ILLINOIS
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
Production Note
Digital Rare Book Collections Rare Book & Manuscript Library University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign 2016POE M S
O N
VARIOUS SUBJECTS,
RELIGIOUS and MORAL,
B Y
PHILLIS WHEATLEY,
Negro Servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New England.
LONDON:
Printed for A. Bell, Bookfeller, Aldgate; and fold by Meifrs. C o x and B e r r y, King-Street, BOSTON,
M DCC LXXI1LDEDICATION.
b 1 1
To the Right Honourable the COUNTESS of HUNTINGDON,
THE FOLLOWING
POEMS
Are moil refpe&fully Infcribed,
By her much obliged,
Very humble,
And devoted Servant,
Phillis Wheatley,
Boflon, June 12,
m3*P
R E F A C E.
rT~A H E following Poe m s were 1 written originally lor the Amufement of die Author, as they were the Prod u 61 s of her lei lure Moments. She had no Intention ever to have publifaed them; nor would they now have made their Appearance, but at ■ the Importunity of many of her heft, and mod generous Friends ; to whom ihe con-iiders herfelf, as under the greatcft Obligations.
As her Attempts in Poetry are now lent into the World, it is hoped the Critic will not feverely cenfure their Defeds ; and we pre-fume they have too much Merit
- toV
P R E F A C E.
to be cart abide with Contempt, as worthlefs and trifling Effufions.
As to the Difad vantages fhe has laboured under, with Regard to Learning, nothing needs to be offered, as her Matter’s Letter in the following Page will fuiKciently fhew the Difficulties in this JReipectt flie had to encounter.
Wit Poems to the
h all their Imperfecttions, the are now humbly fubmitted Perufal of the Public.
TheThe following is a Copy of a Letter lent by the Author’s Mailer to the Publiffier.
PHILLIS was brought from Africa to America, in the Year 1761, between Seven and Eight Years of Age. Without any Affiilancefrom School Education, and by only what hie was taught in the Family, hie, in hxteen Months Time from her Arrival, attained the Englihi Language, to which hie was an utter Stranger before, to fuch a Degree, as to read any, the moil difficult Parts of the Sacred Writings, to the great Ailonihiment of all who heard her.
As to her Writing, her own Curiofity led her to it •, and this hie learnt in fo hiort a Time, that in the Year 1765, ffie wrote a Letter to the Rev. Mr. Occom, the Indian Miniiler, while in England..
She has a great Inclination to learn the Latin
Tongue, and has made fome Progrefs in it. This Relation is givtn by her Mailer who bought her, and with d/hom hie now lives.
JOHN WHEATLEY.
Bcfion, Nov. 14, 1772.To the PUBLIC K.
AS it has been repeatedly fuggeiled to the Publilher, by Per-fons, who have been the Manufcript, that Numbers would be ready to fufpeft they were not really the Writings 0f PHILLIS, he has procured the following Alteration, from the moil refpe&able Charafters in Bofton, that none might have the lcalt Ground for deputing their Original,
WE whofe Names are under-written, do allure the World, that the Poems fpecified in the following Page, * were (as we verily believe) written by Phillis, a young Negro Girl, who was but a few Years fince, brought an uncultivated Barbarian from Africa, and has ever fince been, and now is, under the Difadvantage of ferving as a Slave in a Family in this Town. She has been examined by fome of the bell Judges, and i$ thought qualified to write them.
His Excelency Thomas Hutchinson, Governor, The Hon. Andrew Oliver, Lieutenant-Governor.
The Hon. Thomas Hubbard, The Hon. John Erving,
The Hon. James Pitts,
The Hon. Harrifon Gray, The Hon. James Bowdoin, John Hancock, Efq;
Jofeph Green, Efq;
Richard Carey, Efq%
The Rev. Charles Chauncy,/). D. The Rev. Mather Byles, D. D. The Rev Ed. Pemberton, i).
The Rqv. Andrew Elliot, D.D. The Rev. Samuel Cooper, D.D. The Rev. Mr. fcamuel Mather, The Rev, Mr. John Moorhead, Mr. John Wheatley, her Mafter.
N. B. The original Atteilation, figned by the above Gentlemen, may be feen by applying to Archibald Bell, Bookleller, No. 8, Aldgate-Street.
* The Words “following Page ft allude to the Contents of ’ the Manufcript Copy, which are wrote at the Back of the i above Atteilation.mrnmÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊmmPOEMS
O N
VARIOUS SUBJECTS,
To M1CENA Sc-
MAE C E N A S, you, beneath the myrtle fhade,
Read o’er what poets fung, and fhepherds play’d. What felt thofe poets but you feel the fame ? Does not your foul poifefs the facred flame ? Their noble ftrains your equal genius ihares § In fofter language, and diviner airs*
While Homer paints lo! circumfus’d in air, Celeitial Gods in mortal forms appear j
B
SwiftIO
POEMS on
Swift as they move hear each recefs rebound, Heav’n quakes, earth trembles, and the ihores refound.	io
Great Sire of verfe, before my mortal eyes,
The lightnings blaze acrofs the vaulted ikies,
And, as the thunder ihakes the heav’nly plains,
A deep-felt horror thrills through all my veins. When gentler itrains demand thy graceful fong, 15 The lengthening line moves languifbing along. When great Patroclus courts Achilles’ aid,
The grateful tribute of my tears is paid ;
Prone on the fhore he feels the pangs of love, And item Pelides tend’reil pafTions move. 2®

Great Maro’s drain in heav’nly numbers flows, The Nine infpire, and all the bofom glows.
O could I rival thine and Virgil’s page,
Or claim the Mufes with the Mantuan Sage;
Soon the fame beauties ihould my mind adorn, 25 And the fame ardors in my foul ihould burn ; Then ihould my fong in bolder notes arife,
And all my numbers pleafingly furprize >
ButVARIOUS SUBJECTS, u
But here I fit, and mourn a grov’ling mind,
That fain would mount, and ride upon the wind.
Not you, my friend, thefe plaintive ilrains become,
Not you, whole bofom is the Mufes home j When they from tow’ring Helicon retire,
They fan in you the bright immortal fire,
But I lefs happy, cannot raife the fong,	35
The fault’ring muiic dies upon my tongue.
The happier ‘Terence * all the choir infpii d,
Elis foul replenilh’d, and his bofom fir d j But fay, ye Mufes, why this partial grace,
To one alone of Afric\ fable race;	4°
From age to age tranfmitting thus his name With the firft glory in the rolls of fame ?
Thy virtues, great Maecenas! fhall be fung In praife of him, from whom thofe virtues fprung:
* He was an African by birth.
B 2
WhileON
¡12	POEMS
[While blooming wreaths around thy temples.,
fPread>	45/
I’ll fnatch a laurel from thine honour’d head, ( .While you indulgent fmile upon the deed. 3
As long as 'Thames in iitreams majeftic flows,
Or Naiads in their oozy beds repofe,
While Phoebus reigns above the ftarry train, 50 While bright Aurora purples o’er the main.
So long, great Sir, the mufe thy praife ihall fing, So long thy praife ihall make Parnajfus ring:
Then grant, Maecenas, thy paternal rays,
Hear me propitious, and defend my lays. 55
O ifVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 13
On VI R T U E.
Thou bright jewel in my aim I itrive To comprehend thee. Thine own words declare
Wifdom is higher than a fool can reach.
I ceafe to wonder, and no more attempt Thine height t’ explore, or fathom thy profound, g But, O my foul, fink not into defpair,
Virtue is near thee, and with gentle hand Would now embrace thee, hovers o’er thine head. Fain would the heav’n-born foul with her converfe, Then feek, then court her for her promis’d blifs.
Aufpicious queen, thine heav’nly pinions fpread, And lead celeftial Chajlity along ;
Lo ! now her facred retinue defcends,
Array’d in glory from the orbs above.
Attend me, Virtue, thro’ my youthful years!	15
O leave me not to the falfe joys of time \
But guide my iteps to endlefs life and blifs.
GnatnefsjPOEMS on
14
Greatnefs, or Goodnefs, fay what 1 ihall call thee,
To give an higher appellation itill,
Teach me a better ftrain, a nobler lay,	20
O thou, enthron’d with Cherubs in the realms of day Î
ToVARIOUS SUBJECTS. iS
To the University of CAMBRIDGE, in NEW-EN GLAND,
X]\J HILE an intrinfic ardor prompts to write,;
* * The mufes promife to afiift my pen 5 ’Twas not long fince I left my native ihore "I he land of errors, and Egyptian gloom:
Father of mercy, ’twas thy gracious hand £ Brought me in fafety from thofe dark abodes.
Students, to you ’tis giv’n to fcan the heights Above, to traverfe the ethereal fpace,
And mark the fyitems of revolving worlds.
Still more, ye fons of fcience ye receive	10
The bliisfui news by meifengers from heav’n, How Jefus’ blood for your redemption flows.
See him with hands out-ftretcht upon the crofs* Immenfe compaflion in his bofom glows;
He hears reviiers, nor refents their fcorn :	15
What matchlefs mercy in the Son of God !
"When the whole human race by fln had fall’n,
HePOEMS on
16
He deign’d to die that they might rife again,
And ihare with him in the fublimeft ikies,
Life without death, and glory without end. 20
Improve your privileges while they ftay,
Ye pupils, and each hour redeem, that bears Or good or bad report of you to heav’n.
Let fin, that baneful evil to the foul,
By you beihunn’d, noronce remit your guard; 25 Suppreis the deadly ferpent in its egg.
Ye blooming plants of human race divine,
An Ethiop tells you ’tis your greateft foe;
Its tranfient fweetnefs turns to endlefs pain,
And in immenfe perdition finks the foul. go
«
ToVARIOUS SUBJECTS. t7
To the KIN G’s Moil Excellent Majeily,
1768.
YOUR fubjedts hope, dread Sire—
The crown upon your brows may flouriih long,
And that your arm may in your God be ilrong! O may your fceptre num’rous nations fway,
And all with love and readinefs obey !
But how fhal! we the Britijh king reward !	£
Rule thou in peace, our father, and our lord ! Midil the remembrance of thy favours pail,
The meaneil peafants moil admire the lait. *
May George, belov’d by all the nations round, Live with heav’ns choiceR conilant bleiRngs crown’d 1	10
Great God, diredl, and guard him from on high* And from his head let ev’ry evil fly !
And may each clime with equal gladnefs iee A monarch’s fmile can fet his fubjedls free !
* The Repeal of the Stamp Aft«
c
Orif	POEMS on
On being brought from AFRICA to
AMERICA.
5rr^ WAS. mercy brought me from my Pagan
k JL land,
Taught my benighted foul to underiland That there’s a God, that there’s; a Saviour too: Once I redemption neither fought nor knew. Some view our fable race with fcornful eye, 5 “ Their colour is a diabolic die.”
Remember, Chrijlians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 19
On the Death of the Rev. Dr. SEWELL.
1769.
E1 R E yet the morri its lovely bluihes fpread,
J See S'ewell number’d with the happy dead. Hail, holy man, arriv’d th’ immortal ihore, Though we ihall hear thy warning voice no more. Come, let us all behold with wiihful eyes 5 The faint afcending to his native ikies-From hence the prophet wing’d his rapt’rods way To the bleil manfions in eternal day.
Then begging for the Spirit of our God,
And panting eager for the fame abode*	20
Come, let us all with the fame vigour rife,
And take a profpedt of the blifsful ikies ;
While on our minds Chrijf s image is imprefi* And the dear Saviour glows in ev’ry breail. Thrice happy faint! to find thy heav’n atlail, 1 What compenfation for the evils pail!
C 2
Great
o*to
p
OEMS
O N
Great God, incompreheniible, unknown By fenfe, we bow at thine exalted throne.
O, while we beg thine excellence to feel,
Thy facred Spirit to our hearts reveal,	20
And give us of that mercy to partake,
"Which thou haft promis’d for the Saviour's fake!
« Sewell is dead.” Swift-pinion’d Fame thus-% cry’d.	(
46 Is Sewell dead,” my trembling tongue reply’d, f
0	what a blefling in his flight deny’d !	2 5~
How oft for us the holy prophet pray’d !
How oft to us the Word of Life convey d !
By duty urg’d my mournful verie to dole,
1	for his tomb this epitaph compofe.
“ Lo, here a man, redeem’d by Jefus’ blood, 30 “ A iinner once, but now a faint with God ^
“ Behold ye rich, ye poor, ye fools, ye wife,
“ Nor let his monument your heart furprize ;
“ ’Twill tell you what this holy man has done,
“ Which gives him brighter luftre than the fun.
“ Liften,21
VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
“ Liften, ye happy, from your feats above.
“ I fpeak fincerely, while I fpeak and love,
“ He fought the paths of piety and truth,
“ By thefe made happy from his early youth !
“ In blooming years that grace divine he felt, 40 “ Which refcues finners from the chains of guilt.
44 Mourn him, ye indigent, whom he has fed,
44 And henceforth feek, like him, for living bread 5 44 Ev’n Chrijl, the bread defending from above,
44 And aik an int’reil in his laving love.	45
“ Mourn him, ye youth, to whom he oft has told 44 God’s gracious wonders from the times of old.
44 I, too have caufe this mighty lofs to mourn,
44 For he my monitor will not return.
44 O when ihall we to his bleft Fate arrive ?	50
44 When the fame graces in our bofoms thrive.**
Ou22
I* O £ M s & a
On the Death of the Rev. Ma. GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 1770.
y TAIL, happy faint, on thine immortal throne, -*■ Pofleit of glory, life, and blifs unknown j We hear no more the mufic of thy tongue,
Thy wonted auditories ceafe to throng.
Thy fcrmons in unequall’d accents flowed, $ And ev’ry bofom with devotion glow’d 5 Thou didft in drains of eloquence refin’d inflame the heart, and captivate the mind. Unhappy we the fetting fun deplore,
So glorious once, but ah ! it fhines no more. 10
Behold the prophet in his tow’ring flight!
He leaves the earth for heav’n’s unmealur’d height,
And worlds unknown receive him from our fight., There White field wings with rapid courfe his way,
And fails to Zion through vail leas of day.	1 §
Thy pray’rs, great faint, and thine incefiant cries Have pierc’d the bofom of thy native fkies.VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
Thou moon hail feen, and all the liars of light, How he has wreilled with his God by night.
He pray’d that grace in ev’ry heart might dwell, 2d He long’d to fee America excel;
He charg’d its youth that ev’ry grace divine Should with full luilre in their condudt fhine; That Saviour, which his foul did firit receive,
The greateil gift that ev’n a God can give, 25 He freely offer’d to the num’rous throng,
That on his lips with lifl’ning pleafure hung.
te Take him, ye wretched, for your only good,
“ Take him ye ilarving hnners, for your food; “Ye thirily, come to this life-giving ilream, 30 “Ye preachers, take him for your joyful theme;
“ Take him my dear Americans, he faid,
“ Be your complaints on his kind bofom laid :
“ Take him, ye Africans, he longs for you,
“ Impartial Saviour is his title due :	35
“ Waih’d in the fountain of redeeming blood,
“ Youfhallbe fons, and kings, and prieils to God.”
Great24
POEMS on
Great Countefs, * we Americans revere Thy name, and mingle in thy grief fincere •,
New England deeply feels, the Orphans mourn, 40 Their more than father will no more return.
But, though arreited by the hand of death, Whitefield no more exerts his lab’ring breath,
Yet let us view him in th’ eternal fkies,
Let ev’ry heart to this bright vifion rife;	45
While the tomb fafe retains its facred truft,
Till life divine re-animates his dull.
* The Countefs of Huntingdon, to whom Mr. Whitejield was Chaplain.
OnVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 2$
On the Death of a young Lady of Five Years of Age.
IT' ROM dark abodes to fair etherial light
Tlr enraptur’d innocent has wing’d her flight j On the kind bofom of eternal love She finds unknown beatitude above.
This know, ye parents, nor her lofs deplore, 5 She feels the iron hand of pain no more;
The difpenfations of unerring grace,
Should turn your forrows into grateful praife;
Let then no tears for her henceforward flow,
No more diftrefs’d in our dark vale below. 10
Her morning fun, which rofe divinely bright, Was quickly mantled with the gloom of night; But hear in heav’n’s bleil bow’rs your Nancy fair, And learn to imitate her language there.
€i Thou, Lord, whom I behold with glory crown’d, iS By what fweet name, and in what tuneful found
D	“ Wilt16	POEMSon
46 Wilt thou be prais’d ? Seraphic pow’rs are faint “ Infinite love and majefty to paint.
“ To thee let all their grateful voices raife,
“ And faints and angels join their fongs of tc praife.”	2®
Perfect in blifs fire from her heav’nly home Looks down, and foiling beckons you to come; Why then, fond parents, why thefefruitlefs groans ? Reftrain your tears, and ceafe your plaintive moans. Freed from a world of fin, and fnares, and pain, 25 Why would you wiih your daughter back again ? No —bow refign’d. Let hope your grief control, And check the rifing tumult of the foul.
Calm in the profperous, and adverfe day,
Adore the God who gives and takes away ;	30
Eye him in all, his holy name revere,
Upright your aftions, and your hearts fmcere, Till having fail’d through life’s tempeftuous fea, And from its rocks, and boiil’rous billows free, Yourfelves, fafe landed on the blifsful iliore, 35 Shall join your happy babe to part no more,
OnVARIOUS SUBJECTS, 27
On the Death of a young Gentleman.
WH O taught thee conflid with the pow’rs of night,
To vanquiih Satan in the fields of fight?
Who ftrung thy feeble arms with might unknown, How great thy conqueit, and how bright thy crown!
War with each princedom, throne, and pow’r is o’er,	g
The fcene is ended to return no more.
O could my mufe thy feat on high behold,
How deckt with laurel, how enrich’d with gold ! O could ihe hear what praife thine harp employs,
How fweet thine anthems, how divine thy joys! 10 What heav’nly grandeur ihould exalt her drain! What holy raptures in her numbers reign [
To footh the troubles of the mind to peace,
To dill the tumult of life’s tolling feas,
D 2
To?23
POEMS o ist
To eafe the anguifh of the parents heart, 15 What ihall my fympathizing verie impart ?
Where is the balm to heal fo deep a wound ? Where ihall a fov’reign remedy be found ?
Look, gracious Spirit, from thine heav’nly bovv’r, And thy full joys into their bofoms pour;	20
The raging temped of their grief control,
And fpread the dawn of glory through the foul. To eye the path the faint departed trod,
^And trace him to the bofom of his God,
ToVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 29
To a Lady on the Death of her Huiband.
monarch ! fee, depriv’d of vital breath, A young phyfician in the duil of death: Doit thou go on inceffant to deftroy,
Our griefs to double, and lay v/afce our joy ? Enough thou never yet waft known to fay, § Though millions die, the vaflals of thy fway : Nor youth, nor fcience, nor the ties of love,
Nor aught on earth thy flinty heart can move.
The friend, the fpoufe from his dire dart to fave, In vain we aik the fovereign of the grave. 10 Fair mourner, there fee thy lov’d Leonard laid, And o’er him fpread the deep impervious ihade;
Clos’d are his eyes, and heavy fetters keep His fenfes bound in never-waking fleep,
Till time fhall ceafe, till many a ftarry world 15 Shall fall from heav’n, in dire confuflon hurl’d, Till nature in her final wreck fhall lie,
And her laft groan ihall rend the azure iky:
Not3©	P O E M S on
Not, not till then his adive foul fhall claim His body, a divine immortal frame.	20
But fee the foftly-Healing tears apace Purfue each other down the mourner’s face;
But ceafe thy tears, bid ev’ry figh depart,
And call the load of anguiih from thine heart: From the cold fhell of his great foul arife, 25 And look beyond, thou native of the ikies; There fix thy view, where fleeter than the wind Thy Leonard mounts, and leaves the earth behind. Thyfelf prepare to pafs the vale of night To join for ever on the hills of light:	30
To thine embrace his joyful fpirit moves To thee, the partner of his earthly loves ;
He welcomes thee to pleafures more refin’d,
And better fuited to th’ immortal mind.VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
3*
GOLIATH of GATH, i Sam, Chap, xvii,
XT E martial pow’rs, and all ye tuneful nine, Inipire my fong, and aid my high defign. The dreadful fcenes and toils of war I write,
The ardent warriors, and the fields of fight :
You beil remember, and you beil can fing /* The ads of heroes to the vocal firing:
Refume the lays with which your facred lyre,
Did then the poet and the fage infpire.
Now front to front the armies were difplay’d, Here Ifrael rang’d, and there the foes array’d; 10 The hofts on two oppofing mountains flood,
Thick as the foliage of the waving wood j Between them an extenfive valley lay,
O’er which the gleaming armour pour’d the day, When from the camp of the Philiftine foes, 15 Dreadful to view, a mighty warrior rofe ;
In the dire deeds of bleeding battle ikill’d,
The monfier ftalks the terror of the field.
From3*	POEMS on
From Gath he fprung, Goliath was his name,
Of fierce deportment, and gigantic frame:	20
A brazen helmet on his head was plac’d,
A coat of mail his form terrific grac’d,
The greaves his legs, the targe his fhoulders preit: Dreadful in arms high-tow’ring o’er the reft A fpear he proudly wav’d, whoie iron head, 25 Strange to relate, fix hundred fhekels weigh’d j Fie ftrode along, and iliook. the ample fftld,
While Phcebus blaz’d refulgent on his fhield: Through Jacob's race a chilling horror ran,
When thus the huge, enormous chief began: 30
« say5 what the caufe that in this proud array a you fet your battle in the face of day ?
« One hero find in all your vaunting train,
« Then fee who lofes, and who wins the plain;
<C por he who wins, in triumph may demand 35 « perpetual fervice from the vanquifh’d land:
“ Your armies I defy, your force defpife,
« By far inferior in Philijlia’s eyes:
<c ProduceVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 33
ct Produce a man, and let us try the fight,
“ Decide the conteil, and the vidtor’s right.” 4.0
Thus challeng’d he : all Ifrael flood amaz’d, And ev’ry chief in confirmation gaz’d;
But JeJJe’s ion in youthful bloom appears,
And warlike courage far beyond his years:
He left the folds, he left the flow’ry meads, 45 >And foft recedes of the fylvan iliades.
Now IfraeVs monarch, and his troops arife,
With peals of ihouts afcending to the ikies;	\
In Eiah's vale the fcene of combat lies.	j
When the fair morning»- blufli’d with orient
Cj
red,	, 50
What David's fire enjoin’d the fon obey’d,
And fwift of foot towards the trench he came, Where slow’d each boforn with the martial flame. He leaves his carriage to another’s care,
And runs to greet his brethren of the war. 55 While yet they fpake the giant-chief arofe, Repeats the challenge, and infults his foe$:
E	Struck\
34	P O E M S oh
Struck with the found, and trembling at the view. Affrighted Ifraelfrom its poll withdrew. i5 Obferve ye this tremendous foe, they cry’d, 60 .c< Who in proud vaunts our armies hath defy’ci: ii Whoever lays him proferate on the plain, iC Freedom in Ifrael for his houfe fhall gain ;
<c And on him wealth unknown the king will pour, “ And give his royal daughter for his dow’r.” 65
Then Jeffe’s youngeft hope : “ My brethren “ %,
WThat fhall be done for him who takes away iC Reproach from Jacob, who deffroys the chief,
“ And puts a period to his country’s grief.
“ Fie vaunts the honours of his arms abroad, 70 “ And fcorns the armies of the living God.”
Thus fpoke the youth, th’ attentive people ey’4 The wond’rous hero, and again reply’d : sc Such the rewards our monarch will bellow,
“ On him who conquers, and deffroys his foe.” 75r
VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 33
Etiab heard, and kindled into ire To hear his ihepherd-brother thus inquire,
And thus begun ? 64 What errand brought thee ? 64 fay
44 Who keeps thy flock ? or does it go affray ?
44 I know the bafe ambition of thine heart, Sq 44 But back in fafety from the field depart.’!
Eliab thus to Jeffs’s youngeil heir,
Exprefs’d his wrath in accents moil fevere.
When to his brother mildly he reply’d,
64 What have I done ? or what the cauie to 44 chide?”	85
The words were told before the king, who fent For the young hero to his royal tent:
Before the monarch dauntlefs he began,
44 For this Philiftine fail no heart of man ;
44 I’ll take the vale, and with the giant fight:	90
I dread not all his boails, nor all his might.”
E 2	.When%5	POEM Sort
When thus the king : 44 Dar’ft thou a tripling go, 44 And venture combat with fo great a foe ?
44 Who all his days has been inur’d to fight,
44 And made its deeds his ftudy and delight:	95
44 Battles and bloodihed brought the monfler forth, 44 And clouds and whirlwinds ufher’d in his birth.” When David thus : 44 I kept the fleecy care,
44 And out there ruili’d a lion and a bear;
44 A tender lamb the hungry lion took,	100
£C And with no other weapon than my crook 44 Bold 1 purfu’d, and chas’d him o’er the field,
44 The prey deliver’d, and the felon kill’d :
44 As thus the lion and the bear I flew,
44 So ihall Goliath fall, and all his crew :	105
44 The God, who fav’d me from thefe bcafls of 44 prey,
44 By me this moniler in the du.fl ihall lay.”
So David fpoke. The wond’ring king reply’d ;
44 Go thou with heav’n and victory on thy fide :
44 This coat of mail, this fword gird on,” he faid,	no
And plac’d a mighty helmet on.his head:
The37
VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
The coat, the fword, the helm he laid afide,
Nor chofe to venture with thofe arms untry’d, Then took his ftaff, and to the neighb’ring brook
Inftant he ran, and thence five pebbles took. 115 Mean time defcended to Philifticfs ion A radiant cherub, and he thus begun :
“ Goliath, well thou know’ll thou hail defy’d u Yon Hebrew armies, and their God deny’d : s£ Rebellious -wretch ! audacious worm ! for-“ bear,	120
££ Nor tempt the vengeance of their God too far : ££ Them, who with his omnipotence contend,
££ No eye ihall pity, and no arm defend :
<£ Proud as thou art, in ihort liv’d glory great,
C£ I come to tell thee thine approaching fate. 125 cc Regard my words. The judge of all the gods,
<£ Beneath whofe ileps the tow’ringmountain nods, *£ Will give thine armies to the favage brood, ec That cut the liquid air, or range the wood.
“ Thee too a well-aim’d pebble ihall deftroy, 130 And thou ifialt periih by a beardiefs boy :
i£ Such
cc38	POEM Son
44 Such is the mandate from the realms above,
44 And ihould I try the vengeance to remove, > 44 Myfelf a rebel to my king would prove. O 44 Goliath fay, ihall grace to him be ihown, 135 44 Who dares heav’ns monarch, and infults his 44 throne?”
44 Your words are loft on me,” the giant^ cries,	f
While fear and wrath contended in his eyes, ( When thus the meflenger from heav’n replies: J 44 Provoke no more Jehovah's awful hand 140 44 To hurl its vengeance on thy guilty land :
44 He grafps the thunder, and, he wings the 44 ftorm,
64 Servants their fov’reign’s orders to perform.”
* '
The angel fpoke, and turn’d his eyes away, Adding new radiance to the rifing day.	145
Now David comes: the fatal Hones demand His left, the ftaff engag’d his better hand :
The39
VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
The giant mov’d, and from his tow’ring height Survey’d the (tripling, and difdain’d the fight, And thus began : 44 Am I a dog with thee ? 150 44 Bring’ft thou no armour, but a faff to me ?
44 The gods on thee their vollied curies pour,
44 And beads and birds of prey thy fiefli de-44 vour.”
David undaunted thus, 44 Thy (pear and fhield 44 Shall no protection to thy body yield:	155
44 Jehovah's name ——no other arms I bear,
44 I ask no other in this glorious war.
44 To-day the Lord of Hoffs to me will give 44 Vibt’ry, to-day thy doom thou (halt receive;
44 The fate you threaten fhall your own be-44 come,	160
44 And beads (hall be your animated tomb,
44 That all the earth’s inhabitants may know iC That there’s a God, who governs all below:
44 This great affembly too (hall witnefs ftanc],
V That needs nor fword, nor (pear, th’ Almighty’s hand:	165
44 The40
POEMS on
<c The battle his, the conqueit he bellows,
66 And to our pow’r coniigns our hated foes.”
Thus David fpoke •, Goliath heard and came To meet the hero in the field of fame.
Ah ! fatal meeting to thy troops and thee, 170 But thou wail deaf to the divine decree •,
Young David meets thee, meets thee not in vain; ’TIs thine to perilh on th’ enfanguin’d plain.
And now the youth the forceful pebble flung, Pkilifua trembled as it whizz’d along:	175
In his dread forehead, where the helmet ends, Juft o’er the brows the well-aim’d Hone defcends, It pierc’d the fkull, and fhatter’d all the brain, Prone on his face he tumbled to the plain :
Goliath's fall no fmaller terror yields	180
Than riving thunders in aerial fields:
The foul Hill ling’red in its lov’d abode,
Till conq’ring David o’er the giant Erode: Goliath's fword then laid its mailer dead,
And from the body hew’d the ghaftly head 185
The4i
VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
The blood in gufhing torrents drench’d the plains, The foul found padage through the fpouting veins;
And now aloud th’ illuftrioiis vidfcor faid, -y 41 Where are your boaftings now your chain- ( “ pion’s dead ?”	£
Scarce had he fpoke, when the PhiUftines fled :	^
But fled in vain; the cenqu’ror iwift purfu’d: What fcenes of daughter ! and what fleas of bloodl; There Saul thy thouflands graflp’d th* impurpled fand
In pangs of death the conqueft of thine hand; And David there were thy ten thouflands laid: 191 Thus Ifrael's damflels muflcally play’d.
Near Gath and Ekrcn many an hero lay, Breath’d out their fouls, and curs’d the light of day:
Their fury, quench’d by death, no longer burns. And David with Goliath's head returns.
To Salem brought, but in his tent he plac’d The load of armour which the giant grac’d.
F
HisPOEMS oh
42
His monarch faw him coming from the war,
And thus demanded of the fon of Ner.
“ Say, who is this amazing youth ?” he cry’d, 205 When thus the leader of the hoft reply’d j 44 As lives thy foul I know not whence he fprung, 41 So great in prowefs though in years fo young 44 Inquire whofe fon is he,” the fov’reign faid,
44 Before whofe conq’ring arm P bilift ia fled.” 210 Before the king behold the ftripling Hand,
Gcliattis head depending from his hand :
To him the king : 44 Say of what martial line 44 Art thou, young hero, and what fire was thine ?” He humbly thus-, 44 the fon of JeJfe 1:	215
44 I came the glories of the field to try.
44 Small is my tribe, but valiant in the fight 44 Small is my city, but thy royal right.”
44 Then take the promis’d gifts,” the monarch cry’d,
Conferring riches and the royal bride :	22«
v Knit to my foul for ever thou remain	.
« With me, nor quit my regal roof again.”
ThoughtsVARIOUS SUBJECTS.
43
Thoughts on the Works of Providence.
ARISE, my foul, on wings enraptur’d, rife To praife the monarch of the earth and fkies,
Whofe goodnefs and beneficence appear As round its centre moves the rolling year,
Or when the morning glows with rofy charrhs, 5 Or the fun (lumbers in the ocean’s arms :
Of light divine be a rich portion lent To guide my foul, and favour my intent.
Celeftial mufe, my arduous flight fuitain,
And raife my mind to a feraphic (train !	10
Ador’d for ever be the God unfeen,
Which round the fun revolves this vail machine, Though to his eye its mafs a point appears: Ador’d the God that whirls furrounding fpheres, Which firil ordain’d that mighty Sol ihould reign	15
- ij
The peerlefs monarch of th’ ethereal train:
f 2
Of44	POEMS on
Of miles twice forty millions is his height.
And yet his radiance dazzles mortal fight So far beneath—-from him th’ extended earth Vigour derives, and ev’ry flow’ry birth :	20
Vaft through her orb fhe moves with eafy grace Around her Phoebus in unbounded fpace True to her courfe th* impetuous itorm derides«, Triumphant o’er the winds, and furging tides.
Almighty, in thefe wond’rous works of thine, 25 What Pow’r, what Wifdom, and wjiat Gccdnefs fhine.?
And are thy wonders, Lord, by men explor’d. And yet creating glory unador’d !
Creation fmiles in various beauty gay,
While day to night, and night fucceeds to day : 30 That Wifdom, which attends Jehovah's ways, Shines moil confpicuous in the folar rays : Without them, deilitute of heat and light,
This world would be the reign of endlefs night:
InVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 45
In their excefs how would our race complain, 35 Abhorring life ! how hate its length’ned chain ! From air aduft what num’rous ills wrould rife ? What dire contagion taint the burning ikies ? What peililential vapours, fraught with death, Would rife, and overfpread the lands beneath ? 40
Hail, fmiling morn, that from the orient main Afcending. doit adorn the heav’nly plain !
So rich, fo various are thy beauteous dies,
That fpread through all the circuit of the ikies, That, full of thee, my foul in rapture foars, 4g And thy great God, the caufe of all adores.
O’er beings infinite his love extends,
His hFi/dom rules them, and his Pow’r defends. When talks diurnal tire the human frame,
The fpirits faint, and dim the vital flame, 50 Then too that ever aftive bounty iliines,
Which not infinity of fpace confines.
The fable veil, that Night in filence draws,
Conceals effects, but iliews th’ Almighty Caufe %
NightPOE M S on
46
Night Teals in deep the wide creation fair, 55 And all is peaceful but the brow of care.
Again, gay P hcc bus, as the day before.
Wakes ev’ry eye, but what ihall wake n® more ; Again the face of nature is renew’d,
Which ftill appears harmonious, fair, and good. 60 May grateful drains falute the finding morn, Before its beams the eaftern hills adorn !
Shall day to day and night to night confpire To fhow the goodnefs of the Almighty Sire ?
This mental voice ihall man regardlefs hear, 65 And never, never raife the filial pray’r ?
To-day, O hearken, nor your folly mourn For time mifpent, that never will return.
But fee the fons of vegetation rife,
And fpread their leafy banners to the (kies. 70 All-wife Almighty Providence we trace In trees, and plants, and all the flow’ry race;
As clear as in the nobler frame of man,
All lovely copies of the Maker’s plan.
TheVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 47
The pow’r the lame that forms a ray of light, 75 That call’d creation from eternal night.
“ Let there be light,” he faid : from his profound Old Chaos heard, and trembled at the found : Swift as the word, infpir’d by pow’r divine, Behold the light around its maker ihine, go The fird fair produft of th’ omnific God,
And now through all his works diffus’d abroad.
As reafon’s pow’rs by day our God difclofe,
So we may trace him in the night’s repofe:
Say what is deep ? and dreams how palling ftrange !	»5
When action ceafes, and ideas range Licentious and unbounded o’er the plains,
Where Fancy's queen in giddy triumph reigns. Hear in foft drains the dreaming lover fnh To a kind fair, or rave in jealoufy;	90
On pleafure now, and now on vengeance bent, The lab’ring paifions druggie for a vent.
What pow’r, O man ! thy reafon then redores,
So long fuipended in nocturnal hours ?
What48	POE M S on
What fecret hand returns the mental train, 95 And gives improv’d thine adlive povv’rs again ? From thee, O man, what-gratitude ihould rife !' And, when from balmy deep thou op’ll thinei eyes,
Let thy firft thoughts be praifes to the ikies. J How merciful our God who thus imparts 100 Overflowing tides of joy to human hearts,
/ When wants and woes might be our righteous lot, Our God forgetting, by our God forgot 1
Among the mental pow’rs a queition rofe,
“ What moil the image of th’ Eternal ihows ?** When thus to Reafon (lo let Fancy rove)
Her great companion ipoke immortal Love.
“ Say, mighty pow’r, how long ihall itrife prevail,
“ And with its murmurs load the whifp’ring
“ Refer the caufe to Recollettioris ihrine, 110 Who loud proclaims rpy origin divine,
« TheOS
VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 49
The caufe whence heav’n and earth began to be, cc And is not man immortaliz’d by me ? cc Reafon let this moft caufelefs iirife fubfide.” Thus Love pronounc’d, and Reafon thus re-ply’d.	1J$
“ Thy birth, celeitial queen ! ’tis mine to own, £c In thee refplendent is the Godhead ihown ;
“ Thy words perfuade, my foul enraptur’d feels Ci Refiitlefs beauty which thy fmile reveals.” Ardent ilie fpoke, and, kindling at her charms,	120
She clafp’d the blooming goddefs in her arms.
Infinite Love where’er we turn our eyes Appears : this ev’ry creature’s wants fupplies ; This moil is heard in Nature's conilant voice,
This makes the morn, and this the eve rejoice;	125
This bids the foil’ring rains and dews deicend To nouriih all, to ferve one gen’ral end,
G
ThePOEMS on
5®
The good of man; yet man ungrateful pays But little homage, and but little praife.
To him, whofe works array’d with mercy ihine,	I3°
What fongs ihould rife, how conilant, how divine !VARIOUS SUBJECTS, ÿï
To a Lady on the Death of Three Relations;
E trace the pow’r of Death from tomb to tomb,
And his are all the ages yet td come*
5Tis his to call the planets from on high.
To blacken Phoebus, and diifolve the iky ;
His too, when all in his dark realms are hurl’d, $ From its firm bafe to ihake the folid world ;
His fatal fceptre rules the fpacious whole,
And trembling nature rocks from pole to pole.
Awful he moves, and wide his wings are fpread: Behold thy brother number’d with the dead 1 i© From bondage freed, the exulting fpirit flies Beyond Olympus, and theft ilarry ikies*
Loft in our woe for thee* bleft ihade, we mourn In vain ; to earth thou never muft return.
Thy filters too, fair mourner, feel the dart 15 Of Death, and with frefh torture rend thine heart.
G 2	Weep
F O E M S on
Weep not for them, who wiih thine happy mind To rife with them, and leave the world behind.
As a young plant by hurricanes up torn, zo So near its parent lies the newly born —
But ’midft the bright ethereal train behold It fnines iuperior on a throne of gold :
Then, mourner, ceafe ; let hope thy tears reitrain, Smile on the tomb, and footh the raging pain. 25 On yon bleft regions fix thy longing view, Mindlefs of fublunary fcenes below;
Afcend the facred mount, in thought arife,
And feek fubftantial, and immortal joys;
Where hope receives, where faith to vifion fprings,	3o
And raptur’d feraphs tune th* immortal firings To ft rains extatic. Thou the chorus join,
And to thy father tune the praife divine.
1®VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
To a Clergyman on the Death of his Lady.1
\K J HERE contemplation finds her facred fpring,
Where heav’nly mufic makes the arches ring, Where virtue reigns unfully’d and divine,
Where wifdom thron’d, and all the graces ihine, There fits thy fpoufe amidft the radiant throng, § While praife eternal warbles from her tongue ; There choirs angelic fhout her welcome round. With perfect blifs, and peerlefs glory crown’d.
While thy dear mate, to fieih no more confin’d, Exults a bleit, an heav’n-afcended mind, io Say in thy breail fhall floods of forrow rife ?
Say ihail its torrents overwhelm thine eyes ?
Amid the feats of heav’n a place is free.
And angels ope their bright ranks for thee ;
For thee they wait, and with expectant eye 15 Thy fpoufe leans downward from th’ empyreal iky:
O comePOEMS o n
S4
“ O come away, her longing fpirit cries,
Ci And fhare with me the raptures of the ikies.
« Our blifs divine to mortals is unknown*,
“ Immortal life and glory are our own.	20
“ There too may the dear pledges of our love « Arrive, and taile with us the joys above ;
Attune the harp to more than mortal lays,
« And join with us the tribute of their praife « To him, who dy’d item juftice to atone, 2$ “ And make eternal glory all our own.
« He in his death flew ours, and, as he rofe,
“ He crufli’d the dire dominion of our foes ;
Ci Vain were their hopes to put the God to flight, iC Chain us to hell, and bar the gates of light.” 30
She fpoke, and turn’d from mortal feenes her eyes, Which beam’d ceieitial radiance o’er the ikies.
Then thou, dear man, no more with grief re-*\ tire,	(
Let grief no longer damp devotion’s Are, C But rife fublime, to equal blifs afpire,	35J
ThyVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 5$
Thy fighs no more be wafted by the wind,
No more cgmplain, but be to heav’n refign’d. 5Twas thine t’ unfold the oracles divine,
To footh our woes the tail: was alfo thine;
Now forrow is incumbent on thy heart,	40
Permit the mufe a cordial to impart;
Who can to thee their tend5reft aid refufe?
To dry thy tears how longs the heav’nly mufe !
An
t
/POEMS oh
An H Y M N to the Morning,
ATTEND my lays, ye ever honour’d nine, Ailiit my labours, and my ftrains refine;
In fmootheft numbers pour the notes along,
For bright Aurora now demands my fong.
Aurora hail, and all the thou lands dies, 5 Which deck thy progrefs through the vaulted ikies:
The morn awakes, and wide extends her rays,
On ev’ry leaf the gentle zephyr plays ; Harmonious lays the feather’d race refume,
Dart the bright eye, and fhake the painted plume,	10
Ye ihady groves, your verdant gloom difplay To fhield your poet from the burning day :
Calliope awake the facred lyre,
While thy fair fillers fan the pleafing fire:
Th*57
*5
VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
The bow’rs, the gales, the variegated ikies In all their pleafures in my bofom rife.
See in the eail th® illuftrious king of day!
His riling radiance drives the ihades away—
But Oh ! I feel his fervid beams too flrong,
And fcarce begun, concludes th* abortive fong. 20An HYMN to the Evening,
O O N as the fun forfook the eaftern main The pealing thunder fhook the heav’nly plain;
Majeftic grandeur ! From the zephyr’s wing, Exhales the incenfe of the blooming fpring.
Soft purl the ftreams, the birds renew their notes,	5
And through the air their mingled mufic floats.
Through all the heav’ns what beauteous dies are fpread!
But the weft glories in the deepeft red :
So may our breafts with ev’ry virtue glow,
The living temples of our God below!	le
Fill’d with the praife of him who gives the light,
And draws the fable curtains of the night,
'l:i
LetVARIOUS SUBJECTS. . &
Let placid {lumbers Tooth each weary mind,
At morn to wake more heav’nly, more refin’d ;
So fhall the labours of the day begin	15
More pure, more guarded from the fnares of fin.
Night’s leaden fceptre feals my drowfy eyes, Then ceafe, my fong, til] fair Aurora rife,
H 2
J.S AT AM*3
Isaiah Ixiii. i—>S.
g A Y, heav’nly mufe, what king, or mighty
That moves fublime from Idumea's road ?
In Bozrab’s dies, with martial glories join’d,
His purple veilure waves upon the wind.
Why thus enrob’d delights he to appear	5
In the dread image of thePow'r of war?
Gomprefs’d in wrath the fwelling wine-prefs groan’d,
ft bled, and pour’d the guihing purple round.
44 Mine was the ad,” th* Almighty Saviour faid,
And fhook the dazzling glories of his head, 1# 44 When all forfook I trod the prefs alone,
44 And conquer’d by omnipotence my own ;
44 For man’s releafe fuftain’d the pond’rous load, 44 For man the wrath of an immortal God:
44 T •©VARIOUS SUBJECTS." 61
44 To execute th’ Eternal’s dread command 15 64 My foul I facrific’d with willing hand ^
44 Sinlefs I flood before the avenging frown*
44 Atoning thus for vices not my own/9
His eye the ample field of battle round Survey’d, but no created fuccours found;	2®
Elis own omnipotence fuitain’d the fight,
Elis vengeance funk the haughty foes in night; Beneath his feet the proftrate troops were fpread, And round him lay the dying, and the dead.
Great God, what light’ning flaih.es from thine eyes ?	25
What pow’r withftands if thou indignant rife ?
Againit thy Zion though her foes may rage, And all their cunning, all their flrength engage. Yet fhe ferenely on thy bofom lies,
Smiles at their arts, and all their force defies. 30T\ M NEME begin. Inlpire, ye facred nine,
4 ; Your venturous Jfric in her great deiign. Mneme, immortal poW’r, I trace thy Ip ring :
Aflift my drains, while I thy glories fmg :
The ads of long departed years, by thee t Recover’d, in due order rang’d we fee :
Thy pow’r the long-forgotten calls from night* That fweetly plays before tire fancy's fight.
Mneme in our nodurnal vifions pours The ample treafure of her fecret flores *
Swift from above die wings her filent flight
O	o
Through Phcehe's realms, fair regent of the night*
And, in her pomp of images difplay’d,
To the high-raptur’d poet gives her aid,
Through the unbounded regions of the mind, 15 Diffufing light celeftial and refin’d.
TheVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 63
The heav’nly phantom paints the aftions done By ev’ry tribe beneath the rolling iun.
Mneme, enthron’d within the human bread,
Has vice condemn’d, and ev’ry virtue bled. 20 How fweet the found when we her plaudit hear ? Sweeter than mufic to the ravifh’d ear,
Sweeten than Mar o's entertaining drains Refounding through the groves, and hills, and plains.
But how is Mnems dreaded by the race,	25
Who fcorn her warnings, and defpile her grace ? By her unveil’d each horrid crime appears,
Her awful hand a cup of wormwood bears.
Days, years mifpent, O what a hell of woe!
Hers the word tortures that our fouls can know. 3®
Now eighteen years their dedin’d courfe have run,
In fad fucceffion round the central fun.
How did the follies of that period pafs Upnotic’d, but behold them writ in brafs 1
In35
6 4	POEMS / o m
In RecolleiHon fee them freih return,
And fure ’tis mine to be afoam’d, and mourn.
O Virtue, folding in immortal green,
Do thou exert thy pow’r, and change the fcene; Be thine employ to guide my future days,
And mine to pay the tribute of my praife. 40
Of Recollection fuch the pow’r enthron’d In ev’ry breail, and thus her pow’r is own’d.
The wretch, who dar’d the vengeance of the ikies, At laft awakes in horror and furprize,
By her alarm’d, he fees impending fate,	4$
He howls in anguifo, and repents too late.
But O ! what peace, what joys are hers t’ impart To ev’ry holy, ev’ry upright heart!
Thrice bleft the man, who, in her facred ihrine, Feels himfelf ihdter’d from the wrath divine! 5©
m
VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 65

On Imagination.
r T HY various works, imperial queen, we fee, How bright their forms! how deck’d with
fs Thy wond’rous adts in beauteous order iland, And all atteft how potent is thine hand.
From Helicon's refulgent heights attend, £ 1 Ye facred choir, and my attempts befriend:	,
To tell her glories with a faithful tongue,
Ye blooming graces, triumph in my fong.
Now here, now there, the roving Fancy flies,
; Till fome lov’d objedt frrikes her wand’ring
!
r
pomp by thee!
eyes,
Whofe fllken fetters all the ienfes bind, And foft captivity involves the mind.
SiP O E A S
O N
66
Imagination ! who can fing thy force ?
Or who defcribe the fwiftnefs of thy courfe ? Soaring through air to find the bright abode, 15 Th’ empyreal palace of the thund’ring God,
We on thy pinions cun furpafs the wind,
And leave the rolling univerfe behind :
From ftar to ftar the mental optics rove,
Meafure the Ikies, and range the realms above.	20
There in one view we grafp the mighty whole,
Or with new worlds amaze th* unbounded foul.
Though Winter frowns to Fancy's raptur’d eyes
The fields may flouriih, and gay fcenes arife j The frozen deeps may break their iron bands, 25 And bid their waters murmur o’er the fands.
Fair Flora may refume her fragrant reign,
And with her flow’ry riches deck the plain j Sylvanus may diffufe his honours round,
And all the foreft may with leaves be crown’d; 30
Show’rsVARIOUS SUB J EOT S. 67
Show’rs may defcend, and dews their gems dif-clofe,
And neCtar fparkle on the blooming rofe.
Such is thy pow’r, nor are thine orders vain,
O thou the leader of the mental train :
In full perfection all thy works are wrought, 3 5 And thine the fceptre o’er the realms of thought. Before thy throne the fubjeCt-paffions how,
Of fubjeCt-paflions fov’reign ruler Thou j At thy command joy rulhes on the heart,
And through the glowing veins the fpirits dart. 40
Fancy might now her iilken pinions try To rife from earth, and fweep th* expanfe oi| high;
From Tithon's bed now might Aurora rile,
Her cheeks all glowing with celeftial dies,
While a pure itream of light overflows ikies.
The monarch of the day I might behold,
And all the mountains tipt with radiant gold,
I 2	But68
O N
POEMS
But I reluctant leave the pleafing views, Which Fancy drefles to delight the Mufe j Winter auftere forbid^me to afpire,
And northern tempefl&damp the riling fire ; They chill the tides of Fancy's flowing fea, Ceafe then, my fong, ceafe the unequal lay.
A Fu-VARIOUS SUBJECTS. ' 69 A Funeral POEM on the Death of C. E.
HROUGH airy roads he wings his iniknt
flight
To purer regions of celeftial light; Enlarg’d he fees unnumber’d fyilems roll, Beneath him fees the univerfal whole,
And circling wonders fill the vail profound.
Th’ ethereal now, and now th’ empyreal fkies With growing fplendors ftrike his wondVing eyes: The angels view him with delight unknown,
Prefs his foft hand, and feat him on his throne j Then fmiling thus, “To this divine abode,
<e The feat of faints, of feraphs, and of God,
“ Thrice welcome thou.” The raptur’d babe replies,
u Thanks to my God, who fnatch’d me to the cc fkies,
an Infant of Twelve Months.
PI mets on planets run their deftin’d round, 5
46 E’erP O E M S ON
7°
Ci E’er vice triumphant had poffefs’d my heart, 15 “ E’er yet the tempter had beguil’d my heart,
“ E’er yet on fin’s bafe adtions I was bent,
“ E’er yet I knew temptation’s dire intent •,
“ E’er yet the lafh for horrid crimes I felt,
“ E’er vanity had led my way to guilt,	20
“ But, foon arriv’d at my celeitial goal,
“ Full glories ruih on my expanding foul.”
Joyful he fpoke : exulting cherubs round Clapt their glad wings, the heav’nly vaults refound.
Say, parents, why this unavailing moan ?	25
Why heave your peniive bofoms with the groan ? To Charles, the happy fubjedt of my fong,
A brighter world, and nobler {trains belong.
Say would you tear him from the realms above By thoughtlefs willies, and prepoft’rous love ? 30 Doth his felicity increafe your pain ?
Or could you welcome to this world again The heir of blifs ? with a fuperior air Methinks he anfwers with a fmile fevere,
“Thrones and dominions cannot tempt mej “ there.”	35,
ButVARIOUS SUBJECTS.
7i
But ftill you cry, “ Can we the figh forbear,
“ And ftill and ftill muft we not pour the tear ?
“ Our only hope, more dear than vital breath,
“ Twelve moons revolv’d, becomes the prey of “ death;
“ Delightful infant, nightly vifions give 4« “ Thee to our arms, and we with joy receive, “We fain would clafp the Phantom to our breaft, “The Phantom flies, and leaves the foul unbleft.”
To yon bright regions let your faith afcend, Prepare to join your deareft infant friend	\
In pleafures without meafure, without end. \
ToPOEMS on
7 2
To Captain H---------- d, of the 65th Regiment,
SA Y, mufe divine, can hoftile fcenes delight The warrior’s bofom in the fields of fight? jLo ! here the chriitian, and the hero join With mutual grace to form the man divine.
In H------d fee with pleafure and furprize, 5
Where valour kindles, and where virtue lies :
Go, hero brave, ftill grace the poft of fame,
And add new glories to thine honour’d name,
Still to the field, and ftill to virtue true :
Britannia glories in no fon like you.	it
TaVARIOUS SUBJECT S. 73
To the Right Honourable WILLIAM, Earl of Dartmouth, His Majefty’s Principal Secretary of State for North-America, &c.
T T A I L, happy day, when, feeding like the
Fair Freedom rofe New-England to adorn :
Dartmouth, congratulates thy blifsful fway :
Elate with hope her race no longer mourns, 5 Each foul expands, each grateful bofom burns. While in thine hand with, pleafure we behold The filken reins, and Freedom’s charms unfold. Lon or loft to realms beneath the northern ikies She ihines fupreme, while hated faftion dies :	id
Soon as appear’d the Goddefs long defir’d,
Sick at the view, ihe languiih’d and expir’d j Thus from the fplendors of the morning light The owl in fadnefs feeks the caves of night.
morn,
K
N*POEM
O N
No more, America^ in mournful itrain 15 Of wrongs, and grievance unredrefs’d complain, No longer ihall thou dread the iron chain, Which wanton tyranny with lawlefs hand Had made, and with it meant t’ enilave the land.
Should you, my lord, while you perufe my fong,	20
Wonder from whence my love of Freedom fprung, Whence flow thefe wiihes for the common good, By feeling hearts alone bed underftood,
I, young in life, by feeming cruel fate
Was fnatch’d from Afrids fancy’d happy feat: 25
What pangs excruciating mull moleit,
What forrows labour in my parent’s bread: ? Steel’d was that foul and by no mifery mov’d That from a father feiz’d his babe belov’d :
Such, fuch my cafe. And can I then but pray
Others may never feel tyrannic fway ?VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
75
For favours paft, great Sir, our thanks are due, And thee we aik thy favours to renew,
Since in thy pow’r, as in thy will before,
To footh the griefs, which thou did’ft once deplore.	35
May heav’nly grace the facred fan&ion give To all thy works, and thou for ever live Not only on the wings of fleeting Fame^
Though praife immortal crowns the patriot’s name,
But to conduit to heav’ns refulgent fane, 40 May fiery courfers fweep th* ethereal plain,
And bear thee upwards to that blefi: abode, Where, like the prophet, thou ihalt find thy God,
K 2.
ODEPOEMS ötf
f6
O D E to NEPTUNE.
On Mrs. W—’s Voyage to England.
J
I.
WH ILE raging tempefts drake the ih ore, While Akins’ thunders round us roar,
And fweep impetuous o’er the plain Be ftill, O tyrant of the main-,
Nor let thy brow contradted irowns betray, 5 While my Sufannah flams the wat’ry way.
n.
The Pczv’r propitious hears the lay,
The blue-ey’d daughters of the fea With fweeter cadence glide along,
And Thames refponfive joins the fong.	to
Pleas’d with their notes Svl iheds benign his ray,
And double radiance decks the face of day.
III. ToVARIOUS S U B j ECTS.
77
III.
To court thee to Britannicis arms Serene thè clitnes and mild thè ilcy,
Her region boails unnumber’d eh arms,	15
Thy welcome fmiles in ev’ry eye.
Thy promife, Neptune keep, record my pray’r, Nor give my wiihes to thè empty air.
Bofìm, Ociober io, 1772.

T#
/POEMS on
To a Lady on her coming to North-America with her Son, for the Recovery of her Health.
T Ndulgent mufe ! my grov’ling mind infpire,
■ And fill my bolcm with celeflial fire.
See from Jamaica's fervid fhore fine moves, Like the fair mother of the blooming loves, .When from above the Goddefs with her hand 5 Fans the foft breeze, and lights upon the land ; Thus ihe on Neptune's wat’ry realm reclin’d Appear’d, and thus invites the ling’ring wind.
tc Arife, ye winds, America explore,
“ Waft me, ye gales, from this malignant ihore j	10
“ The Northern milder climes I long to greet,
“ There hope that health will my arrival meet.” Soon as ihe fpoke in my ideal, view The winds alien ted, and the veffel flew.
Madam*VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
79
Madam, your fpoufe bereft of wife and fon, 15 In the grove’s dark receifes pours his moan ;
Each branch, wide-fpreading to the ambient iky, Forgets its verdure, and iubmits to die.
From thence I turn, and leave the fultry plain, And fwift purfue thy paifage o’er the main:	20
The iliip arrives before the fav’ring wind,
And makes the Philadelphian port affign’d,
Thence I attend you to Boftonia's arms,
Where gen’rous friendfhip ev’ry bofom warms : Thrice welcome here ! may health revive again, 251 Bloom on thy cheek, and bound in ev’ry vein ! Then back return to gladden ev’ry heart,
And give your fpoufe his foul’s far dearer part, Receiv’d again with what a fweet furprize,
The tear in tranfport ilarting from his eyes !	3®
While his attendant fon with blooming grace Springs to his father’s ever dear embrace.
With ihouts of joy Jamaica's rocks refound,
With ihouts of joy the country rings around.
ToSo
POEMS o n
To a Lady on her remarkable Preservation in an Hurricane in North-Carolina.
ry'HOUGH thou did’ft hear the tempeft from JL afar,
And felt’ft the horrors of the wat’ry war,
To me unknown, yet on this peaceful inore Metliinks I hear the ftorm tumultuous roar,
And how ftern Boreas with impetuous hand 5 Compell’d the Nereids to uiurp the land.
Reluctant role the daughters of the main,
And (low afcending glided o’er the plain,
Till /Eolus in his rapid chariot drove In gloomy grandeur from the vault above .	10
Furious he comes. His winged fons obey Their frantic fire, and madden all the fea.
The billows rave, the wind’s fierce tyrant roars, And with his thund’ring terrors iliakes the ihores: Broken by waves the veffel’s frame is rent,
And itrows with planks the wat’ry element.
But
VARIOUS SUBJECTS. Si
But thee, Maria, a kind Nereid’s ihield Preferv’d from finking, and thy form upheld : And fure fome heav’nly oracle deiign’d At that dread criiis to inftrubt thy mind	ao
Things of eternal confequence to weigh,
And to thine heart juft feelings to convey Of things above, and of the future doom*
And what the births of the dread world to come.
From toiling feas I welcome thee to land. 25 “ Refign her, Nereid” ’twas thy God’s command. Thy fpoufe late buried, as thy fears conceiv’d, Again returns, thy fears are all reliev’d :
Thy daughter blooming with fuperior grace Again thou fee’ft, again thine arms embrace •, 30 O come, and joyful ihow thy fpoufe his heir,
And what the bleflings of maternal care !
t	X«POEMS on
82
To a Lady and her Children, on the Death of her Son and their Brother.
O’Erwhelming forrow now demands my fong: From death the overwhelming forrow iprung. What flowing tears ? What hearts with grief op-preit ?
What fighs on fighs heave the fond parent’s brealt ?
The brother weeps, the haplefs fillers join	5
Th’ increafing woe, and fwell the cryilal brine; The poor, who once his gen’rous bounty fed, Droop, and bewail their benefadlor dead.
In death the friend, the kind companion lies, And in one death what various comfort dies !	1®
Th’ unhappy mother fees the fanguine rill Forget to flow, and nature’s wheels Hand Hill, But fee from earth his fpirit far remov’d,
And know no grief recals your beit-belov’d:
r	' He,*3
i5
VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
He, upon pinions fwifter than the wind,
Has left mortality’s fad fcenes behind For joys to this terreftrial Rate unknown,
And glories richer than the monarch’s crown.
Of virtue’s Heady courfe the prize behold !
What blifsful wonders to his mind unfold !	20
But of celeftial joys I fmg in vain:
Attempt not, mufe, the too advent’rous ilrain.
No more in briny Ihow’rs, ye friends around, Or bathe his clay, or wafte them on the ground: Still do you weep, Hill wifh for his return ?	25
How cruel thus to wiih, and thus to mourn ?
No more for him the ftreams of forrow pour,
But haile to join him on the heav’nly ihore,
On harps of gold to tune immortal lays,
And to your God immortal anthems raife. 30
L 2
T©To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady’s Brother and Sifter, and a Child of the Name Avis, aged one Year.
N Death's domain intent I fix my eyes, v~' Where human nature in vaft ruin lies :
With penfive mind I fearch the drear abode, Where the great conqu’ror has his fpoils bellow’d ; There there the offspring of fix thoufand years 5 In endlefs numbers to my view appears:
Whole kingdoms in his gloomy den are thruft, And nations mix with their primeval duft : Infatiate ftill he gluts the ample tomb ;
His is the prefen t, his the age to come.	iq
See here a brother, here a lifter fpread,
And a fweet daughter mingled with the dead.
But, Madam, let your grief be laid afide,
And let the fountain of your tears be dry’d,
In vain they flow to wet the dufty plain,	15
Your fighs are wafted to the Ikies in vain,
YourVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 85
Your pains they witnefs, but they can no more, While Death reigns tyrant o’er this mortal ihore.
The glowing ftars and filver queen of light At lait muft perifh in the gloom of night:	20
Refign thy friends to that Almighty hand,
Which gave them life, and bow to his command; Thine Avis give without a murm’ring heart, Though half thy foul be fated to depart.
To fhining guards confign thine infant care 2£ To waft triumphant through the feas of air :
Her foul enlarg’d to heav’nly pleafure fprings,
She feeds on truth and uncreated things.
Methinks I hear her in the realms above,
And leaning forward with a filial love,	30
Invite you there to ihare immortal blifs Unknown, untafted in a itate like this.
With tow’ring hopes, and growing grace arife, And feek beatitude beyond the ikies.
v86	P O E M S o r
On the Death of Dr. SAMUEL MARSHALL.
I77I*
THROUGH thickeft glooms look back, immortal ihade,
On that confuiion which thy death has made j Or from Olympus' height look down, and fee A town involv’d in grief bereft of thee.
Thy Lucy fees thee mingle with the dead,	5
And rends the graceful trefies from her head, .Wild in her woe, with grief unknown oppreft Si°h follows figh deep heaving trom hei breait.
Too quickly fed, ah 1 whither art thou gone ? Ah! loft for ever to thy wife and fon !	10
The haplefs child, thine only hope and heir, Clings round his mother’s neck, and weeps his for rows there.
The lofs of thee on Tyler's foul returns,
And Bofton for her dear phyftcian mourns.
WhenVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 8;
When iicknefs call’d for MarJIjail's healing hand,	15
With what companion did his foul expand ?
In him we found the father and the friend :
In life how lov’d 1 how honour’d in his end !
And mull not then our JEfculapius ilay To bring his ling’ring infant into day ?	a©
The babe unborn in the dark womb is toil,
And feems in anguiih for its father loft.
Gone is Apollo from his houfe of earth,
But leaves the fweet memorials of his worth:
The common parent, whom we all deplore, 25 Erom yonder world unieen mult come no more, Yet ’midil our woes immortal hopes attend The fpoufe, the fire, the univerfal friend.
ToPOEMS on
To a Gentleman on his Voyage to Great-Britain for the Recovery of his Health.
WHILE others chant of gay Elyfian fcenes, Of balmy zephyrs, and of flow’ry plains, My fong more happy fpeaks a greater name,
Feels higher motives and a nobler flame.
For thee, OR—, the mufe attunes her firings, 5 And mounts fublime above inferior things.
I ling not now of green embow’ring woods,
I fmg not now the daughters of the floods,
I flng not of the llorms o’er ocean driv’n,
And how they howl’d along the waile of heav’n, 10 But I to R— would paint the Britijh ihore,
And vail Atlantic, not untry’d before :
Thy life impair’d commands thee to arife,
Leave thefe bleak regions, and inclement ikies, Where chilling winds return the winter pail, 15 And nature ihudders at the furious blail.
O thouVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 89
O thou itupendous, earth-enclofing main Exert thy wonders to the world again !
If ere thy pow’r prolong’d the fleeting breath, Turn’d back the ihafts, and mock’d the gates of death,	20
If ere thine air difpens’d an healing pow’r,
Or fnatch’d the vicflim from the fatal hour,
This equal cafe demands thine equal care,
And equal wonders may this patient fhare.
But unavailing, frantic is the dream	25
To hope thine aid without the aid of him Who gave thee birth, and taught thee where to flow,
And in thy waves his various bkffings fnow.
May R— return to view his native fhore Replete with vigour not his own before,	30
Then fhall we fee with pleafure and furprize,
And own thy work, great Ruler of the ikies !
T<*
MTo the Rev. Dr. THOMAS AMORY on reading his Sermons on Daily Devotion, in which that Duty is recommended and affiled.
TO cultivate in ev’ry noble mind
Habitual grace, and fentiments refin’d,
Thus while you itrive to mend the human heart, Thus while the heav’nly precepts you impart,
O may each bofom catch the facred fire,	5
And youthful minds to Virtue's throne afpire!
"When God’s eternal ways you fet in fight, And Virtue fhines in all her native light,
In vain would Vice her works in night conceal, For Wifdom's eye pervades the fable veil. 1»
Artifts may paint the fun’s effulgent rays, But Amory's pen the brighter God difplays: While his great works in Amcry's pages fhine, And while he proves his eilcnce all divine,VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 91
The Atheift fure no more can boail aloud	15
Of chance, or nature, and exclude the God ;
As if the clay without the potter’s aid Should rife in various forms, and fhapes felf-made, Or worlds above with orb o’er orb profound Self-mov’d could run the everlafting round. 20 It cannot be — unerring Wifdom guides With eye propitious, and o’er all prefides.
Still profper, Amory ! ilill may’il thou receive The warmeft bleffings which a mufe can give, And when this tranfitory ilate is o’er,	25
When kingdoms fall, and fleeting Fame's no more, May Amory triumph in immortal fame,
A noblerTitle, and fuperior name j
MOn the Death of J. C. an Infant.
"J O more the fiow’ry fcenes of pjeafure rife, Nor charming profpe&s greet the mental eyes,
No more with joy we view that lovely face Smiling, difportive, fluih’d with ev’ry grace.
The tear of forrow Hows from ev’ry eye, 5 Groans anfwer gro.ans, and iighs to fighs reply •, What fudden pangs ihot thro’ each aching heart, When, Death, thy meflen.ger difpatch’d his dart ? Thy dread attendants, all-deitroying Pcw'r, Hurried the infant to his mortal hour.	10
Could’ft thou unpitying dole thofe radiant
Or fail’d his artlefs beauties to fur.prize ? Could not his innocence thy itroke controul, Thy purpofe fnake, and foften all thy foul ?VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 93
The blooming babe, with fhades of Death o’er-fpread,	19
No more fhall fmile, no more iliall raife its head.
But, like a branch that from the tree is torn,
Falls prcftrate, wither’d, languid, and forlorn.
“ Where flies my James?” ’tis thus I feem to’ hear
The parent afk, tc Some angel tell me where 20!
“ He wings his paflage thro5 the yielding air ?” Methinks a cherub bending from the ikies Oblerves the queftion, and ferene replies,
“ In heav’ns high palaces your babe appears : cc Prepare to meet him, and difmifs your tears.” 25 Shall not th* intelligence your grief rcitrain,
And turn the mournful to the chearful ilrain ? Ceafe your complaints, fufpend each fifing figh, Ceafe to accufe the Ruler of the iky.
Parents, no more indulge the falling tear ;	30
Let Faith to heav’n’s refulgent domes repair,
There fee your infant, like a feraph glow :
What charms celeitial in his numbers flow
Melodious,54	P O E M S o n
Melodious, while the foul-enchanting ftrain Dwells on his tongue, and fills th* ethereal plain ? 35 Enough- for ever ceafeyourmurm’ring breath f Not as a foe, but friend converfe with Death, Since to the port of happinefs unknown He brought that treafure which you call your own. The gift cf heav’n intrufted to your hand 40^ Chearful reiign at the divine command :	\
Not at your bar muft fov’reign JViJdom Hand. \
AnVARIOUS SUBJECTS.
95
An H Y 1M N to H u m a n i t y. To S. P. G. Efq;
I.
LO ! for this dark terreilrial ball Forfakes his azure-paved hall A prince of heav’nly birth !
Divine Humanity behold.
What wonders rife, what charms unfold	5
At his defcent to earth!
II.
The bofoms of the great and good With wonder and delight he view’d,
And fix’d his empire there:
Him, clofe compreffing to his breail,	ro
The fire of gods and men addrefs’d,
“ My ion, my heav’nly fair !
III. “ Defcend96
; P ;;0 E m S - on
iii,
“ Defcend to earth, there place thy throne “To fuccour man’s afflicted fon
“ Each human heart infpire :	15
“ To act in bounties unconfin’d “ Enlarge the clofe contracted mind,
“ And fill it with thy fire.”
IV.
Quick as the word, with fwift career He wings his courfe from ftar to ftar,	20
And leaves the bright abode.
The Virtue did his charms impart;
Their G~—y I then thy raptur’d heart Perceiv’d the milling God :
V.
For when thy pitying eye did fee	25
The languid mufe in low degree,
Then,' then at thy defire Defcended the celeilial nine •,
O’er me methought they deign’d to ihine,
* And deign’d to firing my lyre.	3°
VI.	CanVARIOUS SUBJECTS.
97
VI.
Can Afric's mule forgetful prove ? Or can fuch friendihip fail to move A tender human heart ? Immortal Friendjhip laurel-crown’d The fmiling Graces all furround With ev’ry heav’nly Art.
T#
NPOEMS on
To the Honourable T. H. Efq-, on the Death of his Daughter.
WHILE deep you mourn beneath the cyprefS'fhade
The hand of Death, and your dear daughter laid In duft, whofe abfence gives your tears to flow, And racks your bofom with mediant woe,
Let Recollection take a tender part,	5
Affuage the raging tortures of your heart,
Still the wild temped: of tumultuous grief,
And pour the heav’nly ne£tar of relief :
Sulpend the iigh, dear Sir, and check the groan, Divinely bright your daughter’s Virtues ihone : i® How free from fcornful pride her gentle mind, Which ne’er its aid to indigence declin’d! Expanding free, it fought the means to prove Unfailing charity, unbounded love !
She unrelu&ant flies to fee no more	15
Her dear-lov’d parents on earth’s duiky ihore :
ImpatientVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 99
Impatient heav’n’s refplendent goal to gain,
*
• She with fwift progrefs cuts the azure plain, Where grief fubiides, where changes are no more, And life’s tumultuous billows ceafe to roar-, 20 She leaves her earthly manfion for the ikies, Where new creations feaft her wond’ring eyes.
To heav’n’s high mandate chearfully refign’d She mounts, and leaves the rolling globe behind ; She, who late wiih’d that Leonard might return, 25 Has ceas’d to languish, and forgot to mourn ; d 0 the fame high empyreal manfions come,
She joins her fpoufe, and frniles upon the tomb: And thus I hear her from the realms above :
44 Lo ! this the kingdom of celeftial love! 30 44 Could ye, fond parents, fee our prefent blifs,
44 How foon would you each figh, each fear dif* 44 mifs ?
44 Amidft unutter’d pleafures whilft I play 44 In the fair funfhine of celeftial day,
44 As far.as grief affe&s an happy foul	35
♦4 So far doth grief my better mind controul,
N 2	66 TaVARIOUS S U B J ECTS, i©*
NIOBE in Diftrefs for her Children (lain by Apollo, from Ovid's Metamorphofes, Book VI. and from a view of the Painting of Mr. Richard Wilfon.
POLLO’s
fpring
wrath to man the dreadful
Of ills Innum’rous, tuneful goddefs, fing !
I hou who did’ft firft th* ideal pencil oive And taught’ft the painter in his works to live, Infpire with glowing energy of thought,
What Wilfon painted, and what Ovid wrote. Mufe ! lend thy aid, noF let me file in vain, Vho laft and roeaneft of the rirymmg train ^
O gllide my pen in lofty ftrains to ftiow The Phrygian queen, all beautiful in woe.
sTwas where Maonia fpreads her wide domain Niore dwelt, and held her potent reign ;
See in ner hand the regal fceptre Urine,
The wealthy heir of Tantalus divine*
He§
102
POEMS
O N
L"':
He mod didinguiih’d by Dodonean Jove,
To approach the tables of the gods above : Her grandfire Atlas, who with mighty pains Th* ethereal axis on his neck ludains :
Her other gran fire on the throne on high Rolls the loud-pealing thunder thro’ the iky.
15
20
Her fpoufe, Amphion, who from Jove too fprings, Divinely taught to iweep the founding firings.
Seven Uprightly fons the royal bed adorn,
Seven daughters beauteous as the op’ning ®prn, As when Aurora fills the ravifh’d fight,	25
And decks the orient realms with roly light From their bright eyt s the living fplendors play, Nor can beholders bear the flaihing ray.
Wherever, Niohe, thou turn’ll thine eyes,
New beauties kindle, and new joys arife !	30
But thou had’d far the happier mother prov’d,
If this fair offspring had been lefs belov’d:
WhatVARIOUS SUBJECTS.
What if their charms exceed Aurora's teint,
No words could tell them, and no pencil paint, Thy love too vehement haftens to deftroy 35 Each blooming maid, and each celeitial boy.
Now Manto comes, endu’d with mighty ikill, The pail to explore, the future to reveal.
Thro* ‘Thebes' wide ilreets Tirefia's daughter came, Divine Latona's mandate to proclaim :	40
The Theban maids to bear the orders ran,
When thus Mceonia's prophetefs began :
“ Go, Thebans! great Latona's will obey,
11 And pious tribute at her altars pay :
“ With rights divine, the goddefs be implor’d, 45, “ Nor be her iacred offspring unador’d.”
Thus Manto fpcke. The Theban maids obey,
And pious tribute to the goddefs pay.
The rich perfumes afcend in waving fpires,
And altars blaze with confecrated fires;	50
The fair afiembly moves with graceful air,
And Naves of laurel bind the flowing hair.
Niobei ©4
POEMS o n
Niobe comes with all her royal race,
With charm! unnumber’d, and fuperior grace : Pier Phrygian garments of delightful hue, 55 Inwove with gold, refulgent to the v:ew,
Beyond defcription beautiful fhe moves
Like heav’nly Venus, ’midit her fmiles and loves:
She views around the fupplicating train,
And fhakes her graceful head with Bern dif-dain,	60
Proudly fhe turns around her lofty eyes,
And thus reviles celeitial deities:
“ What madnefs drives the tTheban ladies fair “ To give their incenfe to furrounding air ?
“ Say why this new7 fprung deity preferr’d ?	65
<s Why vainly fancy your petitions heard ?
“ Or fay why Casus’ offspring is obey’d,
“ While to my goddefship no tribute’s paid ?
44 For me no altars blaze with living fires,
“ No bullock bleeds, no frankincenfe tranlpires, 7# “ Tho’ Cadmm’ palace, not unknown to fame,
“ And Phrygian nations all revere my name.
“ Where’erVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 105
44 Where’er I turn my eyes vail wealth I find.
“ Lo ! here an empreis with a goddefs join’d.
“ What, fhall a Titanefs be deify’d,	75
“To whom the fpacious earth a couch deny’d ?
“ Nor heav’n, nor earth, nor fea receiv’d your “ queeh,
“ ’Till pitying Delos took the wand’rer in.
“ Round me what a large progeny is fpread !
“ No frowns of fortune has my foul to dread. So “ What if indignant fhe decreafe my train “ More than Latona's number will remain ?
“ Then hence, ye Theban dames, hence hafte “ away,
“ Nor longer offerings to Latona pay ? c< Regard the orders of Amphiotfs ipoufe,	8 5
44 And take the leaves of laurel from your brows.’* Niobe fpoke. The 'Theban maids obey’d,
Their brows unbound, and left the rights unpaid.
The angry goddefs heard, then filence broke On Cynthus’ fyunmit, and indignant fpoke ;	90
O	44 Phzbus Lio 6
POEMS on
44 Phoebus! behold, thy mother in difgrace,
44 Who to no goddefs yields the prior place “ Except to Juno's felf, who reigns above,
44 The ipoufe and filler of the thund’ring Jove*
44 Niobe fprung from Pantalus infpires	95
44 Each Pheban bofom with rebellious fires ;
44 No reafon her imperious temper quells,
44 But all her father in her tongue rebels;
44 Wrap her own fons for her blafpheming breath, 44 Apollo ! wrap them in the iliades of death.” 100 Latona ceas’d, and ardent thus replies,
The God, whofe glory decks th’ expanded ikies,
44 Ceafe thy complaints, mine be the talk af-44 fign’d
44 To punifh pride, and fcourge the rebel mind.” This Phoebe join’d.—They wing their inilant flight;	105
Phebes trembled as th’ immortal pow’rs alight.
With clouds incompafs’d glorious Phoebus Hands;
The feather’d vengeance quiv’ring in his hands.
NearVARIOUS SUBJECTS.
107
Near Cadmus’ walls a plain extended lay,
Where Thebes' young princes pafs’d in fport the day:-	Ila
There the bold couriers bounded o’er the plains, While their great mailers held the golden reins. Ifmenus firil the racing pailime led,
And rul’d the fury of his flying ileed.
“ Ah me,” he fudden cries, with fhrieking breath,	1J$
While in his bread: he feels the ihaftof death ;
He drops the bridle on his courier’s mane,
Before his eyes in ihadows fwims the plain,
He, the firil-born of great Amphion's bed, *
Was ilruck the firil, firil mingled with the dead«	I2@
Then didfl thou, Sipylus, the language hear Of fate portentous whiitling in the air:
As when th’ impending ilorm the failor fees He fpreads his canvas to the fav’ring breeze,
O 2	SoJo8	POEMS on
So to thine horfe thou gav’it the golden reins, Gav’ft him to ruih impetuous o’er the plains:
But ah ! a fatal iliaft from Phoebus' hand Smites through thy neck, and finks thee on the fand.
Two other brothers were at wrefiling found.
And in their paftime clafpt each other round : 130 A ihaft that infant from Apollo’s hand Transfixt them both, and ftretcht them on the fand :
Together they their cruel fate bemoan’d,
Together languifh’d, and together groan’d : Together too th’ unbodied fpirits fled,	135
And fought the gloomy manfions of the dead.
Alphenor faw, and trembling at the view,
Beat his torn breait, that chang’d its fnowy hue. He flies to raife them in a kind embrace;
A brother’s fondnefs triumphs in his face:	140
Alphenor fails in this fraternal deed,
A dart difpatch’d him (fo the fates decreed:)
SopaVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 109
Soon as the arrow left the deadly wound,
JTs iituing entrails fmoak’d upon the ground.
What woes on blooming Damafichon wait!	14^
His fighs portend his near impending fate.
Juft where the well-made leg begins to be,
And the foft fmews form the fupple knee,
The youth fore wounded by the Delian god Attempts t? extradt the crime-avenging rod, i|o But, whilft he ftrives the will of fate t* avert, Divine ApGllo fends a fecond dart •,
Swift thro* his throat the feather’d mifchief flies, Bereft of fenfe, he drops his head, and dies.
Young Ilioneus, thelaft, directs his pray’r, 155 And cries, “ My life, ye gods celeftial! fpare.” Apollo heard, and pity touch’d his heart,
But ah ! too late, for he had fent the dart:
Thou too, O Ilioneus, are doom’d to fall,
The fates refufe that arrow to recah	169
Onno
P O E M S ON
On the fwift wings of ever* flying Fame To Cadmus' palace foon the tidings came :
Nlobe heard, and with indignant eyes She thus exprefs’d her anger and furprize :
<c Why is fuch privilege to them allow’d ?	165
£c Why thus infulted by the 'Delian god ?
4t Dwells there fuch mifchief in the pow’rs above r 44 Why deeps the vengeance of immortal Jove ?” For now Amphion too, with grief opprefs’d,
Flad plung’d the deadly dagger in his bread, iyo Niche now, lefs haughty than before,
Writh lofty head direfls her fteps no more.
She, who late told her pedigree divine,
And drove the Thebans from Latova's dirlne,
How itrangeiy chang’d!---------yet beautiful in
woe,	175
She weeps, nor weeps unpity’d by the foe.
On each pale corfe the wretched mother fpread Lay overwhelm’d with grief, and kifs’d her dead, Then rais’d her arms, and thus, in accents flow, 44 Be fated cruel Goddsjs! with my woe ;	180
« IfIll
VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
“ I’ve offended, let thefe ftreaming eyes,
<e And let this fev’nfold funeral fuilice : ic Ah ! take this wretched life you deign’d to fave “ With them I too am carried to the grave.
“ Rejoice triumphant, my victorious foe,
“ But ihow the caufe from whence your triumphs “ flow ?
TiiO i unhappy mourn thefe children flain, et greatei numbers to my lot remain 51
She ceas d, the bow firing twang’d with awful found,
Which flruck with terror ail th’ aifembly round, Except the queen, who flood unmov’d alone,
By her diilreifes more prefumptuous grown.
Near the pale corfes flood their Afters fair In fable veftures and 'diiheveil’d hair ;
One, while flie draws the fatal fhaft away, lgs Faints, falls, and fickens at the light of day To footh her mother, lo ! another flies,
| ^ilc^ Starnes the fury of inclement ikies,
And, while her words a filial pity ihow, *
; ■ ^truc^ dumb ——indignant feeks the fhades below.
200
Now112
P O E M S on
Now from the fatal place another flies,
Falls in her flight, and languiflies, and dies. Another on her After drops in death A fifth in trembling terrors yields her breath; While the * fixth feeks fome gloomy cave in
vain,	20 5
Struck with the reft, and mingl’d with the flain.
One only daughter lives, and fine the leait The queen clofe clafp’d the daughter to her oieaft, “ Ye heav’nly pow’rs, ah fpare me one,’ (lie cry d, “ Ah ! fpare me one,” the vocal hills reply d: 210 In vain ihe begs, the Fates her fuit deny,
In her embrace ihe lees her daughter die.
*	u The queen of all her family bereft,
ct Without or huiband, fon, or daughter letc,
“ Grew ftupid at the ihock. The pafling air 215 « Made no imprefllon on her ftiff’ning hair.
*	This Verfe to the End is the Work of another Hand.
“ TheVARIOUS SUBJECTS. 11%
“ The blood forfook her face : amidft the flood
“ Four’d f‘rom her cheeks, quite fix’d her eye-balls “ flood.
Her tongue, her palate both obdurate grew,
“ Her curdled veins no longer motion knew; 22« “ The ufe of neck, and arms, and feet was gone,
“ And ev’n her bowels hard’ned into ilone:
“ A marble ftatue now the queen appears,
But from the marble ileal the filent tears.POEMS on
To S. M. a young African Painter, on feeing
O ihow the lab-fin g bofom’s deep intent,
And thought in living chara&ers to paint, When firft thy pencil did thofe beauties give, And breathing figures learnt from thee to live, How did thofe profpe&s give my foul delight, 5 A new creation milling on my fight ?
Still, wond’rous youth! each noble path purfue, On deathlefs glories fix thine ardent view :
Still may the painter’s and the poet’s fire To aid thy pencil, and thy verfe confpire ! it And may the charms of each feraphic theme Conduit thy footfteps to immortal fame!
High to the blifsful wonders of the fkies Elate thy foul, and raife thy wiihful eyes.
Thrice happy, when exalted to furvey	H
That fplendid city, crown’d with endlefs day, Whofe twice fix gates on radiant hinges ring; Celeftial Salem blooms in endlefs fpring.
his Works.
VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 115
Calm and ferene thy moments glide along,
And may the mufe infpire each future fong !	20
Still, with the fweets of contemplation blefs’d, May peace with balmy wings your foul inveft! But when thefe ihades of time are chas’d away, And darknefs ends in everlafling day,
On what feraphic pinions ihall we move,	25
And view the landfcapes in the realms above ? There ihall thy tongue in heav’nly murmurs Jow, And there my mufe with heav’nly tranfport glow : No more to tell of Damon's tender fighs,
Or rifing radiance of Aurora's eyes,	30
For nobler themes demand a nobler drain,
And purer language on th’ ethereal plain.
Ceafe, gentle mufe ! the folemn gloom of night Mow feals the fair creation from my fight.
P 2	*	T#n 6	POEMS on
To His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, on the Deach of his Lady. March 24, 1773.
AL L-conquering Death! by thy refiftlefs pow’r,
Hope’s tow’ring plumage falls to rife no more \ Of fcenes terreftrial hew the glories fly,
Forget their fplendors, and lubmit to die J Who ere efcap’d thee, but the faint * of old 5 Beyond the flood in facred annals told,
And the great fage, -j- whom fiery courfes drew To heav!rfls bright portals from Elijha's view ^ Wbnd’ring he gaz’d at the refulgent car,
1 hen fnatch’d the mantle floating on the air. iq From Death thefe only could exemption boail, And without dying gain’d th’ immortal coafb.
Not falling millions fate the tyrant’s mind,
Nor can the vigor’s progrefs be confin’d.
But ceafc thy ftrife with Death, fond Nature,
- ceafe : ’'	15
He leads the virtuous to the realms of peace ;
* Enoch. f Elijah,
' *	HisVARIOUS SUBJECTS.
His to conduct to the immortal plains,
Where heav’n’s Supreme in blifs and glory reigns.
There fits, illuftrious Sir, thy beauteous fpoufe* A gem-blaz’d circle beaming on her brows. 29 Hail’d with acclaim among the heav’nly choirs, Her foul new-kindling with leraphic fires,
To notes divine ihe tunes the vocal firings,
While heav’n’s high concave with the mufic rings, r Virtue's rewards can mortal pencil paint ?	25
No—all defcriptive arts, and eloquence are faint; Nor canit thou, Oliver, afient refuie To heav’nly tidings from ine Afric mufe.
As foon may change thy laws, eternal fate,
As the faint mifs the glories I relate j	3©
Or her Benevolence forgotten lie,
Which wip’d the trick’iing tear from Mis'rfs eye. Whene’er the adverfe winds were known to blow, When lofs to lofs * enfu’d, and woe to wx>e,
* Three amiable Daughters who died when juft arrived to Womens Eftate.
Calmti&	POEMS ON
Calm and ferene beneath her father’s hand 35 She fat refign’d to the divine command.
No longer then, great Sir, her death deplore, And let us hear the mournful iigh no more, Reftrain the forrow ftreaming from thine eye,
Be all thy future moments crown’d with joy ! 4® Nor let thy wifhes be to earth confin’d,
But foaring high purfue th’ unbodied mind. Forgive the mufe, forgive th’ advent’rous lays, *That fain thy foul to heav’nly fcenes would raife.
A FarewelVARIOUS SUBJECTS, iijf
A Farewel to AMERICA. To Mrs. S. Wfl'
I.
A DIEU, New-England's fmiling meads,'
\ Adieu, the flow’ry plain :
I leave thine op’ning charms, O fpring,
And tempt the roaring main.
II.
In vain for me the flow’rets rife,	g
And boaft their gaudy pride,
While here beneath the northern ikies I mourn for health deny’d.
III.
Celeitial maid of rofy hue,
O let me feel thy reign !	ilQ
I languiih till thy face I view,
Thy vanifh’d joys regain.
IV,	SufannabizOt IS O E M S on
IV.
Sufannah mourns, nor can I bear To lee the cryftal fhow’r,
Or mark the tender falling tear	15
At fad departure’s hour;
V.
Not unregarding can I fee
Her foul with grief oppreil:
But let no fighs, no groans for me,
Steal from her penfive breaft.	20
VI.
In vain the feather’d warblers fing,
In vain the garden blooms,
And on the bofom of the fpring
Breathes out her fweet perfumes,
VII.
While for Britannia's diftant lbore	25
We fweep the liquid plain,
And with aftoniih’d eyes explore The wide-extended main,
VIII. Lo!VAFXpUS SUBJECTS, in
VIII.
Lo! Health appears! celeftial dame!
Complacent and fererie,
With Hebe’s mantle o’er her Frame,	go
With foul-delighting mein.
IX.
To mark the vale where London lies With mifty vapours crown’d,
Which cloud Aurora’s thoufand dyes,	jjjtf
And veil her charms around,
X.
Why, Phoebus, moves thy car fo flow ?
So flow thy rifing ray ?
Give us the famous town to view^
Thou glorious king of day !	41$
XI.
For thee, Britannia, I refign New-England’s fouling fields;
To view again her charms divine,
What joy the profpedt yields!
Q_
XII. But-XIII.
Thrice happy they* whofe heav’nly ihield Secures their fouls from harms,
And fell Tmptation on the field Of all its pow’r difarms!
Bofion, May/, 1773;VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 123 A REBUS, by I.B,
L
A BIRD .delicious to the tafte,
On which an army once did feaft,
Sent by an hand unfeen;
A creature of the horned race,
Which Britain's royal ftandards grace;	5
A gem of vivid green;
II.
A town of gaiety and fport,
Where beaux and beauteous nymphs refort,
And gallantry doth reign;
A Bar dan hero fam’d of old	10
For youth and beauty, as we’re told.
And by a monarch ilain;
III.
A peer of popular applaufe,
Who doth our violated laws.
And grievances proclaim.	15
Th’ initials fhow a vanquiih’d town,
That adds freih glory and renown To old Britannia's fame.
An124
POEMS
ON
An Answer to the Rebus, by the Author of thefe Poems,
H E poet aiks, and Phillis can’t refufe To ihew th’obedience pf the Infant mufe.
She knows the Quail of moil inviting taile FedIfraeVs army in the dreary wade;
And what’s on Britain's royal ftandard borne, 5 But the tall, graceful, rampant Unicorn ?
The Emerald with a vivid verdure glows Among the gems which regal crowns compofe; Bcfton's a town, polite and debonair,
To which the beaux and beauteous nymphs repair, Each Helen ilrikes the mind with fweet furprife, While living lightning fiaihes from her eyes,
See young Euphorbus of the Dardan line By Menelaus’ hand to death refign :
The well known peer of popular applaufe |s C—m zealous to fupport our laws.
Quebec now vanquifh’d mull obey,
She too muft annual tribute pay | To Britain of immortal fame,
Apd add new glory to her name,
F I N I S.CONTENTS.
rr O Mæcenas	Page 9
-*■ On Virtue	¡3
To the Univerfity of Cambridge, in New-	
England	*5
To the King’s Moil Excellent Majeity	l7
On being brought from Africa	18
On the Rev. Dr. Sewell	*9
On the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield	21
On the Death of a young Lady of five Years	
of Age	*5
On the Death of a young Gentleman	27
To a Lady on the Death of her Huiband	29
Goliath of Gath	3*
Thoughts on the Works of Providence	43
To a Lady on the Death of three Relations	5*
To a Clergyman on the Death of his Lady	53
jAn Hymn to the Morning	56
4m Hymn to the Evening	58
	OnCONTENTS..
On Ifaiah Ixiii. i—3	6$
On Recolle&ion	62
On Imagination	$5
A Funeral Poem on the Death of an Infant aged twelve Months	69
To Captain H. D> of the 65th Regiment	72
To the Rt. Hon. William, Earl of Dartmouth 73 Ode to Neptune	7^
To a Lady on her coming to North America with her Son, for the Recovery of her Health 78 To a Lady on her remarkable Prefervation in a Hurricane in North Carolina	80
To a Lady and her Children on the Death of her Son, and their Brother	82
To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady’s Brother and Sifter, and a Child of the Name of Avis, aged one Year	84
•On the Death of Dr. Samuel Marihall	86
To a Gentleman on his Voyage to Great-Britain, for the Recovery of his Health	88
To the Rev. Dr. Thomas Amory on reading his Sermons on Daily Devotion, in which that Duty is recommended and ailifted	9°
OnCONTENTS;
On the Death of J. C. an Infant	92
An Hymn to Humanity	95
To the Hon. T. H. Efqj on the Death of his Daughter	98
Niobe in Diftrefs for her Children (lain by Apollo, from Ovid's Metamorphofes, Book VI. and from a View of the Painting of
Mr. Richard Wilfon	10 r
To S. M. a young African Painter, on feeing his Works	114
To his Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, on the Death of his Lady	116
A Farewel to America	119
A Rebus by I. B.	123
An Anfwer to ditto, by PhiUis Wheatley	124Lately Publijhed in 2 vols. Twelves, (Price 5s. fewed,.)
THE
MEMOIRS
O F
Miss W I L L I A M S,
A
History founded on	Facts.
By A. B * * *,
LONDON: Printed for E. Johnson, in Ave Mary Lane; and A. Bell, near the Saracen’s Head, ALDGATE.
W r i t t e n by the fame A u t h o r,
Shortly will be publijhed, (in a neat Pocket Volume,)
THE
CHURCH-MEMBER’S DIRECTORY, EVERY CHRISTIAN’S COMPANION.
Defigned for the Ufe of fuch as have engaged in a folemn Connexion with Christ’s Viiible Church.
WHEREIN
The Duties of that high Relation are coafiaered, both in a religious and moral Point of View.
Let every one that nameth the name of Chriji depart from iniquity. 2 Tim. Chap. ii. v. 19.
TOGETHER WITH
Ail Address to thofe who have an Intention of entering upon that important Character.
For vjhich of you intending to build a tower, ftteth not down frf and counteth the oof, whether he have fuffieient to finilh it P Left haply after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to fnijh it, all that behold it, begin to mock him.
Haying, Phis man began to build, and was not able to finijh.
Luke Chap, xiv. Ver. 28, 29, 30.