Model of thy parent dear,

Serious infant worth a fear :

In thy unfaultering visage well

Picturing forth the son of Tell,

When on his forehead, firm and good.
Motionless mark, the apple stood;

Guileless traitor, rebel mild.
Convict unconscious, culprit-child !

Gates that close with iron roar

Have been to thee thy nursery door ;

Chains that chink in cheerless cells

Have been thy rattles and thy bells;

Walls contrived for giant sin

Have hemmed thy faultless weakness in ;

Near thy sinless bed black Guilt

Her discordant house hath built,

And filled it with her monstrous brood —

Sights, by thee not understood —

Sights ot fear, and of distress,

That pass a harmless infant's guess !

But the clouds, that overcast
Thy young morning, may not last.
Soon shall arrive the rescuing hour.
That yields thee up to Nature's power.
Nature, that so late doth greet thee.
Shall in o'er-flowing measure meet thee.
She shall recompense with cost
For every lesson thou hast lost.
103



POEMS

Then wandering up thy sire's lovM hill,i

Thou shalt take thy airy fill

Of health and pastime. Birds shall sing

For thy delight each May morning.
Mid new-yean'd lambkins thou shalt play,

Hardly less a lamb than they.
Then thy prison's lengthened bound

Shall be the horizon skirting round.
And, while thou fiUest thy lap with flowers,

To make amends for wintery hours.
The breeze, the sunshine, and the place.
Shall from thy tender brow efiace

Each vestige of untimely care.
That sour restraint had graven there;

And on thy every look impress

A more excelling childishness.
So shall be thy days beguil'd,
Thornton Hunt, my favourite child.
1814.
1 Hampstead.
104



TO MISS KELLY.
You are not, Kelly, of the common strain.
