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MAGISTRATE.

Recall the word, renounce the thought, Command thy heart, and bend thy knee: There is to all a pardon brought,

A ransom rich, assured, and free; "Tis full when found, 'tis found if sought, O! seek it, till 'tis seal'd to thee.

VAGRANT.

But how my pardon shall I know?

MAGISTRATE.

By feeling dread that 'tis not sent, By tears for sin that freely flow,

By grief, that all thy tears are spent, By thoughts on that great debt we owe, With all the mercy God has lent, By suffering what thou canst not show, Yet showing how thine heart is rent, Till thou canst feel thy bosom glow, And say, "My Saviour, I repent!"

WOMAN:

"To a woman I never addressed myself in the language of decency and friendship, without receiving a decent and friendly answer. If I was hungry or thirsty, wet or sick, they did not hesitate, like men, to perform a generous action: in so free and kind a manner did they contribute to my relief, that if I was dry, I drank the sweetest draught; and if hungry, I ate the coarsest morsel with a double relish."-Mr. Ledyard, as quoted by M. Parke in his Travels into Africa.

PLACE the white man on Afric's coast,
Whose swarthy sons in blood delight,
Who of their scorn to Europe boast,

And paint their very demons white:
There, while the sterner sex disdains
To soothe the woes they cannot feel,
Woman will strive to heal his pains,

And weep for those she cannot heal; Hers is warm pity's sacred glow;

From all her stores, she bears a part,
And bids the spring of hope re-flow,

That languish'd in the fainting heart.
"What though so pale his haggard face,
So sunk and sad his looks," she cries;
"And far unlike our nobler race,
With crisped locks and rolling eyes;
Yet misery marks him of our kind;
We see him lost, alone, afraid;
And pangs of body, griefs in mind,
Pronounce him man, and ask our aid.

"Perhaps in some far-distant shore,

There are who in these forms delight;
Whose milky features please them more
Than ours of jet, thus burnish'd bright;
Of such may be his weeping wife,

Such children for their sire may call,
And if we spare his ebbing life,

Our kindness may preserve them all."
Thus her compassion woman shows,
Beneath the line her acts are these ;
Nor the wide waste of Lapland-snows
Can her warm flow of pity freeze

From some sad land the stranger comes,
Where joys like ours are never found
Let's soothe him in our happy homes,
Where freedom sits with plenty crown'd

""Tis good the fainting soul to cheer,
To see the famish'd stranger fed;
To milk for him the mother deer,
To smooth for him the furry bed.
The powers above our Lapland bless
With good no other people know ;
T' enlarge the joys that we possess
By feeling those that we bestow!"
Thus in extremes of cold and heat,
Where wandering man may trace his kind;
Wherever grief and want retreat,

In woman they compassion find;
She makes the female breast her seat,
And dictates mercy to the mind.

Man may the sterner virtues know,
Determined justice, truth severe :
But female hearts with pity glow,

And woman holds affliction dear;
For guiltless woes her sorrows flow,
And suffering vice compels her tear;
"Tis hers to soothe the ills below,

And bid life's fairer views appear
To woman's gentle kind we owe
What comforts and delights us here;
They its gay hopes on youth bestow,
And care they soothe and age they cheer.

He gives the bastinado with his tongue, Our ears are cudgell'd.

King John, act iv. sc. 2.

Let's kill all the lawyers;
Now show yourselves men: 'tis for liberty:
We will not leave one lord or gentleman.

Henry VI. part 2, act ii. sc. 7. And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges. Twelfth Night, act v. scene last

THAT all men would be cowards if they dare,
Some men we know have courage to declare;
And this the life of many a hero shows,
That like the tide, man's courage ebbs and flows
With friends and gay companions round them, then
Men boldly speak and have the hearts of men;
Who, with opponents seated, miss the aid
Of kind applauding looks, and grow afraid;
Like timid travellers in the night, they fear
Th' assault of foes, when not a friend is near.
In contest mighty, and of conquest proud
Was Justice Bolt, impetuous, warm, and loud;
His fame, his prowess all the country knew,
And disputants, with one so fierce, were few;

He was a younger son, for law design'd,
With dauntless look and persevering mind;
While yet a clerk, for disputation famed,
No efforts tired him, and no conflicts tamed.
Scarcely he bade his master's desk adieu,
When both his brothers from the world withdrew.
An ample fortune he from them possess'd,
And was with saving care and prudence bless'd.
Now would he go and to the country give
Example how an English 'squire should live;
How bounteous, yet how frugal man may be,
By a well-order'd hospitality;

He would the rights of all so well maintain,
That none should idle be, and none complain.

All this and more he purposed-and what man Could do, he did to realize his plan :

Bat time convinced him that we cannot keep
A breed of reasoners like a flock of sheep;
For they, so far from following as we lead,
Make that a cause why they will not proceed.
Man will not follow where a rule is shown,
But loves to take a method of his own;
Explain the way with all your care and skill,
This will he quit, if but to prove he will.-
Yet had our justice honour; and the crowd,
Awed by his presence, their respect avow'd.

In later years he found his heart incline,
More than in youth, to generous food and wine;
But no indulgence check'd the powerful love
He felt to teach, to argue, and reprove.

Meetings, or public calls, he never miss'dTo dictate often, always to assist. Oft he the clergy join'd, and not a cause Pertain❜d to them but he could quote the laws; He upon tithes and residence display'd A fund of knowledge for the hearer's aid; And could on glebe and farming, wool and grain, A long discourse, without a pause, maintain. To his experience and his native sense He join'd a bold imperious eloquence; The grave, stern look of men inform'd and wise, A full command of feature, heart, and eyes, An awe compelling frown, and fear inspiring

size.

When at the table, not a guest was seen
With appetite so lingering, or so keen;
But when the outer man no more required,
The inner waked, and he was man inspired.
His subjects then were those, a subject true
Presents in fairest form to public view!
Of church and state, of law, with mighty strength
Of words he spoke, in speech of mighty length:
And now, into the vale of years declined,
He hides too little of the monarch mind:
He kindles anger by untimely jokes,
And opposition by contempt provokes ;
Mirth he suppresses by his awful frown,
And humble spirits, by disdain, keeps down;
Blamed by the mild, approved by the severe,
The prudent fly him, and the valiant fear.

For overbearing is his proud discourse,
And overwhelming of his voice the force;
And overpowering is he when he shows
What floats upon a mind that always overflows
This ready man at every meeting rose,
Something to hint, determine, or propose;
And grew so fond of teaching, that he taught
Those who instruction needed not or sought:

Happy our hero, when he could excite
Some thoughtless talker to the wordy fight:
Let him a subject at his pleasure choose,
Physic or law, religion or the muse;
On all such themes he was prepared to shine,
Physician, poet, lawyer, and divine.
Hemm'd in by some tough argument, borne down
By press of language, and the awful frown,
In vain for mercy shall the culprit plead;
His crime is past, and sentence must proceed:
Ah! suffering man, have patience, bear thy woes
For lo! the clock-at ten the justice goes.

This powerful man, on business or to please
A curious taste, or weary grown of case,
On a long journey travell'd many a mile
Westward, and halted midway in our isle;
Content to view a city large and fair,

Though none had notice-what a man was there!
Silent two days, he then began to long
Again to try a voice so loud and strong :
To give his favourite topics some new grace,
And gain some glory in such distant place;
To reap some present pleasure, and to sow
Seeds of fair fame, in after-time to grow:
Here will men say, "We heard, at such an hour,
The best of speakers-wonderful his power."

Inquiry made, he found that day would meet
A learned club, and in the very street:
Knowledge to gain and give, was the design;
To speak, to hearken, to debate, and dine:
This pleased our traveller, for he felt his force
In either way, to eat or to discourse.

Nothing more easy than to gain access
To men like these, with his polite address;
So he succeeded, and first look'd around,
To view his objects and to take his ground;
And therefore silent chose a while to sit,
Then enter boldly by some lucky hit;
Some observation keen or stroke severe,
To cause some wonder or excite some fear.
Now, dinner past, no longer he suppress'd
His strong dislike to be a silent guest;
Subjects and words were now at his command-
When disappointment frown'd on all he plann'd;
For, hark-he heard, amazed, on every side
His church insulted, and her priests belied;
The laws reviled, the ruling power abused
The land derided, and its foes excused :-
He heard, and ponder'd--What, to men so vile,
Should be his language? For his threatening style
They were too many ;-if his speech were meek,
They would despise such poor attempts to speak:
At other times with every word at will,
He now sat lost, perplex'd, astonish'd, still.
Here were Socinians, Deists, and indeed
All who, as foes to England's church, agreed;
But still with creeds unlike, and some without a

creed:

Here, too, fierce friends of liberty he saw,
Who own'd no prince and who obey no law;
There were reformers of each different sort,
Foes to the laws, the priesthood, and the court;
Some on their favourite plans alone intent,
Some purely angry and malevolent :

The rash were proud to blame their country's laws
The vain, to seem supporters of a cause;
One call'd for change that he would dread to see
Another sigh'd for Gallic liberty!

And numbers joining with the forward crew,
For no one reason-but that numbers do.

"How," said the justice, "can this trouble rise,
This shame and pain, from creatures I despise?"
And conscience answer'd-"The prevailing cause
Is thy delight in listening to applause;
Here, thou art seated with a tribe, who spurn
Thy favourite themes, and into laughter turn
Thy fears and wishes; silent and obscure,
Thyself, shalt thou the long harangue endure;
And learn, by feeling, what it is to force
On thy unwilling friends the long discourse:

Hammond they call him; they can give the tame
Of man to devils.-Why am I so tame?
Why crush I not the viper?"-Fear replied,
"Watch him a while, and let his strength be tried;
He will be foil'd, if man; but if his aid
Be from beneath, 'tis well to be afraid."

"We are call'd free!" said Hammond-" doleful

times

When rulers add their insults to their crimes : For should our scorn expose each powerful vice, It would be libel, and we pay the price."

Thus with licentious words the man went on,

seems,

Are traitors' projects, idiots' empty schemes?

Yet, minds like bodies cramm'd, reject their food,
Nor will be forced and tortured for their good!"
At length, a sharp, shrewd, sallow man arose,
And begg'd he briefly might his mind disclose ;
"It was his duty, in these worst of times,
T' inform the govern'd of their rulers' crimes :"
This pleasant subject to attend, they each
Prepared to listen, and forbore to teach.

Then voluble and fierce the wordy man
Through a long chain of favourite horrors ran :-
First, of the church, from whose enslaving power
He was deliver'd, and he bless'd the hour;
Bishops and deans, and prebendaries all,"
He said, were cattle fattening in the stall;
Slothful and pursy, insolent and mean,
Were every bishop, prebendary, dean,
And wealthy rector: curates, poorly paid,
Were only dull, he would not them upbraid."
From priests he turn'd to canons, creeds, and
prayers,

Rubrics and rules, and all our church affairs:
Churches themselves, desk, pulpit, altar, all
The justice reverenced-and pronounced their
fall.

Then from religion Hammond turn'd his view,
To give our rulers the correction due ;
Not one wise action had these triflers plann'd;
There was, it seem'd, no wisdom in the land;
Save in this patriot tribe, who meet at times
To show the statesman's errors and his crimes.
Now here was Justice Bolt compell'd to sit,
To hear the deist's scorn, the rebel's wit;
The fact mis-stated, the envenomed lie,
And staring, spell-bound, made not one reply.
Then were our laws abused; and with the laws
All who prepare, defend, or judge a cause:
"We have no lawyer whom a man can trust,"
Proceeded Hammond, "if the laws were just;
But they are evil; 'tis the savage state
Is only good, and ours sophisticate!
See! the free creatures in their woods and plains,
Where without laws each happy monarch reigns,
King of himself-while we a number dread,
By slaves commanded and by dunces led;
O, let the name with either state agree-
Savage our own we'll name, and civil theirs
shall be."

The silent justice still astonish'd sate,
And wonder'd much whom he was gazing at;
Twice he essay'd to speak, but in a cough
The faint, indignant, dying speech went off:
"But who is this?" thought he; "a demon vile,
With wicked meaning and a vulgar style:

That all were slaves; nor had we better chance
For better times than as allies to France.
Loud groan'd the stranger-Why, he must relate,
And own'd, "In sorrow for his country's fate."
Nay, she were safe," the ready man replied.
"Might patriots rule her, and could reasoners guide;
When all to vote, to speak, to teach, are free,
Whate'er their creeds or their opinions be;
When books of statutes are consumed in flames,
And courts and copyholds are empty names;
Then will be times of joy: but ere they come,
Havoc, and war, and blood must be our doom.”

The man here paused; then loudly for reform
He call'd, and hail'd the prospect of the storm;
The wholesome blast, the fertilizing flood-
Peace gain'd by tumult, plenty bought with blood:
Sharp means, he own'd; but when the land's disease
Asks cure complete, no medicines are like these.

Our justice now, more led by fear than rage, Saw it in vain with madness to engage; With imps of darkness no man seeks to fight, Knaves to instruct, or set deceivers right: Then as the daring speech denounced these woes, Sick at the soul, the grieving guest arose; Quick on the board his ready cash he threw, And from the demons to his closet flew : There when secured, he pray'd with earnest zeal, That all they wish'd these patriot souls might

66

feel;

Let them to France, their darling country haste, And all the comforts of a Frenchman taste; Let them his safety, freedom, pleasure know, Feel all their rulers on the land bestow; And be at length dismiss'd by one unerring blow; Not hack'd and hew'd by one afraid to strike, But shorn by that which shears all men alike; Nor, as in Britain, let them curse delay Of law, but borne without a form awaySuspected, tried, condemn'd, and carted in a day; O! let them taste what they so much approve, These strong fierce freedoms of the land they love." Home came our hero, to forget no more The fear he felt and ever must deplore : For though he quickly join'd his friends again And could with decent force his themes maintain. Still it occurred, that, in a luckless time, He fail'd to fight with heresy and crime

The reader will perceive in these and the preceding verses, allusions to the state of France, as that country was circumstanced some years since, rather than as it appears to be in the present date,-several years elapsing between the alarm of the loyal magistrate on the occasion now related, and a subsequent event that farther illuswrates the remark with which the narrative commences