Her current ftrong, and deep, and clear,
No fords were found, no ferries near.
But as the troops approach'd, the waves,
Their fears fuggeft a thousand graves;
They all retir'd with hafte extreme,
And fhudder'd at the dang'rous ftream.
Hypocrify the gulph explores;
She forms a bridge, and joins the shores.
Thus often art or fraud prevails,
When military prowess fails:
The troops an easy paffage find,
And vict'ry follows close behind.
Friendship with ardour charg'd her foes,
And now the fight promifcuous grows ;
But Flatt'ry threw a poison'd dart,
And pierc'd the empress to the heart.
The virtues all around were feen
To fall in heaps about the queen.
The tyrant ftripp'd the mangled fair,
She wore her spoils, affum'd her air;
And mounting next the fuff'rer's throne,
Claim'd the queen's titles as her own.
Ah, injur'd maid!' aloud I cry'd.
Ah, injur'd maid!' the rocks reply'd.
But judge my griefs, and fhare them too,
For the fad tale pertains to you;
Judge, reader, how fevere the wound,
When Friendship's foes were mine, I found;
When the fad scene of pride and guile
Was Britain's poor degen'rate ifle!
The Amazons, who propp'd the state,
Haply furviv'd the general fate.
Juftice to Powis House is fled,
And Yorke fuftains her radiant head.
The virtue, Fortitude, appears
In open day at Ligonier's;
Illuftrious heroine of the sky,
Who leads to vanquish or to die!
'Twas the our vet'rans breafts infpir'd,
When Belgia's faithless fons retir'd :
For Tournay's treach'rous tow'rs can tell
Britannia's children greatly fell.
No partial virtue of the plain!
She rous'd the lions of the main :
Hence Vernon's little fleet fucceeds,
And hence the gen'rous Cornwall + bleeds.
Hence Grenville glorious!-for fhe fmil'd
On the young hero from a child.
Tho' in high life fuch virtues dwell,
They'll fuit plebeian breafts as well.
Say, that the mighty and the great
Blaze, like meridian funs of state;
Effulgent excellence difplay,
Like Hallifax, in floods of day;
Our leffer orbs may pour their light,
Like the mild crefcent of the night.
Tho' pale our beams, and small our sphere,
Still we may shine ferene and clear.
Give to the judge the fcarlet gown,
To martial fouls the civick crown:
What then? Is merit their's alone?
Have we no worth to call our own?
Shall we not vindicate our part,
In the firm breaft and upright heart?
Reader, thefe virtues may be thine,
Tho' in fuperior life they fhine.
I can't discharge great Hardwicke's trust―
True-but my foul may ftill be just :
Against the combined fleets of France and Spain.
Died in a later engagement with the French fleet.
And tho' I can't the ftate defend,
I'll draw the fword to ferve my friend.
Two golden virtues are behind,
Of equal import to the mind;
Prudence, to point out Wisdom's way,
Or to reclaim us when we ftray;
Temp'rance, to guard the youthful heart,
When Vice and Folly throw the dart :
Each virtue, let the world agree,
Daily refides with and me.
And when our fouls in friendship join,
We'll deem the social bond divine;
Thro' ev'ry scene maintain our truft,
Nor e'er be timid or unjuft.
That breaft, where Honour builds his throne,
That breaft, which Virtue calls her own,
Nor Int'reft warps, nor Fear appals,
When Danger frowns, or Lucre calls.
No! the true friend collected stands,
Fearless his heart, and pure his hands:
Let Int'reft plead, let storms arise,
He dares be honest, tho' he dies!
FAIREST, this vifion is thy due;
I form'd th' inftructive plan for you.
Slight not the rules of thoughtful age,
Your welfare actuates ev'ry page;
But ponder well my facred theme,
And tremble, while you read my dream.
Till death do part,'
May well alarm the youthful heart:
No after-thought, when once a wife,
The die is caft, and cast for life;
Yet thousands venture ev'ry day,
As fome base paffion leads the way.
Pert Silvia talks of wedlock scenes,
Tho' hardly enter'd on her teens ;
Smiles on her whining spark, and hears
The fugar'd speech with raptur'd ears;
Impatient of a parent's rule,
She leaves her fire, and weds a fool.
Want enters at the guardless door,
And Love is fled, to come no more.
Some few there are of fordid mould,
Who barter youth and bloom for gold;
Careless with what or whom they mate,
Their ruling paffion's all for ftate.
But Hymen, gen'rous, juft, and kind,
Abhors the mercenary mind:
Such rebels groan beneath his rod,
For Hymen's a vindictive god;
• Be joyless ev'ry night,' he said;
And barren be their nuptial bed!'
Attend, my fair, to Wisdom's voice ;
A better fate fhall crown thy choice.
A married life, to fpeak the beft,
Is all a lottery confefs'd:
Yet if my fair-one will be wife,
I will infure my girl a prize;
Tho' not a prize to match thy worth,
Perhaps thy equal's not on earth!
'Tis an important point, to know
There's no perfection here below.
Man's an odd compound, after all,
And ever has been fince the fall.
Say, that he loves you from his foul,
Still man is proud, nor brooks controul
And tho' a flave in love's foft school,
In wedlock claims his right to rule.
The beft, in fhort, has faults about him;
If few those faults, you must not flout him.
With fome, indeed, you can't difpenfe,
As want of temper and of fenfe:
For when the fun deferts the fkies,
And the dull winter evenings rise,
Then for a husband's focial pow'r,
To form the calm, converfive hour;
The treasures of thy breaft explore,
From that rich mine to draw the ore;
Fondly each gen'rous thought refine,
And give thy native gold to fhine;
Shew thee, as really thou art,
Tho' fair, yet fairer ftill at heart.
Say, when life's purple bloffoms fade,
As foon they muft, thou charming maid;
When in thy cheek the roses die,
And fickness clouds that brilliant eye >
Say, when or age or pains invade,
And thofe dear limbs fhall call for aid;
If thou art fetter'd to a fool,
Shall not his tranfient paffion cool!
And when thy health and beauty end,
Shall thy weak mate perfift a friend!
But to a man of fenfe, my dear,
E'en then thou lovely fhalt appear;
He'll share the griefs that wound thy heart,
And weeping, claim the larger part:
Tho' age impairs that beauteous face,
He'll prize the pearl beyond it's cafe.
In wedlock when the fexes meet,
Friendship is only then compleat.
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