Yet glad she came that night to prove,

A witness undescried,

How much the object of her love

Was loved by all beside.

Darkness the skies had mantled o'er

In aid of her design

Darkness, O Queen! ne'er called before

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To veil a deed of thine!

On borrowed wheels away she flies,

Resolved to be unknown,

And gratify no curious eyes

That night except her own.

Arrived, a night like noon she sees,
And hears the million hum;

As all by instinct, like the bees,
Had known their sovereign come.

Pleased she beheld aloft portrayed,

On many a splendid wall,

Emblems of health and heavenly aid,

And George the theme of all.

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Unlike the enigmatic line,

So difficult to spell,

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Which shook Belshazzar at his wine
The night his city fell.

Soon watery grew her eyes and dim,
But with a joyful tear,

None else, except in prayer for him,
George ever drew from her.

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ON THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO LONDON.

339

It was a scene in every part

Like those* in fable feigned,

And seemed by some magician's art
Created and sustained.

But other magic there, she knew,

Had been exerted none,

To raise such wonders in her view,
Save love of George alone.

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That cordial thought her spirit cheered,

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And through the cumbrous throng,

Not else unworthy to be feared,

Conveyed her calm along.

So, ancient poets say, serene

The sea-maid rides the waves, And fearless of the billowy scene

Her peaceful bosom laves.

With more than astronomic eyes

She viewed the sparkling show; One Georgian star adorns the skies, She myriads found below.

Yet let the glories of a night

Like that, once seen, suffice,

Heaven grant us no such future sight,
Such previous woe the price!

Hayley, "that" Johnson" those.”

IN MEMORY OF THE LATE JOHN

THORNTON, ESQ.*

OETS attempt the noblest task they can,
Praising the Author of all good in

man,

And, next, commemorating worthies
lost,

The dead in whom that good abounded most.
Thee, therefore, of commercial fame, but more 5
Famed for thy probity from shore to shore,
Thee, THORNTON! worthy in some page to shine,
As honest and more eloquent than mine,

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I mourn; or, since thrice happy thou must be,
The world, no longer thy abode, not thee.
Thee to deplore were grief misspent indeed;
It were to weep that goodness has its meed,
That there is bliss prepared in yonder sky,
And glory for the virtuous when they die.
What pleasure can the miser's fondled hoard, 15
Or spendthrift's prodigal excess afford,

Sweet as the privilege of healing woe
Suffered by virtue combating below?

That privilege was thine; Heaven gave thee means
To illumine with delight the saddest scenes,

* Hayley, 1803, vol. 1. p. 68.

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IN MEMORY OF JOHN THORNTON, ESQ. 341

Till thy appearance chased the gloom, forlorn
As midnight, and despairing of a morn.
Thou hadst an industry in doing good,

Restless as his who toils and sweats for food;
Avarice in thee was the desire of wealth
By rust unperishable or by stealth,
And if the genuine worth of gold depend
On application to its noblest end,

Thine had a value in the scales of Heaven
Surpassing all that mine or mint had given.
And, though God made thee of a nature prone
To distribution boundless of thy own,
And still by motives of religious force
Impelled thee more to that heroic course,
Yet was thy liberality discreet,

Nice in its choice, and of a tempered heat;
And though in act unwearied, secret still,
As in some solitude the summer rill
Refreshes, where it winds, the faded green,

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30

35

And cheers the drooping flowers, unheard, un

seen.

Such was thy charity; no sudden start, After long sleep, of passion in the heart, But steadfast principle, and, in its kind, Of close alliance* to the Eternal Mind, Traced easily to its true source above, To Him whose works bespeak his nature, Love. Thy bounties all were Christian, and I make This record of thee for the Gospel's sake; That the incredulous themselves may see Its use and power exemplified in thee.

Nov. 1790.

* Hayley," alliance;" Johnson, “relatiou.”

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45

50

THE FOUR AGES.

(A BRIEF FRAGMENT of an EXTENSIVE PROJECTED

POEM.)*

COULD be well content, allowed the

use

Of passed experience, and the wisdom

gleaned

From worn-out follies, now acknowledged such, To recommence life's trial, in the hope

Of fewer errors, on a second proof!

5

Thus, while gray evening lulled the wind and called

Fresh odours from the shrubbery at my side,
Taking my lonely winding walk, I mused,
And held accustomed conference with my heart;
When from within it thus a voice replied:
"Couldst thou in truth? and art thou taught

at length

This wisdom, and but this, from all the past?
Is not the pardon of thy long arrear,
Time wasted, violated laws, abuse
Of talents, judgment, mercies, botter far
Than opportunity vouchsafed to err
With less excuse, and, haply, worse effect?"
I heard, and acquiesced: then to and fro

* Hayley, 1803, vol. I. p. 173

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