(For stormy troubles loudest roar Around their flight who highest soar), And in her eye, and by her aid, Shine safe without a fear to fade.
She thus maintains divided sway With yon bright regent of the day; The Plume and Poet both we know Their lustre to his influence owe; And she the works of Phoebus aiding, Both Poet saves and Plume from fading.
Supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk, during his solitary abcd in the island of Juan Fernandez.
I AM monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute; From the centre all round to the sea
I am lord of the fowl and the bruto. O Solitude! where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms Than reign in this horrible place.
I am out of humanity's reach,
I must finish my journey alone, Never hear the sweet music of speech, I start at the sound of my own. The beasts, that roam over the plain, My form with indifference see; They are so unacquainted with man, Their tameness is shocking to me.
Society, friendship, and love, Divinely bestow'd upon man, O, had I the wings of a dove, How soon would I taste you again! My sorrows I then might assuage In the ways of religion and truth, Might learn from the wisdom of age, And be cheer'd by the sallies of youth.
Religion! what treasure untold Resides in that heavenly word! More precious than silver and gold Or all that this earth can afford. But the sound of the church-going bell These valleys and rocks never heard, Never sigh'd at the sound of a knell,
Or smiled when a Sabbath appear'd. Ye winds, that have made me your sport, Convey to this desolate shore Some cordial endearing report
Of a land I shall visit no more.
My friends, do they now and then send A wish or a thought after me? O tell me I yet have a friend,
Though a friend I am never to see. How fleet is the glance of the mind! Compared with the speed of its flight, The tempest itself lags behind,
And the swift-winged arrows of light. When I think of my own native land, In a moment I seem to be there; But alas! recollection at hand
Soon hurries me back to despair.
But the sea-fowl is gone to her nest, The beast is laid down in his lair; Even here is a season of rest, And I to my cabin repair. There's mercy in every place, And mercy, encouraging thought! Gives even affliction a grace,
And reconciles man to his lot.
ON OBSERVING SOME NAMES OF LITTLE NOTE RECORDED IN THE BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA.
ОH, fond attempt to give a deathless lot To names ignobie, born to be forgot! In vain recorded in historic page, They court the notice of a future age: Those twinkling tiny lustres of the land Drop one by one from Fame's neglecting hand; Lethæan gulfs receive them as they fall, And dark oblivion soon absorbs them all.
So when a child, as playful children use, Has burnt to tinder a stale last year's news, The flame extinct, he views the roving fire- There goes my lady, and there goes the squire, There goes the parson, oh illustrious spark! And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk!
REPORT OF AN ADJUDGED CASE,
NOT TO BE FOUND IN ANY OF THE BOOKS.
BETWEEN Nose and Eyes a strange contest arose, The spectacles set them unhappily wrong; The point in dispute was, as all the world knows, To which the said spectacles ought to belong.
So Tongue was the lawyer, and argued the cause With a great deal of skill, and a wig full of learning
While chief baron Ear sat to balance the laws, So famed for his talent in nicely discerning.
In behalf of the Nose it will quickly appear,
And your lordship, he said, will undoubtedly find, That the Nose has had spectacles always in wear, Which amounts to possession time out of mind.
Then holding the spectacles up to the court
Your lordship observes they are made with a straddle, As wide as the ridge of the Nose is; in short, Design'd to sit close to it just like a saddle.
Again, would your lordship a moment suppose (Tis a case that has happen'd, and may be again) That the visage or countenance had not a Nose,
Pray, who would, or who could, wear spectacles then? On the whole it appears, and my argument shows, With a reasoning the court will never condemn, That the spectacles plainly were made for the Nose, And the Nose was as plainly intended for them. Then shifting his side (as a lawyer knows how), He pleaded again in behalf of the Eyes: But what were his arguments few people know, For the court did not think they were equally wise.
So his lordship decreed with a grave solemn tone, Decisive and clear, without one if or but- That, whenever the Nose put his spectacles on, By daylight or candlelight-Eyes should be shut!
ON THE PROMOTION OF EDWARD THURLOW, ESQ
TO THE LORD HIGH CHANCELLORSHIP OF ENGLAND
ROUND Thurlow's head in early youth, And in his sportive days,
Fair Science pour'd the light of truth, And Genius shed his rays.
See! with united wonder cried The experienced and the sage, Ambition in a boy supplied
With all the skill of age!
Discernment, eloquence, and grace, Proclaim him born to sway The balance in the highest piace, And bear the palm away.
The praise bestow'd was just and wise; He sprang impetuous forth,
Secure of conquest, where the prize Attends superior worth.
So the best courser on the plain Ere yet he starts is known, And does but at the goal obtain What all had deem'd his own
COME, peace of mind, delightful guest! Return, and make thy downy nest Once more in this sad heart: Nor riches I nor power pursue, Nor hold forbidden joys in view; We therefore need not part.
Where wilt thou dwell, if not with me, From avarice and ambition free,
And pleasure's fatal wiles?
For whom, alas! dost thou prepare The sweets that I was wont to share, The banquet of thy smiles?
The great, the gay, shall they partake The heaven that thou alone canst make? And wilt thou quit the stream
That murmurs through the dewy mead, The grove and the sequester'd shed, To be a guest with them? For thee I panted, thee I prized, For thee I gladly sacrificed
Whate'er I loved before;
And shall I see thee start away, And helpless, hopeless, hear thee say- Farewell! we meet no more?
HUMAN FRAILTY.
WEAK and irresolute is man; The purpose of to-day,
Woven with pains into his plan,
To-morrow rends away.
The bow well bent, and smart the spring,
Vice seems already slain;
But passion rudely snaps the string,
And it revives again.
Some foe to his upright intent
Finds out his weaker part;
Virtue engages his assent,
But Pleasure wins his heart.
'Tis here the folly of the wise
Through all his art we view; And, while his tongue the charge denies, His conscience owns it true.
Bound on a voyage of awful length And dangers little known, A stranger to superior strength, Man vainly trusts his own.
But cars alone can ne'er prevail
To reach the distant coast;
The breath of Heaven must swell the sail. Or all the toil is lost.
THE MODERN PATRIOT.
REBELLION is my theme all day; I only wish 'twould come
(As who knows but perhaps it may ?) A little nearer home.
Yon roaring boys, who rave and fight On t'other side the Atlantic,
I always held them in the right,
But most so when most frantic.
When lawless mobs insult the court, That man shall be my toast, If breaking windows be the sport, Who bravely breaks the most.
But O for him my fancy culls The choicest flowers she bears, Who constitutionally pulls
Your house about your ears.
Such civil broils are my delight,
Though some folks can't endure them, Who say the mob are mad outright, And that a rope must cure them.
A rope! I wish we patriots had
Such strings for all who need 'en- What! hang a man for going mad! Then farewell British freedom.
BURNING OF LORD MANSFIELD'S LIBRARY,
TOGETHER WITH HIS MSS., BY THE MOB, IN THE MONTH OF JUNE 1780 So then the Vandals of our isle, Sworn foes to sense and law,
Have burnt to dust a nobler pile Than ever Roman saw!
And Murray sighs o'er Pope and Swift,
And many a treasure more,
The well-judged purchase and the gift
That graced his letter'd store.
Their pages mangled, burnt, and torn,
The loss was his alone;
But ages yet to come shall mourn The burning of his own.
WHEN wit and genius meet their doom
In all-devouring flame,
They tell us of the fate of Rome,
And bid us fear the same.
« ForrigeFortsett » |