RICHARD Would wait till George the tale should ask, Nor waited long-He then resumed the task. 'South in the port, and eastward in the street, Rose a small dwelling, my beloved retreat, Where lived a pair, then old; the sons had fled The home they fill'd: a part of them were dead; Married a part; while some at sea remain'd,. And stillness in the seaman's mansion reign'd; Lord of some petty craft, by night and day, The man had fish'd each fathom of the bay. 'My friend the matron woo'd me, quickly won, To fill the station of an absent son; RUTH Had their deficiencies in part; they lack'd One side or both, or were no longer back'd; But now became degraded from their place, And were but pamphlets of a bulkier race. Yet had we pamphlets, an inviting store, From sixpence downwards-nay, a part were more; Learning abundance, and the various kinds And how to take it in the lucky hour. 'History we had-wars, treasons, treaties, crimes, From Julius Caesar to the present times; And we had poets, hymns and songs divine; The most we read not, but allow'd them fine. 'Our tracts were many, on the boldest themes We had our metaphysics, spirits, dreams, Visions and warnings, and portentous sights (Him whom at school I knew, and Peter Seen, though but dimly, in the doleful nights, known, I took his home and mother for my own): To learn, and now could neither read nor write : But hear she could, and from our stores I took, Librarian meet! at her desire, our book. Full twenty volumes-I would not exceed The modest truth-were there for me to read; These a long shelf contain'd, and they were found Books truly speaking, volumes fairly bound; The rest, for some of other kinds remain'd, And these a board beneath the shelf contain'd, When the good wife her wintry vigil keeps, And thinks alone of him at sea, and weeps. 'Add to all these our works in single sheets, That our Cassandras sing about the streets: These, as I read, the grave good man would say, 66 Nay, Hannah!" and she answer'd "What is Nay? What is there, pray, so hurtful in a song? And her laugh over, ask an hymn at last; 'More of our learning I will now omit, We had our Cyclopaedias of Wit, And all our works, rare fate, were to our genius fit. 'When I had read, and we were weary grown Of other minds, the dame disclosed her own; And long have I in pleasing terror stay'd To hear of boys trepann'd, and girls betray'd; Ashamed so long to stay, and yet to go afraid. 'I could perceive, though Hannah bore full well The ills of life, that few with her would dwell, But pass away, like shadows o'er the plain From flying clouds, and leave it fair again; Still every evil, be it great or small, Would one past sorrow to the mind recall, The grand disease of life, to which she turns, And common cares and lighter suffering spurns. "O! these are nothing,-they will never heed Such idle contests who have fought indeed, And have the wounds unclosed."-I understood My hint to speak, and my design pursued, How does she thus her little sunshine throw “Dear child, I show you sins and sufferings strange, But you, like Adam, must for knowledge change That blissful ignorance: remember, then, What now you feel should be a check on men; For then your passions no debate allow, And therefore lay up resolution now. 'Tis not enough, that when you can persuade A maid to love, you know there 's promise made; 'Tis not enough, that you design to keep That promise made, nor leave your lass to weep: But you must guard yourself against the sin, They cannot always pay the debt they owe Their plighted honour; they may cause the ill They cannot lessen, though they feel a will; For he had truth with love, but love in youth Does wrong, that cannot be repair'd by truth. "Ruth-I may tell, too oft had she been told Was tall and fair, and comely to behold; "There was a sailor boy, and people said But still they grieved and waited, hoped and loved. 6.66 Now, my young friend, when of such As one of danger, you will be to seek ; For lovers speak their wishes with their looks The playful quarrels in which lovers fall, And so the lover from the quarrel gains : fear And grief assure her she was too severe, Or disappointment, and is calm and still, And that brings kindness-and what kindness I cannot tell you :-these were trying things. The too confiding, who their danger court? All could their fault in sport or malice state; on, I could perceive my daughter's peace was gone; She could not bear the bold and laughing eye That gazed on her-reproach she could not fly; Such were our sorrows on that fatal day, They say such things must be-perhaps they But, sure, they need not fright us and disgust; And that stern man, who forced the lad away, His pride and honour might have been at rest, Her grief she would not show, her shame It is no stain to make a couple blest! could not deny : For some with many virtues come to shame, name. "Fix'd was the day; but ere that day appear'd, A frightful rumour through the place was heard; War, who had slept awhile, awaked once more, Our youth was seized and quickly sent away, And some sad story appertain❜d to each; And there she staid, regardless of each eye, Her, who invited none, and none repell'd; Blest!-no, alas! it was to ease the heart Sure, if they must upon our children seize, And soften all the griefs we suffer now. "Be not alarm'd, my child; there's none regard What you and I conceive so cruel-hard : "Thus my poor Ruth was wretched and And there are griefs that men display with Nor had an husband for her only son, pride; But there are other griefs that, so we feel, We care not to display them nor conceal : Nor had he father; hope she did awhile, smile; Till news was brought us that the youth was She loved him not, and though she could slain, And then, I think, she never smiled again; When she inform'd us that she never grieved, attend To his discourses, as her guide and friend, "My husband, thinking of his worldly store, And not, frail man, enduring to be poor, Seeing his friend would for his child provide And hers, he grieved to have the man denied ; For Ruth, when press'd, rejected him, and grew To her old sorrow, as if that were new. Can I, infirm and weak as I am now? "O! much she begg'd him to forbear, to stand Her soul's kind friend, and not to ask her hand : replied, Her mind to peace by drawing off the sin, So thought the teacher, when they chanced to meet: He was a weaver by his worldly trade, But powerful work in the assemblies made; The holy text, he had the grace and gift; But in our bit of garden, or the room We call our parlour, there he must not come. 'The love you mean is love unsanctified, "I see her now; and, she that was so It was a chance that she had power to speak, him apart, And, I believe, laid open all her heart; Made it their study and their wish to please; 6.66 And court the favour that we might command. "O! my dear mother, when this man has power, 6 Poor Ruth! few heroines in the tragic Felt more than thee in thy contracted stage; Doom'd to a parent's judgment, all unjust, Doom'd the chance mercy of the world to trust, Or to wed grossness and conceal disgust. ""If Ruth was frail, she had a mind too nice To wed with that which she beheld as vice ; To take a reptile, who, beneath a show Of peevish zeal, let carnal wishes grow; Proud and yet mean, forbidding and yet full Of eager appetites, devout and dull, Waiting a legal right that he might seize His own, and his impatient spirit ease, Who would at once his pride and love indulge, His temper humour, and his spite divulge. "This the poor victim saw-a second time, Sighing, she said, 'Shall I commit the crime, How will he treat me-first may beasts Make me a wife in my Creator's sight? devour! Or death in every form that I could prove, Except this selfish being's hateful love.' 666 I gently blamed her, for I knew how hard It is to force affection and regard. "Ah! my dear lad, I talk to you as one Who knew the misery of an heart undone; You know it not; but, dearest boy, when man, Do not an ill because you find you can: Where is the triumph? when such things men seek They only drive to wickedness the weak. "Weak was poor Ruth, and this good man so hard, That to her weakness he had no regard: But we had two days' peace; he came, and then Can I the words without a meaning say? "Such was her reasoning: many times The evils all, and was of each afraid; My daughter whisper'd, 'Would there were Where frailty finds allies, where guilt insures no men! None to admire or scorn us, none to vex retreat. But peace again is fled the teacher comes, And new importance, haughtier air assumes. "No hapless victim of a tyrant's love More keenly felt, or more resisting strove |