The Borough | Page 9

delicious hour,
He feels his fortune, and laments its power.
Some Tradesman's bill his wandering eyes engage,
Some scrawl for
payment thrust 'twixt page and page;
Some bold, loud rapping at his
humble door,
Some surly message he has heard before,
Awake,
alarm, and tell him he is poor.
An angry Dealer, vulgar, rich, and proud,
Thinks of his bill, and,
passing, raps aloud;
The elder daughter meekly makes him way -
"I
want my money, and I cannot stay:
My mill is stopp'd; what, Miss! I
cannot grind;
Go tell your father he must raise the wind:"
Still
trembling, troubled, the dejected maid
Says, "Sir! my father!"--and
then stops afraid:
E'en his hard heart is soften'd, and he hears
Her
voice with pity; he respects her tears;
His stubborn features half admit
a smile,
And his tone softens--"Well! I'll wait awhile."
Pity! a man
so good, so mild, so meek,
At such an age, should have his bread to
seek;
And all those rude and fierce attacks to dread.
That are more
harrowing than the want of bread;
Ah! who shall whisper to that
misery peace!
And say that want and insolence shall cease?
"But why not publish?"--those who know too well,
Dealers in Greek,
are fearful 'twill not sell;
Then he himself is timid, troubled, slow,

Nor likes his labours nor his griefs to show;
The hope of fame may in
his heart have place,
But he has dread and horror of disgrace;
Nor
has he that confiding, easy way,
That might his learning and himself
display;
But to his work he from the world retreats,
And frets and
glories o'er the favourite sheets.
But see! the Man himself; and sure I trace
Signs of new joy exulting
in that face
O'er care that sleeps--we err, or we discern

Life in thy
looks--the reason may we learn?

"Yes," he replied, "I'm happy, I confess,
To learn that some are
pleased with happiness
Which others feel--there are who now
combine
The worthiest natures in the best design,
To aid the letter'd
poor, and soothe such ills as mine.
We who more keenly feel the
world's contempt,
And from its miseries are the least exempt;
Now
Hope shall whisper to the wounded breast
And Grief, in soothing
expectation, rest.
"Yes, I am taught that men who think, who feel,
Unite the pains of
thoughtful men to heal;
Not with disdainful pride, whose bounties
make
The needy curse the benefits they take;
Not with the idle
vanity that knows
Only a selfish joy when it bestows;
Not with
o'erbearing wealth, that, in disdain,
Hurls the superfluous bliss at
groaning pain;
But these are men who yield such blest relief,
That
with the grievance they destroy the grief;
Their timely aid the needy
sufferers find,
Their generous manner soothes the suffering mind;

There is a gracious bounty, form'd to raise
Him whom it aids; their
charity is praise;
A common bounty may relieve distress,
But whom
the vulgar succour they oppress;
This though a favour is an honour
too,
Though Mercy's duty, yet 'tis Merit's due;
When our relief from
such resources rise,
All painful sense of obligation dies;
And
grateful feelings in the bosom wake,
For 'tis their offerings, not their
alms we take.
"Long may these founts of Charity remain,
And never shrink, but to
be fill'd again;
True! to the Author they are now confined,
To him
who gave the treasure of his mind,
His time, his health,--and
thankless found mankind:
But there is hope that from these founts
may flow
A side-way stream, and equal good bestow;
Good that
may reach us, whom the day's distress
Keeps from the fame and
perils of the Press;
Whom Study beckons from the Ills of Life,
And
they from Study; melancholy strife!
Who then can say, but bounty
now so free,
And so diffused, may find its way to me?

"Yes! I may see my decent table yet
Cheer'd with the meal that adds
not to my debt;
May talk of those to whom so much we owe,
And
guess their names whom yet we may not know;
Blest, we shall say,
are those who thus can give,
And next who thus upon the bounty live;

Then shall I close with thanks my humble meal.
And feel so
well--Oh, God! how shall I feel!" {2}
LETTER IV.
. . . . . . . . . . . But cast your eyes again
And view those errors which
new sects maintain,
Or which of old disturbed the Church's peaceful
reign;
And we can point each period of the time
When they began
and who begat the crime;
Can calculate how long th' eclipse endured;

Who interposed; what digits were obscured;
Of all which are
already passed away
We knew the rise, the progress, and decay.
DRYDEN, Hind and Panther
Oh, said the Hind, how many sons have you
Who call you mother,
whom you never knew!
But most of them who that relation plead

Are such ungracious youths as wish you dead;
They gape at rich
revenues which you hold,
And fain would nibble at your grandame
gold.
ibid.

SECTS AND PROFESSIONS IN RELIGION.
Sects and Professions in Religion are numerous and successive--
General effect of false Zeal--Deists--Fanatical Idea of Church
Reformers--The Church of Rome--Baptists--Swedenborgians--

Univerbalists--Jews--Methodists of two Kinds: Calvinistic and
Arminian--The Preaching of a Calvinistic Enthusiast--His contempt