Thee, heav'n's first-born favourite child, Hail beauteous form! divinely mild! Religion !...Man's best friend below, Thou only canst assuage his woe Thou only dost possess the art That tends to heal a broken heart. Thy daughters...Hope, with placid eye, And Resignation, heavenly fair Forbidding mortals to dispair Their sacred influence impart, From woe to snatch the broken heart. THE STORM. (1) · "Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, "That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, "How shall your houseless heads, and unfed sides, 'Tis night...loud howls the storm...the surges roar— With dreadful force they beat the rocky shore; And thick the torrent-swelling rains descends. The hardy tenant of the crazy cot, Rous'd from refreshing sleep, by labour bought, He fears...but still the hand of Heav'n can save; (1) For Notes see end of the volume. But one above the rest demands a part, His early friend...the brother of his heart— Rides o'er the waves, far from his native isle. In soaring to its GOD thro' boundless space, The careful swain beholds, in doleful mood, And on the foamy sea-shore bends his sight; He sees a vessel on the breakers tost, Then, in a doubtful maze his mind is lost: He sighing cries..." yet some shall feel like me— "Who fills an early grave on Erin's shore: "Ah! hapless fate! some newly-wedded bride, "For ever sever'd from her husband's side, "In sad suspence, may his long absence mourn, "And wish (but wish in vain !) his safe return. "Some helpless widow, whose dependance lay " On one lov'd son, her sole support and stay, May chide the adverse gales, which waft not home, "The long-expected youth who ne'er shall come!" Thus rapt in scenes of visionary woe, He sea-ward hies the mournful truth to know; The happy news, his doubts and fears dispel, That all the mariners are safe and well! He thanks the Pow'r who stretch'd an arm to save, The storm-tost wretches from a wat❜ry grave. Yet fancy points one rueful prospect left, Some ruin❜d merchant of his all bereft... By this dire stroke, from opulence he falls, The shatter'd wreck appears now full in view, The shameful plunder is not yet begun, ast, one bolder than the rest falls on ; |