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By stealing out of being when he pleas'd,

And by what way, whether by hemp or steel Death's thousand doors stand open.---Who could force

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The ill-pleas'd guest to sit out his full time,
Or blame him if he goes?---Sure he does well,
That helps himself as timely as he can,
When able.---But if there's an hereafter,
And that there is, conscience, uninfluenc'd
And suffer'd to speak out, tells ev'ry man,
Then must it be an awful thing to die :
More horrid yet to die by one's own hand.
Self-murder !---name it not our island's shame,
That makes her the reproach of neighbouring states.
Shall nature, swerving from her earliest dictate,
Self-preservation, fall by her own act?

Forbid it, Heaven !--- Let not, upon disgust,
The shameless hand be fully crimson'd o'er
With blood of its own lord.---Dreadful attempt!
Just reeking from self-slaughter, in a rage,
To rush into the presence of our Judge;
As if we challeng'd him to do his worst,

And matter'd not his wrath ---Unheard of tortures
Must be reserv'd for such: these herd together;

The common damn'd shun their society,

And look upon themselves as fiends less foul.
Our time is fix'd, and all our days are number'd:
How long, how short, we know not :---this we know,
Duty requires we calmly wait the summons,

Nor dare to stir till Heaven shall give permission:
Like sentries that must keep their destin'd stand,
And wait th' appointed hour, till they're reliev'd,
Those only are the brave who keep their ground,
And keep it to the last. To run away

Is but a coward's trick: to run away
From this world's ills, that at the very worst
Will soon blow o'er, thinking to mend ourselves,
By boldly vent'ring on a world unknown,

And plunging headlong in the dark ;-'tis mad
No frenzy half so desperate as this.

;

Tell us, ye dead! will none of you, in pity
To those you left behind, disclose the secret?
Oh! that some courteous ghost would blab it out,
What 'tis you are, and we must shortly be.
I've heard, that souls departed have sometimes
Forewarn❜d men of their death :-'twas kindly done
To knock and give the alarum.-But what means
This stinted charity ?-Tis but lame kindness
That does its work by halves.-Why might you not
Tell us what 'tis to die? Do the strict laws
Of your society forbid your speaking

Upon a point so nice ?—I'll ask no more :
Sullen, like lamps in sepulchres, your shine
Enlightens but yourselves. Well, 'tis no matter;
A very little time will clear up all,

And make us learn'd as you are, and as close. Death's shafts fly thick Here falls the village swain,

And there his pamper'd lord.-The cup goes round, And who so artful as to put it by?

'Tis long since death had the majority;

Yet strange the living lay it not to heart.
See yonder maker of the dead man's bed,
The sexton, hoary-headed chronicle,

Of hard unmeaning face, down which ne'er stole
A gentle tear; with mattock in his hand

Digs through whole rows of kindred and acquain

tance,

By far his juniors.

-Scarce a skull's cast up,

But well he knew its owner, and can tell

Some passage of his life.

-Thus hand in hand

The sot has walk'd with death twice twenty years; And yet ne'er yonker on the green laughs louder, Or clubs a smuttier tale :-When drunkards meet, None sings a merrier catch, or lends a hand

More willing to his cup.-Poor wretch! he minds

not,

That soon some trusty brother of the trade
Shall do for him what he has done for thousands.
On this side, and on that, men see their friends
Drop off, like leaves in autumn; yet launch out
Into fantastic schemes, which the long livers
In the world's hale and undegen'rate days
Could scarce have leisure for.-Fools that we are,
Never to think of death and of ourselves

At the same time: as if to learn to die
Were no concern of ours.-Oh! more than sottish,
For creatures of a day, in gamesome mood
To frolic on eternity's dread brink
Unapprehensive; when, for ought we know,
The very first swoln surge shall sweep us in.
Think we or think we not, time hurries on,
With a resistless unremitting stream,

Yet treads more soft than e'er did midnight thief,
That slides his hand under the miser's pillow,
And carries off his prize.--What is this world?
What, but a spacious burial-field unwall'd,
Strew'd with death's spoils, the spoils of animals,
Savage and tame, and full of dead men's bones.
The very turf on which we tread once liv'd;
And we that live must lend our carcasses
To cover our own offspring in their turns
They too must cover theirs.-'Tis here all meet,
The shiv'ring Icelander, and sunburnt Moor;
Men of all climes, that never met before;
And of all creeds, the Jew, the Turk, the Christian.
Here the proud prince, and favourite yet prouder,
His sov'reign's keeper, and the people's scourge,
Are huddled out of sight. -Here lie abash'd
The great negociators of the earth,
And celebrated masters of the balance,
Deep read in stratagems, and wiles of courts.

-Death scorns to

Now vain their treaty-skill:

treat;

Here the o'erloaded slave flings down his burden From his gall'd shoulders;-and when the stern tyrant,

With all his guards and tools of power about him,
Is meditating new unheard-of hardships,

Mocks his short arm-and quick as thought escapes
Where tyrants vex not, and the weary rest.
Here the warm lover, leaving the cool shade,
The tell-tale echo, and the bubbling stream,
(Time out of mind the fav'rite seats of love)
Fast by his gentle mistress lays him down,
Unblasted by foul tongue.- -Here friends and foes
Lie close, unmindful of their former feuds.
The lawn-rob'd prelate and plain presbyter,
Ere while that stood aloof, as shy to meet,
Familiar mingle here, like sister streams
That some rude interposing rock has split.
Here is the large limb'd peasant ;-Here the child
Of a span long, that never saw the sun,

Nor press'd the nipple, strangled in life's porch.
Here is the mother, with her sons and daughters:
The barren wife, the long demurring maid,
Whose lonely unappropriated sweets

Smil'd like yon knot of cowslips on the cliff,
Not to be come at by the willing hand.
Here are the prude, severe, and gay coquette,
The sober widow, and the young green virgin,
Cropp'd like a rose before 'tis fully blown,
Or half its worth disclos'd. Strange medley here!
Here garrulous old age winds up his tale;

And jovial youth, of lightsome vacant heart,
Whose ev'ry day was made of melody,

Hears not the voice of mirth.-The shrill-tongu'd

shrew,

Meek as the turtle-dove, forgets her chiding.

Here are the wise, the generous, and the brave,

The just, the good, the worthless, the profane,
The downright clown, and perfectly well-bred;
The fool, the churl, the scoundrel, and the mean;
The supple statesman, and the patriot stern ;
The wrecks of nations, and the spoils of time,
With all the lumber of six thousand years.

Poor man!-how happy once in thy first state !When yet but warm from thy great Maker's hand, He stamp'd thee with his image, and, well-pleas'd, Smil'd on his last fair work. Then all was well. Sound was the body, and the soul serene;

Like two sweet instruments, ne'er out of tune,
That play their several parts.-Nor head, nor heart,
Offer'd to ache; nor was there cause they should;
For all was pure within: no fell remorse,
Nor anxious castings-up of what might be,
Alarm'd his peaceful bosom.-Summer seas
Show not more smooth when kiss'd by southern
winds

Just ready to expire-scarce importun'd,
The generous soil, with a luxuriant hand,
Offer'd the various produce of the year,
And ev'ry thing most perfect in its kind.
Blessed! thrice blessed days !-But ah! how short!
Bless'd as the pleasing dreams of holy men ;
But fugitive like those, and quickly gone.
Oh! slipp'ry state of things.-What sudden turns!
What strange vicissitudes in the first leaf
Of man's sad history!-To-day most happy,
And ere to-morrow's sun has set, most abject.
How scant the space between these vast extremes !
Thus far'd it with our sire :—Not long h' enjoy'd
His paradise.-Scarce had the happy tenant
Of the fair spot due time to prove its sweets,
Or sum them up, when straight he must be gone,
Ne'er to return again.- And must he go?
Can nought compound for the first dire offence
Of erring man Like one that is condemn'd

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