Page images
PDF
EPUB

Still in my thought thy happier days detain’d,
When George, when Anna, when Eliza reign'd;
I fee, I hear the battle's wild alarms,

See trembling foes, and thy triumphant arms!
I see fublime the floating navy rise,

The pompous ftreamers waving as fhe flies!
I see the shudd'ring hosts that round her fall,
The haughty Spaniard here, and there the Gaul.
I fee great Bourbon fainting and dismay'd,
And view the laurel blafted on his head.
O! while my country's glory fires my lays,
How my fond heart runs lavish in her praise !
But fee, 'tis fled!-I urge, implore its stay,
In vain the charming vifion dies away;

The plains where once her fhouting armies stood,

The ftream's broad wave that blush'd with hostile blood.

Roll'd in the mafs of fire neglected lay,

And join'd th' involving cloud that hid the day.
See earth's pale fons! a mighty throng appear!
How wild their looks with agonizing fear!
Swift, as the hart, from her pursuing train,
Climbs the fteep rock, and flies along the plain :
'Tis thus, the tempest's dreadful rage to fhun,

They fweep the field, and shiver as they run.
Here yawning gulphs their dreadful wrecks disclose,

There nature labours with convulfive throws:
Here the flame bursts, and blazes to the skies,
There flash the pointed lightnings on their eyes.

Amaz'd,

With fudden greens and herbage crown'd,

And ftreams fhall murmur all around.

W

GRATITUDE.

HEN all thy mercies, O my God,
My rifing foul furveys;

Transported with the view, I'm loft
In wonder, love, and praise:

O how shall words with equal warmth

The gratitude declare,

That glows within my

ravifh'd heart?

But thou canft read it there.

Thy Providence my life fuftain'd,

And all my wants redreft,

When in the filent womb I lay,
And hung upon the breast.

To all my weak complaints and cries,
Thy mercy lent an ear,

Ere yet my feeble thoughts had learnt
To form themselves in pray'r.

Unnumber'd comforts to my foul
Thy tender care bestow'd,

Before my infant heart conceiv'd
From whom thofe comforts flow'd.

When

When in the flipp'ry paths of youth

With heedlefs fteps I ran,

Thine arm unseen convey'd me safe,

And led me up to man.

Thro' hidden dangers, toils, and deaths,
It gently clear'd my way,

And through the pleafing fnares of vice,
More to be fear'd than they.

When worn with fickness, oft haft thou
With health renew'd my face,

And when in fins and forrows funk,
Reviv'd my foul with grace.

Thy bounteous hand with worldly blifs
Has made my cup run o'er,
And in a kind and faithful friend
Has doubled all my store.

Ten thousand thousand precious gifts
My daily thanks employ,

Nor is the least a chearful heart,

That taftes those gifts with joy.

Thro' every period of my life
Thy goodness I'll pursue ;

And after death in diftant worlds

The glorious theme renew.

Ꭰ 6

When

When nature fails, and day and night

Divide thy works no more, My ever-grateful heart, O Lord,

Thy mercy fhall adore.

Thro' all eternity to thee
A joyful fong I'll raise,
For oh! eternity's too short
To utter all thy praise.

TH

CREATION.

HE fpacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky, ·

And spangled heavens, a fhining frame,
Their great original proclaim;

Th' unwearied fun, from day to day,

Does his creator's pow'r display,

And publishes to every land

The work of an almighty hand.

Soon as th' ev'ning shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the lift'ning earth
Repeats the ftory of her birth:

Whilft all the ftars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,

[ocr errors]

And spread the truth from pole to pole.

What

What thou, in folemn filence, all
Move round the dark terrestrial ball 2
What tho' nor real voice nor found
Amid their radiant orbs be found?
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,

For ever finging, as they shine,
"The hand that made us is divine.”

The

« PreviousContinue »