HAMPSTEAD! I doubly venerate thy name,
Because ’twas in thy meadows that I grew
Enamour’d of that literary fame
Which youthful poets eagerly pursue,
And first beheld that beauty-beaming form,
Which death too quickly tore from my embrace,
That peerless girl, whose blushes were as warm
As ever glow’d upon a virgin face!
Hence, lovely village! I am still thy debtor,
For pleasures now irrevocably flown--
For that transcendant maid, who, when I met her
Along thy meadows musing, and alone,
Look’d like a spirit from the realms above,
Sent down to prove the sov’reignty of Love!