BLESS'D that abode, where want and pain repair, And ev'ry stranger finds a ready chair;
Bless'd be those feasts, with simple plenty crown'd,
When all the ruddy family around
Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail,
Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale ;
Or press the bashful stranger to his food,
And learn the luxury of doing good!
And wiser he whose sympathetic mind
Exults in all the good of all mankind,
And estimate the blessings which they share;
Tho' patriots flatter, still shall Wisdom find
An equal portion dealt to all mankind.
Here beggar-pride defrauds her daily cheer,
To boast one splendid banquet once a year.
The mind still turns where shifting fashion draws,
Nor weighs the solid worth of self-applause. ·
How small, of all that human hearts endure,
That part which lords or kings can cause or cure.
Still to ourselves in ev'ry place consign'd,
Our own felicity we make or find.
But the long pomp, the midnight masquerade,
With all the freaks of wanton wealth array'd,
In these, ere triflers half their wish obtain,
The toiling pleasure sickens into pain:
And ev'n while fashion's brightest arts decoy,
The heart distrusting asks if this be joy?
O Luxury! thou curst by Heav'n's decree,
How ill-exchang'd are charities for thee!
How do thy potions, with insidious joy,
Diffuse their pleasures only to destroy!
DR. ROBERTS.
Perish the slave,
Whose venal breath in youth's unpractis'd ear
Pours poison'd flatterry, and corrupts the soul
With vain conceit.
Let not affection's full impetuous tide,
Which riots in thy gen'rous breast, be check'd
By selfish cares; nor let the idle jeers
Of laughing fools make thee forget thyself.
When didst thou hear a tender tale of woe,
And feel thy heart at rest? Have I not seen
In thy swoln eye the tear of sympathy,
The milk of human kindness? When didst thou,
With envy rankling, hear a rival prais'd?
When didst thou slight the wretched? when despise
The modest humble suit of poverty?
These virtues still be thine, nor ever learn
To look with cold eye on the charities
Of brother or of parents; think on those
Whose every wish is wafted still to thee.
There are, who, deaf to mad ambition's call,
Would shrink to hear th' obstreperous trump of
Supremely blest, if to their portion fall
Health, competence, and peace.
Liberal, not lavish, is kind nature's hand,
Nor was perfection made for man below.
Wilt thou debase the heart which GOD refined? No let thy heaven-taught soul to heaven aspire.
O how canst thou renounce the boundless store
Of charms, which nature to her votary yields!
These charms shall work thy soul's eternal health,
And love, and gentleness, and joy, impart.
But these thou must renounce, if lust of wealth
E'er win its way to thy corrupted heart;
For, ah! it poisons like the scorpion's dart.
From labour health, from health contentment springs;
Contentment opes the source of every joy.
His heart, from cruel sport estranged, would bleed To work the woe of any living thing.
And from the prayer of want and plaint of woe,
O never, never turn away thine ear.
O Edwin, while thy heart is yet sincere,
Th' assaults of discontent and doubt repel.
Dark even at noon-tide is our mortal sphere,
But let us hope,-to doubt is to rebel,
Let us exult in hope,-that all shall yet be well.
Oft from apparent ill our blessings rise;
O, then, renounce that impious self-esteem.
That aims to trace the secrets of the skies :
For thou art but of dust; be humble, and be wise."
Of chance or change, O! let not man complain,
Else shall he never, never cease to wail.
But spare, O time, whate'er of mental grace,
Of candour, love, or sympathy divine,
Whate'er of fancy's ray, or friendship's flame. is
Vigour from toil, from trouble patience grows.
True dignity is his, whose tranquil mind
Virtue has rais'd above the things below;25250" C Who, every hope and fear to heaven resign'd, Shrinks not, tho' fortune aim her deadliest blow.
If I one soul improve, I have not lived in vain.
We fare on earth as other men have fared :
Were they successful? let not?
despair. Was disappointment oft their sole reward? Yet shall their tale instruct, if it declare
How they have borne the load ourselves are doom'd to bear.
How sweet the words of Truth breath'd from the lips of Love.
Happy the man, who sees a GOD employ'd
In all the good and ill that chequer life!
Resolving all events, with their effects
And manifold results, into the will
And arbitration wise of the Supreme.
Time was, we closed as we began the day,
With decent duty, not ashamed to pray :
The practice was a bond upon the heart,
A pledge we gave for a consistent part:
Nor could we dare presumptuously displease
A Power confess'd so lately on our knees.
It seems the part of wisdom, and no sing
Against the law of love, to measure lots
With less distinguish'd than ourselves: that thus
We may with patience bear our moderate ills,
And sympathize with others suffering more.
O, friendly to the best pursuits of man,
Friendly to thought, to virtue, and to peace,
Domestic life in rural leisure pass'd :
Few know thy value, and few taste thy sweets.
WHAT age too soon to bring the stubborn will
To bow the neck?-Too early to instil
The love of truth in ev'ry gen rous mind;
Or fright from falsehood those of baser kind?
Is virtue so congenial to the soul,
That no instruction's wanted, no control?
On sound religion all his hopes were plac'd
Which to implant, each moment he embrac'd;
Nor fear'd just censure, if, in earliest youth,
He fixed the bias on the side of Truth;
Gave Virtue her foundation, safeguard, crown,
And furnish'd pleasures to the world unknown.
But tho' as thro' a glass his ways appear,
GOD leaves himself not without witness here, {
More fully seen hereafter, when that plan,WOOL
Which in its circle takes the whole of man,
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