76 Imitation ofCowper. 



and justice ; haughtiness and meanness are found to exist in tiie same individual, 

 according to circumstances ; and the man who has often suffered unjust and cruel 

 treatment at the hand of others, becomes unjust and cruel in his turn. Nothing but 

 vital Christian principle will enable a man to return good for evil. If this, then, be 

 a just view of human nature, we are not to look for high principles of honour where 

 rational freedom is not enjoyed, where national laws and institutions do not guarantee 

 equal justice to all, where despotic power descends from the throne to every one 

 who occupies a place below it, and where the weight of oppression, under which the 

 injured suffer, is too often augmented by the very attempt to obtain redress." 



POETRY. 



IMITATION OF COWPER. 



Winter with all his frowns has fled once more ; 



Joyous I hail the joyous vernal day. 



When all the air seems saturate with light, 



And on the universal face of things 



A sparkling brilliance rests, flung gaily back 



From many a quivering leaf's transparent green. 



And many an insect's brightly burnished wing. 



The temperate breeze that wafts its freshness round, 



Fraught with the sweetness of the full blown spritig. 



Conveys to every thing that lives new life, 



New vigour : — simply to draw breath becomes 



A most voluptuous act — all being shares 



A general jubilee — from all goes forth 



The general voice of joy : there chiefly heard. 



And there most tuneful, where the wood's thick shade 



Shelters the lovely warblers of the sky : 



Almost the aching head and sorrowing heart 



Yield to the influence of the time ; almost — 



And for a moment, cast the burthens ofi" 



That weigh them down. — So nature's radiance throws 



One gleam of sunshine on the gloomy soul. 



For it seems impious coldly to reject 



The joys that heaven so lavishly provides ; 



Joys that refine the soul — oh how unlike 



The feverish pains, man for himself invents 



And miscalls pleasures — pleasures whose first taste 



Is after bitterness ; whose very act 



Palls on enjoyment, which to memory leave 



A weight, a sting, a curse ; but fearless here 



In nature's rich variety we feast — 



Enjoy the gift—and the All-giver bless. — W. D. C. 



I, CHILCOTT, PRINTER, WINE STREET, BRISTOL. 



