"What Fate referv'd me for this Christian race +? "O tear me from the whips and fcorns of men! "Yet in their face fuperior beauty glows: "Are fmiles the mein of rapine and of wrong? "Yet from their lip the voice of mercy flows, "And e'en religion dwells upon their tongue. "Of blissful haunts they tell, and brighter climes, "Where gentle minds, convey'd by death, repair : "But ftain'd with blood, and crimson'd o'er with crimes, "Say, fhall they merit what they paint so fair? "No, careless, hopeless, of those fertile plains, "Rich by our toils, and by our forrows gay, "They ply our labours, and enhance our pains, "And feign these distant regions to repay. "For them our tusky elephant expires; "For them we drain the mine's embowel'd gold, "Where rove the brutal nation's wild defires? "Our limbs are purchas'd, and our life is fold!" "Yet fhores there are, blefs'd fhores, for us remain, "And favour'd ifles, with golden fruitage crown'd, " Where tufted flow'rets paint the verdant plain, "Where ev'ry breeze fhall med'cine ev'ry wound: "There the ftern tyrant that embitters life, "Shall, vainly fuppliant, spread his asking hand ; "There shall we view, the billow's raging ftrife, "Aid the kind breast, and waft his boat to land.” + Spoke by a Savage, NANCY OF THE VALE, A BALLAD. THE weftern fky was purpled o’er With ev'ry pleafing ray, When from an azle's artless bower "Let fops with fickle falshood range "While weeping maids lament their change, "And fadden ev'ry grove: "But endless bleffings crown the day "I faw fair E'fham's dale! "And ev'ry bleffing find its way "To Nancy of the Vale! " "Twas from Avona's banks the maid "Diffus'd her lovely beams, "And ev'ry shining glance display'd "The Naiad of the ftreams. "Soft as the wild-duck's tender young, "That float on Avon's tide, "Bright as the water-lily, fprung, "And glitt'ring near its fide. "Fresh as the bord'ring flow'rs her bloom, "Her eye all mild to view; "The little halcyon's azure plume "Was never half fo blue. "Her shape was like the reed fo fleek, "So taper, ftraight, and fair; "Her dimpled fmile, her blushing check, "How charming sweet they were ! "Far in the winding vale retir'd, "This peerless bud I found, "And fhadowing rocks and woods confpir'd "To fence her beauties round. "That Nature in fo lone a dell "Or Fortune to her fecret cell "Gay lordlings fought her for their bride, "Tis Strephon, on the mountain's brow, "Has won my right good will: "To him I gave my plighted vow, "With him I'll climb the hill. "Struck with her charms and gentle truth, "I clafp'd the constant fair; "To her alone I gave my youth, "And vow my future care. "And when this vow shall faithless prove, "Or I thofe charms forego, "The ftream that faw our tender love, "That ftream fhall ceafe to flow." THE SCHOOL-MISTRESS. IN IMITATION OF SPENSER. Audita onces, Vagitus et ingens, AE VIRG. AH me! full forely is my heart forlorn, For unkempt hair, or talk unconn'd, are forely fhent. Which Learning near her little dome did ftowe, Though now fo wide its waving branches flow, For not a wind might curl the leaves that blew, But their limbs fhudder'd, and their pulse beat low, And, as they look'd, they found their horror grew, And fhap'd it into rods, and tingled at the view. So have I feen (who has not may conceive) A lifeless phantom near a garden plac'd ; So doth it wanton birds of peace bereave, Of fport, of fong, of pleasure, of repast; They ftart, they ftare, they wheel, they look aghaft; May no bold Briton's riper age e'er taste, The noifes intermix'd, which thence refound, " Where fits the dame, difguis'd in look profound, And eyes her fairy throng, and turns her wheel around. Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow, Few but have kenn'd, in femblance meet pourtray'd, |