University of Virginia Library

Verses spoken Extempore,

At Receiving the News of my Brother's Death, Jan. 5. 1719.

Ah killing News! my Friend and Brother dead!
Ye guardian Angels lend a present Aid,
Or, with my Joys, my Spirits soon shall go,
So great's my Loss, and so intense my Woe.
I thought the Conduct of the Fates was kind,
And that for good their sparing was design'd:
But now 'tis plain they lengthen'd out my Bliss,
At last to plunge me in a dire Abyss.