ON A GOLDFINCH STARVED TO DEATH IN HIS CAGE

[Written in the summer of 1780. Published 1782. There is a MS. copy in the British Museum.]

TIME was when I was free as äir,
The thistle's downy seed my fare,
My drink the morning dew;
I perch'd at will on ev'ry spray,
My form genteel, my plumage gay,
My strains for ever new.

But gaudy plumage, sprightly strain,
And form genteel, were all in vain,

And of a transient date;

For, caught and cag'd, and starv'd to death,

In dying sighs my little breath

Soon pass'd the wiry grate.

Thanks, gentle swain, for all my woes,
And thanks for this effectual close

And cure of ev'ry ill!

More cruelty could none express;

And I, if you had shown me less,
Had been your pris'ner still.

12

18

IN SEDITIONEM HORRENDAM CORRUPTELIS GALLICIS (UT FERTUR) LONDINI NUPER EXORTAM

[Written in letter to Unwin, June 18, 1780 (MS. in British Museum). Published by Hayley, 1803.]

PERFIDA, crudelis, victa et lymphata furore,
Non armis laurum Gallia, fraude petit.
Venalem pretio plebem conducit, et urit
Undique privatas patriciasque domos.
Nequicquam conata sua, fœdissima sperat
Posse tamen nostra nos superare manu.
Gallia, vana struis-Precibus nunc utere! Vinces,
Nam mites timidis supplicibusque sumus.

TRANSLATION

[Written in letter to Unwin, July 11, 1780 (MS. in British Museum). Published by Hayley, 1803.]

8

FALSE, cruel, disappointed, stung to th' heart,
France quits the warrior's for th' assassin's part;
To dirty hands a dirty bribe conveys,

Bids the low street and lofty palace blaze.
Her sons too weak to vanquish us alone,
She hires the worst and basest of our own.-

Kneel, France!-a suppliant conquers us with ease,
We always spare a coward on his knees.

ON THE BURNING OF LORD MANSFIELD'S

LIBRARY

TOGETHER WITH HIS MSS.

BY THE MOB, IN THE MONTH OF JUNE 1780 [Written in letter to Unwin, June 22, 1780 (MS. copy in British Museum). Published 1782.]

So then the Vandals of our isle,
Sworn foes to sense and law,
Have burnt to dust a nobler pile
Than ever Roman saw!

And MURRAY sighs o'er Pope and Swift,
And many a treasure more,

The well-judg'd purchase and the gift
That grac'd his letter'd store.

Their pages mangled, burnt, and torn,
The loss was his alone;

But ages yet to come shall mourn
The burning of his own.

ON THE SAME

[Written June, 1780. Published 1782.]

WHEN wit and genius meet their doom
In all devouring flame,

They tell us of the fate of Rome,

And bid us fear the same.

O'er MURRAY's loss the muses wept,

They felt the rude alarm,

Yet bless'd the guardian care that kept

8

[Written in letter to Unwin, July 27, 1780 (MS. in British

Museum). Published by Hayley, 1803.]

WHAT is there in the vale of life

Half so delightful as a wife,

When friendship, love, and peace combine

To stamp the marriage bond divine?

On the Burning-Title 3] his own BM.

7 and] or BM.

2 to] of BM.

Love Abused-Sub-title in BM. (The thought suggested by Thelyphthora).

The stream of pure and genuine love
Derives its current from above;
And earth a second Eden shows
Where'er the healing water flows.
But ah! if from the dykes and drains
Of sensual nature's fev'rish veins,
Lust like a lawless headstrong flood
Impregnated with ooze and mud,
Descending fast on ev'ry side,
Once mingles with the sacred tide,
Farewell the soul-enliv'ning scene!
The banks, that wore a smiling green,
With rank defilement overspread
Bewail their flow'ry beauties dead;
The stream polluted, dark, and dull,
Diffus'd into a Stygian pool,

Thro' life's last melancholy years
Is fed with ever flowing tears:

Complaints supply the zephyr's part,

And sighs that heave a breaking heart.

10

20

ON OBSERVING SOME NAMES OF LITTLE NOTE
RECORDED IN THE BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA
[Written in letter to Unwin, Sept. 3, 1780 (MS. in British
Museum). Published 1782.]

Он, fond attempt to give a deathless lot
To names ignoble, born to be forgot!
In vain, recorded in historic page,
They court the notice of a future age:
Those twinkling tiny lustres of the land

Drop one by one from Fame's neglecting hand:
Lethæan gulphs receive them as they fall,
And dark oblivion soon absorbs them all.
So when a child, as playful children use,
Has burnt to tinder a stale last year's news,
The flame extinct, he views the roving fire-
There goes my lady, and there goes the squire.
There goes the parson, oh! illustrious spark,
And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk!

TO THE REVEREND MR. NEWTON
ON HIS RETURN FROM RAMSGATE
[Written Oct., 1780. Published by Hayley, 1803, and by
Johnson, 1815.]

THAT Ocean you of late survey'd,
Those rocks I too have seen,
But I, afflicted and dismay'd,
You, tranquil and serene.

On Observing-10 cinder Hayley.

To Newton-1 of] have Hayley (1812), 1815.

10

You from the flood-controlling steep

Saw stretch'd before your view,

With conscious joy, the threat'ning deep,
No longer such to you.

To me, the waves that ceaseless broke
Upon the dang'rous coast,
Hoarsely and ominously spoke
Of all my treasure lost.

Your sea of troubles you have past,

And found the peaceful shore;

I, tempest-toss'd, and wreck'd at last,
Come home to port no more.

REPORT OF AN ADJUDGED CASE

8

16

NOT TO BE FOUND IN ANY OF THE BOOKS [Written Dec., 1780. Published 1782. There is a MS. copy in the British Museum in a letter to Unwin, another in the possession of Canon Cowper Johnson.]

-

BETWEEN Nose and Eyes a strange contest arose,-
The spectacles set them unhappily wrong;
The point in dispute was, as all the world knows,
To which the said spectacles ought to belong.
So Tongue was the lawyer, and argued the cause
With a great deal of skill, and a wig full of learning;
While chief baron Ear sat to balance the laws,

8

So fam'd for his talent in nicely discerning. In behalf of the Nose, it will quickly appear, And your lordship, he said, will undoubtedly find, That the Nose has had spectacles always in wear, Which amounts to possession time out of mind. Then holding the spectacles up to the court,Your lordship observes they are made with a straddle,

As wide as the ridge of the Nose is; in short,

Design'd to sit close to it, just like a saddle. 16 Again, would your lordship a moment suppose, (Tis a case that has happen'd, and may be again) That the visage or countenance had not a Nose! Pray who would, or who could, wear spectacles then?

On the whole, it appears- and my argument shows With a reasoning the court will never condemn, That the spectacles plainly were made for the Nose, And the Nose was as plainly intended for them. 1 a strange] once a BM.: a sad CJ. 2 unhappily] egregiously 5 the before Tongue BM., CJ., 1782, 1786. 8 in) at CJ.

BM.

26

Then, shifting his side, (as a lawyer knows how)
He pleaded again in behalf of the Eyes:
But what were his arguments few people know,
For the court did not think they were equally wise.
So his lordship decreed, with a grave solemn tone,
Decisive and clear, without one if or but-
That whenever the Nose put his spectacles on,
By day-light or candle-light-Eyes should be shut!

THE LOVE OF THE WORLD REPROVED;
OR, HYPOCRISY DETECTED1

[Written 1780 (?). Published in The Gentleman's Magazine Sept.,
1780; afterwards in 1782. There is a copy among the Ash MSS.]
Thus says the prophet of the Turk-
Good mussulman, abstain from pork;
There is a part in ev'ry swine
No friend or follower of mine
May taste, whate'er his inclination,
On pain of excommunication.

Such Mahomet's mysterious charge,
And thus he left the point at large.
[Had he the sinful part express'd,
They might with safety eat the rest;
But for one piece they thought it hard
From the whole hog to be debarr'd,
And set their wit at work to find
What joint the prophet had in mind.]
Much controversy straight arose
These choose the back, the belly those;
By some 'tis confidently said

He meant not to forbid the head;
While others at that doctrine rail,
And piously prefer the tail.

Thus, conscience freed from ev'ry clog,
Mahometans eat up the hog.

You laugh-'tis well.-The tale applied
May make you laugh on t'other side.
Renounce the world-the preacher cries.
We do -a multitude replies.

While one as innocent regards

A snug and friendly game at cards;

10

20

1 It may be proper to inform the reader that this piece has already appeared in print, having found its way, though with some unnecessary additions by an unknown hand, into the Leeds Journal, without the author's privity [C.].

Title] Almost a Christian. A Tale A.

Friend A.

4 Follower or

9-14 by Newton; om. A. Sce Cowper's footnote,

printed in 1782, and in subsequent editions,