The Ainty soil indeed their feet annoys;
Chill blasts of trouble nip their springing joys;
An envious world will interpose its frown,
To mar delights superior to its own;
And many a pang, experienc'd still within,
Reminds them of their hated inmate, Sin;
But ills of ev'ry shape and every name,
Transform’d to blessings, miss their cruel aim;
And ev'ry moment's calm that soothes the breast,
Is giv'n in earnest of eternal rest.

Ah, be not sad, although thy lot be cast
Far from the flock, and in a boundless waste !
No shepherds' tents within thy view appear,
But the chief Shepherd even there is near:
Thy tender sorrows and thy plaintive strain
Flow in a foreign land, but not in vain ;
Thy tears all issue from a source divine,
And ev'ry drop bespeaks a Saviour thine-
So once in Gideon's fleece the dews were found,
And drought on all the drooping herbs around.

TO THE

REV. W. CAWTHORNE UNWIN.
UNWIN, I should but ill repay

The kindness of a friend,
Whose worth deserves as warm a lay

As ever friendship penn'd,
Thy name omitted in a page,
That would reclaim a vicious age.
An union form’d, as mine with thee,

Not rashly, or in sport,
May be as fervent in degree,

And faithful in its sort,
And may as rich in comfort prove,
As that of true fraternal love.

The bud inserted in the rind,

The bud of peach or rose,
Adorns, though diff’ring in its kind

The stock whereon it grows,
With flow'r as sweet, or fruit as fair,
As if produc'd by Nature there.
Not rich, I render what I may,

I seize thy name in haste,
And place it in this first essay,

Lest it should prove the last.
'Tis where it should be—in a plan,
That holds in view the good of man.
The poet's lyre, to fix his fame,

Should be the poet's heart;
Affection lights a brighter flame

Than ever blaz'd by art.
No muses on these lines attend,
I sink the poet in the friend.

AN EPISTLE TO JOSEPH HILL, Esq. DEAR JOSEPH-five and twenty years ago Alas, how time escapes !_’tis even so— With frequent intercourse, and always sweet, And always friendly, we were wont to cheat A tedious hour and now we never meet! As some grave gentleman in Terence says ('Twas therefore much the same in ancient days),

Good lack, we know not what to-morrow bringsStrange fluctuation of all human things !” True. Changes will befall, and friends may part, But distance only cannot change the heart; And, were I call'd to prove th' assertion true, One proof should serve a reference to you.

Whence comes it then, that in the wane of life, Though nothing have occurr’d to kindle strife,

go

a

We find the friends we fancied we had won, Though num’rous once, reduc'd to few or none ? Can gold grow worthless, that has stood the touch ? No; gold they seem'd, but they were never such.

Horatio's servant once, with bow and cringe, Swinging the parlour-door upon its hinge, Dreading a negative, and overaw'd Lest he should trespass, begg'd to abroad. “Go, fellow! whither!"_turning short about“Nay. Stay at home-you're always going out." “ 'Tis but a step, sir, just at the street's end.” “For what?”_"An please you, sir,to see a friend."

A friend!”_Horatio cried, and seem'd to start“Yea, marry shalt thou, and with all my heart.And fetch my cloak; for though the night be raw, I'll see him too the first I ever saw.”

I knew the man, and knew his nature mild,
And was his plaything often when a child;
But somewhat at that moment pinch'd him close,
Else he was seldom bitter or morose.
Perhaps his confidence just then betray'd,
His grief might prompt him with the speech he made.
Perhaps 'twas mere good humour gave it birth,
The harmless play of pleasantry and mirth.
Howe'er it was, his language, in my mind,
Bespoke at least a man that knew mankind.

But not to moralize too much, and strain
To prove an evil, of which all complain
(I hate long arguments verbosely spun),
One story more, dear Hill, and I have done.
Once on a time an emp’ror, a wise man,
No matter where, in China or Japan,
Decreed, that whosoever should offend
Against the well-known duties of a friend,
Convicted once should ever after wear
But half a coat, and show his bosom bare.
The punishment importing this, no doubt,
That all was náught within, and all found out.

O, happy Britain! we have not to fear
Such hard and arbitrary measure here;
Else, could a law, like that which I relate,
Once have the sanction of our triple state,
Some few, that I have known in days of old,
Would run most dreadful risk of catching cold;
While

you, my friend, whatever wind should blow,
Might traverse England safely to and fro,
An honest man, close button'd to the chin,
Broad cloth without, and a warm heart within,

TO THE
REVEREND MR. NEWTON.

An Invitation into the Country.
THE swallows in their torpid state

Compose their useless wing,
And bees in hives as idly wait

The call of early Spring.
The keenest frost that binds the stream,

The wildest wind that blows,
Are neither felt nor fear'd by them,

Secure of their repose.
But man, all feeling and awake,

The gloomy scene surveys;
With present ills his heart must ake,

And pant for brighter days.
Old Winter, halting o'er the mead,

Bids me and Mary mourn:
But lovely Spring peeps o'er his head,

And whispers your return.
Then April, with her sister May,

Shall chase him from the bow'rs,
And weave fresh garlands ev'ry day,
To crown the smiling hours.

And if a tear, that speaks regret

Of happier times, appear,
A glimpse of joy, that we have met,

Shall shine and dry the tear.

a

CATHARINA, ADDRESSED TO MISS STAPLETON,

(AFTERWARDS MRS. COURTNEY). She came—she is gone-we have met

And meet perhaps never again ; The sun of that moment is set,

And seems to have risen in vain. Catharina has fled like a dream

(So vanishes pleasure, alas!) But has left a regret and esteem,

That will not so suddenly pass.
The last ev'ning ramble we made,

Catharina, Maria, and I,
Our progress was often delay'd

By the nightingale warbling nigh.
We paus’d under many a tree,

And much she was charm'd with a tone Less sweet to Maria and me,

Who so lately had witness'd her own. My numbers that day she had sung, And

gave them a grace so divine, As only her musical tongue

Could infuse into numbers of mine. The longer I heard, I esteem'd

The work of my fancy the more, And e’en to myself never seem'd

So tuneful a poet before. Though the pleasures of London exceed

In number the days of the year, Catharina, did nothing impede,

Would' feel herself happier here;