STANZAS

On the late indecent Liberties taken with the Remains of the great Milton.Anno 1790.

ME too, perchance, in future days,
The sculptur'd stone shall show,
With Paphian Myrtle, or with Bays
Parnassian, on my brow.

But I, or ere that season come,
Escap'd from every care,
Shall reach my refuge in the tomb,
And sleep securely there.*

So sang in Roman tone and style,
The youthful Bard, ere long
Ordain'd to grace his native isle
With her sublimest song.

Who then but must conceive disdain,
Hearing the deed unblest

Of wretches who have dar'd profane
His dread sepulchral rest.

Ill fare the hands that heav'd the stones
Where Milton's ashes lay,

That trembled not to grasp his bones,
And steal his dust away.

*Forsitan et nostros ducat de marmore vultus Nectens aut Paphia myrti aut Parnasside lauri Fronde comas-At ego secura pace quiescam.

MILTON,

Oh ill-requited Bard! neglect
Thy living worth repaid,
And blind idolatrous respect
As much affronts thee dead.

A TALE

Founded on a Fact, which happened in January,

1779.

WHERE Humber pours his rich commercial stream
There dwelt a wretch who breath'd but to blaspheme.
In subterraneous caves his life he led,

Black as the mine in which he wrought for bread.
When on a day, emerging from the deep,

A Sabbath-day! (such Sabbaths thousands keep!)
The wages of his weekly toil he bore

To buy a cock-whose blood might win him more;
As if the noblest of the feather'd kind
Were but for battle and for death design'd;
As if the consecrated hours were meant
For sport, to minds on cruelty intent;
It chanc'd (such chances Providence obey!)
He met a fellow labourer on the way,

Whose heart the same desires had once inflam'd;
But now the savage temper was reclaim'd,
Persuasion on his lips had taken place;

For all plead well who plead the cause of Grace
His iron heart with scripture he assail'd,
Woo'd him to hear a sermon, and prevail'd ;

His faithful bow the mighty preacher drew,
Swift, as the lightning-glimpse the arrow flew ;
He wept; he trembled; cast his eyes around,
To find a worse than he ; but none he found.
He felt his sins, and wonder'd he should feel;
Grace made the wound, and Grace alone could heal!

Now farewel oaths and blasphemies, and lies!
He quits the sinner's, for the martyr's prize.
That holy day was wash'd with many a tear,
Gilded with hope, yet shaded too by fear.
The next, his swarthy brethren of the mine
Learn'd by his alter'd speech the change divine f
Laugh'd when they should have wept, and swore the

day,

Was nigh, when he would swear as fast as they.

"No" said the Penitent :-"Such words shall share This breath no more; devoted now to prayer.

Oh! if Thou seest, (thine eye the future sees!)
That I shall yet again blaspheme like these ;
Now strike me to the ground, on which I kneel,
Ere yet this heart relapses into steel;

Now take me to that Heaven, I once defied,
Thy presence, thy embrace !"-He spoke and died

A TALE.

IN Scotland's realm, where trees are few,

Nor even shrubs abound;

But where, however bleak the view,

Some better things are found:

For husband there, and wife may

Their union undefil'd!

And false ones are as rare almost,
As hedge-rows in the wild:

boast

In Scotland's realm, forlorn and bare,
This history chanc'd of late-

This history of a wedded pair,
A Chaffinch and his mate,

The spring drew near, each felt a breast
With genial instinct fill'd;
They pair'd, and only wish'd a nest,
But found not where to build.

The heaths uncover'd, and the moors,
Except with snow and sleet;
Sea-beaten rocks and naked shores

Could yield them no retreat.

Long time a breeding place they sought,
Till both grew vex'd and tir'd;

At length a ship arriving, brought
The good so long desir'd.

A ship!-Could such a restless thing,
Afford them place to rest?
Or was the merchant charg'd to bring
The homeless birds a nest.?

Hush!-Silent hearers profit most !This racer of the sea

Prov'd kinder to them than the coast; It serv'd them with a tree.

But such a tree! 'twas shaven deal,
The tree they call a mast;

And had a hollow with a wheel,

Through which the tackle pass'd.

Within that cavity aloft

Their roofless home they fixt; Form'd with materials neat and soft, Bents, wool, and feathers mixt.

Four ivory eggs soon pave its floor,
With russet specks bedight :-
The vessel weighs-forsakes the shore,
And lessens to the sight.

The mother bird is gone to sea,
As she had chang'd her kind;:

No!-Soon as from ashore he saw

The winged mansion move;

He flew to reach it, by a law
Of never-failing love!

Then perching at his consort's side,
Was briskly borne along;
The billows and the blasts defied,
And cheer'd her with a song.

The seaman, with sincere delight,
His feather'd shipmate eyes,

Scarce less exulting in the sight,

Than when he tows a prize.