And qualities of mind, Methinks I see him powder'd red, Can such be cruel? Such can be With barbarous sports, whose fell delight 'Twixt birds to battle train'd. One feather'd champion he possess'd, It chanced, at last, when, on a day, He doom'd his favourite dead. He seized him fast, and from the pit The horrid sequel asks a veil, That can be, shall be, sunk.— All, suppliant, beg a milder fate Death menacing on all. But vengeance hung not far remote, Big with a curse too closely pent 'Tis not for us, with rash surmise, ON THE BENEFIT RECEIVED BY HIS MAJESTY FROM SEA-BATHING IN THE YEAR 1789. O SOVEREIGN of an isle renown'd For undisputed sway Wherever o'er yon gulf profound With juster claims she builds at length And well may boast the waves her strength HYMN, FOR THE USE OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AT OLNEY. HEAR, Lord, the song of praise and prayer, From infants made the public care, And taught to seek Thy face! Thanks for Thy Word, and for Thy Day; And grant us, we implore, Never to waste in sinful play Thy holy Sabbaths more. Thanks that we hear,-but oh! impart That we may listen with our heart, And learn as well as hear. *Written at the request of the Vicar of Olney, to be sung on the occasion of his preaching to the children of the Sunday School. For if vain thoughts the minds engage Of older far than we, What hope that at our heedless age Much hope, if Thou our spirits take Wisdom and bliss Thy word bestows, A sun that ne'er declines; And be Thy mercies shower'd on those ON THE RECEIPT OF A HAMPER.* THE straw-stuff'd hamper with his ruthless steel Forth came The rustling package first, bright straw of wheat, Or oats, or barley; next a bottle green Throat-full, clear spirits the contents, distill'd Of the fair mother of his friend-the Rose. ON A MISCHIEVOUS BULL, WHICH THE OWNER OF HIM SOLD AT THE AUTHOR'S INSTANCE. Go!-thou art all unfit to share The squirrel here his hoard provides, And woodpeckers explore the sides Of rugged oaks for worms. "My dear Friend-The hamper is come, and come safe; and the contents I can affirm, on my own knowledge, are excellent. It chanced that another hamper and a box came by the same conveyance, all which I unpacked and expounded in the hall, my cousin sitting meantime on the stairs, spectatress of the business; we diverted ourselves with imagining the manner in which Homer would have described the scene. Detailed in his circumstantial way, it would have furnished materials for a paragraph of considerable length in the Odyssey."-To Mr Rose, Oct. 4, 1789. The sheep here smooths the knotted thorn Ah!-I could pity the exiled From this secure retreat;- But thou canst taste no calm delight; Thy magnanimity in fight, Thy prowess, therefore, go! I care not whether east or north, The angry muse thus sings thee forth, VERSES TO THE MEMORY OF DR LLOYD, SPOKEN AT THE WESTMINSTER ELECTION NEXT AFTER HIS DECEASE. OUR good old friend is gone, gone to his rest, O ye of riper years, who recollect How once ye loved and eyed him with respect, He knew no wish that he might blush to speak, And richer than the rich in being so, Obtain'd the hearts of all, and such a meed He was the father of Robert Lloyd, and usher and under-master at Westminster for nearly fifty years. He retired from his occupation in his seventieth year, with a pension from the king. Though, living, thou hadst more desert than fame, ABIIT senex! Periit senex amabilis ! Florentiori vos juventute excolens Seu quando fractus, jamque donatus rude, Miscere gaudebat suas facetias Vixit probus, purâque simplex indole, Et dives æquâ mente,-charus omnibus, Ite, tituli! Meritis beatioribus Nec invidebat ille, si quibus favens Placide senex, levi quiescas cespite, Decus sit inditum, nec mortuo TO MRS THROCKMORTON, ON HER BEAUTIFUL TRANSCRIPT OF HORACE'S ODE MARIA, Could Horace have guess'd To his own little volume address'd, The honour which you have bestow'd, Who have traced it in characters here, So elegant, even, and neat, He had laugh'd at the critical sneer Which he seems to have trembled to meet. And sneer if you please, he had said, A nymph shall hereafter arise, "You must know that two odes by Horace have been lately discovered at Rome; I wanted them transcribed into the blank leaves of a little Horace of mine, and Mrs Throckmorton performed that service for me; in a blank leaf, therefore, of the same book I wrote the following."-To Lady Hesketh, Feb. 9, 1790. |