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ND dwells there in a female heart,
By bounteous heaven designed,
The choicest raptures to impart,
To feel the most refined-

Dwells there a wish in such a breast

Its nature to forego,

To smother in ignoble rest

At once both bliss and woe!

Far be the thought, and far the strain,
Which breathes the low desire,
How sweet soe'er the verse complain,
Though Phoebus string the lyre.

Come, then, fair maid (in nature wise)
Who, knowing them, can tell
From generous sympathy what joys
The glowing bosom swell:

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* Mrs. Greville's Ode, thus entitled, is printed in the Annual Register, vol. v. p. 202, and also in the St. James's Magazine, edited by Lloyd, vol. Iv. p. 371. It is a prayer to Oberon for some spell, "sovereign as juice of western flower," which should calm an over-excited mind. Cowper's lines were printed by Dr. John Johnson, in vol. iii. of the Poems, 1815, p. 32; 12mo. p. 23.

In justice to the various powers
Of pleasing, which you share,
Join me, amid your silent hours,
To form the better prayer.

With lenient balm may Oberon hence
To fairy land be driven,

With every herb that blunts the sense
Mankind received from heaven.

"Oh! if my Sovereign Author please, Far be it from my fate

To live, unblessed, in torpid ease,

And slumber on in state.

"Each tender tie of life defied

Whence social pleasures spring,

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Unmoved with all the world beside,

A solitary thing-"

Some Alpine mountain, wrapped in snow,

Thus braves the whirling blast,

Eternal winter doomed to know,
No genial spring to taste.

In vain warm suns their influence shed,
The Zephyrs sport in vain,

He rears unchanged his barren head,
Whilst beauty decks the plain.

What though in scaly armour dressed,
Indifference may repel

The shafts of woe-in such a breast
No joy can ever dwell.

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'Tis woven in the world's great plan,

And fixed by Heaven's decree, That all the true delights of man Should spring from Sympathy.

"Tis Nature bids, and whilst the laws
Of Nature we retain,
Our self-approving bosom draws
A pleasure from its pain.

Thus grief itself has comforts dear

The sordid never know;

And ecstasy attends the tear

When virtue bids it flow.

For when it streams from that pure source

No bribes the heart can win,

To check, or alter from its course,
The luxury within.

Peace to the phlegm of sullen elves,
Who, if from labour eased,

Extend no care beyond themselves,

Unpleasing and unpleased.

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Let no low thought suggest the prayer ;— "Oh! grant, kind Heaven, to me,

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"Long as I draw ethereal air,

"Sweet Sensibility."

Where'er the heavenly Nymph is seen,

With lustre-beaming eye

A train, attendant on their queen, (Her rosy chorus) fly.

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The jocund Loves in Hymen's band,
With torches ever bright,

And generous Friendship hand in hand,
With Pity's watery sight.

The gentler Virtues too are join'd

In youth immortal warm;

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The soft relations, which, combined,
Give life her every charm.

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The Arts come smiling in the close,
And lend celestial fire;

The marble breathes, the canvass glows,
The Muses sweep the lyre.

"Still may my melting bosom cleave

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"To sufferings not my own,

"And still the sigh responsive heave "Where'er is heard a groan.

"So Pity shall take Virtue's part, "Her natural ally,

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This artless vow may Heaven receive,

And fond maid, approve: you,

So may your guiding angel give

Whate'er you wish or love.

So may the rosy-fingered hours

Lead on the various year,

And every joy, which now is yours,

Extend a larger sphere.

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And suns to come, as round they wheel,

Your golden moments bless, With all a tender heart can feel, Or lively fancy guess.

ANTI-THELYPTHORA.

A TALE IN VERSE.

Ah miser,

Quantâ laboras in Charybdi!

HORACE, Lib. i. Ode 27.

IRY del Castro was as bold a knight,
As ever earned a lady's love in fight.
Many he sought, but one above the

rest

His tender heart victoriously impressed.
In fairy land was born the matchless dame,
The land of dreams, Hypothesis her name,
There Fancy nursed her in ideal bowers,
And laid her soft in amaranthine flowers;

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* Published in 1781, 4to. We have not been able to find a copy of the original edition and have therefore printed it from Southey (who had the merit of establishing it to be a work by Cowper), vol. VIII. p. 112. Cowper evidently felt very warmly on the subject of his relative Martin Madan's extraordinary and most pernicious Thelypthora; but, considering their previous acquaintance, it would have been better if Cowper had allowed it to pass with silent regret. Anonymous opposition to a man strangely led astray, but who had been kind to Cowper in a peculiar degree, was not commendable.

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