66 "My home henceforth is in the skies; "Earth, seas, and sun, adieu! "All Heav'n unfolded to my eyes, "I have no sight for you." So spake Aspasio, firm possess'd Then breath'd his soul into it's rest, He was a man among the few Sincere on virtue's side; And all his strength from Scripture drew, To hourly use applied. That rule he priz'd, by that he fear'd, He hated, hop'd, and lov’d; Nor ever frown'd, or sad appear'd, But when his heart had rov'd. 10 20 For he was frail, as thou or I, And evil felt within: But, when he felt it, heav'd a sigh, And loath'd the thought of sin. Such liv'd Aspasio; and at last Call'd up from Earth to Heav'n, The gulf of death triumphant pass'd, By gales of blessing driv❜n. His joys be mine, each Reader cries, They shall be yours, my Verse replies, Such only be your lives. 30 36 ON A SIMILAR OCCASION, FOR THE YEAR 1790. Ne commonentem recta sperne. BUCHANAN. Despise not my good counsel. He who sits from day to day, Where the prison'd lark is hung, Heedless of his loudest lay, Hardly knows that he has sung. Where the watchman in his round Nightly lifts his voice on high, None, accustom'd to the sound, Wakes the sooner for his cry. So your verse-man I, and clerk, Yearly in my song proclaim Death at hand-yourselves his mark And the foe's unerring aim. time I come, Duly at my time I Publishing to all aloud— Soon the grave must be your home, But the monitory strain, Oft repeated in your ears, Seems to sound too much in vain, Wins no notice, wakes no fears. Can a truth, by all confess'd Of such magnitude and weight, Grow, by being oft impress'd, Trivial as a parrot's prate? 20 10 Pleasure's call attention wins, Hear it often as we may; New as ever seem our sins, Though committed ev'ry day. Death and Judgment, Heav'n and Hell— These alone, so often heard, No more move us than the bell, O then, ere the turf or tomb Cover us from ev'ry eye, 30 Spirit of instruction come, Make us learn, that we must die. 36 |