The Rhode Island American, And General Advertiser

Miscellaneous
Selections.
SELECTED FROM THE ATHENEUM.
TO NATHAN DRAKE, M. D.
On reading the first Paper in his "Winter
Nights."
With witching eloquence and truth
Hast thou described the dear delight,
Accessible to Age and Youth,
In rowning Winter's stormiest nights.
While turning o'er thy first essay,
My heart so warmly feels its spell,
It cannot for an hour delay
The thanks which thou hast won so well.
Such pictures—whether they describe
In Truth's own simple eloquence
The frolicks of a youthful tribe,
Happy in early innocence;
In whose bright eyes the vivid gleam
Of home's loved fire-side gaily glances;
While the more mild and chasten'd beam
From older ones, their worth enhances;
Or whether they portray the charm
Which erst o'er Cowper's spirit stole:
When evening's pensive soothing calm
Sheds its own stillness o'er the soul;
Such pictures do not merely pass
Before the eye—and fade in air:
Like summer showers on new-mown grass,
They call back living freshness here.
Aye! e'en to lonely hearts, which feel
That such things were, and now are not,
Not poignant, only, their appeal,
But fraught with bliss, yet unforgot.
Yes, bliss!—for joys so calm and pure
Leave blessings with the heart they bless't;
And still unchangeably endure,
E'en when not actually possess't.
For thee, my friend! if wish of mine,
A bard obscure, could call down bliss;
Could I implore for thee or thine,
A more delightful boon than this?
Than—that thy Mother's green old age
May be her Child's, or Children's too;
And that each charm that decks thy page,
Thy own fire-side may prove it true.
BERNARD BARTON.
Woodbridge, 5th Mo. 25th, 1820.