Zeal was thy motive, we that zeal commend,
Tho' not directed to it's proper end.
Then ftill proceed where Virtue points the way,
And bright Religion beams her facred ray:
But in the path obfcure forbear to tread ;
And tho' inform'd, yet fear to be mifled;
But fear still more, left others headlong run
To trace those paths where virtue is undone.

All flesh is frail!'-We should the weak regard,
Who take their Teacher's word for God's award.
• Order is Heav'n's firft law; be that obey'd:
In Christian laws this order is difplay'd;
And by it's rules, if rightly underftood,
The Private centres in the Publick good.
Such rules let us adopt, and keep the road

Thro' which our wife forefathers fought their God.
To virtuous actions let our lives be giv❜n;

And,

pure of heart, leave we the reft to Heav'n.

DAMON TO DELIA;

ON SEEING THE FIRST PLEDGE OF THEIR MUTUAL LOVE BUILDING A CARD HOUSE.

A SIMILE.

BY MR. THOMAS BELLAMY.

IEW, my love, our tender charmer,
Rearing up the paper pile!

Now a thousand fears alarm her ;

Flutt'ring, trembling, all the while.

*Pope's Effay on Man.

Soon,

Soon, to pretty Polly's thinking,

All her wishes will be crown'd:
Fate denies! the fabrick finking,
Spreads a little ruin round!..

Thus fond man, himself deluding,
Building fancy'd joys on high;.
Lo! fome fudden care intruding,
All his airy prospects.die!

Lighter than the wat❜ry bubble

Are the transports earth can give ;
Mix'd with forrow, pain and trouble,
Ever rifing while we live.

L

THE PARISH CLERK...

BY MR. W. VERNON.

.I.

ET courtly bards, in polish'd phrase, endite

Soft madrigals, to celebrate the fair;

Or paint the splendor of a birth-day night,

Where peers and dames in fhining robes appear:

The task be mine neglected worth to praise,
Alas! too often found, in thefe degen'rate days.

II.

O gentle Shenftone! could the felf-taught Mufe,
Who joys, like thine, in rural shades to ftray, Z.
Could fhe, like thine, while fhe her theme purfues,

With native beauties deck the pleafing lay; LA
Then should the humble Clerk of Barton-Dean,
An equal meed of praife with thy School-mistress gain.

III. En

· III.

Ent'ring the village, in a deep-worn way,
Hard by an aged oak, his dwelling ftands;.
The lowly roof is thatch, the walls are clay;

All rudely rais'd by his forefathers hands: Obferve the homely hut as you pass by, la And pity the good man that lives fo wretchedly.% ..IV.

Vulcanian artist here, with oily brow

And naked arm, he at his anvil plies,
What time Aurora in the east does glow,

And eke when Vefper gilds the western skies:
The bellows roar, the hammers loud refound, and
And from the tortur'd mass the sparkles fly around.. th

V.

Hither the truant fchool-boy frequent wends,
And flily peeping o'er the hatch is feen

To note the bick'ring workman, while he bends

The steed's strong fhoe, or forms the fickle keen.

Unthinking, little elf, what ills betide,

Of breech begalled fore, and cruel task befide!

VI.

A deep hiftorian, well I wot, is he,

And many tomes of ancient lore has read, Of England's George, the flow'r of chivalry,

Of Merlin's Mirror, and the Brazen Head ;

With hundred legends more, which to recite
Would tire the wifeft nurse, and fpend the longeft night.

VII.

To Nature's Book he ftudioufly applies;

And oft, confulted by the anxious fwain; With wiftful gaze reviews the vaulted skies,

And fhews the figns of fure impending rain,

Or thunder gather'd in the fervid air,

Or if the harvest-month will be ferene and fair.

VIII. The

VIII.

The various phases of the moon he knows,

And whence her orb derives it's filver fheen,
From what strange cause the madding Heygre flows,
By which the peasants oft endanger'd been,

As in their freighted barks they careless glide,
And view th' inverted trees in Severn's chrystal tide.
.IX.

Returning late at eve from wake or fair,
Among a fort of poor unletter'd swains,
He teaches them to name each brighter ftar,
And of the northern lights the cause explains;
Recounts what comets have appear'd of old,
Portending dearth, and war, and mis'ries manifold.

X.

Around his bending fhoulders graceful flow
His curling filver locks, the growth of years;
Supported by a staff he walketh flow,

And simple neatness in his mien appears;
And every neighbour that perchance he meets,
Or young or old be they, with courtesy he greets.

XI.

A goodly fight, I wot, it were, to view

The decent Parish Clerk on Sabbath-day,

Seated, beneath the Curate, in his pew,

Or kneeling down with lifted hands to pray;

And ever and anon, with close of pray'r,

He answereth, Amen! with fober folemn air.

XII.

Such times an ancient fuit of black he wears,

Which from the Curate's wardrobe did descend:

Love to his Clerk the pious Curate bears,

Pities his wants, and wifheth to befriend;

But what, alas! can flender fal'ry do,

Encumber'd by a wife, and children not a few?

XIII.

Thro' ev'ry feafon of the changing year,
His strict regard for Chriftian rites is feen,
The holy church he decks with garlands fair,
Or birchen boughs, or yew for ever green;

On ev'ry pew a formal sprig is plac'd,

And with a fpacious branch the pulpit's top is grac'd.

XIV.

At Christmas tide, when ev'ry yeoman's hall
With ancient hofpitality is bless'd,

Kind invitations he accepts from all,.

To share the plenteous, mirth-abounding feaft;

The Christmas feaft imperfect would appear,

Except their good old guest, the Parish Clerk, was there.
XV.

Then, when the mellow beer goes gaily round,
And curls of fmoke from lighted pipes afpire,
When chearful carols thro' the room refound,

And crackling logs augment the blazing fire,
His honeft heart with focial joy o'erflows,
And many a merry tale he on his friends bestows.
XVI.

When fmit with mutual love, the youth and maid
To weave the facred nuptial knot agree,

Pleas'd he attends to lend his useful aid,

And fee the rites perform'd with decency:

He gives the bride, and joins their trembling hands,
While with the service-book the Curate gravely stands.
XVII.

Then, while the merry bells the steeple shake,

Ringing in honour of the happy pair,

To notes of gladnefs while the minstrels wake,
And lads and laffes the rich bride-cake fhare;

O may the youthful bard a portion gain,
To whom the rural fage it's virtues did explain.

XVIII. When