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Thus bless'd with children, friend, and wife
Bless'd far beyond the vulgar lot;
Of all that gladdens human life,
Where was the good that I had not?
But my vile heart had sinful spot,

And heaven beheld its deepening stain; Eternal justice I forgot,

And mercy sought not to obtain.

Come near,-I'll softly speak the rest!-
Alas! 'tis known to all the crowd,
Her guilty love was all confess'd;

And his who so much truth avow'd,
My faithless friend's-In pleasure proud
I sat, when these cursed tidings came;
Their guilt, their flight was told aloud,
And envy smiled to hear my shame!

I call'd on vengeance; at the word
She came ;-Can I the deed forget?
I held the sword, th' accursed sword,

The blood of his false heart made wet;
And that fair victim paid her debt,

She pined, she died, she loathed to live ;I saw her dying-see her yet:

Fair fallen thing! my rage forgive!

Those cherubs still, my life to bless,

Were left; could I my fears remove,
Sad fears that check'd each fond caress,
And poison'd all parental love?
Yet that with jealous feelings strove,

And would at last have won my will,
Had I not, wretch! been doom'd to prove
Th' extremes of mortal good and ill.

In youth! health! joy! in beauty's pride!
They droop'd: as flowers when blighted bow,
The dire infection came :-They died,

And I was cursed-as I am now-
Nay, frown not, angry friend,-allow
That I was deeply, sorely tried ;
Hear then, and you must wonder how
I could such storms and strifes abide.

Storms!-not that clouds embattled make,
When they afflict this earthly globe;
But such as with their terrors shake
Man's breast, and to the bottom probe;
They make the hypocrite disrobe,

They try us all, if false or true;
For this, one devil had power on Job;
And I was long the slave of two.

PHYSICIAN.

Peace, peace, my friend; these subjects fly; Collect thy thoughts-go calmly on.

PATIENT.

And shall I then the fact deny?

I was, thou know'st,-I was begone, Like him who fill'd the eastern throne, To whom the watcher cried aloud!*

That royal wretch of Babylon,
Whe was so guilty and so proud.

Prophecy of Daniel, chap. iv. 22.

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And first, before they sent me forth,

Through this unpitying world to run, They robb'd Sir Eustace of his worth, Lands, manors, lordships, every one; So was that gracious man undone,

Was spurn'd as vile, was scorn'd as poor, Whom every former friend would shun, And menials drove from every door.

Then those ill-favour'd Ones, whom none
But my unhappy eyes could view,
Led me, with wild emotion, on,

And, with resistless terror, drew.
Through lands we fled, o'er seas we flew,
And halted on a boundless plain :
Where nothing fed, nor breathed, nor grew
But silence ruled the still domain.

Upon that boundless plain, below,

The setting sun's last rays were shed, And gave a mild and sober glow,

Where all were still, asleep, or dead; Vast ruins in the midst were spread,

Pillars and pediments sublime, Where the gray moss had form'd a bed,

And clothed the crumbling spoils of time. There was I fix'd, I know not how,

Condemn'd for untold years to stay:
Yet years were not;-one dreadful now
Endured no change of night or day;
The same mild evening's sleeping ray
Shone softly solemn and serene,
And all that time I gazed away,

The setting sun's sad rays were seen.
At length a moment's sleep stole on,-
Again came my commission'd foes;
Again through sea and land we're gone,
No peace, no respite, no repose:
Above the dark broad sea we rose,

We ran through bleak and frozen land;
I had no strength their strength t' oppose,
An infant in a giant's hand.

They placed me where these streamers play,
Those nimble beams of brilliant light;
It would the stoutest heart dismay,
To see, to feel, that dreadful sight:

* Vide Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.

So swift, so pure, so cold, so bright,

They pierced my frame with icy wounds, And all that half year's polar night,

Those dancing streamers wrapp'd me round.

Slowly that darkness pass'd away,

When down upon the earth I fell,-
Some hurried sleep was mine by day;
But, soon as toll'd the evening bell,
They forced me on, where ever dwell
Far distant men in cities fair,
Cities of whom no trav'llers tell,

Nor feet but mine were wanderers there.

Their watchmen stare and stand aghast,

As on we hurry through the dark; The watch-light blinks as we go past,

The watch-dog shrinks and fears to bark; The watch-tower's bell sounds shrill; and, hark! The free wind blows-we've left the townA wide sepulchral ground I mark,

And on a tombstone place me down.

What monuments of mighty dead!

What tombs of various kinds are found! And stones erect their shadows shed On humble graves, with wickers bound; Some risen fresh above the ground,

Some level with the native clay, What sleeping millions wait the sound, "Arise, ye dead, and come away!"

Alas! they stay not for that call;

Spare me this wo! ye demons, spare!— They come the shrouded shadows all,"Tis more than mortal brain can bear; Rustling they rise, they sternly glare At man upheld by vital breath; Who, led by wicked fiends, should dare To join the shadowy troops of death!

Yes, I have felt all man can feel,

Till he shall pay his nature's debt; Ills that no hope has strength to heal, No mind the comfort to forget: Whatever cares the heart can fret,

The spirits wear, the temper gall, Wo, want, dread, anguish, all beset My sinful soul!-together all!

Those fiends upon a shaking fen

Fix'd me, in dark tempestuous night; There never trod the foot of men, There flock'd the fowl in wintery flight; There danced the moor's deceitful light Above the pool where sedges grow; And when the morning sun shone bright, It shone upon a field of snow.

They hung me on a bough so small,

The rook could build her nest no higher; They fix'd me on the trembling ball

That crowns the steeple's quivering spire; They set me where the seas retire,

But drown with their returning tide; And made me flee the mountain's fire, When rolling its burning side.

I've hung upon the ridgy steep

Of cliffs, and held the rambling brier; I've plunged below the billowy deep, Where air was sent me to respire ; I've been where hungry wolves retire; And (to complete my woes) I've ran Where bedlam's crazy crew conspire Against the life of reasoning man.

I've furl'd in storms the flapping sail,
By hanging from the topmast-head;
I've served the vilest slaves in jail,

And pick'd the dunghill's spoil for bread;
I've made the badger's hole my bed,
I've wander'd with a gipsy crew;
I've dreaded all the guilty dread,

And done what they would fear to do.

On sand, where ebbs and flows the flood,
Midway they placed and bade me die ;
Propp'd on my staff, I stoutly stood
When the swift waves came rolling by ;
And high they rose, and still more high,
Till my lips drank the bitter brine;

I sobb'd convulsed, then cast mine eye,
And saw the tide's reflowing sign.

And then, my dreams were such as naught
Could yield but my unhappy case;
I've been of thousand devils caught,
And thrust into that horrid place,
Where reign dismay, despair, disgrace;
Furies with iron fangs were there,
To torture that accursed race,

Doom'd to dismay, disgrace, despair.

Harmless I was; yet hunted down

For treasons, to my soul unfit; I've been pursued through many a town, For crimes that petty knaves commit; I've been adjudged t' have lost my wit, Because I preach'd so loud and well; And thrown into the dungeon's pit,

For trampling on the pit of hell.

Such were the evils, man of sin,
That I was fated to sustain;
And add to all, without-within,
A soul defiled with every stain
That man's reflecting mind can pain;

That pride, wrong, rage, despair, can make
In fact, they'd nearly touch'd my brain,
And reason on her throne would shake.

But pity will the vilest seek,

If punish'd guilt will not repine,I heard a heavenly Teacher speak, And felt the Sun of mercy shine; I hail'd the light! the birth divine! And then was seal'd among the few; Those angry fiends beheld the sign, And from me in an instant flew.

Come, hear how thus the charmers cry To wandering sheep, the strays of sin, While some the wicket-gate pass by,

And some will knock and enter in :

hus the sainted preacher cries:*

n, burden'd with thy sin,
e way to Zion's gate,
ill Mercy let thee in,

nd weep, and watch and wait. =-He knows the sinner's cry: -He loves the mourner's tears: a!-for saving grace is nigh: -till heavenly light appears.

it is the Bridegroom's voice; e pilgrim to thy rest; thin the gate rejoice,

i seal'd, and bought and bless'd! -from all the lures of vice, -by signs the chosen know, t-by love and life the price, d-the mighty debt to owe.

Pilgrim! what for thee
rld like this remain ?

y guarded breast shall flee,
shame, and doubt and pain.
-the hope of Heaven shall fly,
e-from glory's view retire,
-in certain rapture die,
-in endless bliss expire."

ugh my day of grace was come,
ill my days of grief I find;
mer clouds' collected gloom
adden the reflecting mind;
1, to evil things consign'd,
of their evil some retain;
n will seem to earth inclined,
vill not look erect again.

ough elect, I feel it hard se what I possess'd before, om all my wealth debarr'd,Drave Sir Eustace is no more: I wax and passing poor, rugged men my conduct view; hide my wish, they bar my door, ard-I weep-you see I do.

ou, my friends, no longer stay? quickly all my pleasures end; remember, when I pray, ind physician and his friend : ose sad hours, you deign to spend me, I shall requite them all; tace for his friends shall send, thank their love at Greyling Hall

been suggested to me, that this change from ss to repose, in the mind of Sir Eustace, is a methodistic call; and it is admitted to be ober and rational conversion could not have while the disorder of the brain continued: yet which follow, in a different measure, are not o make any religious persuasion annear ridi

And when his earthly visions droop,

His views of heavenly kind remain:But whence that meek and humbled strain, That spirit wounded, lost, resign'd? Would not so proud a soul disdain The madness of the poorest mind?

PHYSICIAN.

No! for the more he swell'd with pride,
The more he felt misfortune's blow;
Disgrace and grief he could not hide,
And poverty had laid him low:
Thus shame and sorrow working slow.
At length this humble spirit gave;
Madness on these began to grow,

And bound him to his fiends a slave.

Though the wild thoughts had touch'd his brain Then was he free: so, forth he ran,

To soothe or threat, alike were vain :

He spake of fiends, look'd wild and wan; Year after year, the hurried man

Obey'd those fiends from place to place;

Till his religious change began

To form a frenzied child of grace.

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VAGRANT.

My crime-This sickening child to feed,

I seized the food, your witness saw; I knew your laws forbade the deed, But yielded to a stronger law.

Know'st thou, to Nature's great command All human laws are frail and weak? Nay! frown not-stay his eager hand, And hear me, or my heart will break.

In this, th' adopted babe I hold

With anxious fondness to my breast, My heart's sole comfort I behold,

More dear than life, when life was bless'd;

I saw her pining, fainting, cold,

I begg'd-but vain was my request.

I saw the tempting food, and seized-
My infant sufferer found relief;
And, in the pilfer'd treasure pleased,
Smiled on my guilt, and hush'd my grief.

But I have griefs of other kind,

Troubles and sorrows more severe; Give me to ease my tortured mind, Lend to my woes a patient ear; And let me if I may not find

A friend to help-find one to hear. Yet nameless let me plead-my name Would only wake the cry of scorn; A child of sin, conceived in shame, Brought forth in wo, to misery born.

My mother dead, my father lost,

I wander'd with a vagrant crew; A common care, a common cost,

Their sorrows and their sins I knew; With them, by want on error forced,

Like them, I base and guilty grew.

Few are my years, not so my crimes;
The age, which these sad looks declare,
Is Sorrow's work, it is not Time's,

And I am old in shame and care.

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Taught to believe the world a place

Where every stranger was a foe,
'Irain'd in the arts that mark our race,
To what new people could I go?
Could I a better life embrace,

Or live as virtue dictates? No!

So through the land I wandering went,
And little found of grief or joy;
But lost my bosom's sweet content
When first I loved-the Gipsy-Boy.

A sturdy youth he was and tall,

His looks would all his soul declare; His piercing eyes were deep and small, And strongly curl'd his raven hair. Yes, Aaron had each manly charm,

All in the May of youthful pride, He scarcely fear'd his father's arm,

And every other arm defied.

Oft, when they grew in anger warm,
(Whom will not love and power divide ?)
I rose, their wrathful souls to calm,
Not yet in sinful combat tried.

His father was our party's chief,

And dark and dreadful was his look; His presence fill'd my heart with grief, Although to me he kindly spoke. With Aaron I delighted went,

His favour was my bliss and pride; In growing hope our days we spent,

Love growing charms in either spied, It saw them, all which Nature lent, It lent them, all which she denied. Could I the father's kindness prize,

Or grateful looks on him bestow, Whom I beheld in wrath arise,

When Aaron sunk beneath his blow? He drove him down with wicked hand, It was a dreadful sight to see; Then vex'd him, till he left the land

And told his cruel love to me ;— The clan were all at his command, Whatever his command might be. The night was dark, the lanes were deep, And one by one they took their way; He bade me lay me down and sleep, I only wept and wish'd for day Accursed be the love he bore,

Accursed was the force he used, So let him of his God implore

For mercy, and be so refused! You frown again,-to show my wrong, Can I in gentle language speak? My woes are deep, my words are strong,And hear me, or my heart will break.

MAGISTRATE.

I hear thy words, I feel thy pain:
Forbear awhile to speak thy woes;
Receive our aid, and then again

The story of thy life disclose.

For, though seduced and led astray,
Thou'st travell'd far and wander'd long;
Thy God hath seen thee all the way,
And all the turns that led thee wrong.

PART II.

Quondam ridentes oculi, nunc fonte perenni
Deplorant pœnus nocte dieque suas.
CORN. GALLI Eleg.

MAGISTRATE.

COME, now again thy woes impart,

Tell all thy sorrows, all thy sin; We cannot heal the throbbing heart Till we discern the wounds within. Compunction weeps our guilt away, The sinner's safety is his pain; Such pangs for our offences pay,

And these severer griefs are gain.

VAGRANT.

The son came back-he found us wed, Then dreadful was the oath he swore;His way through Blackburn Forest led,His father we beheld no more.

Of all our daring clan not one

Would on the doubtful subject dwell; For all esteem'd the injured son,

And fear'd the tale which he could tell.

But I had mightier cause for fear,

For slow and mournful round my bed I saw a dreadful form appear,

It came when I and Aaron wed.

(Yes! we were wed, I know my crime,—
We slept beneath the elmin tree;
But I was grieving all the time,
And Aaron frown'd my tears to see.

For he not yet had felt the pain

That rankles in a wounded breast; He waked to sin, then slept again, Forsook his God, yet took his rest.—

But I was forced to feign delight,

And joy in mirth and music sought,—
And memory now recalls the night,
With such surprise and horror fraught,
That reason felt a moment's flight,
And left a mind to madness wrought.)

When waking on my heaving breast
I felt a hand as cold as death;
A sudden fear my voice suppress'd,
A chilling terror stopp'd my breath.—

I seem'd-no words can utter how!
For there my father-husband stood,—
And thus he said :-"Will God allow,
The great avenger, just and good,
A wife to break her marriage vow?
A son to shed his father's blood?"

I trembled at the dismal sounds,

But vainly strove a word to say;
So, pointing to his bleeding wounds,
The threatening spectre stalk'd away.*

I brought a lovely daughter forth,
His father's child, in Aaron's bed;
He took her from me in his wrath,
"Where is my child ?"-" Thy child is dead."
Twas false.-We wander'd far and wide,
Through town and country, field and fen,
Till Aaron, fighting, fell and died,
And I became a wife again.

I then was young-my husband sold
My fancied charms for wicked price;
He
gave me oft, for sinful gold,

The slave, but not the friend of vice:-
Behold me, Heaven! my pains behold,
And let them for my sins suffice!

The wretch who lent me thus for gain,
Despised me when my youth was fled,
Then came disease, and brought me pain :-
Come, death, and bear me to the dead'
For though I grieve, my grief is vain,
And fruitless all the tears I shed.

*The state of mind here described will account for a vision of this nature, without having recourse to any su. pernatural appearance

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