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He felt his sins, and wonder'd he should feel.
Grace made the wound, and grace alone could heal.
Now farewell oaths, and blasphemies, and lies!
He quits the sinner's for the martyr's prize.
That holy day was wash'd with many a tear,
Gilded with hope, yet shaded too with fear,
The next, his swarthy brethren of the mine
Learn'd by his alter'd speech the change divine;
Laugh'd when they should have wept, and swore the day
Was nigh, when he would swear as fast as they.
"No, (said the penitent) such words shall share
This breath no more; devoted now to prayer,
Oh! if thou seest (thine eye the future sees)
That I shall yet again blaspheme like these; -
Now strike me to the ground, on which I kneel,
Ere yet this heart relapses into steel;

Now take me to that heaven I once defied,
Thy presence, thy embrace ;-he spoke, and died!"

ON A TRUE FRIEND.

HAST thou a friend? Thou hast indeed
A rich and large supply,
Treasure to serve your every need,
Well manag'd till you die.

TO THE REV. MR. NEWTON.

ON HIS RETURN FROM RAMSGATE, OCTOBER, 1780.

THAT Ocean you have late survey'd,

Those rocks I too have seen,

But I, afflicted and dismay'd,

You, tranquil and serene.

You from the flood-controlling steep
Saw stretch'd before your view,
With conscious joy, the threat'ning deep,
No longer such to you.

To me, the waves that ceaseless broke
Upon the dang'rous coast,
Hoarsely and ominously spoke
Of all my treasure lost.

Your sea of troubles you have pass'd
And found the peaceful shore ;
I, tempest-toss'd and wreck'd at last,
Come home to port no more.

ON LATE ACQUIRED WEALTH.

POOR in my youth, and in life's later scenes
Rich to no end, I curse my natal hour,

Who nought enjoy'd while young, denied the means,
And nought when old enjoy'd, denied the power.

FROM A

LETTER TO THE REV. MR NEWTON,

LATE RECTOR OF ST MARY, WOOLNOTH.

1782.

SAYS the pipe to the snuff-box, I can't understand
What the ladies and gentlemen see in your face,

That you are in fashion all over the land,

And I am so much fallen into disgrace.

Do but see what a pretty contemplative air

I give to the company-pray do but note 'em

You would think that the wise men of Greece were all there, Or, at least would suppose them the wise men of Gotham.

My breath is as sweet as the breath of blown roses
While you are a nuisance where'er you appear;
There is nothing but sniv'lling and blowing of noses
Such a noise as turns any man's stomach to hear.

Then lifting his lid in a delicate way,

And opening his mouth with a smile quite engaging, The box in reply was heard plainly to say,

What a silly dispute is this we are waging!

If you have a little of merit to claim,

You may thank the sweet-smelling Virginian weed, And I, if I seem to deserve any blame,

The before-mentioned drug in apology plead.

Thus neither the praise nor the blame is our own,
Nor room for a sneer, much less a cachinnus,

We are vehicles, not of tobacco alone,

But of any thing else they may choose to put in us.

EPITAPH ON JOHNSON

JANUARY, 1785.

HERE Johnson lies-a sage by all allow'd,
Whom to have bred, may well make England proud,
Whose prose was eloquence, by wisdom taught,
The graceful vehicle of virtuous thought;

Whose verse may claim-grave, masculine, and strong,
Superior praise to the mere poet's song;

Who many a noble gift from heaven possess'd,
And faith at last, alone worth all the rest.
O man, immortal by a double prize,

By fame on earth,-by glory in the skies!

THE FOUR AGES.

A BRIEF FRAGMENT OF AN EXTENSIVE PROJECTED POEM.-1791.

I COULD be well content, allowed the use
"Of past experience, and the wisdom gleaned
From worn-out folios, now acknowledged such,
To re-commence life's trial, in the hope

of fewer errors, on a second proof!"

Thus, while grey evening lulled the wind, and called Fresh odours from the shrubbery at my side,

Taking my lonely winding walk, I mused,

And held accustomed conference with my heart ;

When from within it, thus a voice replied:

"Couldst thou in truth? and art thou taught at length

This wisdom, and but this? from all the past?

Is not the pardon of thy long arrear,

Time wasted, violated laws, abuse

Of talents, judgments, mercies, better far
Than opportunity vouchsafed to err,
With less excuse, and haply worse effect?"

.

I heard, and acquiesced: then to and fro
Oft pacing, as the mariner his deck,
My gravelly bounds, from self to human kind
I passed, and next considered-what is man?
Knows he his origin? can he ascend

By reminiscence to his earliest date ?
Slept he in Adam? and in those from him
Through numerous generations, till he found
At length his destined moment to be born?
Or was he not, till fashioned in the womb ?

Deep mysteries both! which schoolmen must have toiled
To unriddle, and have left them mysteries still.

It is an evil incident to man,

And of the worst, that unexplored he leaves
Truths useful and attainable with ease,

To search forbidden deeps, where mystery lies
Not to be solved, and useless if it might.
Mysteries are food for angels; they digest
With ease, and find them nutriment; but man,
While yet he dwells below, must stoop to glean
His manna from the ground, or starve, and die.

THE COLUBRIAD.

1782.

CLOSE by the threshold of a door nail'd fast,
Three kittens sat; each kitten look'd aghast.
J, passing swift and inattentive by,

At the three kittens cast a careless eye;

Not much concerning to know what they did there, Not deeming kittens worth a poet's care.

But presently a loud and furious hiss

Caus'd me to stop, and to exclaim, "What's this?
When lo! upon the threshold met my view,

With head erect, and eyes of fiery hue,
A viper, long as Count de Grasse's queue

Forth from his head, his forked tongue he throws,
Darting it full against a kitten's nose;
Who having never seen, in field or house,
The like, sat still and silent as a mouse :
Only projecting, with attention due,

Her whisker'd face, she ask'd him, "Who are you?
On to the hall went I, with pace not slow,
But swift as lightning, for a long Dutch hoe:
With which well armed I hasten'd to the spot,
To find the viper, but I found him not:

And turning up the leaves, and shrubs around,
Found only, that he was not to be found.
But still the kittens sitting as before,
Sat watching close the bottom of the door.

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