Then took his Muse at once and dipt her What wonders there the man grown old did ! Made David (k) seem so mad and freakish, But judg'd Re'boam his own son. To treat him like her sister Scot ? Shall William dub his better end, (p) No!---none of these!---Heav'n spare his life! But send him, honest Job! thy wife. (k) Translation of all the Psalms. (1) Canticles and Ecclesiastes. 20 30 (m) Paraphrase of the Canticles of Moses and Deborah, &c. (n) The Lamentations. (o) The whole book of Job, a poem, in folio. (P) Kick him on the breech, not knight him on the shoulder. ON NIGHT. WHETHER amid the gloom of Night I stray 10 When the gay sun first breaks the shades of Night, And strikes the distant eastern hills with light, Colour returns, the plains their liv'ry wear, And a bright verdure clothes the smiling year; The blooming flow'rs with op'ning beauties glow, And grazing flocks their milky fleeces show, The barren cliffs with chalky fronts arise, 7 And a pure azure arches o'er the skies. But when the gloomy reign of Night returns, Stript of her fading pride, all Nature mourns: The trees no more their wonted verdure boast, But weep in dewy tears their beauty lost: No distant landscapes draw our curious eyes, Wrapt in Night's robe the whole creation lies: Yet still, ev'n now while darkness clothes the land, We view the traces of th' Almighty hand; Millions of stars in heav'n's wide vault appear, And with new glories hang the boundless sphere: The silver moon her western couch forsakes, And o'er the skies her nightly circle makes; Her solid globe beats back the sunny rays, And to the world her borrow'd light repays. Whether those stars that twinkling lustre send The spreading dawn another shepherd spies, When the pure soul is from the body flown, 30 50 54 A THOUGHT ON ETERNITY. ERE the foundations of the world were laid, Ere kindling light th' Almighty word obey'd, Thou wert; and when the subterraneous flame Shall burst its prison, and devour this frame, From angry heav'n when the keen lightning flies; When fervent heat dissolves the melting skies, Thou still shalt be; still as thou wert before, And know no change, when time shall be no more. O endless thought! divine Eternity! Th' immortal soul shares but a part of thee; For thou wert present when our life began, When the warm dust shot up in breathing man. Ah! what is life? with ills encompass'd round; Amidst our hopes Fate strikes the sudden wound. To-day the statesman of new honour dreams, To-morrow death destroys his airy schemes. Is mouldy treasure in thy chest confin'd? Think all that treasure thou must leave behind; Thy heir with smiles shall view thy blazon'd hearse, And all thy hoards with lavish hand disperse. Should certain Fate th' impending blow delay, Thy mirth will sicken, and thy bloom decay; Then feeble age will all thy nerves disarm, No more thy blood its narrow channels warm. 10 20 Who then would wish to stretch this narrow span, The virtuous soul pursues a nobler aim, For while the boundless theme extends our thought, Ten thousand thousand rolling years are nought. EPITAPH OF BY-WORDS. HERE lies a round woman, who thought mighty odd MY OWN EPITAPH. LIFE is a jest, and all things show it; Volume II. S |