MUTUAL FORBEARANCE NECESSARY TO THE HAPPINESS OF THE MARRIED STATE. THE lady thus address'd her spouse-- You are so deaf, the lady cried, (And rais'd her voice, and frown'd beside) You are so sadly deaf, my dear, What shall I do to make you hear? Dismiss poor Harry! he replies; Well, I protest 'tis past all bearing- Alas! and is domestic strife, Instead of harmony, 'tis jar, And tumult, and intestine war. The love, that cheers life's latest stage, Proof against sickness and old age, Preserv'd by virtue from declension, Becomes not weary of attention; But lives, when that exterior grace, Which first inspir'd the flame, decays. 'Tis gentle, delicate, and kind, To faults compassionate or blind, And will with sympathy endure Those evils, it would gladly cure: But angry, coarse, and harsh expression Shows love to be a mere profession; Proves that the heart is none of his, Or soon expels him if it is. THE NEGRO'S COMPLAINT. FORC'D from home and all it's pleasures, Afric's coast I left forlorn; To increase a stranger's treasures, Men from England bought and sold me, But, though slave they have enroll'd me, Minds are never to be sold. Still in thought as free as ever, What are England's rights, I ask, Me from my delights to sever, Cannot forfeit Nature's claim; Skins may differ, but affection Dwells in white and black the same. Why did all-creating Nature Make the plant, for which we toil? Sighs must fan it, tears must water, Sweat of ours must dress the soil. Think, ye masters iron-hearted, Lolling at your jovial boards; Think how many backs have smarted For the sweets, your cane affords. Is there, as ye sometimes tell us, Speaking from his throne the sky? Ask him, if your knotted scourges, Matches, blood-extorting screws, Are the means, that duty urges Agents of his will to use? Hark! he answers-wild tornadoes, Strewing yonder sea with wrecks ; Wasting towns, plantations, meadows, Are the voice, with which he speaks. He, foreseeing what vexations Afric's sons should undergo, Fix'd their tyrants' habitations |