POEMS. From the Albany Register, Feb. 28, 1817. NATIVE GENIUS. We are indebted to WILLIAM RAY, Esq. of Onondaga, for the following pious and beautiful effusion. Mr. RAY is a self-taught genius. Many of his poems are very excellent, and want nothing but the prunings and graftings of his own judgment, in a deliberate moment, to render them worthy of universal patronage. In Religious Poetry, a new era is commencing. The plain and almost literal versions of the Psalms of David, in metrical composition, which have hitherto stood unrivalled, are giving way to versions of a more figurative and poetical cast, from the pens of BYRON and MOORE. The latter, we think, excels in his flights in this exalted and sublime region of the MUSES. But our own RAY, if he would but devote himself to the task, might prove that Europe is not the exclusive seat of the Muses, nor the only source of SACRED MELODIES, calculated to inspire a relish for Scriptural reading, and to instruct and delight the Philosopher and the Christian. In the following effusion, we perceive the son of adversity, calmly smiling at the storms of life, R which serve but to point him to a higher sphere of existence, to animate his hopes and brighten his prospects of " another and a better world." They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy." CONTRITE mourner! though thy tears, Hast thou lost a bosom friend, At the last great harvest day : Disappointments hast thou found, Keen afflictions dust thou feel, Poverty, disease, and pain? Know, the hand that wounds can heal, Temp'ral loss-eternal gain : Rich the harvest, sweet th' employ, Sent to call the wand'rer home, To exchange a puerile toy, Wounded mourner! cease to weep, Though foul crimes may stain thy soul, Bids thee wash, be clean, and whole; From the Plough Boy. In a former number, we mentioned Mr Ray as a poetical writer of more than ordinary merit. The following effusion will justify our opinion. The Sacred Melodies of Byron and Moore have been much admired, and many of them very justly.But we do not recollect one of them, and we have read them all, which we think superior to the following, which is avowedly from the pen of William Ray |