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THE SOLDIER’S HOME

My untried muse shall no high tone assume,

Nor strut in arms;—farewell my cap and plume:

Brief be my verse, a task within my power,

I tell my feelings in one happy hour;

But what an hour was that! when from the main5

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THE SHEPHERD’S DREAM: OR, FAIRIES’ MASQUERADE

I had folded my flock, and my heart was o’erflowing,

I loiter’d beside the small lake on the heath;

The red sun, though down, left his drapery glowing,

And no sound was stirring, I heard not a breath:

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THE FORESTER

Born in a dark wood’s lonely dell,

Where echoes roar’d, and tendrils curl’d

Round a low cot, like hermit’s cell,

Old Salcey Forest

⁽¹⁾

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THE DRUNKEN FATHER

Poor Ellen married Andrew Hall,

Who dwells beside the moor,

Where yonder rose-tree shades the wall,

And woodbines grace the door.

Who does not know how blest, how loved5

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THE INVITATION

O for the strength to paint my joy once more!

That joy I feel when Winter’s reign is o’er;

When the dark despot lifts his hoary brow,

And seeks his polar-realm’s eternal snow.

Though black November’s fogs oppress my brain,5

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MAY-DAY WITH THE MUSES (1822)

Contents

The Invitation

The Drunken Father

The Forester

• Read more about LITTLE DAVY’S NEW HAT (1815)

LITTLE DAVY’S NEW HAT (1815)

Introduction

• Read more about SONG THE MAN IN THE MOON (c. 1812)

SONG. THE MAN IN THE MOON LOOK’D DOWN ONE NIGHT (c. 1812)

⁽¹⁾

The tune, ‘Ligrum cus’, appears in Volume V of Aird’s Selection of Scotch, English,
Irish and Foreign Airs (Glasgow, 1801). The title, apparently corrupt Irish Gaelic,

• Read more about WORDS FOR JAMES HOOK (1811)

WORDS FOR JAMES HOOK, GUIDA DI MUSICA

⁽¹⁾

See Letter 268, 28 August 1811 on the composition of Bloomfield’s song-texts to accompany
James Hook, Guida di musica; being a complete book of instructions for beginners on

• Read more about SENT TO MR SHARP (1809–10)

SENT TO MR. SHARP, AS AN APOLOGY FOR NOT DINING WITH HIM (1809–10)

⁽¹⁾

1808. Sent to Charles Sharp on 8 September 1808. See Letter 233. Undated in Remains,
where it was published for the first time.