ON A SIMILAR OCCASION, FOR THE YEAR 1790. Ne commonentem recta sperne. BUCHANAN. Despise not my good counsel. He who sits from day to day Hardly knows that he has sung. Where the watchman in his round None, accustom'd to the sound, So your verse-man I, and clerk, Death at hand-yourselves his mark- Duly at my time I come, Publishing to all aloud Soon the grave must be your home, And your only suit a shroud. But the monitory strain, Oft repeated in your ears, Seems to sound too much in vain, Can a truth, by all confess'd Of such magnitude and weight, Grow, by being oft impress'd, Trivial as a parrot's prate? Pleasure's call attention wins, New as ever seem our sins, Death and Judgment, Heaven and Hell— When some stranger is interr'd. O then, ere the turf or tomb Cover us from every eye, Spirit of instruction, come, Make us learn that we must die. ON A SIMILAR OCCASION, FOR THE YEAR 1792. Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas, VIRG. Happy the mortal who has traced effects To their first cause, cast fear beneath his feet, THANKLESS for favours from on high, But he, not wise enough to scan Would gladly stretch life's little span where he goes Gall'd by affliction's heavy chain, And hopeless of repose. Strange fondness of the human heart, Strange world, that costs it so much smart, Whence has the world her magic power? Why deem we death a foe? Recoil from weary life's best hour, And covet longer woe? The cause is Conscience-Conscience oft Then anxious to be longer spared 'Tis judgment shakes him; there's the fear Pay!-follow Christ, and all is paid; ON A SIMILAR OCCASION, FOR THE YEAR 1793. De sacris autem hæc sit una sententia, ut conserventur. CIC. DE LEG. But let us all concur in this one sentiment, that things sacred be inviolate. He lives who lives to God alone, And all are dead beside; To live to God is to requite But life, within a narrow ring Is falsely named, and no such thing, Can life in them deserve the name, Who only live to prove For what poor toys they can disclaim |