The father eyes the infant with delight;

Shields her by day, and wakes to shield by night;
She lives the object of his fondest care;
Her health and safety his attention share;
His lips instruction to her mind impart,
And fix sage lessons on her ductile heart:
With pious joy her reverend sire she hears,
Imbibes his wisdom, and his truths reveres ;
Treads in his steps with circumspective care;
His precepts learns with love and filial fear.

Revolving years her lovely charms disclose,
Pure as the snow, and blushing as the rose;
Her growing beauties spread a lustre far;
Mild as the radiance of the evening star:
Palemon saw the lustre of her eye,

And modest cheek of roseate damask dye;
He saw-and sudden felt love's pleasing smart
Thrill thro' his breast, and centre in his heart;
A kindred flame her tender bosom warms,
And adds new beauty to her maiden charms;
The youth profess'd a passion for this fair,
Pure as the thoughts of Heaven's archangels are,
And she for him a mutual love profest:
`They wed-and by her father both are blest.
Their nuptial state with joys supreme are crown'd,
Such as the innocent in Eden found;

The sun unclouded gilds each happy day,
And Life's clear stream unruffled glides away;
No storms disturb the silence of their nights,
And morn awakes them to renew'd delights;
Heaven on their labors with indulgence smiles,
And sweet discourse their evening hours beguiles;
T' enlarge the measure of their worldly joy,
Heaven crown'd their wish by giving them a boy.
In this calm scene of pleasure and repose,
This favor'd pair nor guilt, nor danger knows!
Secure, in hope, their moments softly past,
And each new day was brighter than the last.
As gathering clouds obscure the clearest skies,
And sudden waves in calmest seas arise;

So in one fatal hour, a blast destroys

The fragrant bloom of her domestic joys.

Dark was the night, and scarce a trembling breeze Was heard to whisper thro' the neighbouring trees, When to Sleep's arms the household was withdrawn, To rest in safety till the morrow's dawn; The morrow dawns and blushes at the sight, Of bloody scenes that shun detecting light: Urg'd by a nameless thirst for human prey, A savage band approach'd where Beauty lay; Where Innocence, and Youth, and age reclin'd In sleep, refreshing as the southern wind.

Palemon first a harmless victim fell

To Rage, relentless as the Prince of Hell,
The sire, tho' bending with a load of years,
To save his daughter every danger dares;
With wrath paternal to the assassins flew,
And at one blow a swarthy murderer slew,
By some rough hand this ancient hero dies-
The trembling mother for her husband sighs;
Sighs and entreats to spare her infant's life,
Her sighs they hear, and spare him-with the knife-
The tender parent, frantic with despair,

To meet Death's arrow lays her bosom bare;
Death-how unkind! refus'd to bend his bow,
And life prolong'd for scenes of future woe.

Pleas'd with the charms of beauty, drench'd in tears, The savage tribe to gloomy deserts bears

The weeping mother, void of all defence,

Save what she hop'd from Heaven and innocence :
Now thoughts distressful agitate her breast,
And from her eye-lids steal their wonted rest:
The lovely captive held in bondage dire,
Weeps for herself-her infant-husband-sire;
Weeps-and no eye to shed a social tear;
To friend to sooth her sorrows, or to share,
midst this scene of misery and awe
Too sad and complex for my muse to draw)
he boldly braves, by solitary flight,

Danger in deserts, and the gloom of night,

Thro' woods and swamps, unprest by human feet,
She seeks from savages a wild retreat;

With heedless steps she traverses the glade,
And finds, at length, the covert of a shade!
There droops and sleeps, forgetful of her pain;
The sun revives her-and she sighs again

Fatigu'd with wanderings, and depress'd with care,
Deaths all around her, and no succor near;
With hunger faint; to slake her thirst no stream;
And Hope, once shining, left her now no gleam;
She sinks beneath the burden of her grief,
And prays for death to minister relief.

At once she faints, and lifts to Heaven her eyes,
Leans on the bosom of Distress-and dies.

From those bleak hills, where bloody fountains spring
My roving muse returns with wearied wing
To visit happier climes-climes happier made
By sweet vicissitudes of heat and shade;
By wholesome laws, and by a clement throne
That hears with pity every prisoner's moan;
By watery walls, which Heaven decreed should flow
To give protection from each foreign foe:

Yet these blest climes, tho' safe from Gallia's host, From sudden dangers no exemption boast.

As in some green, plain, smooth, and fair to sight,
Rubs check the bowl at hand directed right,
Diverts its 'bias, or impede its force,

And leave it distant from its destin'd course:
So on life's green unnumber'd rubs arise,
And least expected always most surprise:
Thus safe at anchor lay old Ocean's pride,
And rode triumphant on the lordly tide:
No danger seen; no wave to wake a fear;
No danger seen, and yet was ruin near;

The Royal George first rate ship of 100 guns, overset and sunk at anchor at Spithead, on August 29, 1782, having then on board, 780 persons, of whom 495 were lost.

Mirth such as ne'er a home-bred landman charm'd,
Glow'd in each heart, and every bosom warm'd ;
The boatswain's whistle thro' the ship was heard!
The caulkers labor'd, and the sailors cheer'd ;
No dangers seen; no fear to raise a sigh;
No danger fear'd; and yet was ruin nigh;
Heel'd on her side the stately fabric lay,
And wide her broad flag wav'd in proud display;
When (weep my muse! at her disaster weep!)
A sudden gust consigns her to the deep;
Then with her sunk the hardy tars and brave,
From life and service, to a fluid grave;
With them descended Valor's fav'rite son, *
Who fought her battles, and her laurels won.
Distressful scene! what piteous moans arise!
Spread thro' the decks, and echo to the skies;
The childless mother heard the tale with woe;
Tears from the father, childless, secret flow!
The widow wails her husband sunk in death,
Kisses her children, and resigns her breath.

Distress! associate of all human kind!

In calms we meet thee; meet thee in the wind;
From thy assaults no garrison can shield;
To thy domain must every mortal yield;
Thou visit'st where the splendid monarch reigns,
And haunt'st the cottager on lonely plains;
No breast so sacred but thy power invades,
And each frail creature thro' thy river wades.
Where from thy arm for refuge shall we fly?
-To Earth's cold bosom, and yon friendly sky-
There no Distress the body can annoy,
And there the soul exults in endless joy.
If thus Distress pursues the human race,
And me pursues with unremitting pace;
Then

Farewel, sublunary scenes and gay!

Where the old trifle, and where children play;

* Rear Admiral Kempenfeldt.

Where youths fantastic wave the magic dance,
And to the grave with heedless steps advance;
Where busy crowds, like insects, swarm and die;
And Pleasure's sons pursue a painted fly!

Farewel, ye sublunary scenes and sage!
Where the grave sophist turns the midnight page;
With close attention into nature pries,

Reads till he's lost, and thinks he grows more wise;
Where the deep Magi of our learned day
In fancy tread the cometary way;

Where Locke's disciples spin the logic thread!
Where Galen's pupils from the Grecian dead,
Like bees industrious, gather healing skill,
And thence prescribe the salutary pill;

Where studious minds from Coke instruction draw,
And learn to trace the labyrinths of law;
Where priests sedate, to heap polemic lore,
Turn dusty volumes of the fathers o'er.
Farewel, ye sublunary scenes and dull!
Made more insipid by the prating fool;
Where fluttering fops at Wisdom's lectures hiss;
Where at Wit's target coxcombs aim and miss ;
Where self-conceit o'er modesty prevails,
And cloys society with senseless tales:
Where misers waste their years in heaping store,
Toil to be rich, and yet are always poor;
Where sordid Epicures, of boasted taste,
Pamper themselves to give the worms a feast.
Farewel, ye sublunary scenes and sad!
Hung round with 'scutcheons, and in mourning clad;
Where cruel War and ghastly Famine rage;
And sudden sweep Life's temporary stage;
Where pale Disease destructive power assumes,
And fills the world with hospitals and tombs;
Where pains the body rack, the limbs distort,
And fix their arrows in the sicken'd heart;
Where poignant Grief o'erwhelms the human mind, ́
Robs it of reason, and distracts mankind;

Where Hope by Disappointment's dagger bleeds,
And Woe to Woe with speedy step succeeds;