"Alas!" the good man answer'd, "can I send
"A friendless woman? Can I find a friend?
"No; I must with her, in her need, repair
"To that new place; the poor lie everywhere ;-
"Some priest will pay me for my pious pains:
He said, he came, and here he yet remains.

Behold his dwelling; this poor hut he hires,
Where he from view, though not from want, retires;
Where four fair daughters, and five sorrowing sons,
Partake his sufferings, and dismiss his duns.
All join their efforts, and in patience learn
To want the comforts they aspire to earn;
For the sick mother something they'd obtain,
To soothe her grief and mitigate her pain;
For the sad father something they'd procure,
To ease the burthen they themselves endure.
Virtues like these at once delight and press
On the fond father with a proud distress;
On all around he looks with care and love,
Grieved to behold, but happy to approve.

Then from his care, his love, his grief he steals,
And by himself an author's pleasure feels;
Each line detains him; he omits not one,
And all the sorrows of his state are gone.

Alas! ev'n then, in that delicious hour,

He feels his fortune, and laments its power.

Some tradesman's bill his wandering eyes engage,
Some scrawl for payment, thrust 'twixt page and page;
Some bold, loud rapping at his humble door,
Some surly message he has heard before,
Awake, alarm, and tell him he is poor.

An angry dealer, vulgar, rich, and proud,
Thinks of his bill, and passing, raps aloud;
The elder daughter meekly makes him way-
"I want my money, and I cannot stay:

"My mill is stopp'd; what, Miss! I cannot grind;
"Go tell your father he must raise the wind.'
Still trembling, troubled, the dejected maid

Says, "Sir! my father!" and then stops afraid :
Ev'n his hard heart is soften'd, and he hears

250

230

240

[]

260

Her voice with pity; he respects her tears;
His stubborn features half admit a smile,
And his tone softens-" Well! I'll wait awhile."
Pity, a man so good, so mild, so meek,

At such an age, should have his bread to seek ;
And all those rude and fierce attacks to dread,
That are more harrowing than the want of bread;
Ah! who shall whisper to that misery peace,
And say that want and insolence shall cease?

"But why not publish?"—those who know too well,
Dealers in Greek, are fearful 'twill not sell ;
Then he himself is timid, troubled, slow,
Nor likes his labours nor his griefs to show;
The hope of fame may in his heart have place,
But he has dread and horror of disgrace;
Nor has he that confiding, easy way,
That might his learning and himself display;
But to his work he from the world retreats,
And frets and glories o'er the favourite sheets.

But see the man himself; and sure I trace
Signs of new joy exulting in that face
O'er care that sleeps-we err, or we discern
Life in thy looks-the reason may we learn?
"Yes," he replied, "I'm happy, I confess,
"To learn that some are pleased with happiness
"Which others feel-there are who now combine
"The worthiest natures in the best design,

270

280

"To aid the letter'd poor, and soothe such 'ills as mine: [] "We who more keenly feel the world's contempt,

"And from its miseries are the least exempt;

"Now hope shall whisper to the wounded breast,

"And grief, in soothing expectation, rest.

"Yes, I am taught that men who think, who feel, "Unite the pains of thoughtful men to heal;

"Not with disdainful pride, whose bounties make
"The needy curse the benefits they take;
"Not with the idle vanity that knows
"Only a selfish joy when it bestows;
"Not with o'erbearing wealth, that, in disdain,
"Hurls the superfluous bliss at groaning pain;

290

300

"But these are men who yield such bless'd relief
"That with the grievance they destroy the grief;
"Their timely aid the needy sufferers find,

"Their generous manner soothes the suffering mind;
"Theirs is a gracious bounty, form'd to raise
"Him whom it aids; their charity is praise;
"A common bounty may relieve distress,
"But whom the vulgar succour, they oppress;
"This, though a favour, is an honour too;
"Though mercy's duty, yet 'tis merit's due:
"When our relief from such resources rise,
"All painful sense of obligation dies;
"And grateful feelings in the bosom wake,
"For 'tis their offerings, not their alms, we take.
"Long may these founts of charity remain,
"And never shrink but to be fill'd again;
"True! to the author they are now confined,
"To him who gave the treasure of his mind,

"His time, his health, and thankless found mankind: 320[
"But there is hope that from these founts may flow
"A sideway stream, and equal good bestow-

"Good that may reach us, whom the day's distress
"Keeps from the fame and perils of the press;
"Whom study beckons from the ills of life,
“And they from study-melancholy strife!
"Who then can say but bounty now so free,
"And so diffused, may find its way to me?
"Yes! I may see my decent table yet
"Cheer'd with the meal that adds not to my debt;
"May talk of those to whom so much we owe,
"And guess their names whom yet we may not know;
"Bless'd we shall say are those who thus can give,
"And next who thus upon the bounty live;
"Then shall I close with thanks my humble meal,
"And feel so well-Oh! God! how I shall feel!"

310

330

THE BOROUGH.

LETTER IV.

SECTS AND PROFESSIONS IN RELIGION.

But cast your eyes again,

And view those errors which new sects maintain,
Or which of old disturb'd the [Church's] peaceful reign:
And we can point each period of the time
When they began and who begat the crime;
Can calculate how long th' eclipse endured;
Who interposed; what digits were obscured;
Of all which are already pass'd away,
We [know] the rise, the progress, and decay.

Dryden.-Hind and Panther, Part II.

[Ah!] said the Hind, how many sons have you
Who call you mother, whom you never knew?
But most of them who that relation plead
Are such ungracious youths as wish you dead;
They gape at rich revenues which you hold,
And fain would nibble at your grandame gold.

Hind and Panther [Part III].

Sects and Professions in Religion are numerous and successive-General Effect of false Zeal-Deists-Fanatical Idea of Church Reformers-The Church of Rome-- Baptists-Swedenborgians-UniversalistsJews.

Methodists of two Kinds; Calvinistic and Arminian.

The Preaching of a Calvinistic Enthusiast-His Contempt of Learning— Dislike to sound Morality: why-His Idea of Conversion-His Success and Pretensions to Humility.

The Arminian Teacher of the older Flock-Their Notions of the Operations and Power of Satan-Description of his Devices-Their Opinion of regular Ministers-Comparison of these with the Preacher himself A Rebuke to his Hearers; introduces a Description of the powerful Effects of the Word in the early and awakening Days of Methodism.

THE BOROUGH.

LETTER IV.

SECTS AND PROFESSIONS IN RELIGION.

ECTS in Religion?"-Yes, of every race

SE

We nurse some portion in our favour'd place;
Not one warm preacher of one growing sect
Can say our Borough treats him with neglect;
Frequent as fashions they with us appear,

And you might ask, "how think we for the year?”
They come to us as riders in a trade,
And with much art exhibit and persuade.

Minds are for sects of various kinds decreed,
As diff'rent soils are form'd for diff'rent seed;
Some, when converted, sigh in sore amaze,
And some are wrapt in joy's ecstatic blaze;
Others again will change to each extreme,
They know not why-as hurried in a dream;
Unstable they, like water, take all forms,

Are quick and stagnant, have their calms and storms;
High on the hills, they in the sunbeams glow;
Then muddily they move debased and slow,

Or cold and frozen rest, and neither rise nor flow.
Yet none the cool and prudent teacher prize;
On him they dote who wakes their ecstasies;
With passions ready primed such guide they meet,
And warm and kindle with th' imparted heat;
'Tis he who wakes the nameless strong desire,
The melting rapture, and the glowing fire;
'Tis he who pierces deep the tortured breast,
And stirs the terrors, never more to rest.