BP SoS ^1 nit TRIFLES, IMITATIVE OF THE CHASTER STYLE OF MELEAGER EgM* tf otcLXSt, (puXaLSTil. Harm us not, seamen!— o'er the watery wild, With empty bark and troubled hearts we rove; Vm Meleager, and yon little child, That sits, so watchful, at the helm, is Love. LONDON f% PRINTED FOR CARPENTER AND SON, OLD BOND STREET. 1818. r >s J. M'Creery, Printer, Jilack-Ilorse-Cour t, London. TO THOMAS MOORE, ESQ. THESE CORRECTED PIECES ARE RESPECTFULLY PRESENTED, IN ADMIRATION OF HIS TALENTS, AND GRATITUDE FOR HIS ATTENTIONS, BY HIS FAITHFUL SERVANT, THE AUTHOR ADVERTISEMENT. THE greater part of this Score of Trifles has been printed before, under a different form and title. They are chiefly the produce of hours mis- spent at the University, and are now re-edited from a desire of repairing the fault of youth, and erasing those pieces, whose glow of colouring dis- honoured the first collection. It may not be amiss to inform the English reader, that some of the following pieces owe nothing to Meleager but their cast of sentiment ; others imitate their original throughout ; and a few approach very nearly to translation. CONTENTS. Spring 7 Death 9 To the Nightingale 11 Sickness 13 Nectar 16 The Moon 17 Remembrance 19 Sleep .21 Matins 22 Absence 24 Beauty 26 Night 27 Retirement 29 Spring 31 A Calm 34 Memory • 36 The Bee 38 To Woman 39 An Evening Meditation 41 The Wounded Lark 42 Verses on the Death of a Friend at the Battle of Waterloo 45 To Lamia 47 TRIFLES, SPRING. AsifAxvt;, ri fAaraia. xofjuuq ETTt at$£* yi\are ; He comes, to liberate the earth, 1 With healing on his wing ;' And Joy leaps up, and Love, and Mirth, To greet the infant Spring !— 8 Where'er the beauteous wanderer treads, Herb and flower put forth their heads, To court his life-inspiring kiss ; And, hark ! the wild bird's rondelay Proclaims aloud from every spray, The age of love and bliss. Alas ! how cold, how dull the heart, That leaps not to the Spring ! That feels not every nobler part Alive, and blossoming I Thou, Lamia, dearly lov'st to rove Along the mead, the vale, the grove, And feast on nature's ecstacy ; Yet still, with stern, unpitying face, Canst on thy lover's anguish gaze, And let him droop and die ! 9 DEATH. &aX£va. ffoi xou vi^Ss ha, ;^0ovo£, HXioSvgtt, $ct)g3(u,ai (x\a,fjt,a. Tct^yr ayfekosy van £' cixgots ZnvotAo',utf(o a-g \sovlog 9 Ke&vtu^) **' Sura) X Bl £ $*&& poTTa'Kov. Oh ! waste no more on ■ night's dull ear* Thy plaintive melody ; But, swift as love's impatient wish, To Juliet's pillow fly ; And softly say, ' He waits for thee, ■ With aching heart and weary eye.' 12 Haste, Philomel, and say, ' awake ! ' He waits — thy lover true — < Tis silence all — no eye abroad, 1 Your fond delights to view. * The very flowers are fast asleep, ' Beneath their veils of balmy dew :'— ' Awake, awake !' Then if she comes, This shall thy zeal repay ; To share with me her fragrant lip, Her eye's delicious play ; To be our Spring's young melodist,* And shame the cuckoo's bill away. * The rustic superstition to which these Hues allude, is sweetly explained by Milton's Sonnet to the Nightingale. 1 13 SICKNESS, Av via, TTctiyvta', My jealous bosom loathes the light, That glares along the midnight sky, For oh ! it brings to memory's eye, The distant scene of past delight, The visionary glance of days gone by ! 18 And now to my prophetic fears, It seems to cast an evil ray, Guiding some new Endymion's way To Her, who in our happier years, AssaiPd and won, then threw my heart away ! 19 REMEMBRANCE. fjLVAfxa. iX©£OS-yva?. When sick at heart, and sick in head, I roll upon my sleepless bed, No friend to cheer me ; I think upon the happy hours, In which I rov'd thro' Lunedale's bowers, And you were near me ; But, Lilla — ? No, it cannot be ! Our young hearts beat, In tune so sweet, Your thoughts must wander still with me. B2 20 In Erin's land I tune in vain My once lov'd flute ! — its mellow strain Does but distress me ; For happy times come floating by, When you would praise its minstrelsy, And, smiling, bless me ; But, Lilla — ? No, it cannot be ! So sad you parted — So broken hearted — You still must love, still sigh for me ! 21 SLEEP. ioq iiri e-oi (xrtf tiros, o Hal &io$ ofXfxareL Qs\ywv f arav&* 0£w Merrily sings the mounting lark, And the hope in my bosom sings merrily too, He is gone to adore the rising sun, And I so true, Lilla, my darling, to gaze on you. What bliss ! to lose my rapturous soul In wandering over that angel face — It is not for the lily, the diamond, or rose, But that I trace Truth, virtue, and love, in that angel face. 27 NIGHT The die is cast. It boots me not To dally with remembrance now — I've learn'd to dress my lip in smiles, And lift once more a cloudless brow. But ever at the secret hour, They rush upon my feverish brain, The face, the voice, the phantasies — Oh ! — let me, let me sleep again ! — 28 Hast thou, upon thy husband's bed, Hast thou thy dark imaginings ? No, no ! Thank Heaven, thy calm, cold breast Never can know my sufferings. Obedient to thy lightest will Sleep spreads his downy plume for thee — Calls fairy forms around thy bed, And lets his demons loose on me ! 29 RETIREMENT. From Love's delusions timely fled, And lost within this calm retreat, The linnet chanting o'er my head, The leveret grazing at my feet, I'll live as innocent and free, As the lovely things that encircle me. 30 Glancing through yon old sycamore, The distant water takes the eye, And as the opening leaves roll o'er, A sun-white sail is gliding by ; Nought else is here, to call my mind To the fair, false things I've left behind. On, triflers, on : and as ye go, I'll scan the aim that bids you rove. If avarice, your meed be woe ! — And bitter penitence, if love. The wealth you build on shall work your fall, And the lip you think honey shall turn to gall, 31 SPRING. Xsifxetlot; hvEfAosyloq kit aidsgo? ol)(pfx=voio, moptyvgsn (asV^o'S hi £' ev&£u