My children to my arms I’d press,
And never more cause their distress;
Hope gently wispers to my heart,
That ere I long from you depart,
Those I have injured will obtain
A mandate to unloose the chain;
And as they view your wretched state,
They’ll mourn an absent father’s fate.
Seldom they ever sue in vain,
To our loved prince but mostly gain,
A respite from the pangs of grief,
Or gain an order for relief;
I’ve borne the unfeeling keen reproach,
Some said I longed to keep a coach;
That I in tendom oft did ride,
With all an upstarts sullen pride;
’Twas pride that led me to disgrace,
I took what I could not replace;
Had I a million, that I’d give,
With you in future for to live;
Oh! Hannah are you come again,
To sooth my woe and ease my pain;
Your cheeks I’ve furrowed with sad tears,
Come gentle hope dismiss those fears;
That do her tender frame distress,
Oh! God make Hannah’s sufferings less.
My last of efforts unless prove,
My doom I find is fixed above;
No intercession can obtain,
A respite from this galling chain.
I’m doomed to waste some years away,
Far, far, from you upon the bay.
Oh keen distress with every ill,
Obtrude on me the bitter pill;
While life remains hope will divest
A gloomy thought tho’ he’s distress’d.
It feeds the wound yet known no cure,
And often makes us more indure;
Sometimes it lulls us into sleep,
And for a time our senses steep;
And like a pleasing dream obtain,
A short abatement from our pain;
Soon as it vanish from our view,
Our earthly troubles rise anew;
Till death unwelcome strikes his dart,
And ease the captives aching heart:
But oh! that awful coming day,
That every mortals crimes display;
What creatures shall we then appear,
The Lord’s decree we all must hear;
May every soul that’s tried above,
From Christ obtain our maker’s love.
Oh! God I hear the dreadful call,
Prepare, prepare, ye felons all;
Oh! let me take a last imbrace,
I’m summoned, all appear in haste.
the
CONVICT’S
Farewell,
&c. &c. &c.
BY J PARKERSON, JUNR.
Farewell ye partner of my woes, farewell!
The finest language can but faintly tell,
What I now feel in writing the adieu,
What you must suffer when I’m far from you.
There was a time when happiness my lot,
I liv’d serenely in my little cot;
No wicked thoughts did then disturb my rest,
My children round me, by a father prest;
No father now methinks I hear them say,
He’s gone from us, he’s hurried far away.
Nightly I’ve view’d them in my flurri’d dreams,
Seen their wet eyes and heard their dreadful screams;
Methought my wife came to my lonely cell,
To say adieu, to bid a long farewell;
Soon I awoke and to increase my pains,
I felt my legs encompass’d round with chains;
Then then, I cried, oh drunkenness thou cause,
Of this distress, and make me break those laws
That wise men made for every man to keep,
By them deluded, plung’d in crimes so deep.
First step to ruin was a love of dice,
With cards the great promoter of our vice;
I wish those men who do with such things play,
Would ever cast them from their hands away;
I wish all Magistrates would search around,
And punish Publicans where they are found:
They caus’d me first my Master to neglect,
And after lost me honest men’s respect;
They also led me from a virtuous wife,
And mostly caused my sad disgrace and strife.
View Public Houses every wealthy Squire,
And force by ten the spendthrift to retire;
By such a plan the labouring poor would rise,
Soon as the sun adorns the heavenly skies:
I’ve stated what have brought me to this end,
And what has lost me every earthly friend;
Except a wife—oh God protect and bless,
Her and our offspring now in great distress.
Young men be cautious how you spend your time,
A bad acquaintance hurries on a crime;
Sometimes an artful female tries her power,
To trap the giddy in a thoughtless hour;
When she has work’d the captive to her will,
She gladly sees you taking sorrow’s pill;
Cause you to leave a virtuous homely wife,
And lead a sad disgraceful wicked life;
Allur’d by art she’ll bring you to distress,
And like a Millwood to you falsely press:
Then be the first your actions to betray,
A fiend like such, caus’d me to go astray
From them I love, from those my heart hold dear,
And shall till death their memories revere;
When I am clos’d in transport on the sea,
Doubtless my love you’ll sometimes sigh for me.
Bring up my little ones in such a way,
As they will holy keep the sabbath-day;
Early in life do in their minds reveal,
The dreadful crimes to swear, to lie, or steal.
Hannah my eldest daughter, place her where,
She’s constant under virtue’s eye and care,
Let her not learn the weaving trade, you’ll find,
That such a course may injure much her mind;
Females are ready to acquire that art,
Soon as they wish fair virtue to depart;
Unwilling oft in service for to be.
Where they can’t dress and have their liberty;
But if with parents they can work at home,
Nightly they hope with idle folks to roam:
At my late sentence I can not complain,
Altho’ the law my body do detain;
Justice tho’ slow has overtaken me,
Abroad for life, I shall he kept from thee;
On a just God for ever I will trust,
I know his will is always right and just.
Tis now too late again to speak to you,
Which is the cause of writing this adieu.
No partner now to sooth my aching heart,
Reflection galls me, at myself I start,
With aching heart and in my lonely cell,
I bid my babes and you,—a long farewell.
Methink I see the transport full in view,
And I with horror meet the harden’d crew;
Full well I know I ne’er shall see you more,
Nor plant a footstep on my native shore;
On foreign land I’m doom’d my days to toil,
And with vile wretches cultivate the soil.
Stripes I must bare perhaps when quite unwell,
And hear the convicts’ melancholy yell;
A pang I fell when e’er I close the night,
And wish a virtuous wife was in my sight:
England adieu! may you in trade increase,
And free from inward tumults rest in peace.
Our Chaplain well I know, will soon impart,
His friendly aid to cheer the drooping heart;
I hope my children he will learn to read,
And teach them early to peruse the creed:
The bell is rung, the waggon is in view,
Wife and dear children now, adieu! adieu!
At thoughts of leaving this my native shore,
Unmans me quite and I can say no more;
I will thro’ life a better course pursue,
Tho’ far away shall leave my heart with you.
ADVICE, &c.
Vile man, abstain from every artful plan,
When found out disgrace the name of man;
Let those who steal repent and sin no more,
Ere Law decrees, its vengeance on them pour:
From trifling things, we greater ills pursue,
Till the Law’s fangs are brought within our view;
Stop, stop bad courses, ere it be too late,
And justice dooms you to a culprits fate.
Riots avoid tho’ mischief none you do,
Your being at them brings a stain on you;
Those who look on, will afterwards repent,
And share alike in point of punishment:
The Law expressly properly declare,
He adds to tumult that is present there;
Take my advice let reason bear her sway,
From scenes of discord, always keep away;
You’d think it hard a worthless savage crew,
Should gain by plunder all your goods from you:
The worst of men are foremost on a plan,
To gain by rapine every way they can;
Do you suppose that wasting others store,
Can ease the hardships of the labouring poor:
No such a course, our present ills increase,
And robs the Nation of its inward peace.