My Mind and its Thoughts, in Sketches, Fragments, and Essays

Morton, Sarah Wentworth (1759-1846)

My Mind AND ITS THOUGHTS, IN SKETCHES, FRAGMENTS, AND ESSAYS;

CHARACTERISTIC SONGS.

HYMNS.

MONODIES, Elegies, and Stanzas.

TO THE MEMORY

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TO THE MEMORY

OF THE HONOURABLE MR. BOWDOIN, LATE GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

Ah, Bowdoin, if thy sainted shade,
Still wander round the cheerless glade;
Or mid the rich and sparkling sky,
Can heed the muses plaintive sigh;
Can see a grateful country mourn,
See genius deck thy laurelled urn:
While those thy secret bounty fed—
The tear of hopeless sorrow shed;

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Ah, yet extend thy patriot care,
Yet heed a faithful people's prayer:
Some kindred soul of heavenly fire,
With thy departed worth inspire;
Give him to scan the comet's way,
To watch the chaste moon's bashful ray,
To mark where milky myriads flow,
And see the distant planets glow;
O'er the blue arch undazzled gaze,
Searching the sun's meridian blaze;
And round the vast perfected whole,
Find ONE BRIGHT ORB OF GLORY

Mr. Bowdoin, in his Astronomical observations, supported the Theory of an “ALL SURROUNDING ORB.” This Theory has generated discussion and occasioned doubt, as not reducible to Philosophic certainty; yet it is generally allowed to indicate original Thought and profound Investigation.

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Then all those sacred virtues blend,
Which formed the husband, father, friend.
The liberal praise, the cautious blame,
The charity concealed from fame,
Each worth, each lustre of thy faultless mind,
And with another Bowdoin grace mankind.

University of Virginia Library

TO THE MEMORY

OF THE HONOURABLE MR. BOWDOIN, LATE GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.