[On Miss ——'s paying the tribute of a tear to a scene of distress.]
BY JACOB MORTON.—1790.
Soft as the dews of evening skies Which on the flow'ret's bosom fall, Were those sweet tears in Anna's eyes Which wak'd at pity's gentle call.
Ah! may that tender, feeling heart, Where thus sweet sympathy doth glow, Ne'er feel the pang of sorrow's dart, Nor sigh—but for another's wo.
APPEAL
TO A CERTAIN GREAT MAN, WHO HAS
QUESTIONED CERTAIN REVEALED TRUTHS.
BY A. L. BLAUVELT.—1805.
Thou talk'st of Reason's unassisted eye: Lift then thy darling Reason to the sky,— Paint, if thou wilt, the unincumber'd mind, Vast in its powers, and in its views refin'd; To truth aspiring on the wings of day, And spanning systems with a godlike sway. The portrait you have formed you dread to own, And Guilt's deep blushes o'er its shades are thrown: For has the Almighty thus inform'd the race, His truth to question and his laws deface? Bestow'd a mind the Eternal's mind to blame, And Reason's deathless force, His reason to defame? As well might Jove's imperial bird defy The Power that made him soar, because he soars so high.