 | Poems on several occasions |  |
VI.—TO MR. LISTER,
ON HIS CONSTANT ATTENDANCE AT PARLIAMENT.
While others poorly shrink away,
Like phantoms at approach of day,
Not sickness' self can Lister make
The well-fought combat to forsake.
Vain are the strong assaults of pain;
His friends' persuasions are as vain.
His country's grief, too plainly known,
Prevents the minding of his own.
Nor morning-watch diverts his aim;
O'erpower'd, outvoted,—still the same.
He falls, averse to fly or yield,
As Britons ought, upon the field.
Our Sodom might from fate be free,
Had she but fifty such as he.
But, ah! so low our ebb, I fear,
Scarcely can ten be reckon'd there.
Like phantoms at approach of day,
Not sickness' self can Lister make
The well-fought combat to forsake.
Vain are the strong assaults of pain;
His friends' persuasions are as vain.
His country's grief, too plainly known,
Prevents the minding of his own.
Nor morning-watch diverts his aim;
O'erpower'd, outvoted,—still the same.
He falls, averse to fly or yield,
As Britons ought, upon the field.
Our Sodom might from fate be free,
Had she but fifty such as he.
But, ah! so low our ebb, I fear,
Scarcely can ten be reckon'd there.
Still be your glorious course pursued:
Opposing ill is doing good.
With generous love to Britain fired,
Persist, unbroken and untired,
Till Winnington shall steady prove,
Till Pulteney shall sir Robert love,
And Oxford's earl a courtier be,
And Shippen leave his honesty,
And Wyndham common-sense forego,
And Oglethorpe a coward grow,
And northern folk refuse a place,
And Billy blush in sign of grace,
And courtiers loathe a money-bill,
And Bob be tired with doing ill.
May all these wonders first be view'd,
Ere you be tired with doing good!
Opposing ill is doing good.
With generous love to Britain fired,
Persist, unbroken and untired,
625
Till Pulteney shall sir Robert love,
And Oxford's earl a courtier be,
And Shippen leave his honesty,
And Wyndham common-sense forego,
And Oglethorpe a coward grow,
And northern folk refuse a place,
And Billy blush in sign of grace,
And courtiers loathe a money-bill,
And Bob be tired with doing ill.
May all these wonders first be view'd,
Ere you be tired with doing good!
| Poems on several occasions | |