ΤΟ HUMPHRY REPTON, Esq. ON BEING PRESENTED BY HIM WITH HIS LANDSCAPE OF STOWE-VALLEY.* INGENIOUS REPTON, from thy pencil warm, Shines this loved scene, with more than scenic charm; * Mr Repton took the view from the drawing-room window, in the Bishop's Palace at Lichfield, the home of the author from her earliest youth. Or when less genial mornings of the spring, The darkling waters with their gusts assail, Dear is that vale, when Summer's sultry days While shrink mute birds, where central branches spread, And lowing mothers hang the heavy head, Dear, when the amber noon of autumn gilds The flame-tipt umbrage, and the level fields; Dear, e'en tho' sullen wintry clouds impend, And showers of leaves, in eddying winds, descend; While the mild auburn nymph, that crowns the year, Mourns her swoln waters, and her forests sear; To Fancy's eye her exile seems to wail, And, down the little, desolated vale, To press, with lingering step, as one that grieves, Its white, shrunk petals, and its rustling leaves. When o'er the livid lake, and grey waste fields Yet loved the scene :-And now, when tempests roar, And woo the mild Penates' lively smile! Thus, while ascending fires, with influence bright, Deride the sickly sun and howling night, In as disarming power thy tints shall foil The year's grim tyrant, yelling o'er his spoil, 1. 10. Mild Penates-The Penates, or Lares, are the house</ hold gods. There is a beautiful hymn to them in Mr Southey's Miscellany. PHILIPPIC ON A MODERN EPIC. BASE is the purport of this epic song, Where poesy is felt ;-tho' here it paint In all the lurid traits of Nero's heart, The high heroic spirit of that prince Who graced the crown he wore; Britannia's boast, HARRY OF MONMOUTH !-he, who ne'er exposed His ardent legions on the deathful plain Where flamed not his broad shield, nor his white plumes, Play'd in the battle's van.-What claim'd he then 1. 11. White plumes-It is mentioned by the historians, that in the field of Agincourt, the white plumes of the king's helmet were always seen waving in the front of the battle. From France, at the sword's point, but ceded rights Of Cressy's thundering field? Then Gallia's star The laurel wreaths of Agincourt;--to brand With slavish meanness, with rapacious avarice, Quit each insidious pretence to virtue, 1. 4. Cressy's thundering field-Cannon were first used by the English at the battle of Cressy. |