458 
But while I hail theeon this glad promotion, 
Still Jet me just advise thee asa friend 3. 
Perhaps you donkie’ have not learn'd the 
notion, 
That happy hours and flow’ring seasons 
end. — 
We mortals find while skies are smiling, 
Some sullen cloud our hopes beguiling ; 
‘Above our beads the thunders burst, 
That lay us level with the dust. 
What if they tax thy bit and saddle, 
Thou must again with beggars waddle ; 
Be beat till every rib is sore, 
And beg thy scrip from door to door. 
Alas! thou oft may’st want a bit of grassy 
Nor pity find from any human ass. 
Yes, trust me, I delight to see thee gay, 
And lovely Laura seated on thy back ; 
She, like the forest’s queen in flowery May, 
The envy thou of every other hack. 
And while you pace to Laura’s song 
Or drag your little car along, 
May fear and shame o’erspread the face 
That dares tinsult thy honest race : 
Erskine himselt shall nobly rise, 
Again a list’ning senate charm, 
‘Teach mankind how to sympathise, 
And half creation’s wrath disarm :* 
Thou too, shall rise in being’s scale, 
And pity for the asso’er all the world prevail. 
— aa 
I OWE YOU ONE. 
(CHLOE, whene’er her spouse his wit be- 
Ean, 
Was wont to say, ** My dear, I owe you 
one :”’ 
Begetting twins, and to his rib’s text true ; 
Strephon replied, ‘* My love, I owe you two.” 
i 8. 
—_—— 
EPITAPH 
ON A NOTED HIGHWAYMAN. 
A PARODY. 
FAERE high suspended on a gibbet hangs 
A youth to ev’ry vice and plunder prone, 
Till caught at length by Law’sresistless fangs, 
He found his thieving occupation gone. 
Bad were his sentiments, his actions worse, 
And when he mounted Newgate’s fatal 
drop, 
He gave the hangman a most hearty curse, 
From him he got, what he deserv’d, a rope. 
a 
ODE 
ON THE GOODNESS OF PROVIDENCE. 
PEACE, throbbing heart! repress the rie 
sing sigh ! a 
Hence, ee big tear-drop, trembling in my 
beh ~ 
Can Christians doubt the goodness of that 
Pow’r, 
Whose shield protects them from their natal 
hour? 
* Allading to hus bill in the peers, to pre- 
vent cruelty to domestic animals, 
- Original Poetry. 
[Dec. 1, 
Can they, to Him and to themselves unjust, 
Tempt His dread anger by unmeet distrust ? 
Ah no! If God impel me to the field, 
Where Virtue’s foes Death’s flaming falchions 
wield, ’ 
He, sure, will arm me for the fearful strife 5 
His hand omnipotent will guard my life ; 
Teach me to vanquish wheresoe’er I tread, 
And bind the wreath of Conquest round my 
head. 
Then,, Fear, farewell ! 
draw nigh 5 
Their threats I scorn, their prowess I defy ; 
Nay, if that Pow’r who bids the tempest 
teign,y 
And turns to mountains ocean’s liquid plain, 
If His all-potent arm my vessel guide, 
Unterrified Pll brave the boist rous tide, 
Unterrified Tl] meet the loudest storm, 
And challenge Death in ev'ry dreadful form, 
Yes, let the tempest roar, ‘the whirlwind 
rise, 
And the fork’d light*ning dim my aching 
eyes 5 
Let dire Destruction ride the gath’ring wave ; 
Th? Almighty still my shatter'd bark can 
save 5 
Still, at His word, the furious sterm shall 
cease, 
And ev’ry raging billow sink to peace. 
Then, whatsoe’er His will, let us obey, 
And tho’ with sharpest thorns he plants our 
wav, 
Tho’ Falsehood’s venom’d breath our fame, 
destroy, 
Tho’ fank Disease empoison ev’ry joy ; 
Nay, tho* that keenest of all pangs we prove, 
The loss of those whom, next to Heav’n, we 
love, pr 
Let us remember still who wields the rod, 
And meekly bow before that chast’ning God, 
Who never-but in mercy sends distress; 
Whose first delight is to amend and bless, 
How dire his lot who slights that love di- 
vine, 
Let fiercest fiends 
- Th? effects of which thro” ail creation shine ; 
And, madly chasing Heav'n-born Hope 
away, 
To fell Despair submits, a willing prey ; 
Questions the grace to contrite sinners giv’ns 
And thus offends the Majesty of Heav’n. 
In that dread hour when Death’s relentless 
dart is 
Is, fiercely level’d at the shrinking heart; _ 
When human care and human skill are vain, 
T’exempt the spirit, or the flesh, from pain ; 
In that dread hour, ah! whither shall he 
turn ? ; 
Where can his soul a ray of light discern, 
To gild her passage thro’ the dreary tomb 
To the dark confines of a world to come ? 
But can we ’gainst conviction veil our eyes ? 
Can we contemplate ocean, earth, and skies, 
Nor view in all that pow’r whose guardian 
arm 
Shields both the monarch and the mite from 
_ harm j Mii. 
Can 
o 
* 
