IMPROMPTU, TO ORIANA.

ON ATTENDING WITH HER, AS SPONSORS, AT A CHRISTENING

Lady! who didst—­with angel-look and smile,
And the sweet lustre of those dear, dark eyes,
Gracefully bend before the font of Christ,
In humble adoration, faith, and prayer! 
Oh!—­as the infant pledge of friends beloved
Received from thy pure lips its future name,
Sweetly unconscious look’d the baby-boy! 
How beautifully helpless—­and how mild! 
—­Methought, a seraph spread her shelt’ring wings
Over the solemn scene; and as the sun,
In its full splendour, on the altar came,
God’s blessing seem’d to sanctify the deed.

TO MY SPANIEL FANNY.

Fanny! were all the world like thee,
  How cheerly then this life would glide,
Dear emblem of Fidelity! 
  Long may’st thou grace thy master’s side.

Long cheer his hours of solitude,
  With watchful eye each wish to learn,
And anxious speechless gratitude
  Hail with delight each short sojourn.

When sick at heart, thy welcome home
  A weary load of grief dispels,
Gladdens with hope the hours to come,
  And yet a mournful lesson tells!

To find thee ever faithful, kind,
  My guard by night, my friend by day,
While those in friendship more refined
  Have with my fortunes flown away.

Why bounteous nature hast thou given
  To this poor Brute—­a boon so kind
As constancy—­bless’d gift of Heaven! 
  And MAN—­to waver like the wind?

WIDOWED LOVE.[1]

Tell me, chaste spirit! in yon orb of light,
  Which seems to wearied souls an ark of rest,
So calm, so peaceful, so divinely bright—­
  Solace of broken hearts, the mansion of the bless’d!

Tell me, oh! tell me—­shall I meet again
  The long lost object of my only love! 
—­This hope but mine, death were release from pain;
  Angel of mercy! haste, and waft my soul above!

[Footnote 1:  Mr. T. Millar has composed sweet music to these lines, and has been peculiarly fortunate in composing and singing some of the exquisite Melodies of T.H.  Bayly, Esq. of Bath.]

WRITTEN IN THE ALBUM

OF THE LADY OF DR. GEORGE BIRKBECK, M.D.

President of the London Mechanic’s Institution, and of the Chemical and Meteorological Societies.  Founder and Patron of the Glasgow Mechanic’s Institute, &c. &c. &c.

Lady unknown! a pilgrim from the shrine
Of Poesy’s fair temple, brings a wreath
Which fame and gratitude alike entwine,
Around a name that charms the monster Death,
And bids him pause!—­Amidst despairing life
BIRKBECK’s the harbinger of hope and health;
When sordid affluence was with man at strife,
He boldly stripp’d the veil, and show’d the wealth
To aged ignorance, and ardent youth,
Of cultured minds—­the freedom of the soul! 
The sun of science, and the light of truth,
The bliss of reason—­mind without control.