Had we their wisdom, fhould we, often warned, Sad wafte! for which no after-thrift atones: Learn then ye living! by the mouths be taught And the next opening grave may yawn for you. ON A SIMILAR OCCASION, FOR THE YEAR 1789. -Placidaque ibi demum morte quievit. VIRG. There calm at length he breathed his foul away. "The hour that terminates his fpan, "His folly, and his woe! "Worlds fhould not bribe me back to tread Again life's dreary waste, "To fee again my day o'erfpread "With all the gloomy paft. My home henceforth is in the skies, "Earth, feas, and fun adieu! "All heaven unfolded to my eyes, "I have no fight for you." So fpoke Afpafio, firm poffeft He was a man among the few And all his ftrength from fcripture drew, That rule he prized, by that he feared, Nor ever frowned, or fad appeared, But when his heart had roved. For he was frail as thou or I, And evil felt within: But when he felt it, heaved a figh, Such lived Afpafio; and at laft Called up from Earth to Heaven, The gulph of death triumphant paffed, His joys be mine, each Reader cries, They shall be yours, my Verfe replies, ON A SIMILAR OCCASION, FOR THE YEAR 1790. Ne commonentem recta sperne. BUCHANAN. Despise not my good counsel. He who fits from day to day, Hardly knows that he has fung. Where the watchman in his round Wakes the fooner for his cry. So your verfe-man I, and clerk, Death at hand-yourselves his mark- Duly at my time I come, Publishing to all aloud Soon the grave must be your home, And your only fuit, a fhroud. But the monitory ftrain, Oft repeated in your ears, Can a truth, by all confeffed Of fuch magnitude and weight, Grow, by being oft expreffed, Trivial as a parrot's prate? Pleasure's call attention wins, Hear it often as we may; New as ever feem our fins, Though committed every day. |