Are observations on the case
That savour much of commonplace,

And all the world admits them.

But 'tis not timber, lead, and stone,
An architect requires alone

To finish a fine building-
The palace were but half complete,
If he could possibly forget

The carving and the gilding.

The man that hails you Tom or Jack,*
And proves by thumps upon your back
How he esteems your merit,+

Is such a friend that one had need
Be very much his friend indeed,

To pardon or to bear it.

As similarity of mind,

160

165

170

175

Or something not to be defined,
First fixes our attention;

So manners decent and polite,

The same we practised at first sight,
Must save it from declension.

Some act upon this prudent plan,

Say little, and hear all you can ;"
Safe policy, but hateful:

So barren sands imbibe the shower,
But render neither fruit nor flower,-

Unpleasant and ungrateful.

180

185

• This and the following stanza are transposed in the MS. + MS. "How well he knows your merit."

The man I trust, if shy to me,
Shall find me as reserved as he,

No subterfuge, or pleading,*
Shall win my confidence again;
I will by no means entertain
A spy on my proceeding.

These samples-for alas! at last
These are but samples, and a taste
Of evils yet unmentioned-
May prove the task, a task indeed,
In which 'tis much if we succeed,
However well-intentioned

Pursue the search, and you will find

190

195

Good sense and knowledge of mankind
To be at least expedient,

200

And, after summing all the rest,
Religion ruling in the breast
A principal ingredient.

+ The noblest Friendship ever shown
The Saviour's history makes known,

205

This and the succeeding stanza do not appear in the MS. In their place we find the following:

"There is a sober serious grace,

A sanctity in Friendship's face,
That proves it heaven-descended,
The love of woman not so pure,
Nor, even when truest, so secure
To last till life is ended."

And whether being crazed or blind,
Or seeking with a biassed mind,

Have not, it seems, discerned iz.

O Friendship! if my soul forego
Thy dear delights while here below,
To mortify and grieve me,
May I myself at last appear
Unworthy, base, and insincere,
Or may my friend deceive me!

210

215

ON A MISCHIEVOUS BULL,

WHICH THE OWNER OF HIM SOLD AT THE AUTHOR'S INSTANCE. *

O! thou art all unfit to share
The pleasures of this place
With such as its old tenants are,
Creatures of gentler race.

The squirrel here his hoard provides,
Aware of wintry storms,

And woodpeckers explore the sides
Of rugged oaks for worms.

The sheep here smooths the knotted thorn
With frictions of her fleece;

And here I wander eve and morn,

Like her, a friend to peace.

5

10

* Poems, Ed. 1808, vol. ii., p. 290. The place alluded to was doubtless the park at Westcn.

Ah!-I could pity thee* exiled
From this secure retreat-
I would not lose it to be styled
The happiest of the great.

But thou canst taste no calm delight;

Thy pleasure is to show

Thy magnanimity in fight,
Thy prowess-therefore, go!

I care not whether east or north,
So I no more may find thee;
The angry Muse thus sings thee forth,
And claps the gate behind thee.

20

ANNUS MEMORABILIS, 1789.

WRITTEN IN COMMEMORATION OF HIS MAJESTY'S

HAPPY RECOVERY.†

RANSACKED, for a theme of song,
Much ancient chronicle, and long;
I read of bright embattled fields,
Of trophied helmets, spears, and shields,

Of chiefs whose single arm could boast

* One modern edition has "the."

5

Written early in March, 1789, and sent to Lady Hes. keth in a letter dated the 5th of that month; see also letter to Mrs. King of the 12th of March, 1789. Printed in Poems, Ed. 1808, vol. ii., p. 292.

Prowess to dissipate a host;

Through tomes of fable and of dream
I sought an eligible theme,

But none I found, or found them shared
Already by some happier bard.

To modern times, with Truth to guide
My busy search, I next applied;
Here cities won, and fleets dispersed,
Urged loud a claim to be rehearsed,
Deeds of unperishing renown,
Our fathers' triumphs and our own.
Thus as the bee, from bank to bower,
Assiduous sips at every flower,

But rests on none till that be found
Where most nectareous sweets abound,
So I, from theme to theme displayed
In many a page historic strayed,
Siege after siege, fight after fight,
Contemplating with small delight,
(For feats of sanguinary hue
Not always glitter in my view)
Till settling on the current year,

I found the far-sought treasure near;
A theme for poetry divine,

A theme to ennoble even mine,
In memorable Eighty-nine.

The spring of Eighty-nine shall be
An era cherished long by me,
Which joyful I will oft record,
And thankful, at my frugal board;
For then the clouds of Eighty-eight,
That threatened England's trembling state
With loss of what she least could spare,