INSCRIPTION

For a Stone erected at the Sowing of a Grove of Oaks at Chillington, the Seat of T. Griffurd, Esq.

1790.

[June 1790.]

OTHER stones the era tell,
When some feeble mortal fell;
1 stand here to date the birth
Of these hardy sons of Earth.

Which shall longest brave the sky,
Storm and frost---these oaks or I?

Pass an age or two away,

I must moulder and decay,

But the years that crumble me
Shall invigorate the tree,
Spread its branch, dilate its size,
Lift its summit to the skies.

Cherish honor, virtue, truth,
So shalt thou prolong thy youth.
Wanting these, however fast
Man be fixt, and form'd to last,
He is lifeless even now,

Stone at heart, and cannot grow.

K

ANOTHER,

For a Stone erected on a similar occasion at the same place in the following year.

[June 1790.]

READER! Behold a monument
That asks no sigh or tear,
Though it perpetuate the event
Of a great burial here.

Anno 1791.

HYMN

FOR THE USE OF THE

SUNDAY SCHOOL AT OLNEY.

[July 1790.]

HEAR, Lord, the song of praise and pray'r,

In heaven thy dwelling-place,

From infants made the public care

And taught to seek thy face!

Thanks for thy Word and for thy Day;

And grant us, we implore,
Never to waste in sinful play
Thy holy Sabbaths more.

Thanks that we hear---but oh impart

To each desires sincere,

That we may listen with our heart,
And learn as well as hear.

For if vain thoughts the minds engage
Of elder far than we,

What hope that at our heedless age
Our minds should e'er be free?

Much hope, if thou our spirits take
Under thy gracious sway,
Who canst the wisest wiser make,
And Babes as wise as they.

Wisdom and bliss thy word bestows,

A sun that ne'er declines;

And be thy mercies show'r'd on those
Who placed us where it shines.*

*Note by the Editor. This Hymn was written at the request of the Rev. James Bean, then Vicar of Olney, to be sung by the children of the Sunday Schools of that town, after a Charity Ser mon, preached at the Parish Church for their benefit, on Sunday, July 31, 1790.

STANZAS

On the late indecent Liberties taken with the Remains of the great Milton,---Anno 1790. [August 1790.]

"ME too, perchance, in future days, "The sculptur'd stone shall show, "With Paphian myrtle or with bays "Parnassian on my brow.

"Shall reach my refuge in the tomb, "And sleep securely there."*

So sang, in Roman tone and style,
The youthful bard, ere long
Ordain'd to grace his native isle
With her sublimest song.

Who then but must conceive disdain
Hearing the deed unblest

Of wretches who have dar'd prophane
His dread sepulchral rest?

*Forsitan et nostros ducat de marmore vultus
Nectens aut Faphia myrti aut Parnasside lauri
Fronde comasAt ego secura pace quiescam.

MILTON IN MANSO.

Ill fare the hands that heav'd the stones

Where Milton's ashes lay,

That trembled not to grasp his bones
And steal his dust away!

O ill-requited bard! neglect
Thy living worth repaid,
And blind idolatrous respect
As much affronts thee dead.

TO MRS. KING

ON

Her kind Present to the Author, a Putch-work Counterpane of her own making.

[August 14, 1790.]

THE Bard, if e'er he feel at all,
Must sure be quicken'd by a call

Both on his heart and head,

Το with tuneful thanks the care
pay

And kindness of a Lady fair

Who deigns to deck his bed.

A bed like this, in ancient time,
On Ida's barren top sublime,