458 
The iron clank of chains I hear, . 
While fhrieks of torture {well more near, 
Scarce the crazy boards uphold 
The armed f{peétres that advance 5 
While one behind, of horrid mold, | 
Impels them with his fery barbed lance; 
And oft, transfixing each, in fury, cries, 
‘ Thus, every hour, the guilty murd’rer dies !? 
Fearful yawns the dark © profound ! ! 
Muttering thunders heave the ground! 
Down, through her riven entrails, lo! we {weep, 
Till a dim diftant light juft glimmers from the 
deep. ‘ 
Behold the damned crew— 
O’er the furnace blue ; 
By the brimftone’s livid fame, 
Doing “ a deed without a name :°” 
Around them heavier hangs the cavern’d 
gloom: 
While fummon’d to foretek 
The dark defigns of hell; 
In accents dread the monftrous throng, 
Chaunt the ftrange prophetic fong, 
And write, in blood, the fated warrior’s 
doom. f . 
S. W. 
a 
VERSES LEFT 1N A CHAISE BY A €AN-= 
DIDATE ON HIS CANVASS. 
Ho. happy is the Peer’s unchanging lot, 
Forgetting voters, and by votes forgot3 - 
For him no more the well-paid fexton rings, 
For him no more the vena! poet fings 5 
Peers, ravifh’d with the whiftling of a name, 
Leave wretched commoners to toil for fame 3 
The golden key awaits their ready hand," 
The blufhing ribbon, and the milk-white wand. 
Far other thoughts my reftlefs foul employ, 
Far humbler =F Ome: and more vulgar joy 5 
Eight ftation’d courfeys bear me from afar, 
Twelve different fteeds fucceffive whirl my car, 
From town to tot.n, from houfe to houfe I fly, 
Yet ‘ where’s our candidate?”’ the voters crya— 
So from each corner of fome feftive hall, 
At merry Chriftmas eager children call 5 
till in the middle ftands thesfeo! con felt, 
By all invited, and of all the jeft— 
What ftrange viciffitudes of woe and blifs ! 
Each toothlefs wife, each tender maid J kifs; 
Now with loud curfes badgerd from the door, 
Now *—for ever! boys, and butchers roar 5 
Alas! in vain, for **** appears, 
Loud fhakes his purfe in every votei’s ears 5 
*—* fneaks forth with promifes and lies, 
Points to the church, the army, and excife—= 
Can Poverty from gold withdraw his hand ? 
A gouger’s rod what voter can withftand ?— 
Retire, prefumptuous man! in time retire ! 
Say, if thou can’#, to what thou would’ afpire ? 
With friendfhip, love, and pltlofophic eafe, 
Form’d to be pleas’d, Gad wining fill to pleafe 5 
Say, could’ft thou add one real pleafure more, ° 
To all the bleffings you enjoy’d before ? 
Could’ chou retard, by all that man could fay, 
Thy country’s ruin for a fingle day? 
Retire, prefumptuous man! ' in time retire ! 
Leave knaves to plunder, aia let fools admire. 
R. L. E. 
Original Poetry. 
[Junes 
MEDITATIONS oF AN INVALID, DURINS 
A LONG CONFINEMENT. 
NCHAIN’D in folitude and woe, 
I vainly hepe or vainly mourn; 
While o’er the grave my forrows flow, 
Of joys, that never muft return, 
Ere while in Fancy’s airy choir, 
With rapid hand 1 wak’d the lyre, 
To many a blithfome firain 5°~ = 
No tear had ever dimm’d mine e ye, 
Mine heart had never heav’d a figh— 
Save for another’s pain. 
Ah! cruel Memory, why renew 
The pangs which elfe might ceafe ? 
Why thus the fleeting fhade purfue, 
Of my departed peace ? 
On beds of pain my blafted Strength reclinesy 
Slave to difeafe, and hopeleis to be free: 
For me no zephyrs blow, no moon-beam fhines, 
No morning dawns, no feafons change for me, 
Farewel ! companions boon of youthful j joy— 
The fong, the dance, the banquet, and the 
bow’r! 
Torn from the ways of mirth, e’er mirth could 
cloy, 
Silent I mark the flow revolving hour. 
Yet let me, with impartial eye, 
The long-lo% ways of mirth review 5 
Reafon, perchance, may check this figh, 
And peace my weary foul renew. 
What are the joys for which I weep? 
The bubbles of a day: : 
The dreams of Pleafure’s fev’rifh fleep, 
_ That in their birth decay. 
Where their unhallow’d footfteps fly, 
The virgin blcom of Virtue fades, 
Wifdom and Peace their aid deny, 
And feek Refletion’s tranquil thades. 
But heedlefs of impending fate, 
Man wantons in imperial ftate 5 
Hi gh rears his head, and gazes round, 
‘With fancy’d joy, and fancy *d triumph crown’d ; 
Bids Mirth and Eafe his nod obey— 
Bids ‘Fhought refign her fpleenful fway— 
And rufhes to the. promis’d joys 
Of Vanity and Noife !— 
See yon fantaftic crew, 
leafure’s varying fteps purfue ; 
Jocund they friik on fairy ground, 
In many and many a mazy round 5 
Now retreating, now advancing, 
Joy and Laughter round them dancing, 
Spurning Care and mocking Sorrow, 
Bidding Reafon frown to-morrow : 
Till as the flow’ry wilds they tread, 
Sudden—the bloom of Youth is fled, 
And Age has filver’d ev’ry head. 
Age has revers’d the fpell—the fhadowy train 
Of rofeate {miles is melted into air : 
Leaflefs the trees, and defert is the plain, 
Scorch’d are the meads, the mountain fum- 
mit bare,-. 
Ne 
