THE HALL OF JUSTICE. PART I. Confiteor facere hoc annos; sed et altera causa est, Ovid. MAGISTRATE, VAGRANT, CONSTABLE, &c. VAGRANT. TAKE, take away thy barbarous hand, And hear me, or my heart will break. MAGISTRATE. Fond wretch! and what canst thou relate, My crime! VAGRANT. -This sick'ning child to feed, I seized the food, your witness saw ; I knew your laws forbade the deed, But yielded to a stronger law. (1) Know'st thou, to Nature's great command All human laws are frail and weak? Nay! frown not-stay his eager hand, And hear me, or my heart will break. In this, th' adopted babe I hold With anxious fondness to my breast, My heart's sole comfort I behold, More dear than life, when life was blest; I saw her pining, fainting, cold, I begg❜d-but vain was my request. I saw the tempting food, and seized. But I have griefs of other kind, Troubles and sorrows more severe; Give me to ease my tortured mind, A friend to help-find one to hear. (1) [Original MS. :- Or, What is my crime? a deed of love; Yet nameless let me plead—my name My mother dead, my father lost, Few are my years, not so my crimes; And I am old in shame and care. (1) Taught to believe the world a place Or live as virtue dictates ? No! So through the land I wandering went, (1) [MS. : My years, indeed, are sad and few, Though weak these limbs, and shrunk this frame : For Grief has done what Time should do ; And I am old in care and shame.] |