Oh then, ere the turf or tomb

Cover us from every eye,

Spirit of instruction, come,

Make us learn that we must die!

TO JOHN JOHNSON,

ON HIS PRESENTING ME WITH AN ANTIQUE BÜST

OF HOMER.

KINSMAN beloved, and as a son by me!
When I behold this fruit of thy regard,
The sculptur'd form of my old favorite Bard!
I reverence feel for him, and love for thee.

Joy too, and grief, much joy that there should be

Wise men, and learn'd, who grudge not to reward With some applause my bold attempt, and hard, Which others scorn. Critics by courtesy !

The grief is this, that sunk in Homer's mine,
I lose my precious years, now soon to fail!
Handling his gold, which, howsoe'er it shine,

Proves dross when balanc'd in the Christian scale.

Be wiser thou, like our forefather DONNE;
Seek heavenly wealth, and work for God alone!

TO THE REV. MR. NEWTON,

ON HIS RETURN FROM RAMSGATE.

THAT ocean you of 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 threatening deepa
No longer such to you.

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

Your sea of troubles you have past,
And found the peaceful shore;

I, tempest toss'd, and wreck'd at last,
Come home to port no more.

LOVE ABUSED.

WHAT is there in the vale of life,
Half so delightful as a wife,

When friendship, love, and peace combine
To stamp the marriage bond divine?
The stream of pure and genuine love
Derives its current from above;

EPITAPH ON MR. CHESTER.

And earth a second Eden shows,
Where'er the healing water flows.
But ah! if from the dykes and drains
Of sensual nature's feverish veins,
Lust, like a lawless headstrong flood,
Impregnated with oose and mud,
Descending fast on every side,
Once mingles with the sacred tide,
Farewel the soul-enlivening scene!
The banks that wore a smiling green,
With rank defilement overspread,
Bewail their flowery beauties dead.
The stream polluted, dark and dull,
Diffused into a stygian pool,
Through life's last melancholy years
Is fed with ever flowing tears.

Complaints supply the zephyr's part,
And sighs that heave a breaking heart.

219

EPITAPH

ON MR. CHESTER, OF CHICHELEY.

TEARS flow and cease not, where the good man lies,

Till all who knew him follow to the skies.

Tears therefore fall where Chester's ashes sleep,
Him, wife, friends, brothers, children, servants,

weep

And justly-few shall ever him transcend
As husband, parent, brother, master, friend.

$ 2

EPITAPH.

ON MRS. M. HIGGINS, OF WESTON.

LAURELS may flourish round the conqueror's

tomb,

But happiest they, who win the world to come :
Believers have a silent field to fight,

And their exploits are veil'd from human sight.
They in some nook where little known they dwell,
Kneel, pray in faith, and rout the hosts of hell :
Eternal triumphs crown their toils divine,
And all those triumphs, Mary, now are thine.

TO COUNT GRAVINA,

On his translating the Author's Song on a Rose into Italian Verse.

MY Rose, Gravina, blooms anew,
And steep'd not now in rain,
But in Castalian streams by you,
Will never fade again.

INSCRIPTION

For a Stone erected at the sowing of a Grove of Oaks, at Chillington, the seat of Thomas Gifford, Esq. 1790.

OTHER stones the era tell

When some feeble mortal fell.

I stand here to date the birth
Of these hardy sons of earth.

Which shall longest brave the sky, Storm and frost ?-these oaks or I? Pass an age or two away,

I must moulder, and decay,

But the

years that crumble me

Shall invigorate the tree,

Spread the branch, dilate its size,
Lift its summit to the skies.

Cherish honour, virtue, truth! So shalt thou prolong thy youth: Wanting these, however fast

Man be fixt, and form'd to last,

He is lifeless even now,

Stone at heart, and cannot grow.

INSCRIPTION

For a Hermitage in the Author's Garden.

THIS cabin, Mary, in my sight appears, Built as it has been in our waning years, A rest afforded to our weary feet, Preliminary tothe last retreat.