 | My Mind and its Thoughts, in Sketches, Fragments, and Essays |  |
PHILADELPHIA.
AN ELEGY.
WRITTEN AT THE MOST DESOLATING PERIOD OF THE FATAL PESTILENCE OF THE YELLOW FEVER.
Imperial daughter of the west,
Why thus in widowed weeds recline?
With every gift of nature blest,
The empire of a WORLD was thine.
Why thus in widowed weeds recline?
With every gift of nature blest,
The empire of a WORLD was thine.
Late, brighter than the star that gleams.
Ere the soft morning carol flows;
Now, mournful as the maniac's dreams,
When melancholy rules his woes.
Ere the soft morning carol flows;
Now, mournful as the maniac's dreams,
When melancholy rules his woes.
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What foe, with more than Gallic
ire,
Has thinned thy city's thronging way,
Bid the sweet breath of youth expire,
And manhood's powerful pulse decay.
Has thinned thy city's thronging way,
Bid the sweet breath of youth expire,
And manhood's powerful pulse decay.
No Gallic foe's ferocious band,
Fearful as fate, as death severe,
But the destroying angel's hand,
With hotter rage, with fiercer fear.
Fearful as fate, as death severe,
But the destroying angel's hand,
With hotter rage, with fiercer fear.
I saw thee in thy pride of days,
In glory rich, in beauty fair,
When Morris partner of thy praise,
Sustained thee with a patron's care:
In glory rich, in beauty fair,
When Morris partner of thy praise,
Sustained thee with a patron's care:
Have hailed that hospitable dome,
Where all the cultured virtues grew,
Fortune, and fashion's graceful home,
Warm hearted love, and friendship true.
Where all the cultured virtues grew,
Fortune, and fashion's graceful home,
Warm hearted love, and friendship true.
Columbia's genius! veil thy brow,
Angel of mercy! hither bend,
The prayer of misery meets thee now,
With healing energy descend.
Angel of mercy! hither bend,
The prayer of misery meets thee now,
With healing energy descend.
Chase the hot fiend whose SALLOW tread
Consumes the fairest flower that blows,
Fades the sweet lilly's bashful head,
And blights the blushes of the rose.
Consumes the fairest flower that blows,
Fades the sweet lilly's bashful head,
And blights the blushes of the rose.
Even now his omen'd birds of prey,
Through the unpeopling mansions rove,
Have quenched the soft eye's heavenly ray,
And closed the breezy lip of love.
Through the unpeopling mansions rove,
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And closed the breezy lip of love.
Yet guard THAT FRIEND, who wandering near
Haunts, which the loitering Schuylkill laves,
Bestows the tributary tear,
Or fans with sighs the drowsy waves.
Haunts, which the loitering Schuylkill laves,
Bestows the tributary tear,
Or fans with sighs the drowsy waves.
And while his mercy-dealing hand,
Feeds many a famished child of care,
Wave round his brow thy saving wand,
And breathe new freshness through the air.
Feeds many a famished child of care,
Wave round his brow thy saving wand,
And breathe new freshness through the air.
While borne on health's elastic wing,
Afar the rapid whirlwind flies,
The bracing gale of Zembla bring,
And bleach with frost the blackening skies
Afar the rapid whirlwind flies,
The bracing gale of Zembla bring,
And bleach with frost the blackening skies
Where shelving to the heated coast,
With frowns the dusky piles ascend,
Bid some Alcides, freedom's boast,
His heaven-assisted arm extend.
With frowns the dusky piles ascend,
Bid some Alcides, freedom's boast,
His heaven-assisted arm extend.
Beneath his firm collected blow,
Wasteful the cumbrous ruin lies,
Till Dryads bring each breathing bough,
And bid the green plantation rise.
Wasteful the cumbrous ruin lies,
Till Dryads bring each breathing bough,
And bid the green plantation rise.
Thence the light poplar's tapering form,
The oak his building branches rears,
The elm, that braves the cleaving storm,
The fragrant pine's prolific tears.
The oak his building branches rears,
The elm, that braves the cleaving storm,
The fragrant pine's prolific tears.
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While every leaf expands a shade,
Beneath whose breeze contagion dies,
Full many a youth and blushing maid,
Gaze, grateful, with enamoured eyes.
Beneath whose breeze contagion dies,
Full many a youth and blushing maid,
Gaze, grateful, with enamoured eyes.
He, who the loved asylum gave,
Even thus the PARENT-FOUNDER said,—
Now whispered from the wakening grave,
Ah! heed the mandate of the dead.
Even thus the PARENT-FOUNDER said,—
Now whispered from the wakening grave,
Ah! heed the mandate of the dead.
And bid the Naiads bring their urns,
Haste!—and the marble fount unclose,
Through streets where Syrian summer burns,—
Till all the cool libation flows.
Haste!—and the marble fount unclose,
Through streets where Syrian summer burns,—
Till all the cool libation flows.
Cool as the brook that bathes the heath,
When noon unfolds his silent hours,
Refreshing as the morning's breath,
And genial as are vernal showers.
When noon unfolds his silent hours,
Refreshing as the morning's breath,
And genial as are vernal showers.
From waves the heavenly Venus grew,
Those waves to mortal beauty kind,
The flush of fragrant health renew,
And brace the nerve-enfeebled mind.
Those waves to mortal beauty kind,
The flush of fragrant health renew,
And brace the nerve-enfeebled mind.
Imperial daughter of the west,
No rival wins thy wreath away,
In all the wealth of nature drest,
Again thy sovereign charms display.
No rival wins thy wreath away,
In all the wealth of nature drest,
Again thy sovereign charms display.
See all thy setting glories rise,
Again thy thronging streets appear,
Thy mart an hundred ports supplies,
Thy harvest feeds the circling year.
Again thy thronging streets appear,
Thy mart an hundred ports supplies,
Thy harvest feeds the circling year.
The Honourable R. Morris, who from the indiscretion of individuals, and by the disasters of commerce, was compelled to exchange the hospitality of his superb mansion for the dreariness of a prison.
Water street, which in the original plan of the city, by its illustrious founder, was to have been laid out in plantations of trees, with regular walks, equally conducive to health and recreation. This benevolent appropriation having been anticipated by the speculations of avarice, this spot, as if in divine vengeance, has become the most fatal location of the pestilence.
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