" What Fate reserv'd me for this Christian racet?

“ O race more polish'd, more severe than they! « Ye prowling wolves, pursue my latest cries !

“ Thou hungry tiger, leave thy reeking den ! 6. Ye sandy wastes, in rapid eddies rise!

“ O tear me from the whips and scorns of men! “ Yet in their face superior beauty glows : " Are smiles the mein of rapine and of wrong

? “ Yet from their lip the voice of mercy flows,

“ And e'en religion dwells upon their tongue. « Of blissful haunts they tell, and brighter climes,

“ Where gentle minds, convey'd by death, repair : “ But stain'd with blood, and crimfon'd o'er with crimes,

“ Say, shall they merit what they paint so fair ? “ No, careless, hopeless, of those fertile plains,

“ Rich by our toils, and by our forrows gay, " They ply our labours, and enhance our pains,

« And feign these distant regions to repay. • For them our tulky elephant expires ;

« For them we drain the mine's embowel'd gold, “ Where rove the brutal nation's wild defires ?

" Our limbs are purchas'd, and our life is fold! 6 Yet thores there are, bless'd fhores, for us remain,

“ And favour'd ines, with golden fruitage crown’d, " Where tufted flow'rets paint the verdant plain,

“ Where ev'ry breeze fall med’cine ev'ry wound: " There the stern tyrant that embitters life,

“ Shall, vainly suppliant, spread his asking hand; 66 There shall ve view, the billow's raging strife, " Aid the kind breaft, and waft his boat to land.”

Spoke by a Savage,

NANCY OF THE VALE,

A BALLAD.

The western sky was purpled o'er

With ev'ry pleasing ray,
And flocks reviving felt no more

The sultry heats of day.
When from an azle's artless bower

Soft warbled Strephon's tongue ;
He blest the scene, he bleft the hour,

While Nancy's praise he sung. “Let fops with fickle falfhood range

“ The paths of wanton love, “ While weeping maids lament their change,

" And sadden ev'ry grove : " But endless blessings crown the day

“ I saw fair E'sham's dale ! “And ev'ry blessing find its way “ To Nancy of the Vale! “ 'Twas from Avona's banks the maid

“ Diffus'd her lovely beams, « And ev'ry shining glance display'd “ The Naiad of the streams. • Soft as the wild-duck's tender young,

“ That float on Avon's tide, ” Bright as the water-lily, sprung,

" And glittring near its side. * Fresh as the bordring flow'rs her bloom,

“ Her eye all mild to views

LE

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* The little halcyon's azure plume

“ Was never half fo blue.
“Her shape was like the reed so Neek,

“ So taper, straight, and fair;
" Her dimpled smile, her blushing cheek,

“ How charming sweet they were !
“ Far in the winding vale retird,

“ This peerless bud I found,
"' And shadowing rocks and woods conspir'd
“ To fence her beauties round,
" That Nature in fo lone a dell

“ Should form a nymph so sweet !
" Or Fortune to her secret cell

“ Conduct my wand'ring feet !
“Gay lordlings fought her for their brido,

“ But she would ne'er incline :
“ Prove to your equals true, (she cry'd,)

" As I will provę to mine.
“ 'Tis Strephon, on the mountain's brow,

" Has won my right good will :
“To him I gave my plighted vow,

" With him I'll climb the hill.
“ Struck with her charms and gentle truth,

“I clafp'd the constant fair ;
« To her alone I gave my youth,

“ And vow my future care.
“ And when this vow shall faithless prove,

" Or I those charms forego,
" The stream that saw our tender love,

! That stream shall cease to flow."

THE SCHOOL-MISTRESS.

IN IMITATION OF SPENSER.

VIRG.

Auditæ voces, vagitus et ingens,
Infantumque animve flentes in limine primo.
AH me! full forely is my heart forlorn,
To think how modest worth neglected lies,
While partial Fame doth with her blast adorn,
Such deeds alone as pride and pomp disguise,
Deeds of ill fort, and mischievous emprize :
Lend me thy clarion, Goddess ! let me trý
To found the praise of Merit ere dies,

Such as I oft have chaunced to espy
Lost in the dreary Ihades of dull obscurity.

In ev'ry village, mark'd with little spire,
Embower'd in trees, and hardly known to Fame,
There dwells, in lonely shed and mean attire,
A matron old, whom we School-mistress name,
Who boasts unruly brats with birch to tamne ;
They grieven fore, in piteous durance pent,
Aw'd by the power of this relentless dame,

And oft times, on vagaries idly bent,
For unkempt hair, or talk unconn'd, arc sorely lent,

And all in fight doth rise a birchen tree,
Which Learning near her little dome did ftowe,
Whilom a twig of small regard to see,
Though now so wide its waving branches flow,
And work the simple vaffals mickle woe ;
For not a wind might curl the leaves that blew,

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But their limbs shudder'd, and their pulse beat low,

And, as they look'd, they found their horror grew, And shap'd it into rods, and tingled at the view.

So have I seen (who has not may conceive)
A lifeless phantom near a garden plac'd ;
So doth it wanton birds of peace bereave,
Of sport, of song, of pleasure, of repast;
They ftart, they ftare, they wheel, they look aghaft;
Sad servitude ! such comfortless annoy
May no bold Briton's riper age e'er taste,

Ne fuperftition clog his dance of joy,
Ne vision empty, vain, his native bliss destroy.

Near to this dome is found a patch fo green,
On which the tribe their gambols do display,
And at the door impris’ning board is seen,
Left weakly wights of smaller size should stray,
Eager, perdie, to bask in sunny day!
The noises intermix'd, which thence resound,
Do Learning's little tenement betray,

Where fits the dame, disguis'd in look profound, And eyes her fairy throng, and turns her wheel around.

Her cap, far whiter than the driven snow,
Emblem right meet of decency does yield;
Her apron, dy'd in grain, as blue, I trowe,
As is the hare-bell that adorns the field ;
And in her hand, for fceptre, she doth wield
Tway birchen Sprays, with anxious fear entwind,
With dark distrust and sad repentance fillid,

And steadfast hate, and sharp affidion join'd,
And fury uncontrould, and chaftisement unkind.

Few but have kenn'd, in femblance meet pourtray'd,
The childish faces of old Æol's train,