The New Hampshire Gazette

POETRY.

ON THE RECITATION OF "PALESTINE."

A Prize Poem, by Reginald Heber, in the Theatre at Oxford, on the 15th of June, 1803.

BY MISS LETITIA JERMYN.

None who heard Reginald Heber recite his "Palestine," will ever forget his appearance. His old father was among the audience, when his son ascended the rostrum; and the sudden thunder of applause so shook his frame by long illness, that he never recovered it, and may be said to have died of the joy dearest to a parent's heart.-Blackwood's Magazine.

HUSH'D was the busy hum; nor voice nor sound
Through the vast concourse mark'd the moment near,
A deep and holy silence breathed around,
And mute attention fix'd the listening ear;
When from the rostrum burst the hallowed strain,
And Heber kindling with poetic fire,
Stood 'mid the gazing and expectant train,
And woke to eloquence his sacred lyre.
He sang of Palestine-that holy land,
Where saints and martyrs, and the warrior brave,
The cross in triumph planting on its strand,
Beneath its banners sought a glorious grave.
He sang of Calvary, of his Saviour sang
Of the rich mercies of redeeming love:
When through the crowd spontaneous plaudits rang,
Breathing a foretaste of rewards above.
What means that stifled sob, that groan of joy?
Why fall those tears upon the furrow'd cheek?
The aged father hears his darling boy.
And sobs and tears alone his feelings speak.
From his full heart the tide of rapture flows;
In vain to stem its rapid course he tries;
He hears th' applauding shouts the solemn close,
And sinking from excess of joy, he dies.