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A FRAGMENT.

WHEN, to their airy hall, my Fathers' voice
Shall call my spirit, joyful in their choice;
When, pois'd upon the gale, my form shall ride,
Or, dark in mist, descend the mountain's side;
Oh! may my shade behold no sculptur'd urns,
To mark the spot where earth to earth returns:
No lengthen'd scroll, no praise-encumber'd stone;
My epitaph shall be my name alone :

If that with honour fail to crown my clay,
Oh! may no other fame my deeds repay;
That, only that, shall single out the spot,
By that remember'd, or with that forgot.

1803.

THE TEAR.

O lachrymarum fons, tenero sacros
Ducentium ortus ex animo; quater
Felix, in imo qui scatentem

Pectore te, pia Nympha, sensit!

1.

WHEN Friendship or Love

Our sympathies move;

When Truth, in a glance, should appear,

The lips may beguile

With a dimple or smile,

But the test of affection's a Tear,

GRAY.

Too oft is a smile

2.

But the hypocrite's wile,

To mask detestation, or fear;
Give me the soft sigh,
Whilst the soul-telling eye

Is dimm'd, for a time, with a Tear.

3.

Mild Charity's glow,
To us mortals below,

Shews the soul from barbarity clear;
Compassion will melt

Where this virtue is felt,

And its dew is diffus'd in a Tear.

4.

The man, doom'd to sail With the blast of the gale, Through billows Atlantic to steer; As he bends o'er the wave, Which may soon be his grave, The green sparkles bright with a Tear.

5.

The Soldier braves death,
For a fanciful wreath,

In Glory's romantic career;
But he raises the foe,

When in battle laid low,

And bathes ev'ry wound with a Tear.

6.

If, with high-bounding pride,
He return to his bride,
Renouncing the gore-crimson'd spear;
All his toils are repaid,

When, embracing the maid,
From her eyelid he kisses the Tear.

7.

Sweet scene of my youth,

Seat of Friendship and Truth,
Where Love chas'd each fast-fleeting year;
Loth to leave thee, I mourn'd,

For a last look I turn'd,

But thy spire was scarce seen through a Tear.

8.

Though my vows I can pour

To my Mary no more,

My Mary, to Love once so dear;

In the shade of her bow'r,

I remember the hour,

She rewarded those vows with a Tear.

By another possest,

9.

May she live ever blest,

Her name still my heart must revere;

With a sigh I resign

What I once thought was mine,

And forgive her deceit with a Tear.

10.

Ye friends of my heart,
Ere from you I depart,

This hope to my breast is most near;
If again we shall meet,
In this rural retreat,

May we meet, as we part, with a Tear!

II.

When my soul wings her flight
To the regions of night,

And my corse shall recline on its bier;
As ye pass by the tomb,

Where my ashes consume,

Oh! moisten their dust with a Tear.

12.

May no marble bestow

The splendour of woe,

Which the children of vanity rear;

No fiction of fame

Shall blazon my name :

All I ask, all I wish, is a Tear.

1806.

AN OCCASIONAL PROLOGUE,

Delivered previous to the performance of « The Wheel of Fortune,» at a private theatre.

SINCE the refinement of this polish'd age
Has swept immoral raillery from the stage;
Since taste has now expung'd licentious wit,
Which stamp'd disgrace on all an Author writ;
Since, now, to please with purer scenes we seek,
Nor dare to call the blush from Beauty's cheek;
Oh! let the modest Muse some pity claim,
And meet indulgence, though she find not fame.
Still, not for her alone we wish respect,
Others appear more conscious of defect;
To night, no vet'ran Roscii you behold,
In all the arts of scenic action old;

NO COOKE, NO KEMBLE, can salute you here,
no
NO SIDDONS draw the sympathetic tear;
To-night, you throng to witness the debut
Of embryo actors, to the drama new;
Here, then, our almost unfledg'd wings we try;
Clip not our pinions, ere the birds can fly;
Failing in this our first attempt to soar,
Drooping, alas! we fall to rise no more.
Not one poor trembler, only, fear betrays,
Who hopes, yet almost dreads, to meet your praise,
But all our Dramatis Personæ wait,

In fond suspense, this crisis of their fate.
No venal views our progress can retard,
Your generous plaudits are our sole reward;
For these, each hero all his power displays,
Each timid heroine shrinks before your gaze:

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