ON A SIMILAR OCCASION. FOR THE YEAR 1790. Ne commonentem recta sperne. BUCHANAN. Despise not my good counsel. HE who sits from day to day, Hardly knows that he has sung. Where the watchman in his round So your verse-man I, and clerk, Duly at my time I come, Publishing to all aloud— Soon the grave must be your home, And your only suit, a shroud. But the monitory strain, Oft repeated in your ears, Seems to sound too much in vain, Wins no notice, wakes no fears. Can a truth, by all confess'd Of such magnitude and weight, Pleasure's call attention wins, Death and Judgment, Heav'n and Hell- No more move us than the bell, O then, ere the turf or tomb Spirit of instruction come, Make us learn, that we must die. ON A SIMILAR OCCASION, FOR THE YEAR 1792. Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, Happy the mortal, who has trac'd effects THANKLESS for favours from on high, But he, not wise enough to scan To ages in a world of pain, To ages, where he goes Gall'd by affliction's heavy chain, And hopeless of repose. Strange fondness of the human heart, Enamour'd of its harm! VIRG. Strange world, that costs it so much smart, And still has pow'r to charm. Whence has the world her magick pow'r ? Why deem we death a foe? Recoil from weary life's best hour, The cause is Conscience-Conscience oft Her tale of guilt renews : Then anxious to be longer spar'd "Tis judgment shakes him; there's the fear, Pay!-follow Christ, and all is paid: ON A SIMILAR OCCASION. FOR THE YEAR 1793. De sacris autem hac sit una sententia, ut conserventur.-CIC. DE LEG. But let us all concur in this one sentiment, that things sacred be inviolate. HE lives, who lives to God alone, For other source than God is none To live to God is to requite But life, within a narrow ring Is falsely nam'd, and no such thing, Can life in them deserve the name, Who only live to prove For what poor toys they can disclaim |