diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-04-22 07:21:03 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-04-22 07:21:03 -0700 |
| commit | 6a00ac05c4192a177f349e1d5fcb289d22cf88e3 (patch) | |
| tree | dec2411e0425465c5587a1a49c584ee6a685dcaa | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 75938-0.txt | 2643 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 75938-h/75938-h.htm | 3834 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 75938-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 184285 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
6 files changed, 6494 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/75938-0.txt b/75938-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e567323 --- /dev/null +++ b/75938-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2643 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75938 *** + + + + + + A + + NEW SELECTION + + OF + + Miscellaneous Pieces, + + _IN VERSE_. + + + BY + + CHRISTIAN GRAY, + + BLIND FROM HER INFANCY, + + _In Milton, Parish of Aberdalgie, Perthshire_. + + + Hail, holy light! offspring of heaven first born,-- + * * * * * * + * * * Thee I revisit safe, + And feel thy sovereign vital lamp; but thou + Revisit’st not these eyes, that roll in vain + To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn; + * * * Yet not the more + Cease I to wander where the muses haunt-- + + _Milton’s Paradise Lost,--Book III._ + + + PERTH: + PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, + BY R. MORISON. + 1821. + + + + + To + + THE LADIES, + + THOSE KIND PATRONESSES, + + who have honored my former and present + + LITTLE WORK, + + with their disinterested and generous support, + + THE FOLLOWING PIECES + + ARE MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED; + + being the only way of expressing + + THE GRATITUDE + + + WHICH WILL EVER BE FELT + + BY + + THEIR MUCH OBLIGED, + + AND VERY HUMBLE SERVANT, + + _THE AUTHOR_. + + + + + Preface. + + +Whatever may be the nature, or design of the work itself, no one, I +am persuaded, has ever offered a book to the public without indulging +a wish that it should be prosperous, and its influence beneficial. My +motives in publishing this little volume are pure, and may be laudable, +but it must be allowed they are not altogether disinterested. While I +earnestly trust that it may prove an humble source of gratification to +those whose benevolence has induced them to befriend me, I pretend not +to suppress the desire that it may become the means of contributing to +cheer the downward days of my lonely life. + +The greater part of these verses was composed at an early period of my +life--at a time when the human mind is most susceptible of being deeply +impressed by its own ideas, or by the influence of surrounding objects. +My artless rhymes indeed may not excite a very powerful interest in the +hearts of others; but, in my own, on account of the circumstances and +recollections from which they originated, they have long been cherished +with the complacency and fondness of affectionate regard. + +About twelve years ago, a selection of my pieces was given to the +public; and under the active patronage of my well-wishers, met with +a reception far beyond what my most sanguine hopes could ever have +anticipated: others which, on that occasion, were not required, I +have now brought to recollection, and revised with care, and welcomed +with the partiality which we naturally devote to an old friend, +whose society has often been agreeable, amusing, or instructive. +Several of them are of a more recent date; these were composed at +intervals subsequent to a protracted illness which nearly exhausted my +debilitated frame, and impaired the remaining energies of my mind; +while, from the same cause, I was more than usually confined within +doors, and thereby deprived of the advantages of friendly instruction. +Their subjects are drawn from occurrences which, in a particular +manner, interested my own feelings; I have therefore endeavoured to +express those feelings in language descriptive of the impression left +by them on my own heart. Such then, as they and the others are, they +are my best, and I cast them, with respectful diffidence, on the +benevolence of the world, and hope that they may be judged solely as +the simple effusions of an unpolished mind. + +Having a strong presentiment that I shall never more address myself +to public attention, I would embrace this last, and to me, important +opportunity, of declaring my deep sense of gratitude and respect for +those generous individuals by whose kindness my solitude has been +enlivened, and my comforts promoted. + +My heart derives a melancholy gratification from the discharge of this +affecting duty, and it is sad, but satisfied, when wishing my readers +every happiness, I bid them FAREWELL. + + CHRISTIAN GRAY. + + Milton of Aberdalgie, Perthshire, 1821. + + + + + Contents. + + + PAGE + DEDICATION, 3 + + PREFACE, 5 + + Lines addressed to the E----l of K----l, 13 + + Anecdote of Alexander, Emperor of Russia, 19 + + Lines composed on receiving a letter, 25 + + Lines on receiving an unexpected present, 30 + + Stanzas to the memory of a Gentleman, 34 + + A Sonnet, 39 + + To a young Lady, 41 + + On receiving a descriptive poem, 44 + + A Letter to a friend in a great town, 48 + + A Letter to my Nephew, 58 + + A Letter to a Gentleman Farmer, 63 + + On laying an old petticoat beside a good one, 66 + + On visiting a faded flower, 69 + + A fact recorded in the Evangelical Magazine, 83 + + A complaint to Poesy, 88 + + Versification of Ossian’s Address to the Moon, 96 + + Balclutha’s Ruins--from Ossian, 99 + + An Extract from Ossian, 102 + + A Petition to a Medical Gentleman, 104 + + Lines composed in the time of war, 107 + + Sabella--a metrical tale, 109 + + Song,--on leaving the country for the town, 129 + + Song, in answer to “I’m wearin’ awa Jean,” 132 + + Song,--“Farewell to Perth,” 134 + + Song, in answer to “O Nannie wilt thou gang, &c.” 137 + + Evening Reflections, 140 + + + + + Miscellaneous Pieces, + + IN VERSE. + + + + + TO THE RIGHT HON. + + THE E----L OF K----L, + + _On his granting me the neat Cottage which I now inhabit_. + + + Neat is the Cottage rear’d for me + Upon this rising bank; + I’ll send my hand-maid, Poesy, + To Dupplin-Castle on her knee, + The noble Earl to thank. + + Lest wrong my messenger betide, + Or lest she should offend, + A guardian for her I’ll provide, + And to his kindness her confide,-- + Poor nymph she needs a friend. + + Will Mr L---- then introduce + My handmaid into view; + Perhaps his Lordship wont refuse + To hear, for once, a hamlet muse + Who sings with deference due; + + Tell how I prize this cottage bower, + Commodious, new, and clean; + Near where my swaddling clothes I wore, + Where long my fathers dwelt before, + Which more endears the scene. + + My ancestors are pass’d away, + (So families fail apace) + And soon at latest comes the day, + When with myself the name of Gray + Will vanish from this place:-- + + Here bushes, braes, and rocks remind + Of childhood’s happy days, + When playful, ’midst companions kind, + I scrambled up, or lean’d reclin’d + On yonder crag’s rough base. + + Where dashing falls the proud cascade, + Oft when a message sent, + So long I there have list’ning strayed, + That mother’s orders disobeyed, + Brought fear of punishment. + + Wild berries, nut, or jetty sloe, + Would tempt my venturous feet + To climb, where hazardous to go, + And when my own hand stript the bough, + I deem’d them doubly sweet. + + So spring-time of my life did run, + To kind indulgence us’d; + If I my lessons did not shun, + Though other tasks were poorly done, + ’Twas wink’d at and excus’d. + + For oft in languid health I pin’d, + Which parents view’d full sad, + And wandering, freedom I did find + Adown yon den, where shrubs, entwin’d + With flowers of summer, spread. + + Though since much alter’d is my lot, + And that in many ways, + These times oft fill a passing thought, + To banish dull reflection--sought, + A dream of early days. + + Now smoothly gliding down the dell, + My native streamlet flows, + And when its waters rushing swell, + The distant din will please me well, + And lull me to repose. + + This is the very, very place, + That’s to my heart most dear, + For which warm thanks I would express, + Though sent, indeed, in sorry dress, + Yet not the less sincere. + + On some green spot, in weather fair, + I’ll sit in sober mood, + And when I breathe my native air, + That blessing I will thankful share, + And think it does me good. + + This close-built cot, in coldest day, + Affords a warm retreat; + And whether near or far away, + I grateful wish your Lordship may + Be bless’d as well as great. + + + + + AN ANECDOTE + + _Of Alexander, Emperor of Russia, recorded in a newspaper several + years ago_. + + + Great ALEXANDER, it is said, + Once conquer’d all the then known world: + From clime to clime, with fury mad, + War’s desolating rage he hurl’d. + + Ambition thirsting still for blood, + Th’ infatuated tyrant drove, + To shed it in a sanguine flood, + As if to extirpate man he strove. + + Though after ages hear his fame, + Preserv’d in history and in song; + Humanity detests his name, + And all the war-delighted throng. + + At present I would sing of one, + An ALEXANDER of more worth, + Humanity’s exalted son, + The potent Emperor of the north. + + A humble muse who never soar’d, + Nor e’er to sing of Monarch try’d, + One royal action to record, + Counts both her pleasure and her pride. + + Fam’d ALEXANDER, who doth sway + The Russian Empire, large and broad; + It chanc’d that lately on a day, + At distance from his train he rode.-- + + It chanc’d;--No! Providence did send, + That hour, the Emperor out with speed, + To prove himself Compassion’s friend, + And to perform a noble deed.-- + + He rode at distance from his train, + For, innocent, no harm he fear’d, + And deem’d all hir’d Protectors vain,-- + His people’s love a surer guard. + + Out from a river’s rapid force, + He saw some peasants who convey’d, + With toil, a seeming lifeless corse, + Which on the grassy bank they laid. + + Then all his sympathetic soul + Was mov’d with pity’s keenest zeal, + Was mov’d at nature’s kind controul, + As minds ignoble never will. + + The peasants look’d with silent gaze, + No farther service they can do; + “Be active,” ALEXANDER says, + “And I myself will aid you too.” + + Then quickly on the ground he stands, + Fast by the fatal river’s verge, + And rais’d the corse with cautious hands, + The oozing water to discharge. + + Just then his whole attendants came, + The sight, no doubt, surpris’d them all; + Their sloth he stops not once to blame, + But loudly does a doctor call. + + Physician he of skill approv’d, + From fam’d Britannia’s distant isle; + He was the Emperor’s friend belov’d, + And sprung with haste to share his toil. + + An artery quick was opened now, + In hopes that wound might life restore; + But ah! no blood from thence would flow, + ’Twas ev’n more hopeless than before. + + Yet still the Emperor persever’d, + Inspir’d with kind philanthropy, + And patient, all about him cheer’d, + That yet they might successful be. + + And still his temples gently chaf’d, + And still rub’d all his body o’er; + For two whole hours he nothing left + Untri’d that might the man restore. + + At last life’s current flow’d anon, + And from the wounded vessel stream’d, + And now he faintly breathes a groan: + Then his preserver glad exclaim’d-- + + “O God! this is the brightest day + Of all my reign--of all my life.”-- + Such bliss will generous bosoms ay + From truly noble deeds derive. + + His handkerchief was rent in haste, + As bandage for the wounded part; + A trifle added to the rest, + Which spoke the goodness of his heart. + + O Russia! of thy monarch boast, + Who well deserves the world’s thanks; + Be not his bright example lost, + But may it influence all ranks. + + Ye Russian subjects eye the throne, + Correct your manners, harsh and wild, + Copy your Emperor’s, hate your own-- + ’Twill make the rudest of you mild. + + + + + LINES + + _Composed on receiving a Letter from a_ + + YOUNG FRIEND. + + + Dear little nephew with delight + I heard your letter read; + With pleasure heard them praise your write, + No wonder I was glad. + + At six years old you write so well, + But vain I must not be; + Experience many a tale can tell, + To check and humble me. + + Yet present good I ought to prize, + Will hope good things to come: + Storms do not always cloud the skies, + Nor veil them with deep gloom. + + ’Tis gratifying to receive + Lines from a friend so young; + Our family’s representative, + Posterity among. + + Our line, for three full centuries past, + Resided in this place; + Yourself, dear boy, was born the last, + And stopt a little space. + + No wealth, nor fame, nor costly toys, + To you through lineage run; + But let its virtues be your choice, + And all its failings shun. + + Plains lie, hills rise, waves roll between + You and your natal spot; + When scarce ’tis known we here have been, + Our place and race forgot. + + That after time, yon aged stone, + (Down in the green church-yard) + Perhaps you’ll visit, all alone, + Where are our sires interr’d: + + Low sunk amid surrounding grass, + Like Ryno’s tomb of old, + And roughly fram’d, and clad with moss, + It long has mark’d the mould, + + That forms our kindreds’ narrow bed;-- + If any cause directs + You there, a pensive tear to shed, + O’er time and its effects. + + Bless’d be the occasion of your stop, + The thoughts that move your heart, + Bless’d means, vain folly’s growth to lop, + And wisdom’s plants t’ impart. + + Oh! deem not these ideas vain, + For love inspires the theme; + My only brother’s only child, + You bear my father’s name. + + In many a sense I hold you mine, + By many ties endear’d; + You’ve led me, in my bosom lain, + My lonely moments cheer’d. + + The lisping prattle of your tongue, + Thrills pleasant in my thought, + And all your little ways, when young, + Fresh in my memory float. + + And oh! may He, whose special care + Did guard you then from harm, + Be with you still, shall be my prayer, + Whilst life this heart doth warm. + + His Providence did us prevent, + From every hurtful thing, + As if an angel had been sent, + To shield us with his wing. + + O! early learn His name to fear, + The holy name of God; + Him honour, trust, obey, revere, + Whilst earth is your abode. + + And when from hence you must remove, + (How shortly none can tell) + You’ll see His gracious face in love, + And in his presence dwell. + + + + + LINES + + _On receiving an unexpected Present._ + + + I place thee here, but have no name + As yet, by which to ca’ thee; + Yet thou’rt so high in my esteem, + Should ony wrang befa’ thee, + + I would be truly vex’d indeed, + But hope we ne’er shall sever; + No,--tho’ I were in greatest need, + Sweet welcome little favour. + + A name for thee shall be propos’d, + Of still more precious meaning, + Than that of which thou art compos’d, + Though gold and ruby shining. + + Thy value shall not be impaired, + For truth shall here define thee; + ’Twas generous Pity,--kind regard, + Between them did design thee. + + Kindness compared my present state + Wi’ what she ance had ken’d me; + And tender Pity mourn’d my fate, + And bade the giver send thee. + + Lest I had thought at e’en or morn, + And wi’ a sigh reflected; + That now ’cause mair and mair forlorn-- + I therefore was neglected. + + While feeling in this breast is left, + The proud shall ne’er despise thee; + I’ll ca’ thee Pity’s parting gift, + And then the good will prize thee.-- + + Less for thy beauty, than that name, + I’m fain at being thy owner; + And though ’midst perils, far frae hame + Is now the gen’rous donor; + + Not for thy sake, but for his ain, + Him my best wishes follow, + And may the task he’s underta’en + Thrive like the water’d willow. + + May wealth and honour on him smile, + And goodness far ’bove either; + Peace guide him back t’ his native isle, + And safety waft him hither. + + Till then, O! were his labours blest, + For Afric and for Britain, + That Prejudice might be dismissed, + And us no longer hatin’. + + Trade’s intercourse might prove a mean + T’ amend their sad condition; + For darkness, heavenly light be seen, + ’Tis my sincere petition + + To Him, who only knows the end + Of all from the beginning,-- + May grace to them, even them extend, + A willing people winning. + + + + + STANZAS + + _To the Memory of a Young Gentleman who died abroad_. + + + The mournful occasion of the following Stanzas which happened + soon after the preceding piece was composed, shews the + uncertainty of human hope, and the impotency of all human + wishes; but it becomes his creatures to humble themselves under + the mighty hand of God, without repining at his dispensations, + who doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men, + but for wise and gracious purposes, and what we know not now we + shall know hereafter-- + + _God is his own interpreter, + And he will make it plain._ + + COWPER. + + There is a bed beyond the main, + Where sleeps a generous youth in peace, + Far distant from his kindreds’ ken, + The lonely place. + + He left his home at honour’s call, + And hurried on to win her bays; + But death commissioned, mark’d his fall, + Ere half his days. + + At least sound health, and manhood’s bloom, + Intrepid mind and spirits bright, + Him promised many days to come, + To our dim sight. + + But in this transitory state, + Man’s highest hopes, below the skies, + Must all end thus, or soon or late, + In “here he lies.” + + Where did his friends their leader leave? + What kindly turf doth him embrace? + Where orange branches mingling wave + Above the place. + + To screen from Afric’s burning beams, + The shrubs and verdure newly sprung, + Where desert flowers like beauteous gems, + Will blossom long. + + The monumental honours paid + By friendship to his lov’d remains, + By sons of Briton will be read, + In mournful strains. + + For there, by friendly Negroes led, + Enquiring travellers will be shewn + The stranger white man’s letter’d bed, + From land unknown. + + ’Twill warn the youth, whoe’er he be, + Who haply there may venturous roam, + That hopeful, healthful, gay as he, + Soon found a tomb. + + There rest his bones, yet feeling here, + Will view the spot in fancy’s dream, + And hold his memory truly dear, + And love his name. + + Parental tenderness will feel, + In melting woe, a kind relief, + And time will ease though never heal + The wound of grief. + + Let sisterly affection flow, + It calms the heart, and ’tis a debt + Which to a brother’s love they owe, + And to his fate. + + O’erpowering painful stretch of mind, + Fatigue and fever, all did meet, + And death made cold a heart, as kind + As ever beat. + + But sweetness mixes with the cup; + Who knows but Heaven has call’d him home + From draining many a bitter drop + Of ills to come. + + Now anxious fears are at an end, + And hope’s delightful visions lost + All buried in a foreign land, + Sad Afric’s coast. + + Like time its comforts fleeting prove, + Life’s joys are here but shadowy bliss, + Found real in the world above, + But not in this. + + + + + A SONNET. + + The following Sonnet was an early production, which memory, more + faithful to her trust than was expected, has long preserved for + me; it is here inserted as a memorial of Mrs P----’s goodness, a + small part of which was, that she taught me to knit Stockings, + and by means of that employment, I enjoyed more liberty of + walking about in the open air, than I could otherwise have had, + and which exercise contributed greatly to promote what share of + health I possessed: but every thing here is of a passing and + changeable nature, I cannot now profit in that way, which was + meant for my double benefit, my kind instructress has done with + time and all its fleeting concerns. + + + Dear madam while I tread the verdant lawn, + With heartfelt satisfaction and delight; + Whither by morning’s mildest beauty drawn, + Or lur’d by calm approach of sober night. + Can I forget that I that pleasure owe + To you, but as the happy means regard + Of heaven’s best earthly bliss to me below;-- + For what, save peace, can be with health compared. + I’ve known its loss, and therefore prize the more, + Its genial warmth enlivening all my frame; + It cheers, recruits, does brighter thoughts restore, + And under God from you these comforts came. + True as the unbroken thread leads to the clue, + So does your kindness lead my love to you. + + + + + TO A YOUNG LADY + + _Who generously sent me a piece of Gold Coin, but concealed + her name, one of my pieces having come into her hands before any + of the rest were published._ + + + Dear Miss, what breast so cold as would not feel, + The kindness you so generous have shewn; + And since your name the Lady did conceal, + With grateful heart I thank you, _fair unknown_. + + Believe me, Miss, I’m gratified much more, + That you felt pleasure from my humble lines, + Than to accept this present from your store, + Though ’tis the finest metal of the mines. + + I first compos’d them with a heavy heart, + For I was sad, nor small my cause of woe; + Yet time alleviates the keenest smart, + Though nothing can supply my loss below. + + Yet Providence to me is ever kind; + The watchful care of Heav’n I daily note; + Soft sympathy in every breast I find, + And many comforts gild my humble lot. + + Yes; very much I may be thankful for, + Tho’ lonelier now than once,--I have a home; + Have still ’bove charity a little store, + And hope I shall not want for time to come. + + This token of your kindness I receive, + And will preserve with more than Miser’s care, + And though even spent--in memory while I live, + Your generous goodness will be treasur’d there. + + Would, my young benefactress, I but knew, + Deign dearest Miss to let me know your name, + For soon a gift I mean to offer you, + Which to accept I will a favour deem. + + Meanwhile, dear lady, do not this despise, + In rustic dress my grateful thanks I send; + You have my feelings here without disguise, + And must accept the present I intend.[1] + +[1] The present intended is a copy of my verses proposed soon to be +published. + + + + + _On receiving a Descriptive Poem from a young Lady, to whom it + was given for me, by the Author._ + + + Thanks Sir, for this new token of good-will, + Which by a kindly hand convey’d has been, + It makes the greatest favour greater still, + When pleasantly conferred like this I ween. + + Was it in labyrinths of a town immured, + That thus your thoughts to rural scenes retired, + While youth oft’ errs by dissipation lured, + Your better choice by wisdom was inspired. + + For this did many a vacant hour employ, + But pleasant hours its progress to behold; + Soft recollections self-approving joy, + Were yours a theme so lov’d thus to unfold. + + And now a finish’d picture meets my view, + Which by the mental eye can be discern’d, + Then with avidity I follow you, + Where pleasure may be found, or knowledge learn’d. + + Lead where you please and trust me I will come, + Convinced of this you will not lead me wrong, + Shew each fair prospect round your early home, + Where with enthusiast’s eye you rov’d when young. + + Delightful scenery describ’d with skill, + Describ’d with feeling pleases every mind; + Sweet nature ever did, and ever will, + Admirers of her many beauties find. + + From yonder lofty eminence with you, + I glance from sea to sea, the picture wide; + But chief one landscape’s charms invite my view, + With uplands, woods, and vales diversified. + + Each water’d with its own blue winding stream; + ---- dear to many a swain and maid, + And dear to you as an Elysian dream, + Its hills with all the warmth of youth portray’d. + + Its poets’ work, its heroes’ deeds explor’d, + With much research its various parts explain’d, + By local notes with information stor’d, + From ancient lore and modern language gain’d. + + Thanks, then, for this new token of good-will, + This flow’ry picture of your fav’rite scene; + What so engaged your heart, your time and skill, + To think not thrown away on one so mean: + + Nor is it thrown away, for I will con, + As when a little girl, its choicest lines; + And oft’ your goodness by myself alone, + Will mind, when all the past my thought combines. + + May nature still for you her charms retain, + And genius crown you with his favours rare; + Philanthropy within your bosom reign, + Religion’s power and heavenly peace be there. + + May you, and she your friend, and only love, + Be happy long, and still in goodness grow; + Here blest, hereafter may your bliss improve, + When earth’s dissolv’d, and time shall cease to flow. + + + + + A LETTER + + _TO A FRIEND IN A GREAT TOWN_. + + + The following will not appear well connected at the beginning, a + number of verses being omitted: as they cannot concern any one + but he to whom they were originally addressed, what may be more + generally useful are here inserted. + + ---- Ever dear, with willing ear + I beg you to attend,-- + I would advise you to be wise, + O listen to a friend. + + Forgive a zeal that seeks your weal, + No motive else have I; + For that intent these lines are sent, + Not whim to gratify. + + I know you’re plac’d ’midst follies vast, + ’Midst vice in every shape, + Where pleasure cries, with siren voice, + And few her wiles escape. + + Let others riot--keep you all quiet, + Serene and pure within; + Your Maker fear--his laws revere-- + Indulge no darling sin. + + One day in seven, devote to heaven, + God’s house of prayer seek; + Be what’s there said in memory laid, + For practice through the week. + + In dealing just, still true to trust, + Whatever others do, + Be truth sincere, and honour fair, + The character of you. + + Owe to no man.--What good you can + With friendly zeal perform,-- + Let hasty ire your breast ne’er fire, + Though wrong’d, still passion’s storm. + + Judicious be in your choice; + A real _friend_ is rare; + Be kind to all, but try them well, + Your confidence who share. + + Vain empty pride, high scornful ey’d, + Ne’er stoop to flatter it; + But worth, where seen, in rich or mean, + Respect and imitate. + + Ne’er be so weak, as vaunting make + Proud self your darling song; + Let others praise, if there is cause, + But never one’s own tongue. + + Vain boasting must still raise disgust, + Where it applause expects; + But solid sense learns diffidence, + By seeing its own defects. + + Be by each fault in others taught, + T’ avoid the same through life; + But to their hurt such ne’er report, + Thus keeping clear of strife. + + No word obscene, or oath profane, + Be by your lips express’d, + Nor even your ear approving hear, + But from your soul detest. + + In reason’s scale weigh matters well, + When doubtful how to act; + But ne’er in cause of goodness pause, + Nor virtuous motions check. + + All ill resist, do not assist + In any guilty scheme, + But count all foes who would propose + To sully so your fame. + + The gaming board shun as a sword, + That would assail your breast; + Haunts of the rude, like death elude, + And drunkards’ bowl unblest. + + In harmless joy your days employ, + I would not have them dull; + To some wise use, each spare hour chuse, + On pleasures rational. + + Lightsome as day with spirits gay, + And sprightly temper even; + Join jocund mirth, with men of worth, + But ne’er to excess driven. + + Good books at home, read in your room, + When business will permit; + These friends each night will bring delight, + Pursu’d by no regret. + + Your pillow prest, then sweetest rest + Will every sense absorb; + Such as by guilt, can ne’er be felt, + Which vexing dreams disturb. + + A heart at ease, in virtue’s ways, + Its portion here is peace; + Be that your aim--a worthier gem + Than George’s crown doth grace. + + Fresh wholesome air, oft walk to share; + From noise and nonsense steal; + Attend to health, without which, wealth + Will be of small avail. + + If fortune smile, O let meanwhile, + A giving God be blest; + Though troubles low’r, yet meek adore, + And in your Maker trust. + + What Providence doth wise dispense, + Should by his friends be view’d, + All sent in love, their hearts to prove, + And working for their good. + + In every case, then humbly place, + On high your confidence; + Use means, ’tis true, but grateful view, + And own all help from thence. + + Frail erring man, do all he can, + Can merit make no plea; + We at God’s hand can nought command, + His favours all are free. + + Free grace and love, Oh! these improve, + While in this lower clime, + For all must end, as here we spend, + Use or abuse our time. + + One thing ’bove all, one day we shall + Find to be needful most; + And time mis-spent, we may repent, + Our precious moments lost. + + Time pass’d, again we never can + With pray’rs nor tears recall; + And e’er perhaps few days elapse, + We low in dust may fall. + + No wisdom then we can attain, + Or knowledge in the tomb; + Each day we live doth warning give, + That change may shortly come. + + Death at our side makes havock wide, + Acquaintance not a few, + Some young and gay are call’d away, + Since I last spoke with you. + + Let us regard, and be prepar’d, + More wean’d from worldly toys, + Which nought can give, but us deceive + With false and fleeting joys. + + The immortal mind is sure design’d + To rise ’bove trifles here, + Still soaring higher, it should aspire + To heaven, its native sphere. + + Below the skies, nought can suffice, + The soul still feels a void; + Its lov’d abode is with its God, + His presence full enjoy’d. + + Look on this state so short of date, + As trial for the next; + Thro’ a Saviour’s name make heaven your claim, + Be there your treasure fix’d. + + Tho’ we are weak, and wisdom lack, + To our best interest blind; + Aid, wisdom, light, if sought aright, + We graciously shall find. + + May heaven direct, and ne’er forsake, + But bless my youthful friend; + To life give charms, in death’s alarms-- + Peace, Hope, and Triumph send. + + + + + A LETTER + + _To my NEPHEW after he had been ill, then residing in Perth_. + + + Dear G---- when you these lines receive, + Some lovely day like this, + Then of your guardian friends ask leave, + And if they answer, yes-- + + With bow of thanks accept the boon; + And then with playful glee, + And lightsome step, come here at noon, + To dine that day with me. + + But if your guardians answer, no, + Without complaint submit; + What’s proper for you best they know, + And every way most fit. + + Returning health, relations kind, + These blessings duly prize, + And with a glad, but humble mind, + Let grateful thoughts arise, + + And trace them from a source divine, + Whence all our blessings flow, + Such feelings will your soul refine, + True happiness to know. + + For in whatever state we are, + ’Tis comfort still to feel, + We’re under his Almighty care, + Who orders all things well. + + Supported by his Providence, + Preserved by his power, + Our hope is in Omnipotence, + Both now and evermore. + + Nought of this hope can us deprive, + Unless, O wicked thought! + We ’gainst his tender mercies strive, + And set his love at nought. + + Be then your youthful heart impress’d + With awe, nor so offend,-- + But not with gloomy dread possess’d-- + Your Maker is your friend. + + When I beneath the sod lie pale, + O! may your days be spent, + Though ’lotted in life’s humble vale, + In pious calm content. + + Now Spring with promis’d bounty crown’d, + Unlocks her lovely stores; + ’Tis time to dress the spot of ground, + That shall be called yours. + + When wint’ry storms retreat at last, + Afar to frozen seas; + Your seeds will spring and blossom fast, + And scent the summer breeze. + + When flowers are beautiful to view, + Fields green, and fair the sky, + Then ask your friends to come with you, + These beauties to enjoy.-- + + Though eggs or milk should be their fare, + And bread of barley-meal, + With welcome, exercise, and air, + Such food will favour well. + + Though no rich dainties them await, + Them though exertion tire, + The walk itself will be a treat, + And health I hope their hire. + + + POSTSCRIPT. + + Here an acquaintance from the north, + A visit doth intend; + You oft’ experienc’d his worth, + He was the stranger’s friend. + + + + + A LETTER + + TO A GENTLEMAN FARMER, + + _Requesting a favour_. + + + Sir, just at a venture this freedom I took, + And here, as it is, is a letter; + Excuse its design, its defects overlook, + For the truth is, I could not do better. + + I will not address you in flatt’ry’s fine strain, + Which is at the best a mere bubble; + But simply, and shortly, will try to explain + The cause why I give you this trouble. + + Being born in this place, and brought up in my youth, + By parents not rich, but respected, + For honesty, industry, kindness, and truth, + On whom some esteem was reflected. + + For whose sakes, this neighbourhood, not then estrang’d, + Would have helped me, one or another; + But now, one excepted, the tenants are chang’d, + Who e’er knew my father or mother. + + Another, of late, to his farm bade farewell, + On whom was the half of my leaning; + And one over-burden’d will naturally fail-- + So now you may guess at my meaning. + + A favour from you this is sent to obtain, + And for leave too, to beg a renewal; + Please grant me, at this time, and sometimes again, + A cart to bring sticks home for fuel. + + No claim I can urge to your kindness at all, + Necessity made me invent this; + And to Mrs ----’s tho’ my claim is but small, + Yet her I request to present this. + + And should she, sweet pleader, but give me her vote, + These lines will, at least, not offend you; + The favour I ask, be it granted or not, + I wish, Sir, that good may attend you. + + + + + _On laying an old Petticoat beside a good one, which were both + cut from the same piece of cloth._ + + + Do not thy sister poor despise, + Though now in such a plight; + Though she in rags beside thee lies, + Don’t her condition slight. + + I’d have thee better manners taught, + Than such vain pride to shew; + ’Twas her misfortune, not her fault, + That brought thy sister low. + + No diff’rence once you two between, + A nice eye could have made; + But she has oft’ in hardships been, + Which made her sooner fade. + + In useful service she has spent, + Her beauty, strength, and prime; + Thou may’st be tarnish’d, burnt, or rent, + At some unlucky time. + + No one though prosperous to-day, + Can tell to-morrow’s lot; + This thought must not be thrown away, + Though spoke to a petticoat. + + No, let me profit by the same, + And make the advice my own, + To bear in mind how frail I am, + Nor be to censure prone. + + Should error, change, decay, be proud, + Right reason answers, No-- + And man to these (howe’er endow’d) + Is liable while below. + + Humility becomes us all, + Though seldom rightly learn’d: + We should not boast when others fall, + But pity, and be warn’d. + + + + + =On visiting a Faded Flower.= + + + Ah! lovely flow’r, art thou already dead, + Thy freshness lost, and native fragrance fled? + Fair once thou flourish’d on thy lowly stem, + Pleasing their sight and smell, who near thee came;-- + I found thee then in infant blossom gay-- + Why call’d so soon to witness thy decay? + What sudden blast so sorely blighted thee? + And what thy message or thy charge to me? + Was it to tell me that in childhood so, + My beauty too receiv’d a fatal blow? + That fell distemper’s unrelenting storm + Blighted its bloom, ere ripen’d into form? + Yes; to my sorrow, ’twas the case I find, + Nor want such help to bring it back to mind; + The casual remembrance claims a tear-- + But let me not long idly ponder here; + A more important lesson thou hast brought,-- + Oft’ learn’d, but not remember’d as it ought; + Then faded not in vain thy beauteous tint, + For it has given one seasonable hint; + Reminded thoughtless me in whisper smooth-- + I too shall die,--a most momentous truth: + Which recollection brings a serious train + Of mix’d ideas to my busy brain. + Day after day flies with unceasing speed-- + One day, how near I know not, is decreed, + The utmost bound’ry of my mortal date: + Then death will summon to his awful gate; + Nought can from his commission’d stroke release, + Nature must yield within his cold embrace, + Nothing more sure;--this mortal body must + Moulder and mingle with its kindred dust. + But shall this thinking principle within, + Also a period have in death’s domain? + Must that more noble part its mansion quit, + And then in common air evaporate? + No! such a thought appals the human heart, + And makes it doubly loath with life to part; + We will but for a time be separated, + To be in lasting union re-united. + A soul immortal’s given to my care, + Which weal, or woe, with me shall endless share. + Have trifles then such melancholy brought, + Or for a moment occupied my thought-- + That should on everlasting things be fix’d-- + Turn from this world and settle on the next! + The fashion of this world shall pass away-- + The sun itself grow dim--and time decay: + This whole terrestrial system have an end: + Then why upon such fleeting things depend; + So empty in themselves, and transient, + So fluctuating all that they present. + For take this world, even at its best, + Suppose ourselves of all its good possess’d, + Something is wanting--we are far from rest. + Much in this world, it really matters not, + Was meanest of the mean my destin’d lot: + External comforts, blessings are, I grant, + And call for thanks to heaven, by whom they’re sent; + These in my station I have large enjoy’d, + Though one great blessing is to me denied; + Even that, for some wise purpose is withheld-- + For real good these eyes from light are veil’d, + Not from the effects of gloomy dull chagrine, + Disgust or envy, but with mind serene; + From vain amusements I would now depart, + And while youth’s ardour animates my heart, + Direct my thoughts to Him who rules above, + The spring of action and the source of Love. + But how effect the rational design-- + A God of love indeed, but is he mine? + Am I obnoxious to his threaten’d ire-- + God out of Christ is a consuming fire! + Our great apostacy from heaven at first, + Made its pure law declare us all accurs’d. + God could not stoop to pardon an offence + Against his law, committed only once, + And when its precepts we do daily break, + In every thing we think, or speak, or act; + What can be done--for God will not forgive, + Unless full satisfaction he receive; + That satisfaction is not in our power, + And to attempt it we offend the more, + More that Almighty Being is provok’d, + Whose word expressly saith, “_He’ll not be mock’d_:” + Infinite purity will ne’er be stain’d, + But each perfection to the full maintain’d, + Then let not poor presumptuous mortals e’er + Approach to God, but by a Saviour dear; + For He that form’d them will no favour shew, + But spurn them and their proffer’d service too. + Such is our state, we only can expect + Acceptance, for a Mediator’s sake-- + Mercy’s God’s darling attribute reveal’d, + That justice also might be reconcil’d, + That rebel subjects might have free access + Unto his gracious favour,--he no less + Than parted with a dear and only son, + Who cheerful undertook the cause alone. + Here admiration fills the musing mind, + Heaven’s uncreated heir his place resign’d; + His Father’s bosom for a season left, + Offer’d himself a voluntary gift; + Though worlds unknown, unnumber’d, by his hand + Were form’d, sustain’d, and rul’d by his command. + Though seraph choirs with adoration prais’d, + And round his throne celestial music rais’d; + Though of such glory, of such bliss possess’d, + As could not be augmented nor decreas’d, + Though happy in himself he could have been, + Had all this world sunk underneath its sin; + Yet came to shew even with his latest breath, + A love divine that stronger was than death! + When vain was every scheme man could invent, + Law’s threats to mitigate or to prevent; + That great days--man stood forward in the breach, + Did what, nor men, nor angels ere could reach. + That for the work he might be qualified, + Veil’d his divinity, not laid aside; + Step’d in a willing substitute, and gave + All that a violated law could crave; + Essential dignity in him at once + Did its demands and threat’nings both silence, + Obey’d its precepts, paid its penalty, + And thus the law did highly magnify. + Yes; law and justice to the full are pleas’d! + Offended Deity’s in him appeas’d! + Hence all our hope, that God will us accept! + The only way we can his wrath escape! + But heavy will his hot displeasure fall + On all who hear, yet slight the gospel call: + Then shudder daring infidelity, + For heavy, heavy will it fall on thee; + The measure of your wickedness is full, + For ye not only slight but ridicule. + What Christ said to the Pharisees, self-wise, + Methinks most fitly now to you applies; + Ye will not enter mercy’s open door, + And what still aggravates your crime the more, + To hinder others who would enter there, + Have laid a stumbling block, a deadly snare! + ’Gainst all that’s sacred and divine have set + Your impious talents to obliterate, + And make abortive all that Heaven design’d, + To cheer in every woe the drooping mind. + But vain such foolish impotent efforts! + Omnipotence itself the whole supports! + Let not your hearts admit a single doubt, + His real friends, for he will sure make out + His word, and promises, concerning you; + Nor fail in one, if truth itself be true. + Exalt him in your hearts higher and higher, + Let God be true, and every man a liar, + Who dares to question with effront’ry broad, + The being, or veracity of God! + Nor fear his burning wrath should on them break, + In whom even devils do believe and quake! + The Lord enthron’d in highest heaven shall laugh;-- + Exalted far ’bove atheistic scoff-- + And justly doth in indignation say, + “Vengeance belongs to me, I will repay.” + See such a person, at a dying hour, + When conscious guilt the soul doth overpower; + When death tears off the thick film from her eyes, + And sweeps away her refuges of lies; + The sand-built system cannot stand the shock, + False rear’d on shatter’d reason’s broken rock; + Down falls the tower of self-sufficiency, + And all within, chaos and uncertainty. + The soul is well nigh bordering on despair! + Forc’d to remove, and go, she knows not where! + In terror driven upon its vast frontiers-- + Eternity sounds dreadful in her ears!-- + Trembling she stands, upon its boundless brink, + And quite incapable to act or think! + Cited by conscience to his awful bar, + With whom her life has been open at war! + That monitor will be no more supprest, + But speaks terrific language in the breast! + Points to a powerful and incensed God, + And thence doth very fearful things forebode + Truly deplorable is such a case-- + From which religion can alone release. + Nought but well grounded hope, and heaven-born faith + Can bear through ills of life, or sweeten death, + When that dread monarch comes in frowns array’d, + Nature shrinks back, confounded and dismay’d; + Nor is it strange for death is nature’s foe, + Dissolving every tender tie below,-- + But when his icy hand the heart blood chills, + When bodily and mental pain assails, + And every source of earthly comfort fails: + True faith in Christ will then its hold maintain, + And in that conflict will the soul sustain; + Opens bright prospects, and doth plainly show + That death, at worst, is now a conquer’d foe! + Teaches to follow Him who once did brave-- + Nay, triumph’d over and subdued the grave! + If in that hour the Saviour grant relief, + As long before to the expiring thief; + And whisper in the Gospel’s cheering voice, + “To-day thou’lt be with me in Paradise!” + How will the soul, then elevated high + Above this planet, hail its native sky! + And though a darksome valley lies between, + Each promise is a staff whereon to lean! + Dust to its fellow dust doth fearless lend, + And joyful flies Eternity to spend, + ’Mong fellow-saints on high, at God’s right hand! + O! glorious exit, from a world of pain, + To where, nor guilt, nor sorrow, enter can: + Their state of trial happily is past; + And let me recollect while mine doth last, + To order so my conduct while in this, + As to obtain a life of endless bliss. + Since health and strength are seasons then most meet, + To make our peace with heav’n sure and complete. + Let not the slighting of such golden times + Be added to the number of my crimes; + But of ourselves we nothing can acquire-- + No! not so much as form one good desire. + May God’s good spirit then my soul inspire, + To apply to Jesus, a Physician fit, + The Saviour gracious and compassionate; + Who will, with open arms of love, embrace + Returning penitents, won by his grace, + T’ accept free mercy on the offer’d plan, + At infinite expense prepar’d for man: + The gospel call doth well my right ensure,-- + “Come all who will and drink life’s water pure.” + None are excluded, high and low the same, + Have to their Maker’s favour equal claim: + Though none can merit, all may humbly crave + What’s freely promis’d--hoping to receive.-- + Oh! Thou who wilt not turn away thine ear, + But listen to the needy’s pray’r sincere. + Look then upon me in my lost estate; + Thy fulness to my wants accommodate: + Impute to me a righteousness divine, + Else everlasting mis’ry will be mine. + In each vicissitude and wildering maze, + Keep from arraigning thy most perfect ways-- + For what is good thou only dost bestow-- + All that is evil from ourselves doth flow. + With love to Thee, O! do my bosom warm! + Good-will to all that bear the human form. + My heart and its affections wholly draw, + And hold in due subjection to thy law.-- + So as thou canst approve, direct my way, + Else will this perverse heart far from thee stray; + Unnumber’d vanities lie lurking here, + Which, in unguarded moments, oft’ appear, + Leaving a sting behind sharp and severe. + No power, sin to withstand, is mine I own-- + O! let Almighty power in me be shown, + And snatch me as a firebrand from the flame,-- + Raise a new monument to mercy’s name. + + + + + A FACT + + _Recorded in the Evangelical Magazine_, + + FOR JULY 1812. + + + Lately I heard a paper read-- + O! were it blessed to me for good! + I felt it as the writer did, + And awful horror chill’d my blood! + + Four criminals were to justice brought, + But none of them of harden’d mind; + They view’d their state as sinners ought, + And were to serious thoughts inclin’d. + + Of every comfort long depriv’d, + In gloomy dungeon they did moan; + At last the dreadful day arriv’d, + When life must for their crimes atone. + + When standing on the scaffold boards, + The gazing multitude to teach; + Each made in solemn warning words, + A simple, but impressive, speech. + + Entreating all to shun each crime, + Which God and man have doom’d to wrath, + Which leads to punishment in time, + And tends to everlasting death. + + If once associates in guilt, + Now friends in sad affliction, they, + To press each others hands they felt, + Before the scaffold boards gave way. + + O! let me hasten to a close-- + Poor ATKINSON in turning round, + The shifting rope did so dispose, + That death long sought could not be found. + + Hanging in air--(Oh! dreadful state!) + He utter’d a most piercing cry: + His words were (awful to relate!) + “O God! O God! I cannot die!” + + The sufferer was soon reliev’d; + ’Twas merciful to speed his doom;-- + But be this truth by all believ’d, + For all of us may bring it home. + + Yes!--we immortal souls possess, + (Whoever may this truth deny;) + Which shall in endless woe, or bliss, + For ever live, and cannot die. + + Proud infidel, be mute, be mute,-- + Nor longer injur’d heav’n incense; + Lest awful vengeance thee refute, + And hurry thee blaspheming hence, + + To where thou’lt own,--(but ah! too late,) + That all thy boasting was a lie; + For ever fix’d, thy dismal state, + Live, feel thou must--but cannot die. + + Even wert thou right, where is thy gain? + When thou art nothing, all is lost; + In drear annihilation’s reign, + Will it be known how big thy boast? + + But wrong, O think,--what fury breaks, + On miserable thee to fall; + An error there, of all mistakes, + Will dreadful be, and past recall. + + O trust the word of truth reveal’d, + And testimony of the good; + The _Sacred Book_ to thee is seal’d, + And mock’d, because not understood. + + Stout-hearted man, let pride no more, + Or vice estrange thy soul from God! + Improve his word, his grace implore, + ’Tis promis’d and will be bestow’d. + + O! thou who kindly lead’st the blind, + In ways themselves could never trace; + In mercy guide each humble mind, + And teach the path to endless peace; + + It will enhance the boundless bliss, + Of all whose names are wrote on high; + That they shall ever see thy face, + In love, assur’d they cannot die. + + + + + A COMPLAINT TO POESY, + + _Addressed to a young man about to leave this part of the country_. + + + Why thoughtful even in company, + And always sad when left alone? + I will complain to Poesy, + Whose tears with mine have often flown. + + To thee sweet nymph! I will impart + My various feelings as they rise, + Thy votary thou wilt not desert, + Like others whom my heart doth prize. + + Adieu! my dearest friend adieu! + Since here you will not, will not stay; + My heart’s best wishes rest with you, + Though four times five score miles away. + + This beating heart’s susceptible, + Of friendship pure it has a sense, + And while that natural principle, + Is not entirely banish’d hence; + + Still faithful memory will present, + When gone is many a tedious year, + The hours we’ve altogether spent, + And cause a pleasing, painful tear; + + Soft sympathy! (the name is dear, + I mention it with gratitude,)-- + Doth in each breast for me appear, + With that be satisfied I should. + + But sad I see, when you depart, + The number of my friends decrease; + I feel a taste of future smart, + Which oft’ I fear to feel like this. + + If life prolong’d to age be mine, + All now so lov’d may then be gone, + Then who will cheer in life’s decline? + I’ll ne’er know such as I have known. + + But why to Poesy complain? + Will not the plain impartial muse + Assume her power, and me arraign, + Of selfish ends, of selfish views? + + She in this manner doth reprove,-- + Conceal such sentiments as thine, + If fortune favours those we love, + Should we because of that repine. + + You wrong me I did sighing say, + Do not misunderstand me so; + Become of C---- whatever may, + ’Twill give her pleasure that to know. + + But ah! my heart has many a fear, + T’ avert which, heav’n, I thee implore, + I dread yon town’s unwholesome air, + But dread its bad example more.-- + + Oh! may all watchful Providence, + Still guard from every sinful snare; + Preserve in health and innocence, + You making its peculiar care. + + A sober, pious, harmless life + Maintain, and keep its end in view, + Which soon, or late, will sure arrive, + Then what is all this world to you. + + Let atheists at religion laugh, + And libertines live as they list; + But on a death-bed who can scoff, + God then in fear will be confess’d! + + Rejoice young man in days of youth, + Thine heart with every folly cheer; + But know, all these, as true as truth, + In after judgment must appear! + + To Israel thus the sacred page-- + But wrote for our instruction too; + It speaks to youth in every age, + And now my friend it cautions you. + + With vigorous health your bosom glows,-- + False dazzling views elate your soul; + Brisk through each vein life’s current flows,-- + Each passion apt to spurn control. + + But oh! let timely counsel warn, + While yet I hope no friend to vice; + From wisdom’s pathway never turn, + Though folly should with smiles entice. + + Be serious, prudent, circumspect, + Shun pleasure’s fascinating lure; + And oh! may heaven your heart direct, + To all that’s virtuous, good, and pure. + + Consider boyish years are flown, + Endeavour manhood so to spend, + As honour strict may fairly own, + Conscience approve, and heaven commend. + + And then though slander aim her darts, + Your reputation fair to wound; + Still truth will triumph o’er her arts, + Her dark designs dash and confound. + + The sober will such worth admire, + And wealth on diligence attends; + Fame, fortune, will I hope conspire, + To gain you many valued friends. + + And pleasing circles will adorn + Your hearth, to cheer each hour of rest; + Each night close calm as rose the morn, + Each day be happy as the past. + + Heaven’s favour heightens every joy,-- + Makes every comfort taste more sweet; + But vice doth every bliss destroy, + Follow’d by fear, shame, and regret. + + But even should adverse fortune frown, + Troubles assail, no friend remain; + God never can forsake his own, + But all who trust him will sustain. + + If bitters in life’s cup are mix’d, + ’Tis from this world their hearts to wean; + To qualify them for the next, + Where bliss complete cures every pain. + + That this may be your happy lot; + (And oh! how happy none can tell!) + Has oft’ employ’d her earnest thought, + Who sighing says,--dear youth, Farewell! + + + + + VERSIFICATION + + OF + + =Ossian’s Address to the Moon=. + + + Daughter of heaven! fair art thou,-- + The brightness of thy face, + Is pleasant to the travellers’ view, + When darkness flies apace. + + The stars attend thy azure steps, + And murky clouds, O! Moon,-- + Sport in thy beams, their brightening shapes, + Rejoicing as at noon. + + Night’s lovely daughter in the sky, + Who doth like thee preside; + The stars asham’d thy presence fly, + Their sparkling eyes to hide. + + But where dost thou thyself repair, + When dark thy count’nance grows? + Hast thou a hall like Ossian, where + Grief’s shadows thee enclose? + + Fell thy fair sisters from the skies, + That nightly shone before? + They in thy presence did rejoice, + And are they now no more? + + Yes! they are fall’n. O! fairest light! + Who did thy path adorn; + And thou dost oft’ retire from sight, + Thy loss of friends to mourn. + + But thou thyself shalt one night fail, + Nor more in Heaven appear; + Then stars that shrunk before thee pale, + With joy their heads shall rear. + + Yet, while with brightest beams begirt, + Look from thy lofty gate.-- + O! burst ye winds that cloud apart, + Let her appear in state! + + The shaggy mountains to illume, + And make their summits bright; + That azure waves ’midst ocean’s gloom, + May roll in rays of light! + + + + + BALCLUTHA’s RUINS; + + _Versified from Ossian_. + + + Raise, ye, my Bards, said mighty Fingal, raise + A mournful song, in sad Moina’s praise; + Call to our hills her ghost with tuneful air, + That she may rest in peace with Morven’s fair. + The sun-beams mild on other days that shone, + Delights of ancient heroes long since gone. + I’ve seen Balclutha’s walls, but they are sad, + And dreary desolation round them spread; + The ruinous fire had rioted in the hall; + The people’s voice is heard no more at all; + And Clutha’s course was alter’d by the fall; + And there the thistle shook its lonely head, + Thro’ wither’d moss the wind a whistling made; + The skulking fox did from the window look, + And rank the tufted grass around him shook: + ‘Such is the dwelling of Moina now, + The habitation of her fathers low. + Then raise ye Bards, a sweetly mournful strain, + And o’er the stranger’s land in song complain; + They only fell a little us before, + We too must one day fall and be no more. + Why build the hall, son of the winged days? + Or why with toil a stately fabric raise? + To-day thou lookest from thy tower elate; + Yet a few years, for lo! how short the date! + Then desert blasts howl in thy empty court, + And whistle round thy shield in seeming sport; + And come thou desert blast, with howling sound, + We in our little day shall be renown’d; + Still shall be heard our deeds in battles past, + And in the song of bards our name shall last; + When thou shalt fail, O! sun of heaven so bright! + If thou indeed must fail, thou mighty light! + If thou, like me, but for a season art, + Our fame shall live when thy last beams depart. + + + + + ANOTHER EXTRACT + + _From Ossian._ + + + From grief a kind of joy doth flow, + When peace is in the breast; + Some minds indulge themselves in woe, + And love to be distress’d. + + Altho’ by sad remembrance pain’d, + The heart still holds it dear, + The soft sensation is retain’d, + Tho’ causing many a tear.-- + + But sorrow wastes the mournful soul, + Its joyless days are few, + Whose heart of settled sadness full + Bids cheerfulness adieu!-- + + A willing stranger to delight, + It wastes in early bloom, + Like flowers which nightly mildews blight, + And scorching suns consume.-- + + The floweret bends its heavy head, + The killing drops to drink, + So does the mind to pleasure dead, + In cherish’d sorrow sink.-- + + But grief doth such in secret waste, + Their fleeting days are few, + Whose minds by settled gloom possess’d, + Bid cheerfulness adieu!-- + + + + + =A Petition= + + TO A MEDICAL GENTLEMAN. + + + Would, Sir, that I could win your ear, + A favour is petition’d here, + Though much you have already done, + Yet bear with one request from me: + Your patient, now, I fain would be, + If granted so desir’d a boon; + + A plan might be devis’d that would + Be blest, who knows, to do me good. + And, O! it were a happy thing! + ’Twould greatly better my condition, + Spread your fame as a physician, + Double pleasure thence would spring. + + Not that I mean your skill’s denied, + If so, I had not first applied, + Much less my pleading now renew; + But curing such a stubborn case, + Your usefulness would much increase, + Tho’ fame should weigh but light with you. + + One kind to me before, now gone, + Did all that long could have been done; + This lameness to prevent, and cure, + But then my wavering constitution, + More than now, was in confusion, + And resisted med’cine’s power. + + One time I had a minute’s talk, + With you ’bout helping me to walk, + But you declin’d so hard a task, + And I was then, as at this day, + So troublesome another way, + I wanted courage more to ask. + + But measur’d lines possess a power, + At least I’ve known it so before, + They’ve gain’d a cause which else had fail’d, + When told in truth’s persuasive spirit, + Meaning well, though poor in merit; + Ev’n such verses have prevail’d; + + Please, Sir, let such prevail with you, + And try what art and means can do, + To make me walk though lame and slow: + I think you nothing can propose, + As process, regimen, or dose, + But I will patient undergo: + + And after all if means are vain, + I will not murmur, or complain, + When both have done the best we may; + Do promise, once to make a trial, + Nor kill weak hope with a denial, + And your petitioner will pray. + + + + + LINES + + COMPOSED IN THE TIME OF WAR. + + + Ha! what’s a’ your hurry my blythe laughing lassie? + What mak’s you sae merry that’s been sae lang wae? + Sae cheerily smiling, weel pleas’d, and sae dressy, + Ye ha’e na been seen for this mony a day? + Is JAMIE come hame again frae the French prison? + I read i’ your looks that I haena guess’d wrang; + Said she, I’ll no hide it, for frankly confessing, + I hope now to see him afore it be lang. + + See here are twa letters frae him an’ my brither, + They’re baith to be here in a fortnight at maist; + I’m gaun the blythe tidings to tell JAMIE’S mither, + Sae that’s just the cause o’ my gladness and haste. + I left her, an’ thought how destructive is fighting, + Contriv’d by nae guid to hand folk in a steer; + Keeps mony a body themselves ay affrighting, + For brither, friend, husband, or son, that is dear. + + Some wars on ae side hae been right it is granted, + But ilk’ sober person’s opinion runs thus-- + That war aye, if possible, should be prevented, + The wide warld’s wealth canna balance the loss. + I’m no a deep-learn’d far-skill’d politician, + But common sense tells me that war is a fiend, + Spreading poverty, bloodshed, an’ fell desolation, + Sic havoc I heartily wish at an end. + + + + + =Sabella=; + + A METRICAL TALE. + + + Near twilight, in a forest vast, + Which close tall trees did well adorn; + Surrounded by a heathy waste, + Where rang’d the deer with branched horn. + + No marks of culture there were shewn, + But passing Flora, from her lap, + Some borders had profusely strewn + With seeds, and Phœbus nurs’d them up. + + An op’ning small the wood divides, + Where runs a riv’let chrystal clear, + And plants and flowers bedeck the sides, + In all its windings far and near. + + Off either bank the blast to ward, + Stand the straight oak and comely larch, + The silent pathway’s lofty guard, + Join’d by the sweetly smelling birch. + + The falling dew they did imbibe, + Scent, beauty, freshness, to repair; + And on their boughs, a plumy tribe + Pour’d sweetest woodnotes on the air. + + Calm was the scene, not e’en a breath + The smallest quiv’ring leaf did shake; + When slowly stepping o’er the heath, + Advanc’d a nymph of graceful make. + + When she approach’d to where the rill + Out of a little fountain rose; + ’Twas so inviting, soft, and still, + Its devious walk the damsel chose. + + Now said she, as she stept along, + This is a favourable place, + To search what in me is so wrong, + And ever robs me of my peace. + + My bosom is not torn with spite, + Nor dark revenge, nor fell remorse; + No! what my youthful bloom doth blight, + Arises from another source. + + Credulity has been my wreck, + Too easy won by feign’d regard; + Affection whispering, don’t suspect,-- + Reflection’s voice was not yet heard. + + Long blinded, I did long believe, + Was loath to think his heart so bad, + As with such treachery to deceive, + Then basely slight a trusting maid. + + But long neglect has made me own + His fondest vows were only feign’d; + He roves through fields to me unknown,-- + Nor one farewell epistle deign’d. + + Now to some favourite fair he’ll jest, + And speak of me, with taunting scorn; + Oh! how this weakness I detest, + And yet cannot forbear to mourn. + + My heart from every thing around, + Displeas’d, dissatisfied, turns back! + Cease cheerful birds! that echoing sound + Does still my forlorn mind distract. + + Thinking herself unseen, unheard, + Aloud her sad complaint began, + When, leaning on his staff, appeared + A venerable aged man. + + “Daughter,” he said, “be not alarm’d, + “Pursue your walk, nor tremble so + “At one, by seventy years disarm’d, + “From being a formidable foe. + + “I only in the forest stopt, + “As from my work I did retire; + “And these few faded branches lopt, + “A faggot for my lonely fire.” + + “By seventy years,” replied the maid, + Whose looks much pity did express-- + “And still must work, you sure have had + “Uncommon family distress.” + + “Ah! why recall that tender name,” + The old man with a sigh rejoin’d,-- + “Forgive me, you are not to blame, + “’Tis never absent from my mind. + + “Wouldst thou accompany so old + “A man as I’m to yonder bank, + “Hear his advice, or hist’ry told?” + She said--“for both I would you thank. + + “Of good advice I’m much in want, + “Sick of deceitful trifling youth; + “I’ll hear the voice of age intent, + “And lend a willing ear to truth. + + “I’ll not inquisitive enquire”-- + When seated, thus the sage began: + “The cause why you so much desire + “To wander from th’ abodes of man? + + “Amidst the foliage envelop’d, + “This much I both have heard and seen, + “By gestures and expressions dropt, + “Your heart is press’d with anguish keen. + + “O! listen then while I relate + “The wasting griefs myself have known, + “Nought interesting to repeat, + “Befell me till to manhood grown. + + “I was arrived at age mature, + “Before my honour’d parents died, + “A passion stronger but as pure, + “The place of filial love supplied. + + “One night, my day’s employment done, + “In twilight’s pale but soothing reign; + “The busy world I wish’d to shun, + “And sought a long neglected plain. + + “The moon arose with cheering rays-- + “I walk’d on lighted by the same, + “Where oftentimes in boyish days, + “I with my mother went and came. + + “Till by some secret impulse led, + “Near to the margin of a fount, + “Where a neat cottage rais’d its head, + “Of no contemptible account. + + “Its owner wealthy was and proud, + “Had been a hero brave in youth; + “His daughter’s praises fame sang loud, + “Nor deviated from the truth. + + “Her merits I had oft’ been told; + “Had long esteem’d the lovely maid; + “Another feeling made me bold, + “And I its dictates quick obey’d. + + “Struck with a whimsical conceit, + “To try if welcome as a guest, + “I enter’d the half open’d gate. + “Nine times five years have not effac’d + + “From memory, the sudden joy + “That then my raptur’d bosom felt. + “An object caught my eager eye, + “On which it long with pleasure dwelt. + + “I saw the fair Amelia stand, + “Midst her domestic maidens young; + “Industrious was each busy hand, + “Whilst to her side an orphan clung.” + + “Poor little child” she said, “bereft + “Of parents in thy tender years, + “But not an helpless outcast left, + “To break thine heart with sighs and tears. + + “No! I will shield from want and cold, + “And teach thee all myself have known; + “Virtue and truth to thee unfold, + “As far as light to me is shewn.” + + “She stopt, I hastily retir’d, + “Nor waited for a sentence more; + “Durst not approach what I admir’d, + “But unobserved reach’d the door. + + “Went home, but no amusement, then, + “Could from my purpose make me swerve; + “I visited the maid again, + “And told my mind without reserve. + + “She heard me with a patient ear,-- + “Our families of old were one; + “Suspended betwixt hope and fear! + “I listen’d, while she thus began:” + + “Sincerity’s engaging form, + “I love, admire, and reverence; + “Its accents the affections warm, + “Nor fail to win our confidence.” + + “Could I these protestations trust, + “My heart your suit would not disown; + “Treat not this frankness with disgust, + “Dissembling is to me unknown. + + “O to remember that blest hour, + “My happiness seem’d then complete; + “Our mothers both long time before, + “Friendship did more than blood unite. + + “To wed the daughter of her friend, + “My mother wish’d me many a day, + “Hers too the same would recommend, + “But still a bar was in our way. + + “Her sire our union did prevent, + “And charg’d her ne’er to see me more; + “At last an unforeseen event, + “Rob’d him of all his golden store, + + “Of which he boasted.--With delight, + “And wing’d with hope, to them I flew; + “His sentiments were alter’d quite, + “He own’d Amelia was my due. + + “That treasure then I did espouse,-- + “Heaven soon recall’d the precious pearl; + “Two pledges of our faithful vows, + “She left an infant boy and girl. + + “Their opening minds with care I rear’d, + “With learning suited to their birth: + “My son adventurous appear’d, + “My daughter studied private worth. + + “Some men their place of birth esteem, + “They prize its woods and mountains more + “Than places which with plenty teem, + “Of rarest fruits and richest ore. + + “Not so, my son, for he t’ acquire + “A splendid fortune, so was bent, + “He left his home, his sister, sire, + “And to a land far distant went. + + “By no endearing ties deterr’d, + “Fair Caledonia he would leave; + “Columbia’s fertile plains preferr’d, + “For them encounter’d wind and wave. + + “I letters wrote from time to time, + “Entreating that he would return; + “At last I learn’d that foreign clime, + “Had brought him to an early urn. + + “The darling of my anxious cares-- + “My daughter too was in decline, + “But hid her pains, restrain’d her tears, + “Conceal’d her grief to comfort mine. + + “While slow consumptive symptoms wore, + “I saw her like a lily drop; + “And death relentless from me tore + “My last remaining earthly prop. + + “Relations now to own refuse, + “Because they know that at my death, + “To raise their mercenary views, + “I have no riches to bequeath. + + “To summer’s sun and winter’s storm, + “This tottering frame I must expose, + “When feeble hands and limbs infirm, + “Plead loud for ease and soft repose: + + “But not at Heaven’s all-wise decree, + “Should we once murmur in the least; + “A little longer--then we’ll be + “Where no afflicting cares infest. + + “These birds to their Creator’s throne, + “Send up, of praise, a willing rent; + “And should we, as it were, lock on + “With peevish fretful discontent. + + “We’re more indebted far than they, + “With reason’s light we are endow’d, + “And many favors ev’ry day, + “Are bounteously on us bestow’d. + + “The current of this little brook, + “A picture does of time convey; + “Ere we a moment thereon look, + “The silent water glides away. + + “To us what lesson does it speak, + “Time plainly whispers in our ear, + “Beyond my bounds your thoughts direct-- + “’Tis shadow here, ’tis substance there.” + + “The nightly shades now falling fast, + “Perhaps I ne’er will see you more.” + He said, her hand then softly press’d, + “May Heaven your wonted peace restore.” + + “Once more indulge me,” said the fair, + “And lead me to your humble home, + “My every wish is center’d there, + “Respecting all this side the tomb. + + “My youthful hopes have all expir’d, + “O let me come with you to live, + “In station of a servant hir’d, + “My best assistance you shall have.” + + His utmost eloquence was us’d, + From such wild fancies to dissuade. + With faltering voice, and eyes suffus’d + With tears, return’d the weeping maid-- + + “No aged parents of my own, + “Or friends now my assistance claim, + “And temperate or torrid zone, + “To poor SABELLA is the same.” + + Fearing her intellects derang’d, + He with reluctance let her go; + But soon this rash opinion chang’d, + Her conduct show’d it was not so. + + She call’d him “father,” when that name + Again soft sounded in his ear; + He her embrac’d--and did exclaim-- + “Heaven bless thee! O my daughter dear! + + “A parent’s duties I’ll fulfil, + “Whilst Heaven is pleas’d my life to spare.” + “It is enough,” she said, “I will + “Endeavour to deserve your care.” + + With every thing convenient, + She comforted his hours of rest; + A pleasing calm, if not content, + At length possess’d her youthful breast. + + He taught her lore from many a page, + For ancient books he knew full well: + Of history grave in every age, + How empires rose and how they fell. + + And here let the narrator pause, + Who much admires the pleasant sight-- + One evening thus employ’d he was, + And she attending with delight; + + A youth advanc’d across the vale, + Declar’d himself the old man’s son; + And oh! remarkable to tell-- + SABELLA’s lover both in one. + + Not to be tedious or minute, + An explanation soon took place; + The youth renew’d his former suit, + But was refus’d with modest grace. + + “I’ll leave this house, my master will,” + She said, “no longer want my care.” + Both sire and son t’ entreaties fell, + And a third pleader too was there. + + Affection, far from being extinct, + Now rose a powerful foe to pride: + What could she speak, or act, or think-- + She smil’d consented, was his bride. + + The sire, four-score and ten years old, + His faculties not much impair’d; + Grand-children did with joy behold, + Then died in peace, _lov’d and rever’d_. + + + + + =Song=, + + _On leaving the Country for the Town_. + + + Ye shrubs, and blooming flow’rs, + All deck’d in richest pride, + I’ll sing amidst your foliage; + In you I can confide. + + But yonder tall plantation, + Is not a friend so true, + For there will tell-tale ECHO, + Repeat each word anew. + + Fair smiling infant nature, + Again salutes the eye, + Each leaf and flower expanding, + And all in beauty vie. + + Bud on ye tender blossoms, + In vernal breezes wave, + Some other maid will praise you, + Though I these beauties leave. + + Spring once thy scented verdure, + With pleasure I survey’d; + And music of the woodlands + Has made my bosom glad. + + No more through flow’ry meadows, + Delighted now I range, + But for scenes not so enticing, + Would all these charms exchange, + + Yes, yonder crowded city, + With all its bustling noise, + In place of your mild silence, + Is now become my choice. + + O hope! what sweet sensations, + Thy promises do give! + But oft, alas! though winning, + Thy brightest smiles deceive. + + + + + =Song=, + + In answer to + + “I’M WEARIN’ AWA’ JEAN.” + + + Oh! you are happy now Jo! + Your care is a’ through Jo! + Nae pain reaches you + In the land o’ the leal. + + Our lassie wan awa’ Jo! + Nor muckle sorrow saw Jo! + Now I mourn twa + In the land o’ the leal. + + But a’ is guid and weel Jo! + Though nature it maun feel Jo! + Ilk pain will be heal + In the land o’ the leal. + + My locks are thin and grey Jo! + My powers fast decay Jo! + I’m laith lang to stay, + Fae the land o’ the leal. + + But my tears drap in vain Jo! + Alane I maun remain Jo! + Till we meet again + In the land o’ the leal. + + Though trouble here us tries Jo! + ’Tis blessing in disguise Jo! + To mak’ us mair prize + The land o’ the leal. + + + + + FAREWELL TO PERTH. + + + Adieu! pleasant Perth, all thy parts I admire, + Thy domes, and rich buildings, in every fine street, + Thy bridge, and thy churches, with each lofty spire, + Tay’s meads, and green isles, make thy beauty complete. + + Of old in thy bosom, though kings once resided, + Thou’rt now even more splendid by commerce increas’d, + With wise regulations, and rulers provided; + Where arts are encouraged, and learning, and taste, + + Though much has of late, for the poor been collected, + Ye affluent, think still, what must many endure, + Uncover’d from cold, & with want sore dejected, + Your own cup being brimful, O! think of the poor. + + So may your fine city, still more and more flourish, + And trade spreading plenty, again soon return, + With anxious remembrance, this wish I will cherish, + When far distant from it, reluctantly borne, + + Yes, I’ll think of thee Perth, not for thy gay splendor, + But sweet were the times that in thee I have seen, + The mem’ry of which will remain soft & tender, + Tho’ ’twixt me & thee many miles intervene. + + In some distant valley, by some pleasant fountain, + Where linnets and larks warble sweet in the spring, + While sound’s plaintive echo from rocks, grove, or mountain, + Of Perth, when unseen, often sad I will sing. + + + + + =Song=, + + IN ANSWER TO + + “_O Nannie wilt thou gang wi’ me_.” + + + No! SANDIE, I will never gang, + Ye’ll trudge through life alane for me, + For aft’ a wife maun thole the wrang, + And I sic scaith will never dree. + I’ll busk mysel’ as neat’s I can, + And claes becoming me will wear, + Though ne’er admir’d by ony man, + Or flatter’d, _fairest of the fair_. + + When far awa frae kith and kin, + I’d cast a look behind, I ween, + For you to change might soon begin, + And dwinin’ fondness die wi spleen. + Puir Nannie’s tender form would sink, + If bound your cauld-rife looks to bear, + Just now’s the time for her to think, + Though flatter’d, _fairest of the fair_. + + Weak woman can misfortunes brave, + To man in straits is aft’ a frien’-- + That’s right, a friend, but not a slave! + ’Twere silly to descend so mean. + Some clowns in health do women scorn, + But aye in sickness claim their care; + Sic deem our sex their servants born, + We spurn the thought baith brown and fair. + + Yet should you wi’ mischanters meet, + And under pain or poortith bow, + I’m no sae fu’ o’ deadly hate, + But I would help to succour you. + Your grave I dinna wish to see, + Nor strew, nor gather flowers there; + Live if you can to bury me, + Ance flatter’d, _fairest of the fair_. + + + + + EVENING REFLECTIONS. + + + While musing upon many a change, + Reflecting thought inclines + Present ideas, to arrange + In these few simple lines; + + Which unremember’d will decay, + No higher is their aim,-- + The liker to their author they, + Who’ll shortly do the same. + + But why one sigh at being forgot?-- + A maid more fair and gay + Perhaps has trode this peaceful spot, + Whose very name’s away:-- + + Who in this lower world did share, + Like me, its joy and grief; + But from misfortune, pain, and care, + Hath lung since found relief. + + Let fancy for a moment wait, + To view that fair unknown; + More early she, and I more late, + Have wander’d here alone. + + What! though imagination paints + Her but of mean estate; + Her views when humble, few her wants, + Nor wishing to be great. + + Why such a wish? for now her bones + As peacefully do rest + As theirs, who once fill’d regal thrones, + Or Indian mines possess’d. + + Perfection in this lower state, + ’Bove mortal reach we see, + But serious minds, humane, and sweet, + Are found in each degree. + + And wheresoever these appear, + In high or low, they still + A heavenly origin declare, + And shine most beautiful. + + Shine, not with ostentation’s blaze, + Th’ applauding eye to lure; + Their actions court not empty praise, + But flow from motives pure. + + This conduct is a scene of peace, + Free from discordant noise; + And such a character might grace + The sister of my choice. + + Though nat’rally to sadness bent, + Yet soft, sedate, and mild: + She with the mourful did lament-- + She with the cheerful smil’d. + + Such meek and placid innocence, + Pure seraphs would respect; + But ’mong this globe’s inhabitants, + It only found neglect. + + Not mention’d by the mouth of fame, + Nor by reproach assail’d; + From both, her inoffensive frame, + The grave completely veil’d. + + Ah! friendly fair! whose dust so small, + With mine may soon be mix’d: + She’s only fall’n, and I must fall-- + The sure decree is fix’d. + + Since life’s so short, and death so sure; + So transient every joy: + Let us that real good secure, + Which death cannot destroy. + + + FINIS. + + +Transcriber’s Notes: + +Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected +silently. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75938 *** diff --git a/75938-h/75938-h.htm b/75938-h/75938-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4874b73 --- /dev/null +++ b/75938-h/75938-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3834 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + A New Selection of Miscellaneous Pieces, in Verse. | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + font-weight: normal; +} + +h2 {font-size: 120%; } + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; + text-indent: 1.2em; +} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.r15 {border-top: double 3px black; width: 15%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 42.5%; margin-right: 42.5%;} +hr.r65 {border-top: double 3px black; +width: 65%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +hr.r25 {border-top: double 3px black; +width: 25%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 37.5%; margin-right: 37.5%;} + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} + +table { +margin: auto; +width:auto; +border: 0; +border-spacing: 0; +border-collapse: collapse; } + +td { +padding: 0em .2em 0em 2.5em; +border: .1em none white; +text-align: left; +text-indent: -2em; } + +th.pag { +font-weight: normal; +font-size: small; +text-align: right; +padding-left: 2em; } + +td.cht { +text-align: left; +vertical-align: top; +padding-left: 1.5em; +text-indent: -1em;} + +td.pag { +text-align: right; +vertical-align: bottom; +padding-left: 2em;} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} /* page numbers */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 90%; +} + +.hangingindent { + padding-left: 2em ; + text-indent: -2em ;} + +.xs { font-size: x-small;} + +.sm { font-size: small;} + +.lg { font-size: large;} + +.xl { font-size: x-large;} + +.smaller {font-size: 90%; } + +.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.r2 {text-align: right; + margin-right: 2em;} + +.r4 {text-align: right; + margin-right: 4em;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} + +/* Footnotes */ + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poetry-container +{ +text-align: center; +font-size: 100%; +} + +.poetry +{ +display: inline-block; +text-align: left; +margin-left: 2.5em; +line-height: 100%; +} + +.poetry .stanza +{ +margin: .5em 0em .5em 1em; +} + +.poetry .i1 {margin-left: 1em;} +.poetry .i7h {margin-left: 7.5em;} +.poetry .i10 {margin-left: 10em;} + + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; +} + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75938 ***</div> + + +<h1><span class="sm">A</span><br> + +<span class="xl">NEW SELECTION</span><br> + +<span class="xs">OF</span><br> + +Miscellaneous Pieces,<br> + +<span class="sm"><i>IN VERSE</i></span>.</h1> + +<hr class="r15"> + +<p class="center p4 xs">BY</p> + +<p class="center">CHRISTIAN GRAY,</p> + +<p class="center xs">BLIND FROM HER INFANCY,</p> + +<p class="center sm"><i>In Milton, Parish of Aberdalgie, Perthshire</i>.</p> + +<hr class="r65"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Hail, holy light! offspring of heaven first born,—</div> + <div>*      *      *        *     *</div> + <div>*    *   *    Thee I revisit safe,</div> + <div>And feel thy sovereign vital lamp; but thou</div> + <div>Revisit’st not these eyes, that roll in vain</div> + <div>To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;</div> + <div>*    *   *    Yet not the more</div> + <div>Cease I to wander where the muses haunt—</div> + <div class="right"><i>Milton’s Paradise Lost,—Book III.</i></div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<hr class="r65"> + +<p class="center">PERTH:</p> + +<p class="center sm">PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,</p> + +<p class="center xs">BY R. MORISON.</p> + +<p class="center">1821.</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iii">[iii]</span></p> + +<p class="center sm p4">To</p></div> + +<p class="center lg"><b>THE LADIES,</b></p> + +<p class="center">THOSE KIND PATRONESSES,</p> + +<p class="center sm">who have honored my former and present</p> + +<p class="center">LITTLE WORK,</p> + +<p class="center sm">with their disinterested and generous support,</p> + +<p class="center">THE FOLLOWING PIECES</p> + +<p class="center xs">ARE MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED;</p> + +<p class="center sm">being the only way of expressing</p> + +<p class="center">THE GRATITUDE</p> + +<p class="center sm">WHICH WILL EVER BE FELT</p> + +<p class="center xs">BY</p> + +<p class="center xs">THEIR MUCH OBLIGED,</p> + +<p class="r4 xs">AND VERY HUMBLE SERVANT,</p> + +<p class="r2 lg"><i>THE AUTHOR</i>.</p> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[v]</span></p> + +<h2>Preface.</h2> +</div> + + +<p>Whatever may be the nature, or design of the work itself, no one, I +am persuaded, has ever offered a book to the public without indulging +a wish that it should be prosperous, and its influence beneficial. My +motives in publishing this little volume are pure, and may be laudable, +but it must be allowed they are not altogether disinterested. While I +earnestly trust that it may prove an humble source of gratification to +those whose benevolence has induced them to befriend me, I pretend not +to suppress the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[vi]</span> desire that it may become the means of contributing to +cheer the downward days of my lonely life.</p> + +<p>The greater part of these verses was composed at an early period of my +life—at a time when the human mind is most susceptible of being deeply +impressed by its own ideas, or by the influence of surrounding objects. +My artless rhymes indeed may not excite a very powerful interest in the +hearts of others; but, in my own, on account of the circumstances and +recollections from which they originated, they have long been cherished +with the complacency and fondness of affectionate regard.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[vii]</span></p> + +<p>About twelve years ago, a selection of my pieces was given to the +public; and under the active patronage of my well-wishers, met with +a reception far beyond what my most sanguine hopes could ever have +anticipated: others which, on that occasion, were not required, I +have now brought to recollection, and revised with care, and welcomed +with the partiality which we naturally devote to an old friend, +whose society has often been agreeable, amusing, or instructive. +Several of them are of a more recent date; these were composed at +intervals subsequent to a protracted illness which nearly exhausted my +debilitated frame, and impaired the remaining energies of my<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[viii]</span> mind; +while, from the same cause, I was more than usually confined within +doors, and thereby deprived of the advantages of friendly instruction. +Their subjects are drawn from occurrences which, in a particular +manner, interested my own feelings; I have therefore endeavoured to +express those feelings in language descriptive of the impression left +by them on my own heart. Such then, as they and the others are, they +are my best, and I cast them, with respectful diffidence, on the +benevolence of the world, and hope that they may be judged solely as +the simple effusions of an unpolished mind.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[ix]</span></p> + +<p>Having a strong presentiment that I shall never more address myself +to public attention, I would embrace this last, and to me, important +opportunity, of declaring my deep sense of gratitude and respect for +those generous individuals by whose kindness my solitude has been +enlivened, and my comforts promoted.</p> + +<p>My heart derives a melancholy gratification from the discharge of this +affecting duty, and it is sad, but satisfied, when wishing my readers +every happiness, I bid them <span class="smcap">Farewell</span>.</p> + +<p class="r2"><b>CHRISTIAN GRAY.</b></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>Milton of Aberdalgie, Perthshire, 1821.</p> +</div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2>Contents.</h2> +</div> + +<table class="smaller" style="max-width: 40em"> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th class="pag smcap">Page</th> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">DEDICATION,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_iii">3</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">PREFACE,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_v">5</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Lines addressed to the E——l of K——l,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Anecdote of Alexander, Emperor of Russia,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Lines composed on receiving a letter,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Lines on receiving an unexpected present,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Stanzas to the memory of a Gentleman,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">A Sonnet,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">To a young Lady,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">On receiving a descriptive poem,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">A Letter to a friend in a great town,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">A Letter to my Nephew,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">A Letter to a Gentleman Farmer,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">On laying an old petticoat beside a good one,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">On visiting a faded flower,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">A fact recorded in the Evangelical Magazine,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">A complaint to Poesy,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Versification of Ossian’s Address to the Moon,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Balclutha’s Ruins—from Ossian,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">An Extract from Ossian,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">A Petition to a Medical Gentleman,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Lines composed in the time of war,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Sabella—a metrical tale,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Song,—on leaving the country for the town,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Song, in answer to “I’m wearin’ awa Jean,”</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Song,—“Farewell to Perth,”</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Song, in answer to “O Nannie wilt thou gang, &c.”</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td class="cht">Evening Reflections,</td> + <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4"><b>Miscellaneous Pieces,</b></h2> +</div> + +<p class="center sm">IN VERSE.</p> + +<hr class="r65"> + +<p class="center sm">TO THE RIGHT HON.</p> + +<p class="center">THE E——L OF K——L,</p> + +<p class="center"><i>On his granting me the neat Cottage which I now inhabit</i>.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Neat is the Cottage rear’d for me</div> + <div class="i1">Upon this rising bank;</div> + <div>I’ll send my hand-maid, Poesy,</div> + <div>To Dupplin-Castle on her knee,</div> + <div class="i1">The noble Earl to thank.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Lest wrong my messenger betide,</div> + <div class="i1">Or lest she should offend,</div> + <div>A guardian for her I’ll provide,</div> + <div>And to his kindness her confide,—</div> + <div class="i1">Poor nymph she needs a friend.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Will Mr L—— then introduce</div> + <div class="i1">My handmaid into view;</div> + <div>Perhaps his Lordship wont refuse</div> + <div>To hear, for once, a hamlet muse</div> + <div class="i1">Who sings with deference due;</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Tell how I prize this cottage bower,</div> + <div class="i1">Commodious, new, and clean;</div> + <div>Near where my swaddling clothes I wore,</div> + <div>Where long my fathers dwelt before,</div> + <div class="i1">Which more endears the scene.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>My ancestors are pass’d away,</div> + <div class="i1">(So families fail apace)</div> + <div>And soon at latest comes the day,</div> + <div>When with myself the name of Gray</div> + <div class="i1">Will vanish from this place:—</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Here bushes, braes, and rocks remind</div> + <div class="i1">Of childhood’s happy days,</div> + <div>When playful, ’midst companions kind,</div> + <div>I scrambled up, or lean’d reclin’d</div> + <div class="i1">On yonder crag’s rough base.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Where dashing falls the proud cascade,</div> + <div class="i1">Oft when a message sent,</div> + <div>So long I there have list’ning strayed,</div> + <div>That mother’s orders disobeyed,</div> + <div class="i1">Brought fear of punishment.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Wild berries, nut, or jetty sloe,</div> + <div class="i1">Would tempt my venturous feet</div> + <div>To climb, where hazardous to go,</div> + <div>And when my own hand stript the bough,</div> + <div class="i1">I deem’d them doubly sweet.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>So spring-time of my life did run,</div> + <div class="i1">To kind indulgence us’d;</div> + <div>If I my lessons did not shun,</div> + <div>Though other tasks were poorly done,</div> + <div class="i1">’Twas wink’d at and excus’d.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>For oft in languid health I pin’d,</div> + <div class="i1">Which parents view’d full sad,</div> + <div>And wandering, freedom I did find</div> + <div>Adown yon den, where shrubs, entwin’d</div> + <div class="i1">With flowers of summer, spread.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Though since much alter’d is my lot,</div> + <div class="i1">And that in many ways,</div> + <div>These times oft fill a passing thought,</div> + <div>To banish dull reflection—sought,</div> + <div class="i1">A dream of early days.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Now smoothly gliding down the dell,</div> + <div class="i1">My native streamlet flows,</div> + <div>And when its waters rushing swell,</div> + <div>The distant din will please me well,</div> + <div class="i1">And lull me to repose.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>This is the very, very place,</div> + <div class="i1">That’s to my heart most dear,</div> + <div>For which warm thanks I would express,</div> + <div>Though sent, indeed, in sorry dress,</div> + <div class="i1">Yet not the less sincere.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>On some green spot, in weather fair,</div> + <div class="i1">I’ll sit in sober mood,</div> + <div>And when I breathe my native air,</div> + <div>That blessing I will thankful share,</div> + <div class="i1">And think it does me good.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>This close-built cot, in coldest day,</div> + <div class="i1">Affords a warm retreat;</div> + <div>And whether near or far away,</div> + <div>I grateful wish your Lordship may</div> + <div class="i1">Be bless’d as well as great.</div> + </div> + + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">AN ANECDOTE</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>Of Alexander, Emperor of Russia, recorded in a newspaper several +years ago</i>.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Great <span class="smcap">Alexander</span>, it is said,</div> + <div class="i1">Once conquer’d all the then known world:</div> + <div>From clime to clime, with fury mad,</div> + <div class="i1">War’s desolating rage he hurl’d.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Ambition thirsting still for blood,</div> + <div class="i1">Th’ infatuated tyrant drove,</div> + <div>To shed it in a sanguine flood,</div> + <div class="i1">As if to extirpate man he strove.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Though after ages hear his fame,</div> + <div class="i1">Preserv’d in history and in song;</div> + <div>Humanity detests his name,</div> + <div class="i1">And all the war-delighted throng.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>At present I would sing of one,</div> + <div class="i1">An <span class="smcap">Alexander</span> of more worth,</div> + <div>Humanity’s exalted son,</div> + <div class="i1">The potent Emperor of the north.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>A humble muse who never soar’d,</div> + <div class="i1">Nor e’er to sing of Monarch try’d,</div> + <div>One royal action to record,</div> + <div class="i1">Counts both her pleasure and her pride.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Fam’d <span class="smcap">Alexander</span>, who doth sway</div> + <div class="i1">The Russian Empire, large and broad;</div> + <div>It chanc’d that lately on a day,</div> + <div class="i1">At distance from his train he rode.—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>It chanc’d;—No! Providence did send,</div> + <div class="i1">That hour, the Emperor out with speed,</div> + <div>To prove himself Compassion’s friend,</div> + <div class="i1">And to perform a noble deed.—</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>He rode at distance from his train,</div> + <div class="i1">For, innocent, no harm he fear’d,</div> + <div>And deem’d all hir’d Protectors vain,—</div> + <div class="i1">His people’s love a surer guard.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Out from a river’s rapid force,</div> + <div class="i1">He saw some peasants who convey’d,</div> + <div>With toil, a seeming lifeless corse,</div> + <div class="i1">Which on the grassy bank they laid.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Then all his sympathetic soul</div> + <div class="i1">Was mov’d with pity’s keenest zeal,</div> + <div>Was mov’d at nature’s kind controul,</div> + <div class="i1">As minds ignoble never will.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>The peasants look’d with silent gaze,</div> + <div class="i1">No farther service they can do;</div> + <div>“Be active,” <span class="smcap">Alexander</span> says,</div> + <div class="i1">“And I myself will aid you too.”</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Then quickly on the ground he stands,</div> + <div class="i1">Fast by the fatal river’s verge,</div> + <div>And rais’d the corse with cautious hands,</div> + <div class="i1">The oozing water to discharge.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Just then his whole attendants came,</div> + <div class="i1">The sight, no doubt, surpris’d them all;</div> + <div>Their sloth he stops not once to blame,</div> + <div class="i1">But loudly does a doctor call.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Physician he of skill approv’d,</div> + <div class="i1">From fam’d Britannia’s distant isle;</div> + <div>He was the Emperor’s friend belov’d,</div> + <div class="i1">And sprung with haste to share his toil.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>An artery quick was opened now,</div> + <div class="i1">In hopes that wound might life restore;</div> + <div>But ah! no blood from thence would flow,</div> + <div class="i1">’Twas ev’n more hopeless than before.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Yet still the Emperor persever’d,</div> + <div class="i1">Inspir’d with kind philanthropy,</div> + <div>And patient, all about him cheer’d,</div> + <div class="i1">That yet they might successful be.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>And still his temples gently chaf’d,</div> + <div class="i1">And still rub’d all his body o’er;</div> + <div>For two whole hours he nothing left</div> + <div class="i1">Untri’d that might the man restore.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>At last life’s current flow’d anon,</div> + <div class="i1">And from the wounded vessel stream’d,</div> + <div>And now he faintly breathes a groan:</div> + <div class="i1">Then his preserver glad exclaim’d—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“O God! this is the brightest day</div> + <div class="i1">Of all my reign—of all my life.”—</div> + <div>Such bliss will generous bosoms ay</div> + <div class="i1">From truly noble deeds derive.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>His handkerchief was rent in haste,</div> + <div class="i1">As bandage for the wounded part;</div> + <div>A trifle added to the rest,</div> + <div class="i1">Which spoke the goodness of his heart.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>O Russia! of thy monarch boast,</div> + <div class="i1">Who well deserves the world’s thanks;</div> + <div>Be not his bright example lost,</div> + <div class="i1">But may it influence all ranks.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Ye Russian subjects eye the throne,</div> + <div class="i1">Correct your manners, harsh and wild,</div> + <div>Copy your Emperor’s, hate your own—</div> + <div class="i1">’Twill make the rudest of you mild.</div> + </div> + + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">LINES</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>Composed on receiving a Letter from a</i></p> + +<p class="center">YOUNG FRIEND.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Dear little nephew with delight</div> + <div class="i1">I heard your letter read;</div> + <div>With pleasure heard them praise your write,</div> + <div class="i1">No wonder I was glad.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>At six years old you write so well,</div> + <div class="i1">But vain I must not be;</div> + <div>Experience many a tale can tell,</div> + <div class="i1">To check and humble me.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Yet present good I ought to prize,</div> + <div class="i1">Will hope good things to come:</div> + <div>Storms do not always cloud the skies,</div> + <div class="i1">Nor veil them with deep gloom.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>’Tis gratifying to receive</div> + <div class="i1">Lines from a friend so young;</div> + <div>Our family’s representative,</div> + <div class="i1">Posterity among.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Our line, for three full centuries past,</div> + <div class="i1">Resided in this place;</div> + <div>Yourself, dear boy, was born the last,</div> + <div class="i1">And stopt a little space.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>No wealth, nor fame, nor costly toys,</div> + <div class="i1">To you through lineage run;</div> + <div>But let its virtues be your choice,</div> + <div class="i1">And all its failings shun.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Plains lie, hills rise, waves roll between</div> + <div class="i1">You and your natal spot;</div> + <div>When scarce ’tis known we here have been,</div> + <div class="i1">Our place and race forgot.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>That after time, yon aged stone,</div> + <div class="i1">(Down in the green church-yard)</div> + <div>Perhaps you’ll visit, all alone,</div> + <div class="i1">Where are our sires interr’d:</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Low sunk amid surrounding grass,</div> + <div class="i1">Like Ryno’s tomb of old,</div> + <div>And roughly fram’d, and clad with moss,</div> + <div class="i1">It long has mark’d the mould,</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>That forms our kindreds’ narrow bed;—</div> + <div class="i1">If any cause directs</div> + <div>You there, a pensive tear to shed,</div> + <div class="i1">O’er time and its effects.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Bless’d be the occasion of your stop,</div> + <div class="i1">The thoughts that move your heart,</div> + <div>Bless’d means, vain folly’s growth to lop,</div> + <div class="i1">And wisdom’s plants t’ impart.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Oh! deem not these ideas vain,</div> + <div class="i1">For love inspires the theme;</div> + <div>My only brother’s only child,</div> + <div class="i1">You bear my father’s name.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>In many a sense I hold you mine,</div> + <div class="i1">By many ties endear’d;</div> + <div>You’ve led me, in my bosom lain,</div> + <div class="i1">My lonely moments cheer’d.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>The lisping prattle of your tongue,</div> + <div class="i1">Thrills pleasant in my thought,</div> + <div>And all your little ways, when young,</div> + <div class="i1">Fresh in my memory float.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>And oh! may He, whose special care</div> + <div class="i1">Did guard you then from harm,</div> + <div>Be with you still, shall be my prayer,</div> + <div class="i1">Whilst life this heart doth warm.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>His Providence did us prevent,</div> + <div class="i1">From every hurtful thing,</div> + <div>As if an angel had been sent,</div> + <div class="i1">To shield us with his wing.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>O! early learn His name to fear,</div> + <div class="i1">The holy name of God;</div> + <div>Him honour, trust, obey, revere,</div> + <div class="i1">Whilst earth is your abode.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>And when from hence you must remove,</div> + <div class="i1">(How shortly none can tell)</div> + <div>You’ll see His gracious face in love,</div> + <div class="i1">And in his presence dwell.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">LINES</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>On receiving an unexpected Present.</i></p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>I place thee here, but have no name</div> + <div class="i1">As yet, by which to ca’ thee;</div> + <div>Yet thou’rt so high in my esteem,</div> + <div class="i1">Should ony wrang befa’ thee,</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>I would be truly vex’d indeed,</div> + <div class="i1">But hope we ne’er shall sever;</div> + <div>No,—tho’ I were in greatest need,</div> + <div class="i1">Sweet welcome little favour.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>A name for thee shall be propos’d,</div> + <div class="i1">Of still more precious meaning,</div> + <div>Than that of which thou art compos’d,</div> + <div class="i1">Though gold and ruby shining.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Thy value shall not be impaired,</div> + <div class="i1">For truth shall here define thee;</div> + <div>’Twas generous Pity,—kind regard,</div> + <div class="i1">Between them did design thee.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Kindness compared my present state</div> + <div class="i1">Wi’ what she ance had ken’d me;</div> + <div>And tender Pity mourn’d my fate,</div> + <div class="i1">And bade the giver send thee.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Lest I had thought at e’en or morn,</div> + <div class="i1">And wi’ a sigh reflected;</div> + <div>That now ’cause mair and mair forlorn—</div> + <div class="i1">I therefore was neglected.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>While feeling in this breast is left,</div> + <div class="i1">The proud shall ne’er despise thee;</div> + <div>I’ll ca’ thee Pity’s parting gift,</div> + <div class="i1">And then the good will prize thee.—</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Less for thy beauty, than that name,</div> + <div class="i1">I’m fain at being thy owner;</div> + <div>And though ’midst perils, far frae hame</div> + <div class="i1">Is now the gen’rous donor;</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Not for thy sake, but for his ain,</div> + <div class="i1">Him my best wishes follow,</div> + <div>And may the task he’s underta’en</div> + <div class="i1">Thrive like the water’d willow.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>May wealth and honour on him smile,</div> + <div class="i1">And goodness far ’bove either;</div> + <div>Peace guide him back t’ his native isle,</div> + <div class="i1">And safety waft him hither.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Till then, O! were his labours blest,</div> + <div class="i1">For Afric and for Britain,</div> + <div>That Prejudice might be dismissed,</div> + <div class="i1">And us no longer hatin’.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Trade’s intercourse might prove a mean</div> + <div class="i1">T’ amend their sad condition;</div> + <div>For darkness, heavenly light be seen,</div> + <div class="i1">’Tis my sincere petition</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>To Him, who only knows the end</div> + <div class="i1">Of all from the beginning,—</div> + <div>May grace to them, even them extend,</div> + <div class="i1">A willing people winning.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">STANZAS</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>To the Memory of a Young Gentleman who died abroad</i>.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>The mournful occasion of the following Stanzas which happened +soon after the preceding piece was composed, shews the +uncertainty of human hope, and the impotency of all human +wishes; but it becomes his creatures to humble themselves under +the mighty hand of God, without repining at his dispensations, +who doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men, +but for wise and gracious purposes, and what we know not now we +shall know hereafter—</p> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div><i>God is his own interpreter,</i></div> + <div><i>And he will make it plain.</i></div> + <div class="right smcap">Cowper.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>There is a bed beyond the main,</div> + <div class="i1">Where sleeps a generous youth in peace,</div> + <div>Far distant from his kindreds’ ken,</div> + <div class="i10">The lonely place.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>He left his home at honour’s call,</div> + <div class="i1">And hurried on to win her bays;</div> + <div>But death commissioned, mark’d his fall,</div> + <div class="i10">Ere half his days.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>At least sound health, and manhood’s bloom,</div> + <div class="i1">Intrepid mind and spirits bright,</div> + <div>Him promised many days to come,</div> + <div class="i10">To our dim sight.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But in this transitory state,</div> + <div class="i1">Man’s highest hopes, below the skies,</div> + <div>Must all end thus, or soon or late,</div> + <div class="i10">In “here he lies.”</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Where did his friends their leader leave?</div> + <div class="i1">What kindly turf doth him embrace?</div> + <div>Where orange branches mingling wave</div> + <div class="i10">Above the place.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>To screen from Afric’s burning beams,</div> + <div class="i1">The shrubs and verdure newly sprung,</div> + <div>Where desert flowers like beauteous gems,</div> + <div class="i10">Will blossom long.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>The monumental honours paid</div> + <div class="i1">By friendship to his lov’d remains,</div> + <div>By sons of Briton will be read,</div> + <div class="i10">In mournful strains.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>For there, by friendly Negroes led,</div> + <div class="i1">Enquiring travellers will be shewn</div> + <div>The stranger white man’s letter’d bed,</div> + <div class="i10">From land unknown.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>’Twill warn the youth, whoe’er he be,</div> + <div class="i1">Who haply there may venturous roam,</div> + <div>That hopeful, healthful, gay as he,</div> + <div class="i10">Soon found a tomb.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>There rest his bones, yet feeling here,</div> + <div class="i1">Will view the spot in fancy’s dream,</div> + <div>And hold his memory truly dear,</div> + <div class="i10">And love his name.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Parental tenderness will feel,</div> + <div class="i1">In melting woe, a kind relief,</div> + <div>And time will ease though never heal</div> + <div class="i10">The wound of grief.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Let sisterly affection flow,</div> + <div class="i1">It calms the heart, and ’tis a debt</div> + <div>Which to a brother’s love they owe,</div> + <div class="i10">And to his fate.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>O’erpowering painful stretch of mind,</div> + <div class="i1">Fatigue and fever, all did meet,</div> + <div>And death made cold a heart, as kind</div> + <div class="i10">As ever beat.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But sweetness mixes with the cup;</div> + <div class="i1">Who knows but Heaven has call’d him home</div> + <div>From draining many a bitter drop</div> + <div class="i10">Of ills to come.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Now anxious fears are at an end,</div> + <div class="i1">And hope’s delightful visions lost</div> + <div>All buried in a foreign land,</div> + <div class="i10">Sad Afric’s coast.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Like time its comforts fleeting prove,</div> + <div class="i1">Life’s joys are here but shadowy bliss,</div> + <div>Found real in the world above,</div> + <div class="i10">But not in this.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">A SONNET.</h2> +</div> + +<hr class="r25"> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>The following Sonnet was an early production, which memory, more +faithful to her trust than was expected, has long preserved for +me; it is here inserted as a memorial of Mrs P——’s goodness, a +small part of which was, that she taught me to knit Stockings, +and by means of that employment, I enjoyed more liberty of +walking about in the open air, than I could otherwise have had, +and which exercise contributed greatly to promote what share of +health I possessed: but every thing here is of a passing and +changeable nature, I cannot now profit in that way, which was +meant for my double benefit, my kind instructress has done with +time and all its fleeting concerns.</p> +</div> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Dear madam while I tread the verdant lawn,</div> + <div class="i1">With heartfelt satisfaction and delight;</div> + <div>Whither by morning’s mildest beauty drawn,</div> + <div class="i1">Or lur’d by calm approach of sober night.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span></div> + <div>Can I forget that I that pleasure owe</div> + <div class="i1">To you, but as the happy means regard</div> + <div>Of heaven’s best earthly bliss to me below;—</div> + <div class="i1">For what, save peace, can be with health compared.</div> + <div>I’ve known its loss, and therefore prize the more,</div> + <div class="i1">Its genial warmth enlivening all my frame;</div> + <div>It cheers, recruits, does brighter thoughts restore,</div> + <div class="i1">And under God from you these comforts came.</div> + <div>True as the unbroken thread leads to the clue,</div> + <div>So does your kindness lead my love to you.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">TO A YOUNG LADY</h2> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p><i>Who generously sent me a piece of Gold Coin, but concealed +her name, one of my pieces having come into her hands before any +of the rest were published.</i></p> +</div> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Dear Miss, what breast so cold as would not feel,</div> + <div class="i1">The kindness you so generous have shewn;</div> + <div>And since your name the Lady did conceal,</div> + <div class="i1">With grateful heart I thank you, <i>fair unknown</i>.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Believe me, Miss, I’m gratified much more,</div> + <div class="i1">That you felt pleasure from my humble lines,</div> + <div>Than to accept this present from your store,</div> + <div class="i1">Though ’tis the finest metal of the mines.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>I first compos’d them with a heavy heart,</div> + <div class="i1">For I was sad, nor small my cause of woe;</div> + <div>Yet time alleviates the keenest smart,</div> + <div class="i1">Though nothing can supply my loss below.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Yet Providence to me is ever kind;</div> + <div class="i1">The watchful care of Heav’n I daily note;</div> + <div>Soft sympathy in every breast I find,</div> + <div class="i1">And many comforts gild my humble lot.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Yes; very much I may be thankful for,</div> + <div class="i1">Tho’ lonelier now than once,—I have a home;</div> + <div>Have still ’bove charity a little store,</div> + <div class="i1">And hope I shall not want for time to come.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>This token of your kindness I receive,</div> + <div class="i1">And will preserve with more than Miser’s care,</div> + <div>And though even spent—in memory while I live,</div> + <div class="i1">Your generous goodness will be treasur’d there.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Would, my young benefactress, I but knew,</div> + <div class="i1">Deign dearest Miss to let me know your name,</div> + <div>For soon a gift I mean to offer you,</div> + <div class="i1">Which to accept I will a favour deem.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Meanwhile, dear lady, do not this despise,</div> + <div class="i1">In rustic dress my grateful thanks I send;</div> + <div>You have my feelings here without disguise,</div> + <div class="i1">And must accept the present I intend.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> The present intended is a copy of my verses proposed soon +to be published.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot p4"> + +<p><i>On receiving a Descriptive Poem from a young Lady, to whom it +was given for me, by the Author.</i></p> +</div> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Thanks Sir, for this new token of good-will,</div> + <div class="i1">Which by a kindly hand convey’d has been,</div> + <div>It makes the greatest favour greater still,</div> + <div class="i1">When pleasantly conferred like this I ween.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Was it in labyrinths of a town immured,</div> + <div class="i1">That thus your thoughts to rural scenes retired,</div> + <div>While youth oft’ errs by dissipation lured,</div> + <div class="i1">Your better choice by wisdom was inspired.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>For this did many a vacant hour employ,</div> + <div class="i1">But pleasant hours its progress to behold;</div> + <div>Soft recollections self-approving joy,</div> + <div class="i1">Were yours a theme so lov’d thus to unfold.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>And now a finish’d picture meets my view,</div> + <div class="i1">Which by the mental eye can be discern’d,</div> + <div>Then with avidity I follow you,</div> + <div class="i1">Where pleasure may be found, or knowledge learn’d.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Lead where you please and trust me I will come,</div> + <div class="i1">Convinced of this you will not lead me wrong,</div> + <div>Shew each fair prospect round your early home,</div> + <div class="i1">Where with enthusiast’s eye you rov’d when young.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Delightful scenery describ’d with skill,</div> + <div class="i1">Describ’d with feeling pleases every mind;</div> + <div>Sweet nature ever did, and ever will,</div> + <div class="i1">Admirers of her many beauties find.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>From yonder lofty eminence with you,</div> + <div class="i1">I glance from sea to sea, the picture wide;</div> + <div>But chief one landscape’s charms invite my view,</div> + <div class="i1">With uplands, woods, and vales diversified.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Each water’d with its own blue winding stream;</div> + <div class="i1">—— dear to many a swain and maid,</div> + <div>And dear to you as an Elysian dream,</div> + <div class="i1">Its hills with all the warmth of youth portray’d.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Its poets’ work, its heroes’ deeds explor’d,</div> + <div class="i1">With much research its various parts explain’d,</div> + <div>By local notes with information stor’d,</div> + <div class="i1">From ancient lore and modern language gain’d.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Thanks, then, for this new token of good-will,</div> + <div class="i1">This flow’ry picture of your fav’rite scene;</div> + <div>What so engaged your heart, your time and skill,</div> + <div class="i1">To think not thrown away on one so mean:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Nor is it thrown away, for I will con,</div> + <div class="i1">As when a little girl, its choicest lines;</div> + <div>And oft’ your goodness by myself alone,</div> + <div class="i1 hangingindent">Will mind, when all the past my thought combines.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>May nature still for you her charms retain,</div> + <div class="i1">And genius crown you with his favours rare;</div> + <div>Philanthropy within your bosom reign,</div> + <div class="i1">Religion’s power and heavenly peace be there.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>May you, and she your friend, and only love,</div> + <div class="i1">Be happy long, and still in goodness grow;</div> + <div>Here blest, hereafter may your bliss improve,</div> + <div class="i1 hangingindent">When earth’s dissolv’d, and time shall cease to flow.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">A LETTER</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>TO A FRIEND IN A GREAT TOWN</i>.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>The following will not appear well connected at the beginning, a +number of verses being omitted: as they cannot concern any one +but he to whom they were originally addressed, what may be more +generally useful are here inserted.</p> +</div> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>—— Ever dear, with willing ear</div> + <div class="i1">I beg you to attend,—</div> + <div>I would advise you to be wise,</div> + <div class="i1">O listen to a friend.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Forgive a zeal that seeks your weal,</div> + <div class="i1">No motive else have I;</div> + <div>For that intent these lines are sent,</div> + <div class="i1">Not whim to gratify.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>I know you’re plac’d ’midst follies vast,</div> + <div class="i1">’Midst vice in every shape,</div> + <div>Where pleasure cries, with siren voice,</div> + <div class="i1">And few her wiles escape.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Let others riot—keep you all quiet,</div> + <div class="i1">Serene and pure within;</div> + <div>Your Maker fear—his laws revere—</div> + <div class="i1">Indulge no darling sin.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>One day in seven, devote to heaven,</div> + <div class="i1">God’s house of prayer seek;</div> + <div>Be what’s there said in memory laid,</div> + <div class="i1">For practice through the week.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>In dealing just, still true to trust,</div> + <div class="i1">Whatever others do,</div> + <div>Be truth sincere, and honour fair,</div> + <div class="i1">The character of you.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Owe to no man.—What good you can</div> + <div class="i1">With friendly zeal perform,—</div> + <div>Let hasty ire your breast ne’er fire,</div> + <div class="i1">Though wrong’d, still passion’s storm.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Judicious be in your choice;</div> + <div class="i1">A real <i>friend</i> is rare;</div> + <div>Be kind to all, but try them well,</div> + <div class="i1">Your confidence who share.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Vain empty pride, high scornful ey’d,</div> + <div class="i1">Ne’er stoop to flatter it;</div> + <div>But worth, where seen, in rich or mean,</div> + <div class="i1">Respect and imitate.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Ne’er be so weak, as vaunting make</div> + <div class="i1">Proud self your darling song;</div> + <div>Let others praise, if there is cause,</div> + <div class="i1">But never one’s own tongue.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Vain boasting must still raise disgust,</div> + <div class="i1">Where it applause expects;</div> + <div>But solid sense learns diffidence,</div> + <div class="i1">By seeing its own defects.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Be by each fault in others taught,</div> + <div class="i1">T’ avoid the same through life;</div> + <div>But to their hurt such ne’er report,</div> + <div class="i1">Thus keeping clear of strife.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>No word obscene, or oath profane,</div> + <div class="i1">Be by your lips express’d,</div> + <div>Nor even your ear approving hear,</div> + <div class="i1">But from your soul detest.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>In reason’s scale weigh matters well,</div> + <div class="i1">When doubtful how to act;</div> + <div>But ne’er in cause of goodness pause,</div> + <div class="i1">Nor virtuous motions check.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>All ill resist, do not assist</div> + <div class="i1">In any guilty scheme,</div> + <div>But count all foes who would propose</div> + <div class="i1">To sully so your fame.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>The gaming board shun as a sword,</div> + <div class="i1">That would assail your breast;</div> + <div>Haunts of the rude, like death elude,</div> + <div class="i1">And drunkards’ bowl unblest.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>In harmless joy your days employ,</div> + <div class="i1">I would not have them dull;</div> + <div>To some wise use, each spare hour chuse,</div> + <div class="i1">On pleasures rational.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Lightsome as day with spirits gay,</div> + <div class="i1">And sprightly temper even;</div> + <div>Join jocund mirth, with men of worth,</div> + <div class="i1">But ne’er to excess driven.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Good books at home, read in your room,</div> + <div class="i1">When business will permit;</div> + <div>These friends each night will bring delight,</div> + <div class="i1">Pursu’d by no regret.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Your pillow prest, then sweetest rest</div> + <div class="i1">Will every sense absorb;</div> + <div>Such as by guilt, can ne’er be felt,</div> + <div class="i1">Which vexing dreams disturb.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>A heart at ease, in virtue’s ways,</div> + <div class="i1">Its portion here is peace;</div> + <div>Be that your aim—a worthier gem</div> + <div class="i1">Than George’s crown doth grace.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Fresh wholesome air, oft walk to share;</div> + <div class="i1">From noise and nonsense steal;</div> + <div>Attend to health, without which, wealth</div> + <div class="i1">Will be of small avail.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>If fortune smile, O let meanwhile,</div> + <div class="i1">A giving God be blest;</div> + <div>Though troubles low’r, yet meek adore,</div> + <div class="i1">And in your Maker trust.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>What Providence doth wise dispense,</div> + <div class="i1">Should by his friends be view’d,</div> + <div>All sent in love, their hearts to prove,</div> + <div class="i1">And working for their good.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>In every case, then humbly place,</div> + <div class="i1">On high your confidence;</div> + <div>Use means, ’tis true, but grateful view,</div> + <div class="i1">And own all help from thence.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Frail erring man, do all he can,</div> + <div class="i1">Can merit make no plea;</div> + <div>We at God’s hand can nought command,</div> + <div class="i1">His favours all are free.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Free grace and love, Oh! these improve,</div> + <div class="i1">While in this lower clime,</div> + <div>For all must end, as here we spend,</div> + <div class="i1">Use or abuse our time.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>One thing ’bove all, one day we shall</div> + <div class="i1">Find to be needful most;</div> + <div>And time mis-spent, we may repent,</div> + <div class="i1">Our precious moments lost.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Time pass’d, again we never can</div> + <div class="i1">With pray’rs nor tears recall;</div> + <div>And e’er perhaps few days elapse,</div> + <div class="i1">We low in dust may fall.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>No wisdom then we can attain,</div> + <div class="i1">Or knowledge in the tomb;</div> + <div>Each day we live doth warning give,</div> + <div class="i1">That change may shortly come.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Death at our side makes havock wide,</div> + <div class="i1">Acquaintance not a few,</div> + <div>Some young and gay are call’d away,</div> + <div class="i1">Since I last spoke with you.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Let us regard, and be prepar’d,</div> + <div class="i1">More wean’d from worldly toys,</div> + <div>Which nought can give, but us deceive</div> + <div class="i1">With false and fleeting joys.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>The immortal mind is sure design’d</div> + <div class="i1">To rise ’bove trifles here,</div> + <div>Still soaring higher, it should aspire</div> + <div class="i1">To heaven, its native sphere.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Below the skies, nought can suffice,</div> + <div class="i1">The soul still feels a void;</div> + <div>Its lov’d abode is with its God,</div> + <div class="i1">His presence full enjoy’d.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Look on this state so short of date,</div> + <div class="i1">As trial for the next;</div> + <div>Thro’ a Saviour’s name make heaven your claim,</div> + <div class="i1">Be there your treasure fix’d.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Tho’ we are weak, and wisdom lack,</div> + <div class="i1">To our best interest blind;</div> + <div>Aid, wisdom, light, if sought aright,</div> + <div class="i1">We graciously shall find.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>May heaven direct, and ne’er forsake,</div> + <div class="i1">But bless my youthful friend;</div> + <div>To life give charms, in death’s alarms—</div> + <div class="i1">Peace, Hope, and Triumph send.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">A LETTER</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>To my NEPHEW after he had been ill, then residing in Perth</i>.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Dear G—— when you these lines receive,</div> + <div class="i1">Some lovely day like this,</div> + <div>Then of your guardian friends ask leave,</div> + <div class="i1">And if they answer, yes—</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>With bow of thanks accept the boon;</div> + <div class="i1">And then with playful glee,</div> + <div>And lightsome step, come here at noon,</div> + <div class="i1">To dine that day with me.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But if your guardians answer, no,</div> + <div class="i1">Without complaint submit;</div> + <div>What’s proper for you best they know,</div> + <div class="i1">And every way most fit.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Returning health, relations kind,</div> + <div class="i1">These blessings duly prize,</div> + <div>And with a glad, but humble mind,</div> + <div class="i1">Let grateful thoughts arise,</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>And trace them from a source divine,</div> + <div class="i1">Whence all our blessings flow,</div> + <div>Such feelings will your soul refine,</div> + <div class="i1">True happiness to know.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>For in whatever state we are,</div> + <div class="i1">’Tis comfort still to feel,</div> + <div>We’re under his Almighty care,</div> + <div class="i1">Who orders all things well.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Supported by his Providence,</div> + <div class="i1">Preserved by his power,</div> + <div>Our hope is in Omnipotence,</div> + <div class="i1">Both now and evermore.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Nought of this hope can us deprive,</div> + <div class="i1">Unless, O wicked thought!</div> + <div>We ’gainst his tender mercies strive,</div> + <div class="i1">And set his love at nought.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Be then your youthful heart impress’d</div> + <div class="i1">With awe, nor so offend,—</div> + <div>But not with gloomy dread possess’d—</div> + <div class="i1">Your Maker is your friend.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>When I beneath the sod lie pale,</div> + <div class="i1">O! may your days be spent,</div> + <div>Though ’lotted in life’s humble vale,</div> + <div class="i1">In pious calm content.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Now Spring with promis’d bounty crown’d,</div> + <div class="i1">Unlocks her lovely stores;</div> + <div>’Tis time to dress the spot of ground,</div> + <div class="i1">That shall be called yours.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>When wint’ry storms retreat at last,</div> + <div class="i1">Afar to frozen seas;</div> + <div>Your seeds will spring and blossom fast,</div> + <div class="i1">And scent the summer breeze.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>When flowers are beautiful to view,</div> + <div class="i1">Fields green, and fair the sky,</div> + <div>Then ask your friends to come with you,</div> + <div class="i1">These beauties to enjoy.—</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Though eggs or milk should be their fare,</div> + <div class="i1">And bread of barley-meal,</div> + <div>With welcome, exercise, and air,</div> + <div class="i1">Such food will favour well.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Though no rich dainties them await,</div> + <div class="i1">Them though exertion tire,</div> + <div>The walk itself will be a treat,</div> + <div class="i1">And health I hope their hire.</div> + </div> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="center">POSTSCRIPT.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Here an acquaintance from the north,</div> + <div class="i1">A visit doth intend;</div> + <div>You oft’ experienc’d his worth,</div> + <div class="i1">He was the stranger’s friend.</div> + </div> + + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">A LETTER</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center">TO A GENTLEMAN FARMER,</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Requesting a favour</i>.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Sir, just at a venture this freedom I took,</div> + <div class="i1">And here, as it is, is a letter;</div> + <div>Excuse its design, its defects overlook,</div> + <div class="i1">For the truth is, I could not do better.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>I will not address you in flatt’ry’s fine strain,</div> + <div class="i1">Which is at the best a mere bubble;</div> + <div>But simply, and shortly, will try to explain</div> + <div class="i1">The cause why I give you this trouble.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="hangingindent">Being born in this place, and brought up in my youth,</div> + <div class="i1">By parents not rich, but respected,</div> + <div>For honesty, industry, kindness, and truth,</div> + <div class="i1">On whom some esteem was reflected.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>For whose sakes, this neighbourhood, not then estrang’d,</div> + <div class="i1">Would have helped me, one or another;</div> + <div>But now, one excepted, the tenants are chang’d,</div> + <div class="i1">Who e’er knew my father or mother.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Another, of late, to his farm bade farewell,</div> + <div class="i1">On whom was the half of my leaning;</div> + <div>And one over-burden’d will naturally fail—</div> + <div class="i1">So now you may guess at my meaning.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>A favour from you this is sent to obtain,</div> + <div class="i1">And for leave too, to beg a renewal;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span></div> + <div>Please grant me, at this time, and sometimes again,</div> + <div class="i1">A cart to bring sticks home for fuel.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>No claim I can urge to your kindness at all,</div> + <div class="i1">Necessity made me invent this;</div> + <div>And to Mrs ——’s tho’ my claim is but small,</div> + <div class="i1">Yet her I request to present this.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="hangingindent">And should she, sweet pleader, but give me her vote,</div> + <div class="i1">These lines will, at least, not offend you;</div> + <div>The favour I ask, be it granted or not,</div> + <div class="i1">I wish, Sir, that good may attend you.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p class="p4"><i>On laying an old Petticoat beside a good one, which were both +cut from the same piece of cloth.</i></p> +</div> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Do not thy sister poor despise,</div> + <div class="i1">Though now in such a plight;</div> + <div>Though she in rags beside thee lies,</div> + <div class="i1">Don’t her condition slight.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>I’d have thee better manners taught,</div> + <div class="i1">Than such vain pride to shew;</div> + <div>’Twas her misfortune, not her fault,</div> + <div class="i1">That brought thy sister low.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>No diff’rence once you two between,</div> + <div class="i1">A nice eye could have made;</div> + <div>But she has oft’ in hardships been,</div> + <div class="i1">Which made her sooner fade.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>In useful service she has spent,</div> + <div class="i1">Her beauty, strength, and prime;</div> + <div>Thou may’st be tarnish’d, burnt, or rent,</div> + <div class="i1">At some unlucky time.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>No one though prosperous to-day,</div> + <div class="i1">Can tell to-morrow’s lot;</div> + <div>This thought must not be thrown away,</div> + <div class="i1">Though spoke to a petticoat.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>No, let me profit by the same,</div> + <div class="i1">And make the advice my own,</div> + <div>To bear in mind how frail I am,</div> + <div class="i1">Nor be to censure prone.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Should error, change, decay, be proud,</div> + <div class="i1">Right reason answers, No—</div> + <div>And man to these (howe’er endow’d)</div> + <div class="i1">Is liable while below.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Humility becomes us all,</div> + <div class="i1">Though seldom rightly learn’d:</div> + <div>We should not boast when others fall,</div> + <div class="i1">But pity, and be warn’d.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4"><b>On visiting a Faded Flower.</b></h2> +</div> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Ah! lovely flow’r, art thou already dead,</div> + <div>Thy freshness lost, and native fragrance fled?</div> + <div>Fair once thou flourish’d on thy lowly stem,</div> + <div class="hangingindent">Pleasing their sight and smell, who near thee came;—</div> + <div>I found thee then in infant blossom gay—</div> + <div>Why call’d so soon to witness thy decay?</div> + <div>What sudden blast so sorely blighted thee?</div> + <div>And what thy message or thy charge to me?</div> + <div>Was it to tell me that in childhood so,</div> + <div>My beauty too receiv’d a fatal blow?<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span></div> + <div>That fell distemper’s unrelenting storm</div> + <div>Blighted its bloom, ere ripen’d into form?</div> + <div>Yes; to my sorrow, ’twas the case I find,</div> + <div>Nor want such help to bring it back to mind;</div> + <div>The casual remembrance claims a tear—</div> + <div>But let me not long idly ponder here;</div> + <div>A more important lesson thou hast brought,—</div> + <div>Oft’ learn’d, but not remember’d as it ought;</div> + <div>Then faded not in vain thy beauteous tint,</div> + <div>For it has given one seasonable hint;</div> + <div>Reminded thoughtless me in whisper smooth—</div> + <div>I too shall die,—a most momentous truth:</div> + <div>Which recollection brings a serious train</div> + <div>Of mix’d ideas to my busy brain.</div> + <div>Day after day flies with unceasing speed—</div> + <div>One day, how near I know not, is decreed,</div> + <div>The utmost bound’ry of my mortal date:</div> + <div>Then death will summon to his awful gate;</div> + <div>Nought can from his commission’d stroke release,</div> + <div>Nature must yield within his cold embrace,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span></div> + <div>Nothing more sure;—this mortal body must</div> + <div>Moulder and mingle with its kindred dust.</div> + <div>But shall this thinking principle within,</div> + <div>Also a period have in death’s domain?</div> + <div>Must that more noble part its mansion quit,</div> + <div>And then in common air evaporate?</div> + <div>No! such a thought appals the human heart,</div> + <div>And makes it doubly loath with life to part;</div> + <div>We will but for a time be separated,</div> + <div>To be in lasting union re-united.</div> + <div>A soul immortal’s given to my care,</div> + <div>Which weal, or woe, with me shall endless share.</div> + <div>Have trifles then such melancholy brought,</div> + <div>Or for a moment occupied my thought—</div> + <div>That should on everlasting things be fix’d—</div> + <div>Turn from this world and settle on the next!</div> + <div>The fashion of this world shall pass away—</div> + <div>The sun itself grow dim—and time decay:</div> + <div>This whole terrestrial system have an end:</div> + <div>Then why upon such fleeting things depend;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span></div> + <div>So empty in themselves, and transient,</div> + <div>So fluctuating all that they present.</div> + <div>For take this world, even at its best,</div> + <div>Suppose ourselves of all its good possess’d,</div> + <div>Something is wanting—we are far from rest.</div> + <div>Much in this world, it really matters not,</div> + <div>Was meanest of the mean my destin’d lot:</div> + <div>External comforts, blessings are, I grant,</div> + <div class="hangingindent">And call for thanks to heaven, by whom they’re sent;</div> + <div>These in my station I have large enjoy’d,</div> + <div>Though one great blessing is to me denied;</div> + <div>Even that, for some wise purpose is withheld—</div> + <div>For real good these eyes from light are veil’d,</div> + <div>Not from the effects of gloomy dull chagrine,</div> + <div>Disgust or envy, but with mind serene;</div> + <div>From vain amusements I would now depart,</div> + <div>And while youth’s ardour animates my heart,</div> + <div>Direct my thoughts to Him who rules above,</div> + <div>The spring of action and the source of Love.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span></div> + <div>But how effect the rational design—</div> + <div>A God of love indeed, but is he mine?</div> + <div>Am I obnoxious to his threaten’d ire—</div> + <div>God out of Christ is a consuming fire!</div> + <div>Our great apostacy from heaven at first,</div> + <div>Made its pure law declare us all accurs’d.</div> + <div>God could not stoop to pardon an offence</div> + <div>Against his law, committed only once,</div> + <div>And when its precepts we do daily break,</div> + <div>In every thing we think, or speak, or act;</div> + <div>What can be done—for God will not forgive,</div> + <div>Unless full satisfaction he receive;</div> + <div>That satisfaction is not in our power,</div> + <div>And to attempt it we offend the more,</div> + <div>More that Almighty Being is provok’d,</div> + <div class="hangingindent">Whose word expressly saith, “<i>He’ll not be mock’d</i>:”</div> + <div>Infinite purity will ne’er be stain’d,</div> + <div>But each perfection to the full maintain’d,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span></div> + <div>Then let not poor presumptuous mortals e’er</div> + <div>Approach to God, but by a Saviour dear;</div> + <div>For He that form’d them will no favour shew,</div> + <div>But spurn them and their proffer’d service too.</div> + <div>Such is our state, we only can expect</div> + <div>Acceptance, for a Mediator’s sake—</div> + <div>Mercy’s God’s darling attribute reveal’d,</div> + <div>That justice also might be reconcil’d,</div> + <div>That rebel subjects might have free access</div> + <div>Unto his gracious favour,—he no less</div> + <div>Than parted with a dear and only son,</div> + <div>Who cheerful undertook the cause alone.</div> + <div>Here admiration fills the musing mind,</div> + <div>Heaven’s uncreated heir his place resign’d;</div> + <div>His Father’s bosom for a season left,</div> + <div>Offer’d himself a voluntary gift;</div> + <div>Though worlds unknown, unnumber’d, by his hand</div> + <div>Were form’d, sustain’d, and rul’d by his command.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span></div> + <div>Though seraph choirs with adoration prais’d,</div> + <div>And round his throne celestial music rais’d;</div> + <div>Though of such glory, of such bliss possess’d,</div> + <div>As could not be augmented nor decreas’d,</div> + <div>Though happy in himself he could have been,</div> + <div>Had all this world sunk underneath its sin;</div> + <div>Yet came to shew even with his latest breath,</div> + <div>A love divine that stronger was than death!</div> + <div>When vain was every scheme man could invent,</div> + <div>Law’s threats to mitigate or to prevent;</div> + <div>That great days—man stood forward in the breach,</div> + <div>Did what, nor men, nor angels ere could reach.</div> + <div>That for the work he might be qualified,</div> + <div>Veil’d his divinity, not laid aside;</div> + <div>Step’d in a willing substitute, and gave</div> + <div>All that a violated law could crave;</div> + <div>Essential dignity in him at once</div> + <div>Did its demands and threat’nings both silence,</div> + <div>Obey’d its precepts, paid its penalty,</div> + <div>And thus the law did highly magnify.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span></div> + <div>Yes; law and justice to the full are pleas’d!</div> + <div>Offended Deity’s in him appeas’d!</div> + <div>Hence all our hope, that God will us accept!</div> + <div>The only way we can his wrath escape!</div> + <div>But heavy will his hot displeasure fall</div> + <div>On all who hear, yet slight the gospel call:</div> + <div>Then shudder daring infidelity,</div> + <div>For heavy, heavy will it fall on thee;</div> + <div>The measure of your wickedness is full,</div> + <div>For ye not only slight but ridicule.</div> + <div>What Christ said to the Pharisees, self-wise,</div> + <div>Methinks most fitly now to you applies;</div> + <div>Ye will not enter mercy’s open door,</div> + <div>And what still aggravates your crime the more,</div> + <div>To hinder others who would enter there,</div> + <div>Have laid a stumbling block, a deadly snare!</div> + <div>’Gainst all that’s sacred and divine have set</div> + <div>Your impious talents to obliterate,</div> + <div>And make abortive all that Heaven design’d,</div> + <div>To cheer in every woe the drooping mind.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span></div> + <div>But vain such foolish impotent efforts!</div> + <div>Omnipotence itself the whole supports!</div> + <div>Let not your hearts admit a single doubt,</div> + <div>His real friends, for he will sure make out</div> + <div>His word, and promises, concerning you;</div> + <div>Nor fail in one, if truth itself be true.</div> + <div>Exalt him in your hearts higher and higher,</div> + <div>Let God be true, and every man a liar,</div> + <div>Who dares to question with effront’ry broad,</div> + <div>The being, or veracity of God!</div> + <div>Nor fear his burning wrath should on them break,</div> + <div>In whom even devils do believe and quake!</div> + <div class="hangingindent">The Lord enthron’d in highest heaven shall laugh;—</div> + <div>Exalted far ’bove atheistic scoff—</div> + <div>And justly doth in indignation say,</div> + <div>“Vengeance belongs to me, I will repay.”</div> + <div>See such a person, at a dying hour,</div> + <div>When conscious guilt the soul doth overpower;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span></div> + <div>When death tears off the thick film from her eyes,</div> + <div>And sweeps away her refuges of lies;</div> + <div>The sand-built system cannot stand the shock,</div> + <div>False rear’d on shatter’d reason’s broken rock;</div> + <div>Down falls the tower of self-sufficiency,</div> + <div>And all within, chaos and uncertainty.</div> + <div>The soul is well nigh bordering on despair!</div> + <div>Forc’d to remove, and go, she knows not where!</div> + <div>In terror driven upon its vast frontiers—</div> + <div>Eternity sounds dreadful in her ears!—</div> + <div>Trembling she stands, upon its boundless brink,</div> + <div>And quite incapable to act or think!</div> + <div>Cited by conscience to his awful bar,</div> + <div>With whom her life has been open at war!</div> + <div>That monitor will be no more supprest,</div> + <div>But speaks terrific language in the breast!</div> + <div>Points to a powerful and incensed God,</div> + <div>And thence doth very fearful things forebode<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span></div> + <div>Truly deplorable is such a case—</div> + <div>From which religion can alone release.</div> + <div class="hangingindent">Nought but well grounded hope, and heaven-born faith</div> + <div>Can bear through ills of life, or sweeten death,</div> + <div>When that dread monarch comes in frowns array’d,</div> + <div>Nature shrinks back, confounded and dismay’d;</div> + <div>Nor is it strange for death is nature’s foe,</div> + <div>Dissolving every tender tie below,—</div> + <div>But when his icy hand the heart blood chills,</div> + <div>When bodily and mental pain assails,</div> + <div>And every source of earthly comfort fails:</div> + <div>True faith in Christ will then its hold maintain,</div> + <div>And in that conflict will the soul sustain;</div> + <div>Opens bright prospects, and doth plainly show</div> + <div>That death, at worst, is now a conquer’d foe!</div> + <div>Teaches to follow Him who once did brave—</div> + <div>Nay, triumph’d over and subdued the grave!<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span></div> + <div>If in that hour the Saviour grant relief,</div> + <div>As long before to the expiring thief;</div> + <div>And whisper in the Gospel’s cheering voice,</div> + <div>“To-day thou’lt be with me in Paradise!”</div> + <div>How will the soul, then elevated high</div> + <div>Above this planet, hail its native sky!</div> + <div>And though a darksome valley lies between,</div> + <div>Each promise is a staff whereon to lean!</div> + <div>Dust to its fellow dust doth fearless lend,</div> + <div>And joyful flies Eternity to spend,</div> + <div>’Mong fellow-saints on high, at God’s right hand!</div> + <div>O! glorious exit, from a world of pain,</div> + <div>To where, nor guilt, nor sorrow, enter can:</div> + <div>Their state of trial happily is past;</div> + <div>And let me recollect while mine doth last,</div> + <div>To order so my conduct while in this,</div> + <div>As to obtain a life of endless bliss.</div> + <div class="hangingindent">Since health and strength are seasons then most meet,</div> + <div>To make our peace with heav’n sure and complete.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span></div> + <div>Let not the slighting of such golden times</div> + <div>Be added to the number of my crimes;</div> + <div>But of ourselves we nothing can acquire—</div> + <div>No! not so much as form one good desire.</div> + <div>May God’s good spirit then my soul inspire,</div> + <div>To apply to Jesus, a Physician fit,</div> + <div>The Saviour gracious and compassionate;</div> + <div>Who will, with open arms of love, embrace</div> + <div>Returning penitents, won by his grace,</div> + <div>T’ accept free mercy on the offer’d plan,</div> + <div>At infinite expense prepar’d for man:</div> + <div>The gospel call doth well my right ensure,—</div> + <div>“Come all who will and drink life’s water pure.”</div> + <div>None are excluded, high and low the same,</div> + <div>Have to their Maker’s favour equal claim:</div> + <div>Though none can merit, all may humbly crave</div> + <div>What’s freely promis’d—hoping to receive.—</div> + <div>Oh! Thou who wilt not turn away thine ear,</div> + <div>But listen to the needy’s pray’r sincere.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span></div> + <div>Look then upon me in my lost estate;</div> + <div>Thy fulness to my wants accommodate:</div> + <div>Impute to me a righteousness divine,</div> + <div>Else everlasting mis’ry will be mine.</div> + <div>In each vicissitude and wildering maze,</div> + <div>Keep from arraigning thy most perfect ways—</div> + <div>For what is good thou only dost bestow—</div> + <div>All that is evil from ourselves doth flow.</div> + <div>With love to Thee, O! do my bosom warm!</div> + <div>Good-will to all that bear the human form.</div> + <div>My heart and its affections wholly draw,</div> + <div>And hold in due subjection to thy law.—</div> + <div>So as thou canst approve, direct my way,</div> + <div>Else will this perverse heart far from thee stray;</div> + <div>Unnumber’d vanities lie lurking here,</div> + <div>Which, in unguarded moments, oft’ appear,</div> + <div>Leaving a sting behind sharp and severe.</div> + <div>No power, sin to withstand, is mine I own—</div> + <div>O! let Almighty power in me be shown,</div> + <div>And snatch me as a firebrand from the flame,—</div> + <div>Raise a new monument to mercy’s name.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">A FACT</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>Recorded in the Evangelical Magazine</i>,</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="allsmcap">FOR JULY</span> 1812.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Lately I heard a paper read—</div> + <div class="i1">O! were it blessed to me for good!</div> + <div>I felt it as the writer did,</div> + <div class="i1">And awful horror chill’d my blood!</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Four criminals were to justice brought,</div> + <div class="i1">But none of them of harden’d mind;</div> + <div>They view’d their state as sinners ought,</div> + <div class="i1">And were to serious thoughts inclin’d.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Of every comfort long depriv’d,</div> + <div class="i1">In gloomy dungeon they did moan;</div> + <div>At last the dreadful day arriv’d,</div> + <div class="i1">When life must for their crimes atone.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>When standing on the scaffold boards,</div> + <div class="i1">The gazing multitude to teach;</div> + <div>Each made in solemn warning words,</div> + <div class="i1">A simple, but impressive, speech.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Entreating all to shun each crime,</div> + <div class="i1">Which God and man have doom’d to wrath,</div> + <div>Which leads to punishment in time,</div> + <div class="i1">And tends to everlasting death.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>If once associates in guilt,</div> + <div class="i1">Now friends in sad affliction, they,</div> + <div>To press each others hands they felt,</div> + <div class="i1">Before the scaffold boards gave way.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>O! let me hasten to a close—</div> + <div class="i1">Poor <span class="smcap">Atkinson</span> in turning round,</div> + <div>The shifting rope did so dispose,</div> + <div class="i1">That death long sought could not be found.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Hanging in air—(Oh! dreadful state!)</div> + <div class="i1">He utter’d a most piercing cry:</div> + <div>His words were (awful to relate!)</div> + <div class="i1">“O God! O God! I cannot die!”</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>The sufferer was soon reliev’d;</div> + <div class="i1">’Twas merciful to speed his doom;—</div> + <div>But be this truth by all believ’d,</div> + <div class="i1">For all of us may bring it home.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Yes!—we immortal souls possess,</div> + <div class="i1">(Whoever may this truth deny;)</div> + <div>Which shall in endless woe, or bliss,</div> + <div class="i1">For ever live, and cannot die.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Proud infidel, be mute, be mute,—</div> + <div class="i1">Nor longer injur’d heav’n incense;</div> + <div>Lest awful vengeance thee refute,</div> + <div class="i1">And hurry thee blaspheming hence,</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>To where thou’lt own,—(but ah! too late,)</div> + <div class="i1">That all thy boasting was a lie;</div> + <div>For ever fix’d, thy dismal state,</div> + <div class="i1">Live, feel thou must—but cannot die.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Even wert thou right, where is thy gain?</div> + <div class="i1">When thou art nothing, all is lost;</div> + <div>In drear annihilation’s reign,</div> + <div class="i1">Will it be known how big thy boast?</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But wrong, O think,—what fury breaks,</div> + <div class="i1">On miserable thee to fall;</div> + <div>An error there, of all mistakes,</div> + <div class="i1">Will dreadful be, and past recall.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>O trust the word of truth reveal’d,</div> + <div class="i1">And testimony of the good;</div> + <div>The <i>Sacred Book</i> to thee is seal’d,</div> + <div class="i1">And mock’d, because not understood.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Stout-hearted man, let pride no more,</div> + <div class="i1">Or vice estrange thy soul from God!</div> + <div>Improve his word, his grace implore,</div> + <div class="i1">’Tis promis’d and will be bestow’d.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>O! thou who kindly lead’st the blind,</div> + <div class="i1">In ways themselves could never trace;</div> + <div>In mercy guide each humble mind,</div> + <div class="i1">And teach the path to endless peace;</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>It will enhance the boundless bliss,</div> + <div class="i1">Of all whose names are wrote on high;</div> + <div>That they shall ever see thy face,</div> + <div class="i1">In love, assur’d they cannot die.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">A COMPLAINT TO POESY,</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>Addressed to a young man about to leave this part of the country</i>.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Why thoughtful even in company,</div> + <div class="i1">And always sad when left alone?</div> + <div>I will complain to Poesy,</div> + <div class="i1">Whose tears with mine have often flown.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>To thee sweet nymph! I will impart</div> + <div class="i1">My various feelings as they rise,</div> + <div>Thy votary thou wilt not desert,</div> + <div class="i1">Like others whom my heart doth prize.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Adieu! my dearest friend adieu!</div> + <div class="i1">Since here you will not, will not stay;</div> + <div>My heart’s best wishes rest with you,</div> + <div class="i1">Though four times five score miles away.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>This beating heart’s susceptible,</div> + <div class="i1">Of friendship pure it has a sense,</div> + <div>And while that natural principle,</div> + <div class="i1">Is not entirely banish’d hence;</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Still faithful memory will present,</div> + <div class="i1">When gone is many a tedious year,</div> + <div>The hours we’ve altogether spent,</div> + <div class="i1">And cause a pleasing, painful tear;</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Soft sympathy! (the name is dear,</div> + <div class="i1">I mention it with gratitude,)—</div> + <div>Doth in each breast for me appear,</div> + <div class="i1">With that be satisfied I should.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But sad I see, when you depart,</div> + <div class="i1">The number of my friends decrease;</div> + <div>I feel a taste of future smart,</div> + <div class="i1">Which oft’ I fear to feel like this.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>If life prolong’d to age be mine,</div> + <div class="i1">All now so lov’d may then be gone,</div> + <div>Then who will cheer in life’s decline?</div> + <div class="i1">I’ll ne’er know such as I have known.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But why to Poesy complain?</div> + <div class="i1">Will not the plain impartial muse</div> + <div>Assume her power, and me arraign,</div> + <div class="i1">Of selfish ends, of selfish views?</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>She in this manner doth reprove,—</div> + <div class="i1">Conceal such sentiments as thine,</div> + <div>If fortune favours those we love,</div> + <div class="i1">Should we because of that repine.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>You wrong me I did sighing say,</div> + <div class="i1">Do not misunderstand me so;</div> + <div>Become of C—— whatever may,</div> + <div class="i1">’Twill give her pleasure that to know.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But ah! my heart has many a fear,</div> + <div class="i1">T’ avert which, heav’n, I thee implore,</div> + <div>I dread yon town’s unwholesome air,</div> + <div class="i1">But dread its bad example more.—</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Oh! may all watchful Providence,</div> + <div class="i1">Still guard from every sinful snare;</div> + <div>Preserve in health and innocence,</div> + <div class="i1">You making its peculiar care.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>A sober, pious, harmless life</div> + <div class="i1">Maintain, and keep its end in view,</div> + <div>Which soon, or late, will sure arrive,</div> + <div class="i1">Then what is all this world to you.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Let atheists at religion laugh,</div> + <div class="i1">And libertines live as they list;</div> + <div>But on a death-bed who can scoff,</div> + <div class="i1">God then in fear will be confess’d!</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Rejoice young man in days of youth,</div> + <div class="i1">Thine heart with every folly cheer;</div> + <div>But know, all these, as true as truth,</div> + <div class="i1">In after judgment must appear!</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>To Israel thus the sacred page—</div> + <div class="i1">But wrote for our instruction too;</div> + <div>It speaks to youth in every age,</div> + <div class="i1">And now my friend it cautions you.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>With vigorous health your bosom glows,—</div> + <div class="i1">False dazzling views elate your soul;</div> + <div>Brisk through each vein life’s current flows,—</div> + <div class="i1">Each passion apt to spurn control.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But oh! let timely counsel warn,</div> + <div class="i1">While yet I hope no friend to vice;</div> + <div>From wisdom’s pathway never turn,</div> + <div class="i1">Though folly should with smiles entice.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Be serious, prudent, circumspect,</div> + <div class="i1">Shun pleasure’s fascinating lure;</div> + <div>And oh! may heaven your heart direct,</div> + <div class="i1">To all that’s virtuous, good, and pure.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Consider boyish years are flown,</div> + <div class="i1">Endeavour manhood so to spend,</div> + <div>As honour strict may fairly own,</div> + <div class="i1">Conscience approve, and heaven commend.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>And then though slander aim her darts,</div> + <div class="i1">Your reputation fair to wound;</div> + <div>Still truth will triumph o’er her arts,</div> + <div class="i1">Her dark designs dash and confound.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>The sober will such worth admire,</div> + <div class="i1">And wealth on diligence attends;</div> + <div>Fame, fortune, will I hope conspire,</div> + <div class="i1">To gain you many valued friends.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>And pleasing circles will adorn</div> + <div class="i1">Your hearth, to cheer each hour of rest;</div> + <div>Each night close calm as rose the morn,</div> + <div class="i1">Each day be happy as the past.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Heaven’s favour heightens every joy,—</div> + <div class="i1">Makes every comfort taste more sweet;</div> + <div>But vice doth every bliss destroy,</div> + <div class="i1">Follow’d by fear, shame, and regret.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But even should adverse fortune frown,</div> + <div class="i1">Troubles assail, no friend remain;</div> + <div>God never can forsake his own,</div> + <div class="i1">But all who trust him will sustain.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>If bitters in life’s cup are mix’d,</div> + <div class="i1">’Tis from this world their hearts to wean;</div> + <div>To qualify them for the next,</div> + <div class="i1">Where bliss complete cures every pain.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>That this may be your happy lot;</div> + <div class="i1">(And oh! how happy none can tell!)</div> + <div>Has oft’ employ’d her earnest thought,</div> + <div class="i1">Who sighing says,—dear youth, Farewell!</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span></p> + +<p class="center p4 sm">VERSIFICATION</p> +</div> + +<p class="center xs">OF</p> + +<h2 class="lg"><b>Ossian’s Address to the Moon.</b></h2> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Daughter of heaven! fair art thou,—</div> + <div class="i1">The brightness of thy face,</div> + <div>Is pleasant to the travellers’ view,</div> + <div class="i1">When darkness flies apace.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>The stars attend thy azure steps,</div> + <div class="i1">And murky clouds, O! Moon,—</div> + <div>Sport in thy beams, their brightening shapes,</div> + <div class="i1">Rejoicing as at noon.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Night’s lovely daughter in the sky,</div> + <div class="i1">Who doth like thee preside;</div> + <div>The stars asham’d thy presence fly,</div> + <div class="i1">Their sparkling eyes to hide.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But where dost thou thyself repair,</div> + <div class="i1">When dark thy count’nance grows?</div> + <div>Hast thou a hall like Ossian, where</div> + <div class="i1">Grief’s shadows thee enclose?</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Fell thy fair sisters from the skies,</div> + <div class="i1">That nightly shone before?</div> + <div>They in thy presence did rejoice,</div> + <div class="i1">And are they now no more?</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Yes! they are fall’n. O! fairest light!</div> + <div class="i1">Who did thy path adorn;</div> + <div>And thou dost oft’ retire from sight,</div> + <div class="i1">Thy loss of friends to mourn.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But thou thyself shalt one night fail,</div> + <div class="i1">Nor more in Heaven appear;</div> + <div>Then stars that shrunk before thee pale,</div> + <div class="i1">With joy their heads shall rear.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Yet, while with brightest beams begirt,</div> + <div class="i1">Look from thy lofty gate.—</div> + <div>O! burst ye winds that cloud apart,</div> + <div class="i1">Let her appear in state!</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>The shaggy mountains to illume,</div> + <div class="i1">And make their summits bright;</div> + <div>That azure waves ’midst ocean’s gloom,</div> + <div class="i1">May roll in rays of light!</div> + </div> + + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">BALCLUTHA’s RUINS;</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>Versified from Ossian</i>.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Raise, ye, my Bards, said mighty Fingal, raise</div> + <div>A mournful song, in sad Moina’s praise;</div> + <div>Call to our hills her ghost with tuneful air,</div> + <div>That she may rest in peace with Morven’s fair.</div> + <div>The sun-beams mild on other days that shone,</div> + <div>Delights of ancient heroes long since gone.</div> + <div>I’ve seen Balclutha’s walls, but they are sad,</div> + <div>And dreary desolation round them spread;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span></div> + <div>The ruinous fire had rioted in the hall;</div> + <div>The people’s voice is heard no more at all;</div> + <div>And Clutha’s course was alter’d by the fall;</div> + <div>And there the thistle shook its lonely head,</div> + <div>Thro’ wither’d moss the wind a whistling made;</div> + <div>The skulking fox did from the window look,</div> + <div>And rank the tufted grass around him shook:</div> + <div>‘Such is the dwelling of Moina now,</div> + <div>The habitation of her fathers low.</div> + <div>Then raise ye Bards, a sweetly mournful strain,</div> + <div>And o’er the stranger’s land in song complain;</div> + <div>They only fell a little us before,</div> + <div>We too must one day fall and be no more.</div> + <div>Why build the hall, son of the winged days?</div> + <div>Or why with toil a stately fabric raise?</div> + <div>To-day thou lookest from thy tower elate;</div> + <div>Yet a few years, for lo! how short the date!</div> + <div>Then desert blasts howl in thy empty court,</div> + <div>And whistle round thy shield in seeming sport;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span></div> + <div>And come thou desert blast, with howling sound,</div> + <div>We in our little day shall be renown’d;</div> + <div>Still shall be heard our deeds in battles past,</div> + <div>And in the song of bards our name shall last;</div> + <div>When thou shalt fail, O! sun of heaven so bright!</div> + <div>If thou indeed must fail, thou mighty light!</div> + <div>If thou, like me, but for a season art,</div> + <div>Our fame shall live when thy last beams depart.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">ANOTHER EXTRACT</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>From Ossian.</i></p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>From grief a kind of joy doth flow,</div> + <div class="i1">When peace is in the breast;</div> + <div>Some minds indulge themselves in woe,</div> + <div class="i1">And love to be distress’d.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Altho’ by sad remembrance pain’d,</div> + <div class="i1">The heart still holds it dear,</div> + <div>The soft sensation is retain’d,</div> + <div class="i1">Tho’ causing many a tear.—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But sorrow wastes the mournful soul,</div> + <div class="i1">Its joyless days are few,</div> + <div>Whose heart of settled sadness full</div> + <div class="i1">Bids cheerfulness adieu!—</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>A willing stranger to delight,</div> + <div class="i1">It wastes in early bloom,</div> + <div>Like flowers which nightly mildews blight,</div> + <div class="i1">And scorching suns consume.—</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>The floweret bends its heavy head,</div> + <div class="i1">The killing drops to drink,</div> + <div>So does the mind to pleasure dead,</div> + <div class="i1">In cherish’d sorrow sink.—</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But grief doth such in secret waste,</div> + <div class="i1">Their fleeting days are few,</div> + <div>Whose minds by settled gloom possess’d,</div> + <div class="i1">Bid cheerfulness adieu!—</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4"><b>A Petition</b></h2> +</div> + +<p class="center">TO A MEDICAL GENTLEMAN.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Would, Sir, that I could win your ear,</div> + <div>A favour is petition’d here,</div> + <div class="i1">Though much you have already done,</div> + <div>Yet bear with one request from me:</div> + <div>Your patient, now, I fain would be,</div> + <div class="i1">If granted so desir’d a boon;</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>A plan might be devis’d that would</div> + <div>Be blest, who knows, to do me good.</div> + <div class="i1">And, O! it were a happy thing!</div> + <div>’Twould greatly better my condition,</div> + <div>Spread your fame as a physician,</div> + <div class="i1">Double pleasure thence would spring.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Not that I mean your skill’s denied,</div> + <div>If so, I had not first applied,</div> + <div class="i1">Much less my pleading now renew;</div> + <div>But curing such a stubborn case,</div> + <div>Your usefulness would much increase,</div> + <div class="i1">Tho’ fame should weigh but light with you.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>One kind to me before, now gone,</div> + <div>Did all that long could have been done;</div> + <div class="i1">This lameness to prevent, and cure,</div> + <div>But then my wavering constitution,</div> + <div>More than now, was in confusion,</div> + <div class="i1">And resisted med’cine’s power.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>One time I had a minute’s talk,</div> + <div>With you ’bout helping me to walk,</div> + <div class="i1">But you declin’d so hard a task,</div> + <div>And I was then, as at this day,</div> + <div>So troublesome another way,</div> + <div class="i1">I wanted courage more to ask.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But measur’d lines possess a power,</div> + <div>At least I’ve known it so before,</div> + <div class="i1">They’ve gain’d a cause which else had fail’d,</div> + <div>When told in truth’s persuasive spirit,</div> + <div>Meaning well, though poor in merit;</div> + <div class="i1">Ev’n such verses have prevail’d;</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Please, Sir, let such prevail with you,</div> + <div>And try what art and means can do,</div> + <div class="i1">To make me walk though lame and slow:</div> + <div>I think you nothing can propose,</div> + <div>As process, regimen, or dose,</div> + <div class="i1">But I will patient undergo:</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>And after all if means are vain,</div> + <div>I will not murmur, or complain,</div> + <div class="i1">When both have done the best we may;</div> + <div>Do promise, once to make a trial,</div> + <div>Nor kill weak hope with a denial,</div> + <div class="i1">And your petitioner will pray.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">LINES</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center">COMPOSED IN THE TIME OF WAR.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Ha! what’s a’ your hurry my blythe laughing lassie?</div> + <div class="i1 hangingindent">What mak’s you sae merry that’s been sae lang wae?</div> + <div>Sae cheerily smiling, weel pleas’d, and sae dressy,</div> + <div class="i1">Ye ha’e na been seen for this mony a day?</div> + <div>Is <span class="smcap">Jamie</span> come hame again frae the French prison?</div> + <div class="i1">I read i’ your looks that I haena guess’d wrang;</div> + <div>Said she, I’ll no hide it, for frankly confessing,</div> + <div class="i1">I hope now to see him afore it be lang.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>See here are twa letters frae him an’ my brither,</div> + <div class="i1">They’re baith to be here in a fortnight at maist;</div> + <div>I’m gaun the blythe tidings to tell <span class="smcap">Jamie’s</span> mither,</div> + <div class="i1 hangingindent">Sae that’s just the cause o’ my gladness and haste.</div> + <div>I left her, an’ thought how destructive is fighting,</div> + <div class="i1">Contriv’d by nae guid to hand folk in a steer;</div> + <div>Keeps mony a body themselves ay affrighting,</div> + <div class="i1">For brither, friend, husband, or son, that is dear.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Some wars on ae side hae been right it is granted,</div> + <div class="i1">But ilk’ sober person’s opinion runs thus—</div> + <div>That war aye, if possible, should be prevented,</div> + <div class="i1">The wide warld’s wealth canna balance the loss.</div> + <div>I’m no a deep-learn’d far-skill’d politician,</div> + <div class="i1">But common sense tells me that war is a fiend,</div> + <div>Spreading poverty, bloodshed, an’ fell desolation,</div> + <div class="i1">Sic havoc I heartily wish at an end.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4"><b>Sabella;</b></h2> +</div> + +<p class="center">A METRICAL TALE.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Near twilight, in a forest vast,</div> + <div class="i1">Which close tall trees did well adorn;</div> + <div>Surrounded by a heathy waste,</div> + <div class="i1">Where rang’d the deer with branched horn.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>No marks of culture there were shewn,</div> + <div class="i1">But passing Flora, from her lap,</div> + <div>Some borders had profusely strewn</div> + <div class="i1">With seeds, and Phœbus nurs’d them up.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>An op’ning small the wood divides,</div> + <div class="i1">Where runs a riv’let chrystal clear,</div> + <div>And plants and flowers bedeck the sides,</div> + <div class="i1">In all its windings far and near.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Off either bank the blast to ward,</div> + <div class="i1">Stand the straight oak and comely larch,</div> + <div>The silent pathway’s lofty guard,</div> + <div class="i1">Join’d by the sweetly smelling birch.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>The falling dew they did imbibe,</div> + <div class="i1">Scent, beauty, freshness, to repair;</div> + <div>And on their boughs, a plumy tribe</div> + <div class="i1">Pour’d sweetest woodnotes on the air.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Calm was the scene, not e’en a breath</div> + <div class="i1">The smallest quiv’ring leaf did shake;</div> + <div>When slowly stepping o’er the heath,</div> + <div class="i1">Advanc’d a nymph of graceful make.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>When she approach’d to where the rill</div> + <div class="i1">Out of a little fountain rose;</div> + <div>’Twas so inviting, soft, and still,</div> + <div class="i1">Its devious walk the damsel chose.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Now said she, as she stept along,</div> + <div class="i1">This is a favourable place,</div> + <div>To search what in me is so wrong,</div> + <div class="i1">And ever robs me of my peace.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>My bosom is not torn with spite,</div> + <div class="i1">Nor dark revenge, nor fell remorse;</div> + <div>No! what my youthful bloom doth blight,</div> + <div class="i1">Arises from another source.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Credulity has been my wreck,</div> + <div class="i1">Too easy won by feign’d regard;</div> + <div>Affection whispering, don’t suspect,—</div> + <div class="i1">Reflection’s voice was not yet heard.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Long blinded, I did long believe,</div> + <div class="i1">Was loath to think his heart so bad,</div> + <div>As with such treachery to deceive,</div> + <div class="i1">Then basely slight a trusting maid.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But long neglect has made me own</div> + <div class="i1">His fondest vows were only feign’d;</div> + <div>He roves through fields to me unknown,—</div> + <div class="i1">Nor one farewell epistle deign’d.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Now to some favourite fair he’ll jest,</div> + <div class="i1">And speak of me, with taunting scorn;</div> + <div>Oh! how this weakness I detest,</div> + <div class="i1">And yet cannot forbear to mourn.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>My heart from every thing around,</div> + <div class="i1">Displeas’d, dissatisfied, turns back!</div> + <div>Cease cheerful birds! that echoing sound</div> + <div class="i1">Does still my forlorn mind distract.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Thinking herself unseen, unheard,</div> + <div class="i1">Aloud her sad complaint began,</div> + <div>When, leaning on his staff, appeared</div> + <div class="i1">A venerable aged man.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Daughter,” he said, “be not alarm’d,</div> + <div class="i1">“Pursue your walk, nor tremble so</div> + <div>“At one, by seventy years disarm’d,</div> + <div class="i1">“From being a formidable foe.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“I only in the forest stopt,</div> + <div class="i1">“As from my work I did retire;</div> + <div>“And these few faded branches lopt,</div> + <div class="i1">“A faggot for my lonely fire.”</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“By seventy years,” replied the maid,</div> + <div class="i1">Whose looks much pity did express—</div> + <div>“And still must work, you sure have had</div> + <div class="i1">“Uncommon family distress.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Ah! why recall that tender name,”</div> + <div class="i1">The old man with a sigh rejoin’d,—</div> + <div>“Forgive me, you are not to blame,</div> + <div class="i1">“’Tis never absent from my mind.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Wouldst thou accompany so old</div> + <div class="i1">“A man as I’m to yonder bank,</div> + <div>“Hear his advice, or hist’ry told?”</div> + <div class="i1">She said—“for both I would you thank.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Of good advice I’m much in want,</div> + <div class="i1">“Sick of deceitful trifling youth;</div> + <div>“I’ll hear the voice of age intent,</div> + <div class="i1">“And lend a willing ear to truth.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“I’ll not inquisitive enquire”—</div> + <div class="i1">When seated, thus the sage began:</div> + <div>“The cause why you so much desire</div> + <div class="i1">“To wander from th’ abodes of man?<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Amidst the foliage envelop’d,</div> + <div class="i1">“This much I both have heard and seen,</div> + <div>“By gestures and expressions dropt,</div> + <div class="i1">“Your heart is press’d with anguish keen.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“O! listen then while I relate</div> + <div class="i1">“The wasting griefs myself have known,</div> + <div>“Nought interesting to repeat,</div> + <div class="i1">“Befell me till to manhood grown.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“I was arrived at age mature,</div> + <div class="i1">“Before my honour’d parents died,</div> + <div>“A passion stronger but as pure,</div> + <div class="i1">“The place of filial love supplied.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“One night, my day’s employment done,</div> + <div class="i1">“In twilight’s pale but soothing reign;</div> + <div>“The busy world I wish’d to shun,</div> + <div class="i1">“And sought a long neglected plain.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“The moon arose with cheering rays—</div> + <div class="i1">“I walk’d on lighted by the same,</div> + <div>“Where oftentimes in boyish days,</div> + <div class="i1">“I with my mother went and came.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Till by some secret impulse led,</div> + <div class="i1">“Near to the margin of a fount,</div> + <div>“Where a neat cottage rais’d its head,</div> + <div class="i1">“Of no contemptible account.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Its owner wealthy was and proud,</div> + <div class="i1">“Had been a hero brave in youth;</div> + <div>“His daughter’s praises fame sang loud,</div> + <div class="i1">“Nor deviated from the truth.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Her merits I had oft’ been told;</div> + <div class="i1">“Had long esteem’d the lovely maid;</div> + <div>“Another feeling made me bold,</div> + <div class="i1">“And I its dictates quick obey’d.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Struck with a whimsical conceit,</div> + <div class="i1">“To try if welcome as a guest,</div> + <div>“I enter’d the half open’d gate.</div> + <div class="i1">“Nine times five years have not effac’d</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“From memory, the sudden joy</div> + <div class="i1">“That then my raptur’d bosom felt.</div> + <div>“An object caught my eager eye,</div> + <div class="i1">“On which it long with pleasure dwelt.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“I saw the fair Amelia stand,</div> + <div class="i1">“Midst her domestic maidens young;</div> + <div>“Industrious was each busy hand,</div> + <div class="i1">“Whilst to her side an orphan clung.”</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Poor little child” she said, “bereft</div> + <div class="i1">“Of parents in thy tender years,</div> + <div>“But not an helpless outcast left,</div> + <div class="i1">“To break thine heart with sighs and tears.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“No! I will shield from want and cold,</div> + <div class="i1">“And teach thee all myself have known;</div> + <div>“Virtue and truth to thee unfold,</div> + <div class="i1">“As far as light to me is shewn.”</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“She stopt, I hastily retir’d,</div> + <div class="i1">“Nor waited for a sentence more;</div> + <div>“Durst not approach what I admir’d,</div> + <div class="i1">“But unobserved reach’d the door.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Went home, but no amusement, then,</div> + <div class="i1">“Could from my purpose make me swerve;</div> + <div>“I visited the maid again,</div> + <div class="i1">“And told my mind without reserve.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“She heard me with a patient ear,—</div> + <div class="i1">“Our families of old were one;</div> + <div>“Suspended betwixt hope and fear!</div> + <div class="i1">“I listen’d, while she thus began:”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Sincerity’s engaging form,</div> + <div class="i1">“I love, admire, and reverence;</div> + <div>“Its accents the affections warm,</div> + <div class="i1">“Nor fail to win our confidence.”</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Could I these protestations trust,</div> + <div class="i1">“My heart your suit would not disown;</div> + <div>“Treat not this frankness with disgust,</div> + <div class="i1">“Dissembling is to me unknown.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“O to remember that blest hour,</div> + <div class="i1">“My happiness seem’d then complete;</div> + <div>“Our mothers both long time before,</div> + <div class="i1">“Friendship did more than blood unite.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“To wed the daughter of her friend,</div> + <div class="i1">“My mother wish’d me many a day,</div> + <div>“Hers too the same would recommend,</div> + <div class="i1">“But still a bar was in our way.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Her sire our union did prevent,</div> + <div class="i1">“And charg’d her ne’er to see me more;</div> + <div>“At last an unforeseen event,</div> + <div class="i1">“Rob’d him of all his golden store,</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Of which he boasted.—With delight,</div> + <div class="i1">“And wing’d with hope, to them I flew;</div> + <div>“His sentiments were alter’d quite,</div> + <div class="i1">“He own’d Amelia was my due.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“That treasure then I did espouse,—</div> + <div class="i1">“Heaven soon recall’d the precious pearl;</div> + <div>“Two pledges of our faithful vows,</div> + <div class="i1">“She left an infant boy and girl.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Their opening minds with care I rear’d,</div> + <div class="i1">“With learning suited to their birth:</div> + <div>“My son adventurous appear’d,</div> + <div class="i1">“My daughter studied private worth.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Some men their place of birth esteem,</div> + <div class="i1">“They prize its woods and mountains more</div> + <div>“Than places which with plenty teem,</div> + <div class="i1">“Of rarest fruits and richest ore.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Not so, my son, for he t’ acquire</div> + <div class="i1">“A splendid fortune, so was bent,</div> + <div>“He left his home, his sister, sire,</div> + <div class="i1">“And to a land far distant went.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“By no endearing ties deterr’d,</div> + <div class="i1">“Fair Caledonia he would leave;</div> + <div>“Columbia’s fertile plains preferr’d,</div> + <div class="i1">“For them encounter’d wind and wave.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“I letters wrote from time to time,</div> + <div class="i1">“Entreating that he would return;</div> + <div>“At last I learn’d that foreign clime,</div> + <div class="i1">“Had brought him to an early urn.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“The darling of my anxious cares—</div> + <div class="i1">“My daughter too was in decline,</div> + <div>“But hid her pains, restrain’d her tears,</div> + <div class="i1">“Conceal’d her grief to comfort mine.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“While slow consumptive symptoms wore,</div> + <div class="i1">“I saw her like a lily drop;</div> + <div>“And death relentless from me tore</div> + <div class="i1">“My last remaining earthly prop.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Relations now to own refuse,</div> + <div class="i1">“Because they know that at my death,</div> + <div>“To raise their mercenary views,</div> + <div class="i1">“I have no riches to bequeath.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“To summer’s sun and winter’s storm,</div> + <div class="i1">“This tottering frame I must expose,</div> + <div>“When feeble hands and limbs infirm,</div> + <div class="i1">“Plead loud for ease and soft repose:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“But not at Heaven’s all-wise decree,</div> + <div class="i1">“Should we once murmur in the least;</div> + <div>“A little longer—then we’ll be</div> + <div class="i1">“Where no afflicting cares infest.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“These birds to their Creator’s throne,</div> + <div class="i1">“Send up, of praise, a willing rent;</div> + <div>“And should we, as it were, lock on</div> + <div class="i1">“With peevish fretful discontent.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“We’re more indebted far than they,</div> + <div class="i1">“With reason’s light we are endow’d,</div> + <div>“And many favors ev’ry day,</div> + <div class="i1">“Are bounteously on us bestow’d.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“The current of this little brook,</div> + <div class="i1">“A picture does of time convey;</div> + <div>“Ere we a moment thereon look,</div> + <div class="i1">“The silent water glides away.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“To us what lesson does it speak,</div> + <div class="i1">“Time plainly whispers in our ear,</div> + <div>“Beyond my bounds your thoughts direct—</div> + <div class="i1">“’Tis shadow here, ’tis substance there.”</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“The nightly shades now falling fast,</div> + <div class="i1">“Perhaps I ne’er will see you more.”</div> + <div>He said, her hand then softly press’d,</div> + <div class="i1">“May Heaven your wonted peace restore.”</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“Once more indulge me,” said the fair,</div> + <div class="i1">“And lead me to your humble home,</div> + <div>“My every wish is center’d there,</div> + <div class="i1">“Respecting all this side the tomb.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“My youthful hopes have all expir’d,</div> + <div class="i1">“O let me come with you to live,</div> + <div>“In station of a servant hir’d,</div> + <div class="i1">“My best assistance you shall have.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>His utmost eloquence was us’d,</div> + <div class="i1">From such wild fancies to dissuade.</div> + <div>With faltering voice, and eyes suffus’d</div> + <div class="i1">With tears, return’d the weeping maid—</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“No aged parents of my own,</div> + <div class="i1">“Or friends now my assistance claim,</div> + <div>“And temperate or torrid zone,</div> + <div class="i1">“To poor <span class="smcap">Sabella</span> is the same.”</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Fearing her intellects derang’d,</div> + <div class="i1">He with reluctance let her go;</div> + <div>But soon this rash opinion chang’d,</div> + <div class="i1">Her conduct show’d it was not so.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>She call’d him “father,” when that name</div> + <div class="i1">Again soft sounded in his ear;</div> + <div>He her embrac’d—and did exclaim—</div> + <div class="i1">“Heaven bless thee! O my daughter dear!<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“A parent’s duties I’ll fulfil,</div> + <div class="i1">“Whilst Heaven is pleas’d my life to spare.”</div> + <div>“It is enough,” she said, “I will</div> + <div class="i1">“Endeavour to deserve your care.”</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>With every thing convenient,</div> + <div class="i1">She comforted his hours of rest;</div> + <div>A pleasing calm, if not content,</div> + <div class="i1">At length possess’d her youthful breast.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>He taught her lore from many a page,</div> + <div class="i1">For ancient books he knew full well:</div> + <div>Of history grave in every age,</div> + <div class="i1">How empires rose and how they fell.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>And here let the narrator pause,</div> + <div class="i1">Who much admires the pleasant sight—</div> + <div>One evening thus employ’d he was,</div> + <div class="i1">And she attending with delight;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>A youth advanc’d across the vale,</div> + <div class="i1">Declar’d himself the old man’s son;</div> + <div>And oh! remarkable to tell—</div> + <div class="i1"><span class="smcap">Sabella</span>’s lover both in one.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Not to be tedious or minute,</div> + <div class="i1">An explanation soon took place;</div> + <div>The youth renew’d his former suit,</div> + <div class="i1">But was refus’d with modest grace.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>“I’ll leave this house, my master will,”</div> + <div class="i1">She said, “no longer want my care.”</div> + <div>Both sire and son t’ entreaties fell,</div> + <div class="i1">And a third pleader too was there.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Affection, far from being extinct,</div> + <div class="i1">Now rose a powerful foe to pride:</div> + <div>What could she speak, or act, or think—</div> + <div class="i1">She smil’d consented, was his bride.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>The sire, four-score and ten years old,</div> + <div class="i1">His faculties not much impair’d;</div> + <div>Grand-children did with joy behold,</div> + <div class="i1">Then died in peace, <i>lov’d and rever’d</i>.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4"><b>Song,</b></h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>On leaving the Country for the Town</i>.</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Ye shrubs, and blooming flow’rs,</div> + <div class="i1">All deck’d in richest pride,</div> + <div>I’ll sing amidst your foliage;</div> + <div class="i1">In you I can confide.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But yonder tall plantation,</div> + <div class="i1">Is not a friend so true,</div> + <div>For there will tell-tale <span class="smcap">Echo</span>,</div> + <div class="i1">Repeat each word anew.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Fair smiling infant nature,</div> + <div class="i1">Again salutes the eye,</div> + <div>Each leaf and flower expanding,</div> + <div class="i1">And all in beauty vie.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Bud on ye tender blossoms,</div> + <div class="i1">In vernal breezes wave,</div> + <div>Some other maid will praise you,</div> + <div class="i1">Though I these beauties leave.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Spring once thy scented verdure,</div> + <div class="i1">With pleasure I survey’d;</div> + <div>And music of the woodlands</div> + <div class="i1">Has made my bosom glad.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>No more through flow’ry meadows,</div> + <div class="i1">Delighted now I range,</div> + <div>But for scenes not so enticing,</div> + <div class="i1">Would all these charms exchange,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Yes, yonder crowded city,</div> + <div class="i1">With all its bustling noise,</div> + <div>In place of your mild silence,</div> + <div class="i1">Is now become my choice.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>O hope! what sweet sensations,</div> + <div class="i1">Thy promises do give!</div> + <div>But oft, alas! though winning,</div> + <div class="i1">Thy brightest smiles deceive.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4"><b>Song,</b></h2> +</div> + +<p class="center">In answer to</p> + +<p class="center">“I’M WEARIN’ AWA’ JEAN.”</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Oh! you are happy now Jo!</div> + <div>Your care is a’ through Jo!</div> + <div>Nae pain reaches you</div> + <div class="i7h">In the land o’ the leal.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Our lassie wan awa’ Jo!</div> + <div>Nor muckle sorrow saw Jo!</div> + <div>Now I mourn twa</div> + <div class="i7h">In the land o’ the leal.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But a’ is guid and weel Jo!</div> + <div>Though nature it maun feel Jo!</div> + <div>Ilk pain will be heal</div> + <div class="i7h">In the land o’ the leal.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>My locks are thin and grey Jo!</div> + <div>My powers fast decay Jo!</div> + <div>I’m laith lang to stay,</div> + <div class="i7h">Fae the land o’ the leal.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But my tears drap in vain Jo!</div> + <div>Alane I maun remain Jo!</div> + <div>Till we meet again</div> + <div class="i7h">In the land o’ the leal.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Though trouble here us tries Jo!</div> + <div>’Tis blessing in disguise Jo!</div> + <div>To mak’ us mair prize</div> + <div class="i7h">The land o’ the leal.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">FAREWELL TO PERTH.</h2> +</div> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Adieu! pleasant Perth, all thy parts I admire,</div> + <div class="i1 hangingindent">Thy domes, and rich buildings, in every fine street,</div> + <div>Thy bridge, and thy churches, with each lofty spire,</div> + <div class="i1 hangingindent">Tay’s meads, and green isles, make thy beauty complete.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Of old in thy bosom, though kings once resided,</div> + <div class="i1 hangingindent">Thou’rt now even more splendid by commerce increas’d,</div> + <div>With wise regulations, and rulers provided;</div> + <div class="i1 hangingindent">Where arts are encouraged, and learning, and taste,</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="hangingindent">Though much has of late, for the poor been collected,</div> + <div class="i1">Ye affluent, think still, what must many endure,</div> + <div>Uncover’d from cold, & with want sore dejected,</div> + <div class="i1 hangingindent">Your own cup being brimful, O! think of the poor.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>So may your fine city, still more and more flourish,</div> + <div class="i1">And trade spreading plenty, again soon return,</div> + <div>With anxious remembrance, this wish I will cherish,</div> + <div class="i1">When far distant from it, reluctantly borne,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="hangingindent">Yes, I’ll think of thee Perth, not for thy gay splendor,</div> + <div class="i1">But sweet were the times that in thee I have seen,</div> + <div>The mem’ry of which will remain soft & tender,</div> + <div class="i1">Tho’ ’twixt me & thee many miles intervene.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>In some distant valley, by some pleasant fountain,</div> + <div class="i1 hangingindent">Where linnets and larks warble sweet in the spring,</div> + <div class="hangingindent">While sound’s plaintive echo from rocks, grove, or mountain,</div> + <div class="i1">Of Perth, when unseen, often sad I will sing.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4"><b>Song,</b></h2> +</div> + +<p class="center">IN ANSWER TO</p> + +<p class="center">“<i>O Nannie wilt thou gang wi’ me</i>.”</p> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>No! <span class="smcap">Sandie</span>, I will never gang,</div> + <div class="i1">Ye’ll trudge through life alane for me,</div> + <div>For aft’ a wife maun thole the wrang,</div> + <div class="i1">And I sic scaith will never dree.</div> + <div>I’ll busk mysel’ as neat’s I can,</div> + <div class="i1">And claes becoming me will wear,</div> + <div>Though ne’er admir’d by ony man,</div> + <div class="i1">Or flatter’d, <i>fairest of the fair</i>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>When far awa frae kith and kin,</div> + <div class="i1">I’d cast a look behind, I ween,</div> + <div>For you to change might soon begin,</div> + <div class="i1">And dwinin’ fondness die wi spleen.</div> + <div>Puir Nannie’s tender form would sink,</div> + <div class="i1">If bound your cauld-rife looks to bear,</div> + <div>Just now’s the time for her to think,</div> + <div class="i1">Though flatter’d, <i>fairest of the fair</i>.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Weak woman can misfortunes brave,</div> + <div class="i1">To man in straits is aft’ a frien’—</div> + <div>That’s right, a friend, but not a slave!</div> + <div class="i1">’Twere silly to descend so mean.</div> + <div>Some clowns in health do women scorn,</div> + <div class="i1">But aye in sickness claim their care;</div> + <div>Sic deem our sex their servants born,</div> + <div class="i1">We spurn the thought baith brown and fair.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Yet should you wi’ mischanters meet,</div> + <div class="i1">And under pain or poortith bow,</div> + <div>I’m no sae fu’ o’ deadly hate,</div> + <div class="i1">But I would help to succour you.</div> + <div>Your grave I dinna wish to see,</div> + <div class="i1">Nor strew, nor gather flowers there;</div> + <div>Live if you can to bury me,</div> + <div class="i1">Ance flatter’d, <i>fairest of the fair</i>.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span></p> + +<h2 class="p4">EVENING REFLECTIONS.</h2> +</div> + +<hr class="r25"> + + <div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div>While musing upon many a change,</div> + <div class="i1">Reflecting thought inclines</div> + <div>Present ideas, to arrange</div> + <div class="i1">In these few simple lines;</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Which unremember’d will decay,</div> + <div class="i1">No higher is their aim,—</div> + <div>The liker to their author they,</div> + <div class="i1">Who’ll shortly do the same.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>But why one sigh at being forgot?—</div> + <div class="i1">A maid more fair and gay</div> + <div>Perhaps has trode this peaceful spot,</div> + <div class="i1">Whose very name’s away:—</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Who in this lower world did share,</div> + <div class="i1">Like me, its joy and grief;</div> + <div>But from misfortune, pain, and care,</div> + <div class="i1">Hath lung since found relief.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Let fancy for a moment wait,</div> + <div class="i1">To view that fair unknown;</div> + <div>More early she, and I more late,</div> + <div class="i1">Have wander’d here alone.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>What! though imagination paints</div> + <div class="i1">Her but of mean estate;</div> + <div>Her views when humble, few her wants,</div> + <div class="i1">Nor wishing to be great.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Why such a wish? for now her bones</div> + <div class="i1">As peacefully do rest</div> + <div>As theirs, who once fill’d regal thrones,</div> + <div class="i1">Or Indian mines possess’d.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Perfection in this lower state,</div> + <div class="i1">’Bove mortal reach we see,</div> + <div>But serious minds, humane, and sweet,</div> + <div class="i1">Are found in each degree.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>And wheresoever these appear,</div> + <div class="i1">In high or low, they still</div> + <div>A heavenly origin declare,</div> + <div class="i1">And shine most beautiful.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Shine, not with ostentation’s blaze,</div> + <div class="i1">Th’ applauding eye to lure;</div> + <div>Their actions court not empty praise,</div> + <div class="i1">But flow from motives pure.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>This conduct is a scene of peace,</div> + <div class="i1">Free from discordant noise;</div> + <div>And such a character might grace</div> + <div class="i1">The sister of my choice.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Though nat’rally to sadness bent,</div> + <div class="i1">Yet soft, sedate, and mild:</div> + <div>She with the mourful did lament—</div> + <div class="i1">She with the cheerful smil’d.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Such meek and placid innocence,</div> + <div class="i1">Pure seraphs would respect;</div> + <div>But ’mong this globe’s inhabitants,</div> + <div class="i1">It only found neglect.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Not mention’d by the mouth of fame,</div> + <div class="i1">Nor by reproach assail’d;</div> + <div>From both, her inoffensive frame,</div> + <div class="i1">The grave completely veil’d.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span></div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Ah! friendly fair! whose dust so small,</div> + <div class="i1">With mine may soon be mix’d:</div> + <div>She’s only fall’n, and I must fall—</div> + <div class="i1">The sure decree is fix’d.</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div>Since life’s so short, and death so sure;</div> + <div class="i1">So transient every joy:</div> + <div>Let us that real good secure,</div> + <div class="i1">Which death cannot destroy.</div> + </div> + </div> + </div> + + +<p class="center sm p2">FINIS.</p> + + +<p class="transnote">Transcriber’s Notes:<br> +<br> +Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected +silently.</p> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75938 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75938-h/images/cover.jpg b/75938-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1b845d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/75938-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5dba15 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this book outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..549c6e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +book #75938 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/75938) |
