THE DYING PROSTITUTÉ. COLD blew the blast, the eastern wind, 'Twas then beside the common path, No house had she, sad wretch forlorn, Like rav'ning eagles void of food, A fierce and withering disease, As the dread punishment, The apostle formerly said, "Then when Lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth Sin; and Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth Death." But since the prevalence of a certain disease, which has been called Flagitium Dei contra scortatores, the words seem to bear more force and emphasis. A surgeon of great eminence and skill in London lately said, that when women were fully upon the town, they lived, upon an average, but a very few years. The dis order killed them in a manner, that to enter into the detail would be shocking to human delicacy and sensibility. It is said of the prostitutes of London, in a valuable work (entitled "Pietas Londinensis: the history, design, and present state of the public cha rities in and near London. By A. Highmore, Esq.") that "in the space of thirteen years, from eighty thousand to one hundred thousand died, the wretched martyrs of seduction from innocence." Page 237 This Mr. Highmore gives as the assertion of the cele brated Mr. Colquhoun, "whose magisterial authority has enabled him to sp ak with more certainty than other writers." At any rate, the number of prostitutes in London, and of prostitutes who perish there in consequence of their course of life, must be very Her full delicious hair had mow'd, Had ravag'd her most beauteous form, Ah! how unlike to what she was, When in her father's house she dwelt, The lily which luxuriant grows, In some sequester'd vale, Near some pure stream, and shelter'd round Which Nature's fragrant fav'rite blooms, That lily was not sweeter then, Nor was that most unhappy sire, But now no pois'nous weed obscene, And, as the wretched outcast lay Daughters of Virtue! I will own, Your indignation to be wise, Your censure to be just. considerable, from the enormous magnitude of the metropolis. Mr. Lambert, who has lately published his "Travels through Lower Canada and the United States of North America," says, there are more prostitutes, in proportion to its size, in New York (and probably this is the case in regard to many other cities in the world), than in London. "I mourn the loss of virtuous fame, “Ah! how I rue my hapless fall! "Yet, did your mild ingenuous hearts Our lonesome days, the grinning scorn "Though ye would still detest th' offence, Yet o'er th' offender's head, Soft Pity (for it dwells with you) Which unto prison as he dragg'd, Through pain and woe out-tir'd, From his rude grasp she fell, and groan'd, The gen'rous bard, thou gloomy shade! Gives, while he reprobates thy fault, For many a dark flagitious scheme, Then flush'd with youth, and Fortune's smile, But Heav'n his ill-weav'd happiness, Sent from the Pow'r above, The woman who thy law contemns, Thou spare and icy-bosom'd nurse For though she 'scape the cruel woes But the unspotted virgin pure, Whom thou vouchsaf'st t' inspire, Who checks, ere it dilates, each spark Of Love's unhallow'd fire; Laments in exquisite remorse, No rude pernicious care, Which makes, e'en in the spring of youth, The leaf of beauty sear. To her in purity refin❜d, Alone to live 'tis giv'n, That she from all distraction free, May form herself for heav'n, Or by her lover, with delight, To marriage she is led; With deathless wreaths of laughing flow'rs A train of fair-eyed pleasures wait, And smiling hours with pinions white And the glad sire, in th' eve of life, AUGUSTUS AND SOPHRONIA; OR, THE MARRIED LOVERS. Sævumque arcte complexa dolorem, In ev'ry varied posture, place, and hour, Lucan. How widow'd ev'ry thought, of ev'ry joy! Young. BLESSING and blest in one another's arms, Like their large bounty was their princely wealth, Theirs were the comforts of unvaried health, |