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THE
OF
POETRY.
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"Patriæ fumus igne alieno luculentior."
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NEW-YORK.
GEORGE DEARBORN, PUBLISHER,
NO. 38 GOLD STREET.
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1837.
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New-York:
Printed by Scatcherd & Adams,
No. 38 Gold Street.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The work here presented to the Public is compiled from the poetical writings of natives of the State of New-York. The chief object in making the collection was to give 'a local habitation and a name' to fugitive pieces, which, though deemed worthy of being thus preserved, have hitherto been circulated in the newspapers and periodicals solely. It was thought well, however, by way of giving completeness to the work, to embody with the rest specimens of those New-York poets whose writings have been already collected in another shape. The design of executing such a work only suggested itself to the Publisher a fortnight before the last sheet was put to press; and as he was desirous that The New-York Book should appear at the season when the annuals and other similar publications are most in request, those who have aided him in the compilation have perhaps vainly attempted to make up in industry for the want of time. Under the most favourable circumstances, however, it would be idle to attempt making such a collection what it ought to be in a single volume. The field of our Anthology is wider than any casual observer could conceive; and even in thus rapidly exploring it, the sources of so many new specimens have been indicated that it is hoped the reception of this volume will be such as to warrant the Publisher in soon following it up by another of the same character.
38 Gold Street, Dec. 24, 1836.
LIST OF WRITERS.
Arden Francis Irving, Washington Inman, John Bailey, J. I. Barker, Robert Low, Samuel Bleecker, Mrs. Ann E. Lawrence, Jonathan, Jr. Bleecker, Anthony Leggett, William Bloodgood, S. De Witt Livingston, William Bogart, A. H. Bogart, David S. Morris, George P. Bogart, W. H. L. Morton, General Jacob Bogart, Elizabeth Murray, Lindley Brooks, J. G. Mitchell, Dr. Samuel L. Brooks, Miss Mary E. Moore, Clement C. Blauvelt, A. L. Nack, James Clark, Willis G. Clinch, Elizabeth C. Park, Roswell Crosswell, Rev. William Paulding, J. K. Clason, Isaac Sanford, Edward Davidson, Lucretia M. Sands, R. C. Doane, Rt. Rev. G. W. Seymour, D. Drake, J. R. Slidell, Thomas Duer, William Street, A. B. Stone, William L. Ellet, Mrs. E. F. Strong, George D. Embury, Emma C. Sutermeister, J. R. Fay, Theodore S. Tucker, T. W. Faugeres, Margaretta V. Hawes, W. P. Vining, W. H. Hoffman, C. F. Van Schaick, J. B. Verplanck, GulianCONTENTS.
PAGE Anacreontic, 10 Anacreontic, 172 Address to Black Hawk, 11 Address to a Musquito, 27 A Poet's Epistle, 37 A Roman Chariot Race, 59 Affection wins affection, 71 Ah No! Ah No! To a favourite Child, 146 A Health, 147 A Hymn, 149 A Song of May, 152 A Visit from St. Nicholas,
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217 Appeal, 229 Byron, 103 Bronx, 122 Ballad, 191 Chansonette, 50 Canzonet, 201 Crossing the Alleghanies, 204 Drink and away, 107 Despondency, 164 Death of the First-Born, 238 Elegiac Lines, 151 Epitaph upon a Dog, 182 Elegy on the Exile and Death of Ovid, 240 Fragment, 246 Feats of Death, 72 Fragment, 102 Faded Hours, 134 Forgetfulness, 192 From a Father to his Children, 215 From a Husband to his Wife, 221 Greece—1832, 55 Hope, 116 He came too late, 179 Inconstancy, 31 Indian Summer, 54 Impromptu, 58 Impromptu, 228 Joy and Sorrow, 104 Joshua commanding the Sun and Moon to stand still, 184 Lines on a Skull dug up by the Plough, 15 Lines written on a Bank Note, 42 Lines for Music, 59 Love and Faith,
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tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a"> 66 Lament, 70 Lines, 77 Lake George, 83 Lines written in an Album, 85 Lines written on the cover of a Prayer Book, 96 Look Aloft, 101 Lützow's Wild Chase, 130 Lines, 132 Lament, 136 Lines written on a pane of glass in the house of a friend, 138 Life's Guiding Star, 164 Lines for Music, 183 Lake George—1829, 203 Lines suggested by the perusal of "The Life of Chatterton," 225 Lines to a Daughter of the late Governor Clinton, 229 Love's Remembrancer, 247 Moonlight on the Hudson, 7 Morning Musings among the Hills, 21 Morning, 82 Midnight Thoughts, 94 Morning Hymn, 121 Moonlight, 128 Melody, 173 My Native Land, 174 Ode to Jamestown, 97 On reading Virgil, 155 On Ship-board, 195 On seeing a beautiful Young Lady whose health was impaired by the fever and ague, 219 Proem to Yamoyden, 87 Prophetic, 224 Portraiture, 231 Reflections, 75 Rhyme and Reason, 144 Reminiscences, 150
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class="tdr"> Song, (I know thou dost love me), 17 Song, (Nay think not Dear), 23 Song of the Hermit Trout, 46 Song of Spring Time, 63 Song, Rosalie Clare, 126 Song, 129 Song, 171 Stanzas, 184 Song, 186 Spring is coming, 214 Sonnet to Myra, 236 Song, (When other friends are round thee), 238 Thoughts of a Student, 1 The Settler, 3 The Worst, 6 The minisink, 18 The Dead of 1832, 24 To a Lady, who declared that the sun prevented her from sleeping, 27 The Callicoon in Autumn, 32 The Western Hunter to his Mistress, 36 The Delaware Water Gap, 43 To May, 47 To the Whip-poor will, 49 The Clouds, 50 The Isle of Rest, 53 The Shipwreck of Camoens, 64 The Last Song, 68 To my Wife, 69 The Bride's Farewell, 73 The Guardian Angel, 78 The Brave, 81 The Faded One, 86 The Indian, 91 To the Evening Star, 104 The Falls of the Passaic, 105 The
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Hudson, 108 Trenton Falls, 110 The Dumb Minstrel, 111 The Green Isle of Lovers, 113 That Silent Moon, 114 To a Cigar, 116 The Lake of Cayostêa, 117 The American Flag, 118 The Storm King, 124 To a Packet Ship, 127 The Wife's Song, 135 The Sepulchre of David, 139 The Last Prayer of Mary Queen of Scots, 156 The Recollections of the People, 159 The Husband to his Wife, on her birth-day, 162 To a Goldfinch, 166 The Midnight Ball, 167 The Deserted Bride, 168 Thoughts at the Grave of a departed Friend, 171 To Themira, 196 Thanksgiving after escape from Indian perils, 189 Thoughts on Parting, 199 The Falls of Niagara, 200 The Pennsylvanian Immigrant, 202 The Clouds, 206 The Tornado, 208 To a Lady, 211 The Mitchella, 217 The Magic Draught, 226 The Son of Sorrow, 230 The Farewell, 234 To Cordelia, 236 To the Dying Year, 250 Weehawken, 40 White Lake, 61 What is Solitude,
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href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@42769@[email protected]#Page_79" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a"> 79 Woman, 144 West Point, 187 Verses to the Memory of Colonel Wood, of the United States' Army, who fell at the Sortie of Erie, 163 Verses written in a Book of Fortunes, 181
[Transcriber Note:
The following page number errors were corrected in the TOC:
Canzonet - page 301 corrected to 201
Fragment - page 2 corrected to 246
Rhyme & Reason - page 104 corrected to 144
The Mitchella - page 220 corrected to 217 ]
POEMS.
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THOUGHTS OF A STUDENT.
BY JONATHAN LAWRENCE, JUN.
Ob: 1833, æt. 25.
Many a sad, sweet thought have I, Many a passing, sunny gleam, Many a bright tear in mine eye, Many a wild and wandering dream, Stolen from hours I should have tied To musty volumes by my side, Given to hours that sweetly wooed My heart from its study's solitude.
Oft when the south wind's dancing free Over the earth and in the sky, And the flowers peep softly out to see The frolic Spring as she wantons by, When the breeze and beam like thieves come in, To steal me away, I deem it sin To slight their voice, and away I'm straying Over the hills and vales a Maying.
Then can I hear the earth rejoice, Happier than man may ever be, Every fountain hath then a voice That sings of its glad festivity; For it hath burst the chains, that bound Its currents dead in the frozen ground, And flashing away in the sun has gone, Singing, and singing, and singing on.
Autumn hath sunset hours, and then Many a musing mood I cherish, Many a hue of fancy, when The hues of earth are about to perish; Clouds are there, and brighter, I ween, Hath real sunset never seen, Sad as the faces of friends that die, And beautiful as their memory.
Love hath its thoughts, we cannot keep, Visions the mind may not control, Waking as fancy does in sleep The secret transports of the soul, Faces and forms are strangely mingled, Till one by one they're slowly singled, To the voice and lip, and eye of her I worship like an idolater.
Many a big, proud tear have I, When from my sweet and roaming track From the green earth and misty sky, And spring and love I hurry back; Then what a dismal, dreary gloom Settles upon my loathed room, Darker to every thought and sense Than if they had never travelled thence.
Yet, I have other thoughts that cheer The toilsome day, and lonely night, And many a scene and hope appear, And almost make me gay and bright. Honour and fame that I would win, Though every toil that yet hath been Were doubly borne, and not an hour Were brightly hued by Fancy's power.
And though I may sometimes sigh to think Of earth and heaven, and wind and sea, And know that the cup which others drink Shall never be brimmed by me; That many a joy must be untasted, And many a glorious breeze be wasted, Yet would not, if I dared, repine, That toil and study and care are mine.
THE SETTLER.
BY A. B. STREET.
His echoing axe the settler swung Amid the sea-like solitude, And rushing, thundering, down were flung The Titans of the wood; Loud shriek'd the eagle as he dash'd From out his mossy nest, which crash'd With its supporting bough, And the first sunlight, leaping, flash'd On the wolf's haunt below.
Rude was the garb, and strong the frame, Of him who plied his ceaseless toil: To form that garb, the wild-wood game Contributed their spoil; The soul, that warm'd that frame, disdain'd The tinsel, gaud, and glare, that reign'd Where men their crowds collect; The simple fur, untrimm'd, unstain'd, This forest tamer deck'd.
The paths which wound 'mid gorgeous trees, The stream whose bright lips kiss'd their flowers, The winds that swell'd their harmonies Through those sun-hiding bowers, The temple vast—the green arcade, The nestling vale—the grassy glade, Dark cave and swampy lair; These scenes and sounds majestic, made His world, his pleasures, there.
His roof adorn'd a pleasant spot, 'Mid the black logs green glow'd the grain, And
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herbs and plants the woods knew not, Throve in the sun and rain. The smoke-wreath curling o'er the dell, The low—the bleat—the tinkling bell, All made a landscape strange, Which was the living chronicle Of deeds that wrought the change.
The violet sprung at Spring's first tinge, The rose of Summer spread its glow, The maize hung out its Autumn fringe, Rude Winter brought his snow; And still the lone one labour'd there, His shout and whistle woke the air, As cheerily he plied His garden spade, or drove his share Along the hillock's side.
He mark'd the fire-storm's blazing flood Roaring and crackling on its path, And scorching earth, and melting wood, Beneath its greedy wrath; He mark'd the rapid whirlwind shoot, Trampling the pine tree with its foot, And darkening thick the day With streaming bough and sever'd root, Hurl'd whizzing on its way.
His gaunt hound yell'd, his rifle flash'd, The grim bear hush'd his savage growl, In blood and foam the panther gnash'd His fangs, with dying howl; The fleet deer ceas'd its flying bound, Its snarling wolf-foe bit the ground, And with its moaning cry, The beaver sank beneath the wound Its pond-built Venice by.
Humble the lot, yet his the race! When Liberty sent forth her cry, Who throng'd in Conflict's deadliest place, To fight—to bleed—to die. Who cumber'd Bunker's height of red, By hope, through weary years were led, And witness'd York Town's sun Blaze on a Nation's banner spread, A Nation's freedom won.
THE WORST.
BY W. H. VINING.
Ob: 1822, æt. 28.