FALSE FRIENDSHIP.

THE man who styles himself my friend,
And quits me in disaster,
Is worse than perfidy's fag-end,

To thus betray his master;

Than such a friend, th' Almighty knows,
I'd rather have ten thousand foes.

What is he like?-A fawning cat,
Which purrs for your caresses,
But leaves you when he smells a rat,
In midst of deep distresses;

Nay lacerates with teeth and claws,
The hand that pats him with applause.

What is he like ?-The glozing snake, That charms his feather'd gazer, Whose only object is to make

A victim of his praiser;

Down drops the bird with feeble cries,
An unresisting sacrifice.

What is he like ?-His own dark shade,

Seen but in sunshine weather,

Of vanity's reflections made,

And something like a feather;

At ev'ry adverse breeze that blows, Round-round he flies-away he goes.

What is he like?-The crafty fox,
Who claim'd to be defender
Of unsuspecting chicken flocks,
When lo, the base pretender,
To make his declarations good,

Whips off their heads and sucks their blood.

What is he like?-That grim old elf,

Who flatter'd Mrs. Adam

To damn her husband and herself, (A very pretty madam :)

'Twas friendship's false beguiling arts,
First gave the world such aching hearts.

And what is Woman's friendship like,
That fairest of all creatures?
Digust it never fails to strike,
If treachery mark its features;
"Tis like a spirit of disgrace-
A demon with an angel face.

Take not away that life you cannot give;
For all things have an equal right to live.

REMORSE,

DRYDEN.

On killing a squirrel ́in a garret.

RASH was the hand and foul the deed,
That gave thee, thus to death a prey;
Oh! I could weep to see thee bleed,
And pant thy gasping life away.

What hadst thou done to merit death,
But gather for a future day?
Just to prolong thy little breath;
And yet I took thy life away.

For thou no wealth or fame didst crave-
No costly food, or clothing gay;
But only sought thy life to save,
And yet I took thy life away.

Poor little thing! how hard it strove
To shun the blows, as hid it lay;
But all could not my pity move,
I took its trembling life away..

Oh how inhospitably vile!

It came, a stranger, here to stay, To eat and drink, and live awhile, But I have torn its life away.

Too late I now repent the blow,

'Tis stiff, alas! and cold as clay! Its life to me it did not owe,

And yet I took its life away.

That Pow'r which gave all Nature law,
Whose summons we must all obey,
Gave thee thy vital breath to draw,
And yet I took that breath away.

Whether thou hast a mate to moan,

Or offspring dear, ah! who can say ? No harm to me thou e'er hadst done, And yet I took thy life away.

What millions do mankind destroy,

Of their own race, for pow'r or pay! Some would have kept thee for a toy ; But I have toy'd thy life away.

And if for this, remorse I feel,

If conscience sting, ah! what must they Endure, who wide destruction deal, And take the life of man away.

Oct. 1808.

N 2

TO THE BARD OF PHILADELPHIA, Who has so highly gratified the public with a poetical sarcasm on the " Solar spots."

Go wond'rous creature! mount where science guides,

Go, measure earth, weigh air, and stem the tides;
Instruct the planets in what course to run,
Correct old Time, and regulate the sun!
Go, teach ETERNAL WISDOM how to rule,
Then drop into thyself, and be a fool.

GO, impious mortal! merry make,
And place thy deathless soul at stake,
Against a little fun!

With all the pop-guns of thy wit,

No other subject couldst thou hit,
Than spots upon the sun?"

That glorious orb of light and heat,
Why like a foot-ball kick and beat?
And with a school-boy caper,

Disportive, hurl it all at once,
To strike the head of ev'ry dunce,
In ev'ry village paper?

How durst thou ridicule the cause,
Which seems to intercept those laws
Establish'd at creation?

And with a dull, sarcastic stroke,
Heav'n's wonders turn into a joke-
An idiot's admiration ?

POPE.