Observe the dappled foresters, how light Had we their wisdom, should we, often warn'd, Sad waste! for which no after-thrift atones. Learn then, ye living! by the mouths be taught ON A SIMILAR OCCASION, FOR THE YEAR 1789. -Placidâque ibi demum morte quievit. VIRG. There calm at length he breathed his soul away. 'O MOST delightful hour by man The hour that terminates his span, 'Worlds should not bribe me back to tread 'Again life's dreary waste, 'My home henceforth is in the skies, Earth, seas, and sun adieu! All Heaven unfolded to my eyes, 'I have no sight for you.' So spake Aspasio, firm possess'd Of faith's supporting rod, Then breathed his soul into its rest, The bosom of his God. He was a man among the few Sincere on virtue's side; And all his strength from Scripture drew To hourly use applied. That rule he prized, by that he fear'd, He hated, hoped, and loved; But when his heart had roved. For he was frail, as thou or I, And evil felt within: But, when he felt it, heaved a sigh, Such lived Aspasio; and at last His joys be mine, each Reader cries, When my last hour arrives: They shall be yours, my Verse replies, Such only be your lives. ON A SIMILAR OCCASION, FOR THE YEAR 1790. Ne commonentem recta sperne. BUCHANAN. Despise not my good counsel. HE who sits from day to day, Hardly knows what he has sung. So your verse-man I, and clerk, Duly at my time I come, Publishing to all aloud Soon the grave must be your home, But the monitory strain, Oft repeated in your ears, Can a truth, by all confess'd Of such magnitude and weight, Pleasure's call attention wins, Hear it often as we may; Death and Judgment, Heaven and Hell- O then, ere the turf or tomb Make us learn, that we must die. |