ON SEEING AN AMIABLE WOMAN
DISTRESSED IN MIND.
Oh gracious God, her peace restore,
And make her sufferings less;
Let frenzied thoughts disturb no more,
Or sorrow on her press.
Pour down thy blessings, on a mind
Encompass’d round by grief;
Let fortune smile and friends be kind,
To nature grant relief.
’Twas pure affection caus’d her tears,
And furrow’d beauty’s face;
But thou can lull to rest her fears,
By thy almighty grace.
May guardian angels plant their seat,
Beside the lovely fair;
While hope and comfort frequent meet,
To keep her from despair.
Tranquillity thou dove-ey’d maid,
A visit quickly pay;
Of virtue’s self, be not afraid,
Stay with her all the day.
A MOTHER’S ADDRESS TO THE DEITY.
Accept oh Lord! a mother’s prayer,
And shield my child from sickness here;
May Judah, ever constant prove
Herself deserving of thy love:
Sweet Robert in this vale of tears,
Survived with me three sickening years,
Before it was thy will to say,
He shall the debt of nature pay:
On lov’d Maria now I dwell,
My grief for her no pen can tell;
To spare a mother’s pangs she flew,
To thee, ere I cou’d say adieu!
The babe was not a year with me,
Ere angels wafted her to thee:
For Charlotte’s life, oh Lord! I pray,
And Robert’s too both night and day;
Should it be thy will to call
Them from my sight, I pray, that all
My children may obtain a rest,
Were souls are number’d with the blest.
Henry a mother’s last delight,
Improve O Lord, his health and sight,
That quick I find his strength increase,
My thanks to thee, shall never cease.
on seeing a young nobleman
IMPRISONED FOR DEBT.
The victim of sorrow with gloom on his mind,
Sighs for those pleasures he late left behind;
The bottle, the play-house, card-room and ball,
And the fine guilded chariot kept at the hall;
Enjoy’d but at night in dreams mix’d with sorrow,
That leaves the imprudent as hopeless to morrow.
With anguish he views his now alter’d state,
Laments his past folly but finds it too late;
His bottle companions in assistance will fail,
Soon as they hear he is plac’d in a jail:
Fair economy’s rules he brings to his view,
Determines in future her plans to pursue;
The downfal of life, oft the delicate kill,
By a strong dose of adversity’s pill;
Neglected in prison, yields up his life,
And leaves in despair his children and wife;
Oblig’d to return to her father’s once more,
Endeavours again her peace to restore;
Grief so harress’d once a heart blith and gay,
Death soon appear’d and took her quick away.