Hope after hope goes out in endless night,
And all is anguish, torture, and affright.
Oh ! beauteous friend, a gentler fate be thine ;
Still may thy star with mildest influence shine ;
May heaven surround thee with peculiar care,
And make thee happy, as it made thee fair."
Again, speaking of mutual affection, he calls it
"A mutual warmth that glows from breast to breast,
Who loving is belov'd, and blessing blest."
Can any thing be finer than the following couplet, with which he concludes an ardent aspiration for her happiness ! " Such," he says, " be thy happy lot," is the fond wish of him,
Whose faithful muse inspir'd the pious prayer,
And wearied heaven to keep thee in its care."
The poem of " Contemplation" itself is full of beauties. Among his odes there is one " to fancy," in which his lively imagination and exquisite delicacy of sentiment, shine out to the greatest advantage. His descriptions of female loveliness are worthy of the subject they are characterized by sweetness, beauty, and truth. What can surpass this image?
"Her soul, awak'ning every grace,
Is all abroad upon her face ;
In bloom of youth still to survive,
All charms are there, and all alive."
And in recording in his verses the name and the beauty of another of his mistresses, he says that " his song "will" make her live beyond the grave :"
"Thus Hume shall unborn hearts engage,
Her smile shall warm another ago."
But with all this praise of his quieter and more tngaging style, we must admit that his poems, even the most perfect, abound in errors. Many of his questions are very strange, nay some of them ludicrous:
"Ah! when we see the bad preferr'd,
Was it eternal justice err'd."
"Or when the good could not prevail,
How could almighty prowess fail ?"
"When time shall let his curtain fall,
Must dreary nothing swallow all I"
"Must we the unfinish'd piece deplore,
Ere half the pompous piece be o'er."
What is the meaning of these questions, or have they any ?
Mr Hamilton's correspondence with his friends was varied and extensive, but seldom very important. He wrote for writing's sake, and his letters, therefore, are just so many little pieces of friendly gossip. Of those poets who were his contemporaries, or who immediately succeeded him, some have taken notice of him in their works. The most distinguished of those is the unfortunate Fergusson, who in his " Hame Content," thus alludes to Hamilton on his death:
"O Bar.gour! now the hills and dales,
Nae mair gie back thy tender tales;
