Poems on Various Subjects :: :: University of Virginia Library

What pow'r supernal strengthens thus my sight?
Why do these sadly beauteous visions rise?
Beatific forms! the heirs of heav'nly light!—
Yet swell with pearly drops their beamy eyes.
Their charge neglected, and their mystic joys,
The drooping Genii 'neath the murky shade
Which yonder thick-grown woodland round supplies,
Sigh in sad concert, all supinely laid;
Careless of sunny hill, cool stream, or winding glade.
Thro' all the echoing wood the note of sorrow dies.

190

II

Lo, sadly murmuring winds each troubled stream!
Their charge translucent, lo, the nymphiads slight!
Lo, they who wont to cool the solar beam,
With wing unmov'd, forget their airy flight!
While feather'd warblers, all in doleful plight,
Hang low the wing, and stint their dulcet note:
The awful stilness fills them with affright,
And melody no longer swells the throat,
Tho' late thro' air it wont with pleasing rapture float,
And fill the list'ning soul with sweetly calm delight.

III

Wherefore they droopen thus I fain would learn.
Come then, my Muse, of chaste and sober mien,
Lead thy rapt votary where he may discern
Why thus they mournful seek yon sylvan scene.
Can heav'nly agents feel a pang so keen?
Can holy Genii shed the sorrowing tear?
Full sad to know, must be the cause, I ween,
To man portending some misfortune drear—
But lead me, gentle Muse, where I their plaints may hear:
E'en 'mong the bow'ry valves of yonder verdant screen.

191

IV

Meet place I deem these spreading elms behind,
Where, antic-twisted, many a thick-wrought brere
Tempteth yon sprite to wail, beneath reclin'd,
Who of them all the chiefest doth appear.
Ah! if it be for woe, or if for fear,
The blushing blossoms seem to fade away,
As they his heart-empiercing accents hear:
Those blooms that shone erewhile so smiling gay.
But peace. My verse record what sadly he doth say,
As thus his mournful plaint steals on the list'ning ear:

V

“Ah Spirit gentle! tho' so frequent toss'd,
“In early life on rude Misfortune's wave;
“By Danger sieg'd, by Disappointment cross'd:
“Ah evils borne with resolution brave!)
“Thee, never form'd for Passion's fickle slave,
“Nor Danger's frown, nor sad Misfortune's woe
“The tender feelings from thy bosom drave,
“Nor made thee mild Benevolence forego.
“Yet HANWAY art thou dead—oh tale of heavy woe!
“Ah must such worth as thine sink in the senseless grave!

192

VI

“Ah Spirit meek! whom not the gaudy beams
“Of giddy Fortune e'er could tempt away
“To thoughtless Pride or Passion's wide extremes—
“Ah much too apt frail mortals to betray!
“But Charity did rule thy breast for aye;
“And, busy e'er to bring the wretch relief,
“No time had'st thou for thoughtless follies gay,
“Which promise pleasure, but which end in grief.
“Oh Britain mourn thy loss, nor be thy mourning brief;
“For roll may many years ere thou his like survey.

VII

“Ah Spirit patriotic! who didst toil
“To save the wretch forlorn from Guilt and Shame,
“And make the youth a guardian of this isle
“Who else, perhaps, had stigmatiz'd her name
“With crimes of blackest dye, which who proclaim
“With shuddering horror shed the gloomy tear.
“Full oft thro' him, I ween, the trump of Fame
“Hath bade us worthily some name revere
“Which else in guilt had sunk, and fall'n by doom severe.
“Yet dead is he, alas! who well such praise might claim!

193

VIII

“Ah Spirit pious! in whose moral lines
“Is kindly pictur'd to the lowly mind
“How bright in vale obscure fair Virtue shines;
“And teachest how true bliss that wight may find,
“Who, to calm dale of Humbleness confin'd,
“Far from the pompous blaze of gilded Joy—
(“False Joy, external, of the baser kind!)
“Doom'd in the sylvan scene the axe to ply,
“Might for luxurious Ease and fickle Honour sigh.
“Ah few like him I ween hath HANWAY left behind!

IX

“Ah Spirit kind! his name ye females bless!
“To ye the Sage I deem the best of friends:
“When traitor man has plung'd ye in distress,
“When guilty Woe your tortur'd bosoms rends,
“And ghastly Want her sad assistance lends;—
“Then, when ye seek that refuge from despair
“Which Peace restores, and tort'ring anguish ends,
“Then, then remember well, ye weeping fair,
“To him the boon ye owe which may your state repair,
“And make those comforts yours to which repentance tends.

194

X

“Nor you, ye fair, who o'er the waves of life
“With fav'ring gales of smiling honour sail,
“Who boast the name of Virgin, or of Wife,
“Treat with false pride your hapless sisters frail:
“E'en you, yourselves, perchance the self-same bale
“Experienc'd had, had ye so tempten been:
“Who vaunt the most themselves do easiest fail.
“With different eyes their fate hath Hanway seen,
“And to reclaim them sought, and from new dangers screen;
“But dead is he, alas! whose toils did oft avail.

XI

“How oft, invited by his gen'rous care,
“Sad wretches, trembling with disease and want,
“From Guilt's vile shed, and Misery's horrid fare,
“Have crawl'd with haggard eye, and visage gaunt,
“Paler than midnight Ghosts, who church-yards haunt!
“Him have they crawl'd to bless, whose voice so sweet
“Bade black Despair their hearts no longer daunt,
“For he had kindly founded a retreat,
“Where, by Repentance led, they Happiness might meet:
“Yet is he dead, alas! weep, weep to think upon't.

195

XII

“Now will we weep and wail in drearyment,
“And all unheeded each one leave his charge:
“Ye gentle Breezes cease your merryment;
“No longer ply the sportive wing at large;
“Ye watry Nymphiads quit the babbling marge,
“And ye who wont to tend the spreading bow'r,
“And all unwholesome blights from thence discharge,
“And ye who fed with sweets each fragrant flow'r,
“And health reviving dews thro' ev'ry vale did show'r,
“Here flock, with dismal notes my wailings to enlarge.

XIII

“For ah! how little boots the gentle gale,
“That freshens vales, and wakes the warbling throat?
“The babbling streams, how little they avail,
“That fertilize the valley as they float?
“How little merit bow'rs or blossoms note,
“Which shade afford, or render nature gay?
“Or rich perfumes, which scent fair Nature's coat,
“To what we in Benevolence survey,
“Which cheers the human breast and drives all care away?
“Ah then for HANWAY's death let Sorrow swell the note!

196

XIV

“See round his tomb the heav'n-rob'd forms attend!
“Lo Charity, with ever open hand;
“Sweet Sensibility, fair Virtue's friend,
“And kind Benevolence, with aspect bland,
“Whose bounteous smilings with a soft command
“Chace blank Affliction from Misfortune's face:
“And close beside doth tender Pity stand—
“Her azure eyes the pearls of Sorrow grace:
“Yet from each other cheek she Sorrow's pearls doth chace.
“These water with their tears the newly delved land.

XV

“Since then of three who bless'd the present age,
“Humane and generous, Howard, Hanway, Hawes,
“Too soon, tho' late, one quits life's busy stage,
“Ah loud let us lament, for we have cause—
“We who are doom'd by Heav'n's all-sapient laws
“Man's woes to mitigate, and guard his joys.
“But see, yon sable cloud aloft withdraws;
“A glorious vision opens to my eyes:
“Array'd in glory's beams, lo HANWAY mounts the skies,
“While hymning angels give his virtues due applause!

197

XVI

“Yes, pious sage! 'tis just that thou at last,
“After so many years of virtuous toil,
“Shouldst be rewarded for thy labours past
“In that blest realm where joys perennial smile.
“Yet drooping Nature must lament awhile
“For her own loss, not thy imagin'd woe:
“Lamentings sad her anguish must beguile;
“For who could e'er thy worth, oh Hanway! know,
“Nor weep when sadly forc'd such virtue to forego?
“Then pardon these our tears, thou boast of Britain's isle!”

XVII

Thus wail'd the Genii 'neath the verdant screen,
Whose thick'ning lab'rinths cast an awful gloom,
All listless stretch'd on mossy couches green,
While tears celestial wet each op'ning bloom.
Then, lowly couching 'mongst the flow'ry broom,
Did Philomela sad, with drooping wing,
Near where was newly made lost Hanway's tomb,
From dulcet pipe his mournful requiem sing,
'Till round the Genii flock'd to hear her in a ring:
Tho' sooth'd she, sad, their woe for Fate's malignant doom.

The Magdalen Hospital.