POEMS,

&c. &c.




VERSES

WRITTEN IN A GROTTO

_In a Wood on the Side of the River Dart_,

IN DEVONSHIRE.


Tell me, thou grotto! o'er whose brow are seen
Projecting plumes, and shades of deep'ning green,--
While not a sound disturbs thy stony hall,
While all thy dewy drops forget to fall,--
Why canst thou not thy soothing charms impart,
And shed thy quiet o'er this beating heart?
Tell me, thou richly-painted river! tell,
That on thy mirror'd plane dost mimic well
Each pendent tree and every distant hill,
Tipp'd with red lustre, beauteous, bright, and still,--

Can I not, gazing on thy tranquil tide,
Shed ev'ry grief upon thy rocky side?
Or must I rove thy margin, calm and clear,