"This said, she gently, with a single sigh,
"Died as one taught and practised how to die.
"Such were the dead-departed; I survive,

"To breathe in pain among the dead-alive.”

66

The bell then call'd these ancient men to pray,

Again!" said Benbow,-" tolls it every day?

"Where is the life I led ?"-He sigh'd and walk'd his

way.

THE BOROUGH.

LETTER XVII.

THE HOSPITAL AND GOVERNORS.

Blessed be the man who provideth for the sick and needy: the Lord shall deliver him in time of trouble.

Christian Charity anxious to provide for future as well as present Miseries-Hence the Hospital for the Diseased-Description of a recovered Patient-The Building: how erected-The Patrons and Governors-Eusebius-The more active Manager of Business a moral and correct Contributor-One of different Description-Good, the Result, however intermixed with Imperfection.

THE BOROUGH.

LETTER XVII.

THE HOSPITAL AND GOVERNORS.

AN ardent spirit dwells with christian love,
The eagle's vigour in the pitying dove;
"Tis not enough that we with sorrow sigh,
That we the wants of pleading man supply;
That we in sympathy with sufferers feel,
Nor hear a grief without a wish to heal;
Not these suffice to sickness, pain, and wo,
The christian spirit loves with aid to go;

Will not be sought, waits not for want to plead,
But seeks the duty-nay, prevents the need;
Her utmost aid to every ill applies,

And plans relief for coming miseries.

Hence yonder building rose: on either side Far stretch'd the wards, all airy, warm, and wide; And every ward has beds by comfort spread,

And smooth'd for him who suffers on the bed:

There have all kindness, most relief,-for some

Is cure complete,-it is the sufferer's home:
Fevers and chronic ills, corroding pains,

Each accidental mischief man sustains;

Fractures and wounds, and wither'd limbs and lame,
With all that, slow or sudden, vex our frame,

Have here attendance-here the sufferers lie,
(Where love and science every aid apply),

And heal'd with rapture live, or soothed by comfort die.
See! one relieved from anguish, and to-day
Allow'd to walk and look an hour away;
Two months confined by fever, frenzy, pain,
He comes abroad and is himself again :
'Twas in the spring, when carried to the place,
The snow fell down and melted in his face.

'Tis summer now; all objects gay and new,
Smiling alike the viewer and the view:
He stops as one unwilling to advance,
Without another and another glance;
With what a pure and simple joy he sees
Those sheep and cattle browzing at their ease;
Easy himself, there's nothing breathes or moves
But he would cherish-all that lives he loves:
Observing every ward as round he goes,

He thinks what pain, what danger they enclose;
Warm in his wish for all who suffer there,

At

every

view he meditates a prayer: