Sonnets."--ED.

A flock of sheep that leisurely pass by,
One after one; the sound of rain, and bees
Murmuring; the fall of rivers, winds and seas,
Smooth fields, white sheets of water, and pure sky;
I have thought of all by turns, and yet do lie[1] 5
Sleepless[A]! and soon the small birds' melodies
Must hear, first uttered from my orchard trees;
And the first cuckoo's melancholy cry.
Even thus last night, and two nights more, I lay,
And could not win thee, Sleep! by any stealth: 10
So do not let me wear to-night away:
Without Thee what is all the morning's wealth?
Come, blessed barrier between[2] day and day,
Dear mother of fresh thoughts and joyous health!

Compare Ovid, _Metamorphoses_, book xi. l. 623; _Macbeth_, act II. scene
ii. l. 39; _King Henry IV._, Part II., act III. scene i. l. 5;
_Midsummer Night's Dream_, act III. scene ii. l. 435.--ED.

VARIANTS:

[1] 1845.

I've thought of all by turns; and still I lie 1807.

By turns have all been thought of; yet I lie 1827.

I thought of all by turns, and yet I lie 1837.

I have thought ... 1838.

[2] 1832.

... betwixt ... 1807.

... between night and day, MS.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] Compare _The Faerie Queene_, book I. canto i. stanza 41--

And more to lulle him in his slumber soft,
A trickling streame from high rock tumbling downe,
And ever-drizling raine upon the loft,
Mixt with a murmuring winde, much like the sowne
Of swarming Bees, did cast him in a swowne. ED.

TO THE MEMORY OF RAISLEY CALVERT

Composed 1806.--Published 1807

[This young man, Raisley Calvert, to whom I was so much indebted, died
at Penrith, 1795.--I. F.]

Classed among the "Miscellaneous Sonnets."--ED.

Calvert! it must not be unheard by them
Who may respect my name, that I to thee
Owed many years of early liberty.
This care was thine when sickness did condemn
Thy youth to hopeless wasting, root and stem-- 5
That I, if frugal and severe, might stray
Where'er I liked; and finally array
My temples with the Muse's diadem.
Hence, if in freedom I have loved the truth;
If there be aught of pure, or good, or great, 10
In my p