By what bold lines shall we his grief express,
Or by what soothing numbers make it less?
'Tis not, I know, the chiming of a song,
Nor all the powers that to the Muse belong,
Words aptly cull'd and meanings well exprest,
Can calm the sorrows of a wounded breast;
But Virtue, soother of the fiercest pains,

Shall heal that bosom, RUTLAND, where she reigns.
Yet hard the task to heal the bleeding heart,
To bid the still-recurring thoughts depart;
Tame the fierce grief and stem the rising sigh,
And curb rebellious passion, with reply ;-
Calmly to dwell on all that pleas'd before,
And yet to know that all shall please no more ;-
Oh! glorious labour of the soul to save
Her captive powers, and bravely mourn the Brave.
To such, these thoughts will lasting comfort give-
Life is not measured by the time we live;
'Tis not an even course of threescore years,
A life of narrow views and paltry fears,
Grey-hairs and wrinkles and the cares they bring,
That take from Death, the terrors or the sting;
But 'tis the gen'rous Spirit, mounting high,
Above the world, that native of the sky;
The noble Spirit, that, in dangers brave,
Calmly looks on, or looks beyond the grave;
Such MANNERS was, so he resign'd his breath,

If in a glorious, then a timely, death.

Cease then that grief and let those tears subside, If Passion rule us, be that passion Pride;

E

If Reason, Reason bids us strive to raise
Our fallen hearts and be like Him we praise;
Or if Affection still the soul subdue,

Bring all his virtues, all his worth in view,
And let Affection find its comfort too:

For how can Grief so deeply wound the heart,
When Admiration claims so large a part?
Grief is a foe, expel him then thy soul,
Let nobler thoughts, the nearer views control;
Oh! make the Age to come thy better care,
See other RUTLANDS, other GRANBYS there;
And as thy thoughts through streaming ages glide,
See other Heroes die as MANNERS died:

And from their fate, thy race shall nobler grow,
As trees shoot upwards that are prun❜d below;
Or as old THAMES borne down with decent pride,
Sees his young streams run warbling at his side;
Though some, by art cut off, no longer run,
And some are lost beneath the Summer's Sun-
Yet the pure stream moves on, and as it moves,
Its power increases and its use improves ;
While Plenty round its spacious waves bestow,
Still it flows on, and shall for ever flow,

}

THE

PARISH REGISTER:

A

POEM.

IN THREE PARTS.

PART I,

ARGUMENT.

The Village Register considered, as containing principally the Annals of the Poor.-State of the Peasantry as meliorated by Frugality and Industry.-The Cottage of an industrious Peasant; its Ornaments.-Prints and Books. -The Garden; its Satisfactions.-The State of the Poor, when improvident and vicious The Row or Street, and its Inhabitants.-The Dwelling of One of these. A Public House.-Garden and its Appendages. - Gamesters, rustic Sharpers, &c.-Conclusion of the Introductory Part.

THE

PARISH REGISTER.

PART I.

BAPTISMS.

The child of the Miller's Daughter, and Relation of her Misfortune. A frugal Couple: their Kind of Frugality-Plea of the Mother of a Natural Child: her Churching.-Large Family of Gerard Ablett: his Apprehensions: Comparison between his State and that of the wealthy Farmer his Master: his Consolation.-An Old Man's Anxiety for an Heir: the Jealousy of another on having many.—Characters of the Grocer Dawkins and his Friend: their different Kinds of Disappointment.-Three Infants named.An Orphan Girl and Village School-mistress. Gardener's Child: Pedantry and Conceit of the Father: his Botanical Discourse: Method of fixing the Embryo-fruit of Cucumbers.—Absurd Effects of Rustic Vanity: observed in the Names of their Children.— Relation of the Vestry Debate on a Foundling: Sir Richard Monday.—Children of various Inhabitants. The poor Farmer.-Children of a Profligate: his Character and Fate.-Conclusion.