour) has begun :
No idler he !.in haste he twirls
His golden Ref.l in flaming whirls,
Eager as rapid in his flight,
T’unwind that flimsy ball of light !
Yet let it shine ; nor antedate
0 foolish man ! thy darksome state ,
Long ns it lasts enjoy the beam,
Nor of thy future sorrows dream.
Wherefore frject the present good?
W by check the voice of Gratitude ?
1 he moon, tis true, is in the wane,
But soon that orb shall fill again*
—Hope, rather, with an angel’s face
Shall had me on thro’ time and space,
Unlock at eve the pearls of morn,
Pluck Pleasure’s rose—without its thorn,
Outstrip the lagging feet of Cate,
And mock the wild flight of Despair.
Come ! soothef of the anxious breast!
Compose this storm-tost soul to rest;
Anoint these languid lids of mine ;—
O bid the misty Future shine ;
Regret’s tormenting spell bi guile,
And make the lip of Sadness smile.
Hope, recreative pow’r, for me,
Smooths the rough ridges of the sea,
Wafts on a breath ottr bark to land,
Ensures success to my command,
Then hounding o’er th’Atlantic-main*
Pr esents me to mv friends again.
I) lu ive dream / fiv . thousand miles
Divide me from their wonted strides ;
And Hope drferr'd * the long-foil’d dart
Sinks cleeplier in the drooping heart'.
Yes ! Hope thy energy is vain
To lessen Absence, or its pain ;—
Kl.se the parch’d Caffre on a Thought
Might flee the horrors of a drought,
And Laplanders, in grots of snow,
Knjoy fantastic Summer’s glow.j
[pow’r
Ana what the past ? can. Memory s
Call back for me th’exhauSted hour,
Uc- gem with light surrounding gloom,
And bid Life’s faded roses bloom ?
Ambiguous nymph ! thy fairy skill
Can turn th’idea l flood at will,
And govern with thy spur and rein,
The freaks of Pleasure and of Pain.
Thine is the retrospective gaze [maze!
O’er Life’s back-ground, a chccquer’d
Thine too, when Recollection burns,
To make us weep and laugh by turns ;
And thine on present shades to cast
The rainbow-colotirs of the past.
And what stern law this balm, forbids
From soothing Sorrow’s aching lids?
What ruffian hand the fount Would shut
That cheers the friendless wretch’s hutH,
Avaunt, Morality austere !
Who lov’st to draw' the needless tear,
The sigh, the fruitless sigh extort,
And Innocency’s feelings thwart.
Thy mole-eyed wisdom sanctions well
The rigours of th’AsCETiC cell,
Where Discipline’s self-goading thon£
Inspires the cacophonic song,
And, on a dank and cheerless air,
Lifts up the heavy midnight pray’n
We, with less contumacious mind,
Will cast a casual glance behind ;
Turn, while our hearts fruition reap,.
And smile with gfatitude-—or weep•
So careful husbandmen are seen
To reap their fields* and, reaping, glean*
# H ipe deferred rxnketh the b aa fi. k.
omon.
■f Ob, who can hold a fire in his hand,
B ’ fh'r.king or the frofty Caucafu- ?
Or cloy the hungry edge of 'ppetite,
H> ha: r imaginat ion of n f, aft ?
O willow nakr'* in Decem'-tr fnoW,
ihi k’rg o»> fantaft'r 8unrmter’c heat *
Or to! -he apprthtt-fiofi of <be good
0;?C9 but the greater tcelir.g to the worfe.
P r b rt
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