Elegant Extracts: Or, Useful and Entertaining Pieces of Poetry

$340. Reflections on a Future State, from a Review of Winter. Thomion. "Tis done! dread Winter fpreads his lateft glooms,

And reigns tremendous o'er the conquer'd year.
How dead the vegetable kingdom lies!
How dumb the tuneful! Horror wide extends
His defolate domain. Behold, fond man!
See here thy pictur'd life: pafs fome few years,
Thy fow'ring Spring, thy Summer's ardent
ftrength,

Thy fober Autumn fading into age,
And pale concluding Winter come: at last,
And thuts the fcene. Ah! whither now are fled
Thofe dreams of greatnefs? thofe unfolid hopes
Of happiness? thofe longings after fame?
Those restlefs cares? thole bufy buftling days?
Thole gay-spent, fettive nights? thofe veering
thoughts

now,

Loft between good and ill, that fhar'd thy life?
All now are vanith'd! Virtue fole furvives
Immortal never-failing friend of man,
His guide to happinefs on high. And fee!
'Tis come, the glorious morn! the second birth
Of heaven and earth! awak'ning nature hears
The new-creating word, and farts to life,
In ev'ry heighten'd forin, from pain and death
For ever free. The great eternal scheme,
Involving all, and in a perfect whole
Uniting as the profpećt wider fpreads,
To reafon's eye refin'd clears up apace.
Ye vainly wife ye blind prefumptuous!
Confounded in the duft, adore that Pow'r
And Wisdom oft arraign'd; fee now the caufe
Why unaffuming worth in fecret liv'd,
And died neglected: why the good man's fhare
In life was gall and bitterness of foul:
Why the lone widow and her orphans pin'd
In ftarving folitude; while luxury,
In palaces, lay ftraining her low thought,
To form unreal wants; why heaven-born truth,
And moderation fair, wore the red marks
Of fuperftition's fcourge: why licens'd pain,
That cruel fpoiler, that embofom'd foe,"
Embitter'd all our blifs. Ye good diftrefs'd!
Ye noble few! who here unbending stand
Beneath life's preffure, yet bear up awhile,
And what your bounded view, which only faw
A little part, deem'd evil, is no more:
The forms of Wintry Time will quickly pafs,
And one unbounded Spring encircle all.

$341. On Slavery. Mifs H. Falconar. To man fuperior reafon's light was giv❜n Reason, the nobleft gift of bounteous Heav'n, Unfailing beam, bright intellectual ray, Thor fteady guide through error's devious way, Say, wert thou firft by gracious Heav'n defign'd To ftamp injuftice on the human kind? Forbid it truth, forbid it ev'ry breast That heaves in pity for the wretch oppreft: Yet reafon, juftice, mercy, plead in vain; Still the fad victim drags his galling chain; S

Still bows fubmiffive to the tyrant hand
That tore the fuff'rer from his native land;
Yet, ere the arts of luxury began,
They boafted liberty, the right of man;
Serene, they faw each peaceful morning fmil
Joy led their hours, and plenty blefs'd their t
Their pleading fighs, their fuppliant, mo
pray'r,

Daughter of Virtue! Royal Charlotte, hear
Sovereign, yet parent of this happy ifle,
O'er whofe gay plains fair plenty deigns to fr
Where fpotlefs peace extends her azure wir
And liberty's enchanting bloffoms fpring;
Thine is compatiion's fympathetic figh,
The melting tear that beams in pity's eye:
The heart like thine, that feels another's pi
Hears not diftrefs'd misfortune plead in v
Be 't thine to heal pale forrow's wounded br
And lull each raging paffion into reft;
Let not the wretched flave in vain deplore
The long-loft joys he must behold no more
Then, while Britannia hails thy facred nay
A deed like this fhall fwell the trump of fr
Virtues like thine fhall wake the founding.
Each bofom glow with emulative fire;
And fwell'd with themes like this, the poet's
Remain admir'd through each fuccceding a

When Superftition rais'd her threat'ning)
And fcatter'd horror round the bleeding :
On fad Britannia's ravag'd plains the floor
Drench'd in one fatal ftream of martyr'd
O'er ev'ry fcene with fell delight the flew,
And fmil'd, exulting, at the dreadful view
Religion's facred truths, though once de
To banith error from the darken'd mind,
Avail'd not here; her pure celestial light,
Loft in the gloom of Superftition's night,
Drooping, beheld the fatal torrent roll
Refiftiefs terrors o'er the doubtful foul;
Till bright Eliza came, whofe matchless fu
Call'd forth the dawn of fair Religion's da
Cherifh'd the genial influence as it rofe,
Difpell'd their errors and reliev'd their wo
Shall Britain, then,who boasts th' unrivall'd
Relentless, fee the guiltiefs victim bleed?
Amid the horrors of tormenting pain
He feeks for inercy, but he feeks in vain;
Affrighted Mercy quits the guilty land,
Where grim Oppreffion waves her tyrant's
Where, to the favage herd, a harmless prey
Sinks faint beneath the fervid beam of day
Or, haply trembling in the midnight air,
Sunk in the deepest gloom of low defpair;
Or burning thirft and furious want, combi
With wild diftraction fire his glowing min
Till death reftores to him eternal reít,
And calms the tumults of his troubled br
The British youth, torn from his much-

A while interror views the lightning glare,
With framing horror, through themidnight air,
The form once paff, he gains the friendly ray
hope to guide him throughthedang rons way;
Sailing, the bids each future profpect rife,
Through fancy's varied mirror, to his eyes.
Not fo the flave; opprefs'd with fecret care,
He finks the hapless victim of defpair;
Or doom'd to torments that might even move
The fteely heart, and set it into love;
Till, worn with anguifith'ring in his bloom,
He falls an early tenant of the tomb!
Shall Britain view, unmov'd, fad Afric's fhore
Delug'd fo oft in freams of purple gore!
Britain, where fcience, peace, and plenty, fmile,
Virtue's bright feat and freedom's favour'd ifle!
Rich are her plains and fruitful is her clime,
The fecurge of tyrants, and the boaft of time;
Of ev'ry virtue, ev'ry worth, poffeft,
That fires the hero's or the patriot's breaft:
There, nobly warm'd with animating fire,
Dar Shakspearetruckhisfoul-commanding lyre;
There fcenes of blifs immortal Milton fung,
And notes harmonious iffued from his tongue:
And hards like thefe thall boaft in ev'ry age,
While native genius glows in Hayley's page;
While genies bids to our enchanted eyes,
a boit's own trains, a fecond Pope arife.
When truth, perplex'd in errors thorny maze,
rew o'er the worldobfcur'd and darken'd rays,
en Newton role, unveil'd the beauteous maid:
efpoke, and nature ftood at once difplay'd.
fe were the fouls that Britain once poffefs'd,
When genuine virtue fir'd the patriot's breaft;
fil half the protect fair freedom's caufe,
And vindicate her violated laws;
Walt peace and freedom to a wretched land,
And fatter blelings with a lib'ral hand.
In Britain's paradife, by freedom made,
The tree of commerce spreads its ample shade;

paring plenty bends the lofty brow,
wealth bright glitters on eachgoldenbough;
Some the nicheft gems of India fhone,
added luftre to the British throne;
in gentle radiance might outvie
eeling luftre of the fparkling eye;
chain gay variety might grace
The native beauties of the lovely face:
fame the bud of health, in rofy bloom,
ad languid fickness from an early tomb;
bade contented labour calmly fmile
er the rich profpect of his native foil.
angle branch, fuperior to the reft,
to the view, in fplendid radiance dreft;

lf the tempting manna hung, goldendes each beauteous bloffom (prung;

et from the tree the rank of commerce claim'd.

y the fair deceit, beneath its fhade ager eye the flaves of av'rice ftray'd; fatal fruit was lovelieft to the view, on the Spreading tree of commerce grew; trafp'd the baneful lead with fatal hafte, etive poifon to th' enchanted tafte;

343. The Genealogy of Chrift, as it is reprefeated on the buft Window of Winchester College Chapel. Written at Winton School by Dr. Lowth.

AT once to raise our rev'rence and delight,
To elevate the mind, and please the fight,
To pour in virtue at th' attentive eye,
And waft the foul en wings of ecstacy;
For this the painter's art with nature vies,
And bids the visionary faint arife:
Who views the facred forms in thought afpires,
Catches pure zcal, and, as he gazes, fires;
Feels the fame ardour to his breast convey'd;
Is what he fees, and emulates the fhade.

Thy ftrokes, great Artit, fo fublime appear, They check our pleasure with an awful fear; While th of the mortal line the God you trace, Author him of and Hei- of Jefte's race,

admor itly bold defign,

et, own the hand divine. hy work the ifing dayfhallstream, Anti Line bonour, praife, and name. may thy labours to the Mufe impart a emanation from her fifter art, To aniinate the vere, and bid it fhine In colours eaty, bright, and fi ong as thine! Supine on earth an awful nigure lies, While foftet flumbers feein to feal his eyes; The hoary fire Heaven's guardian care demands, And at his feet the watchful angel stands. The form auguft and large, the mien divine, Betray the founder of Meffiah's line*. Lo! from his loins the promis'd ftem afcend, And high to Heaven its facred boughs extend: Each limb productive of fome hero fprings, And bloom luxuriant with a race of kings. Th'eterned plant wide fpreads its arms around, And with the mighty branch the mystic top is

crown'd.

And lo! the glories of th' illuftrious line Attheir first dawn with ripen'd (plendours fhine, In David all exprefs'd; the good, the great, The king, the hero, and the man complete. Serene he fits, and fweeps the golden lyre, And blends the prophet's with the poet's fire. See! with what art he ftrikes the vocal ftrings, The God, his theme, in piring what he fings! Hark-or our ears delude us-from his tongue Sweet flows, or feems to flow, fome heavenly fong. Oh could thine art arreft the fleeting found, And paint the voice in magic numbers bound; Could the warm fun,as erft when Memnon play'd, Wake with his rifing beam the vocal thade; Then might he draw the attentive angels down, Bending to hear the lay, fo fweet, fo like their

own.

On either fide the monarch's offspring fhine, And fome adorn, and fome difgrace their line. Here Ammon glories; proud inceltuous lord! This hand fuftains the robe, and that the fword. Frowning and fierce, with haughty ftrides he tow'rs,

And on his horrid brow defiance low'rs.

* Jeffe.

There Abfalom the ravish'd fceptre fways, t And his ftolen honour all his fhame display The bafe ufurper Youth! who joins in one The rebel subject and th' ungrateful fon.

Amid the royal race, fee Nathan ftand Fervent he fecms to fpeak, and lift his har His looks the emotion of his foul difclofe, And eloquence from ev'ry gefture flows. Such, and fo ftern he came, ordain'd to brat The ungrateful mandate to the guilty Kis When, at his dreadful voice, a fudden fm Shot thro' the trembling monarch's con heart,

From his own lips condemn'd; fevere de
Had his God prov'd fo ftern a Judge as I
But man with frailty is allied by birth;
Confummate purity ne'er dwelt on earth
Thro' all the foul tho' virtue holds the re
Beats at the heart, and springs in ev'ry v
Yet ever from the clearest fource have ra
Some grofs alloy, fome tincture of the n

But who is he deep mufing? in his mi He feems to weigh in reafon's fcales mani Fix'd contemplation holds his fteady eye I know the fage +, the wifeft of the wife. Bleft with all man could with, or prince a Yet hisgreatheartpronounc'dthofeblefling And lo! bright glittering in his facred ha In miniature the glorious temple ftands. Effulgent frame! ftupendous to behold! Gold the strong valves, the roof of burnish'd The wand'ring ark,inthatbrightdome en Spreads the strong light, eternal, unconf Above th' unutterable glory plays, Prefence divine! and the full-ftreaming" Pour thro' reluctant clouds intolerable bl

But ftern oppreffion rends Reboam's r See the gay prince, injurious, proud, and Th' imperial fceptre totters in his hand, And proud rebellion triumphs in the lan Curs'd with corruption's ever-fruitful fṛ A beardlefs Senate, and a haughty King

There Afa, good and great, the fceptre Juftice attends his peace, fuccefs his war While virtue was his fword and Heaven his Without controul the warrior swept the Loaded with spoils, triumphant he return And half her fwarthy fons fad Ethiopiamo But fince thy fagging niety decay'd, And barter'd God's defence for human a See their fair laurels wither on thy brow, Nor herbs nor healthful arts avail thee ne Noris Heav'n chang'd,apoftate prince,butt No mean atonement does this lapfe requi But fee the Son, you must forgive the Sir Hef, the juft prince-with ev'ry virtue b He reign'd, and goodness all the man po Around his throne fair happiness and pe Smooth'd ev'ry brow, and finiï'd in ev'ry As when along the burning watte he ita Where no pure ftreams in bubbling mazesp Where drought incumbent on the thirty gi Longtincehadbreath'dherscorchingblattsar

The

het calls, th' obedient floods repair
To the arch'd fields, for Jofaphat was there.
The new-pring waves, in many a gurgling vein,
Tackenxurious through the fucking plain;
Fre bonours the reviving fields adorn,
And o'er the defert plenty pours her horn.
$,from the throne his influence he fheds,
And as the virtues raise their languid heads:
Where he goes, attending Truth prevails,
Oppretties, and Juftice lifts her fcales.
be, arm the royal eagle stand,
Gree of conqueft and fupreme command;
Tag bird diftinguish'd triumph brings,
As the Monarch with expanded wings.
Free Mob's fons prevent th' impending blow,
de themfelves, and fall without the foe.
Tapos hero vanquish'd Heaven by pray'r;
Est in army, and his vows a war.
The to, Ozia, fates indulgent blefs'd,
Atty days thone in fairelt actions drest:
tah hand, by fome blind phrenzy
Taden, the ficred office durft invade. [fway'd,

er thy limbs the fcurfy venom ran, Aray flth befprinkled all the man.

five worth adorns the pious + Son,
Ter's virtues with the father's throne.
Le he ftands: he who the rage fubdued
Of Aaron's fons, and drenchi'd his fword in

Food.

Adatton, Ahaz, Judah's fcourge, difgrace
Why bafe front the glories of thy race?
the vile King his iron fceptre bear-
He praife attends the pious Heir;
foul the virtues all confpire,
good fon from the worft wicked fire.
Hezekiah's golden reign,
piety returns again;

Yet fhall Jehovah's fervants stand secure,
His mercy fix'd, eternal fhall endure;
On them her ever-healing rays fhall thine;
More mild and bright, and fure, O fun! than thine.
At length the long-expected Prince behold,
The laft good King; in ancient days foretold,
When Bethel's altar fpoke his future fame,
Rent to its bafe, at good Jofiah's name.
Bleft, happy prince! o'er whofe lamented urn,
In plaintive fong, all Judah's daughters mourn;
For whom fad Sion's fofteft forrow flows,
And Jeremiah pours his fweet melodious woes.

But now fallen Sion, once the fair and great,
Sits deep in duft, abandon'd, defolate:
Bleeds her fad heart, and ever stream her eyes,
And anguish tears her with convulfive fighs.
The mournful captive spreads her hands in vain,
Her hands, that rankle with the servile chain;
Tiil he, great chief,in Heaven's appointed time,
Leads back her children to their native clime.
Fair liberty revives with all her joys,
And bids her envied walls fecurely rife.
And thou, great hallow'd dome, in ruin spread,
Again fhall lift fublime thy facred head.
But, ah! with weeping eyes, the ancients view
A faint resemblance of the old in you.
No more th' effulgent glory of thy God
Speaks awful anfwers from the myftic cloud;
No more thine altars blaze with fire divine;
And Heaven Las left thy folitary fhrine.
Yet, in thy courts, hereafter fhalt thou fee,
Prefence immediate of the Deity, [Thee.
The light himfelf reveal'd,the God confefs'd in.

And now at length the fated term of years
The world's defire have brought, and lo! the
God appears.

The heavenly Babe the Virgin Mother bears, Aine purity the fhines, [fhrines. And her fond looks confefs'd the parent's cares; prefence gilds the long-neglected The pleafing burden on her breaft the lays, es proud Affyria's impious Lord Hangs o'er his charms, and with a fimile furBut to arms, and vaunt his dreadful fword; The infant fmiles, to her fond bofom preft,[veys: anthreatsth'infulting King o'erthrow, And wantons, sportive, on the mother's breaft. brate new courage on the gen'rous foe. A radiant glory fpeaks him all Divine, And in the Child the beams of Godhead shine.

g Angel, by divine command, ry word full-blazing in his hand. afromheaven: amid the ftormherode, Peftilence before him; as he trod, Delation bath'd his steps in blood. ptinnight, thro'theproudhofthepafs'd, death, and drove the furious blaft; Destruction give her revels o'er [gore. gorg'd fword was drunk with human avails thee, pious prince, in vain tre rescued, and th' Affyrian flain? sow the foul maintains her latest ftrife, h's chill grafpcongeals the fount of life: kad Heaven renews thy brittle thread, Ardofatull fifteen summers o'er thy head; teding fun repeats his way,

zly life, prolongs the falling day. are her inverted courfe forego, forget to reft, the time to flow,

But now, alas! far other views disclose
The blackeft comprehenfive fcene of woes.
See where man's voluntary facrifice
Bows his meek head, and God eternal dies!
Fixt to the Crofs his healing arms are bound,
While copious Mercy streams from ev'ry wound.
Mark the blood-drops that life exhausting roll,
And the ftrong pang that rends the stubborn
As all death's tortures, with fevere delay, [foul,
Exult and riot in the noblett prey!

And canst thou, stupid man, those sorrows see,
Nor fhare the anguish which he bears for thee?
Thy fin, for which his facred flesh is torn,
Points ev'ry nail, and fharpens ev'ry thorn.
Canft thou?-while nature finarts inev'rywound,
And each pang cleaves the fympathetic ground!
Lo! the black fun, his chariot backward driven,
Blots out the day, and perishes from Heav'n!

Earth, trembling from her entrails, bears a part;| Nor vain the with, while George the And the rent rock upbraids man'sftubbornheart.

fcale

[

gol
The yawning grave reveals his gloomy reign. With fteady prudence holds, and temp
And the cold clay-clad dead start into life again. And when his courfe of earthly honours
And thou, O tomb, once more shalt wide dif- With lenient hand fhall Frederic footh
Thy fatiate jaws, and give up all thy prey. [play Rich in each princely quality, mature
Thou,groaning earth,thallheave, abforpt inflame, In years, and happicft in nuptial choice.
As the laft pangs convulfe thy lab'ring frame; Thence too arise new hopes; a playful tro
When the fame God unshrouded thou fhalt fee, Circles his hearth, fweet pledges of that bet
Wrapt in full blaze of pow'r and majesty, Which Faithand Joy,and thousand Virtuesg
Ride on the clouds; whilft, as his chariot flies, His be the care to inform their ductile mind
The bright effufion streams thro' all the skies. With worthieft thoughts, and point the wa
Then fhall the proud diffolving mountains glow,
And yielding rocks in fiery rivers flow:
The molten deluge round the globe shall roar,
And all man's arts and labour be no more.
Then thall the fplendours of the enliven'd glafs
Sink undiftinguish'd in the burning mafs.
And oh! till earth and feas, and heaven decay,
Ne'er may that fair creation fade away; [fpare,
May winds and forms those beauteous colours
Still may they bloom, as permanent as fair;
All the vain rage of wafting time repel, [well.
And his tribunal fee, whofe Crofs they paint fo

$344. On the Death of Frederic Prince of Wales.
Written at Paris, by DAVID LORD VISCOUNT
STORMONT, of Christ Church, Oxon.
LITTLE I whilom deem d my artless zeal
Should woo the British Mufe in foreign land
To trains of bitter argument; and teach
The mimic Nymph that haunts the winding
And cozy current of Parifian Seine,
To fyll ble new founds in accents strange.

[verge

But fad occafion calls: who now forbears
The laft kind office? who but confecrates
His off ring at the thrine of fair Renown
To gracious Frederic rais'd; tho' but compos'd
Of the waste flow'rets whofe neglected hues
Chequer the lonely hedge or mountain flope?
Where are thofe hopes, where fled th' illufive

fcenes

[cliffs,

That forgeful fancy plann'd what time the bark
Stemm'dthefaltwavefrom Albion'schalkybourn?
Then filial Piety and parting Love
Pour'd the fond pray'r-"Farewell, ye lefs'ning
Fairer to me than aught in fabled fong
Or myftic record told of thores Atlantic!
Favour'd of Heav'n, farewel! imperial ifle,
Native to nobleft wits, and beft approv'd
In manly fcience and advent'rous deed!
Celestial Freedom, by rude hand eftrang'd
From regions once frequented, with Thee takes
Her fedraft ftation, faft beside the throne
Of fceptred rule, and there her ftate maintains
In focial concord and harmonious love.
Thefe bleffings ftill be thine, nor meddling fiend
Stir in your bufy streets foul Faction's roar;
Still thrive your growing works, and gales pro-
pitious

Vifit your fons who ride the wat'ry waste;
And still be heard from forth your gladfome
bow'rs

Shrill tabor pipes, and ev'ry peaceful found.

honour.

How often fhall he hear with fresh delight
Their carneft tales, or watch their ring
With timorous attention; then fhall tell
Of juftice, fortitude, and public weal;
And oft the while each rigid precept ím
With winning tokens of parental love!"

Thus my o'erweening heart the fecret b
Of Britain's hope explor'd, while my tr
Purfued her fading hills, till wrapt in mist
They gently funk beneath the fwelling tid
Norflept thofe thoughts, whenc'er in othere
I mark'd the cruel waste of foul oppretor
Saw nobleft fpirits, and goodlieft faculties
TO vaffalage and loathfoine fervice bound.
Then confcious preference rofe; then north
My eye to gratulate my natal foil.
How have I chid, with froward eagernets,
Each veering blaft that from my hand with
The well-known characters of fome lov'di
Tho' diftant not unmindful! Still I learn
Delighted, what cach patrict plan devis'd
Of arts or glory, or diffutive commerce.
Nor wanted its endearment ev'ry tale
Of lighteft import. But, oh heavy change
What notices come now? Diftracted fcen
Of helplefs forrow, folemn fid accounts;
How fair Augufta watch'd the weary ni
Tending the bed of anguith; how great
Wept with his infint progeny around;
How heav'd th' orphan's and the widow's
That follow'd Frederic to the filent tomb

For well was Fredetic lov'd, and well det
His voice was ever sweet, and on his fteg
Attended ever the alluring grace
Of gentle lowliness and focial zeal.
Him thall remember oft the labour'd hin
Relating to his mates each cafual act
Of courteous bounty. Him th' artificer,
Plying the varied woof in fullen fadnets,
Tho' wont to carol many a ditty fweet.
Soon to the mariner, who many moons
Has counted, beating fill the foamy fir
And treads at last the wifh'd-for beach.tha
Appall'dat the fad tale, and foon thali n
Down his rough cheek th' involuntary to

Be this our folace yet-all is not dead
The bright memorial lives; for his exam
Shall Hymen trim his torch, demeltic pr.
Be countenanc'd, and virtue fairer thew
In age fucceeding, when another Georg
To ratify fome weighty ordinance

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