| 1800. ] 
veterans. ‘Their behaviour, it was obferv- 
ed, was inferior to that of theGlafgow mili- 
tta, a body of men haftily collected, and fo 
ill difciplined, that it was jocularly faid, 
that their officers were obliged to tie a 
ftraw wifp round their right arms, and to 
Original Poetry. 
363 
give the word ‘* Wheel to (or from) the 
wifp.” Thofe men not only fired fome 
fuccefsful, well-timed vollies, but ftood 
their ground till ordered to retreat, while 
the regulars made hafte to retreat, without 
any orders at all. 

ORIGINAL POETRY. oS 
t 
LINES ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG GEN- 
‘TLEMAN INTENDED FOR THE ARMY. 
JNGENUOUS youth! to whom Poon lines 
I fend, 
The ss tribute of an anxious friend, 
-'The humble effort of my Mule approv a 
Well-meant. effufion of a fifter’s love: 
J know thy heart, dear George ; thy candid 
mind, 
Alike benevolent, fincere, and kind; 
‘With friendfhip fraught, and gen’rous love of 
truth, 
The mind of manhood, with the fire of 
youth ; 
Spirit to follow where true glory leads, 
Courage ta feek and aé heroic deeds : 
I fee thee jut to honour’s firm controul, 
» And all the hero rifing in thy foul; 
Yet, let a friend, who proudly claims the 
name, 
Point cut a barrier in thy road to fakes 
As, from the evils that her fon might 
fhare 
- Amid the various oils) of ardent war, 
When Thetis erft would young Pelides fave, 
She flew to plunge him in the Stygian wave 5 
But, too incautious, fuffer’d not the heel 
She grafo’d, the liquid antidote to feel 5 
Thus, vines *mid flaughter’d heaps, in. “fields 
of blood, 
» Unatouch’d by hofttle fpear, the chieftain 
ftood 5 
Cr march’d triumphant o’er the- reeking 
ground, 
While harmlefs fhafts were whizzing all 
around; | 
When long unhurt, and fluid with favage 
joy, 
He conquer’d Heétor, and great Heétor’s 
Troy 5 
Yet, in that only vulnerable part, 
He fella vitim to a Trojan dart 
“So thou, my friend, though fram’d thy 
mind for truth, 
And fair the promife of thy manly youth 5 
Though dwells no meannefs in thy honeft 
heart, 
- Yet haft thou, too, a vulnerable part. 
I fee, dear George, (and ’tis with pain I fee) 
Too keen a fenfe of fancied injur y3 
Thy lively feelings too impetuous ioc 
By fpurious honour, or by pa&ion torn ; 
. Curb, then, \thofe feelings, for they muft 
’ offend 
Not only foes, but e’en thy deareft friend: 

_And ruth impetuous oa'the vanquith’d foe, 
Ee who commands him/elf has more to boaft, 
Than he whofe valourleads a conq’ring hott 5 
~ Let reafon, with benign, unclouded ray, 
Infpire thy mind; her warning voice obey 3 
Let her mild influence paflion’s rage controul, 
E’er yet too ftrong it feize thy yielding foul 5 
For, if indulg’d, twill -fhade the brighteft 
name, 
And blight the youthful foldier’s deftin’d 
fame ; 
Though form’d perhaps his country’ s pride 
to i 
With all the abate hopes that wait of 
thee, 
Yet madly fond of nugatory ftrife, 
He haply rifks his honour or his life s 
That life, that honour, Jed by reafon’s hand, 
Had added luftre to his native land ; 
Still hurried onward by footer ons rage, 
He loves in fome loofe quarrel to engage 5 
A victim oft his wayward lot to fall, 
E’er country, freedom, or true honour call. 
Let not the Mufe in vain thy friend in- 
{pire, 
Nor foundinvain the monitory lyre; - 
Oh! heed the precept which from friendfhip 
{prings 
big Or ah good, and that alone, he fings 5 
Thoughin the: hafty verfe no beauties thine, 
Zeal for your welfare glows in every line. 
Ne’er ihould a youth, to modeft feeling 
loft, 
Of his own courage vainly make a boaft; 
For ’tis a.maxim, prov’d by reafon’s teft, . 
That thofe who talk the moit, will aét the 
Teatt : 
(Not this thy cafe, for well I know thy 
hearé,; . 
Twill ever {corn the boaftful coward’s pare: 
Nor fhould revenge difgrace the foldier’s 
caufe ; 
For if he fights not to defend ie laws, 
Or what he deems to be the public good, . 
But fierce and feil in favage thirft of blood, 
Seeks not his country’s glory, but her fhame, 
Bears net a hero’s, though a conq’ror’s name. 
The perfe& hero, whom all hearts approve, 
Who earns his country’s 8 gratitude and love, 
Ne’er with fierce paftion will difgrace his 
caufe, 
But nebly feek humanity’s applaufe ; - 
And, boldly fighting in fair freedom’s right, 
For her, undaunted, meet th’unequal fight; 
Or, if for him the tide of battle flow, 
es 
Aaz Still 
