6

But, if it chanc'd-as chance it might,The best man is not always right

To me let him that credit give,
Which he from others would receive,

My failings spare, or see not.

But if, unknowing, I offend,

*

Still may I find he is my Friend,
And friendly may he smite me ;*
Admonish'd then my fault I'll mourn,
And to his love a quick return
May firmly re-unite me.

8

Ne'er may he harbour in his breast
Conceal'd dislike, which, unconfest,
Misleads me by forbearance;
And in the end I have to find,
With keenest anguish of the mind,
His love was but appearance.

9

Oh! never may I pine unheard,
Heart-sick at last from hope deferr'd,+
And fruitless expectation :

* Psalm cxli. 5. + Prov. xiii. 12.

Heart-whole, I'd smile at grief and pain, Content with godliness is gain,* Unanswer'd hope's vexation.

10

Oh! then, unless thus good and kind
A Patron I may haply find,

May Heav'n bestow Contentment:
That as thro' Life's low vale I steal,
I be not tempted to reveal

Sad symptoms of resentment.

11

Be ev'ry station where I'm plac'd,
With humble resignation grac'd,
How low or high soever :
In poverty, that I repin'd,
Or high, to arrogance inclin'd,
Be it never said,-O, never.

12

If Patron e'er become myself,-
And who so low, but sometimes, pelf

Is his to give another?—

Oh! then, I pray sincere, that I
May act as I would be done by,
And hold that man my Brother.

* 1 Tim. vi. 6.

13

And, as the man's more blest who gives,*
Than he who bounty but receives,—
This truth consider duly!-
So let me ever think, that he,
Who gratefully accepts from me,
Becomes my Friend most truly,

X.

HEALTH.

BY DR. COTTON.

1

ATTEND my precepts, thoughtless youths,
Ere long you'll think them weighty truths;
Prudent it were to think so now,

Ere age has silver'd o'er your brow:
For he, who at his early years

Has sown in vice, shall reap in tears.
If Folly has possess'd his prime,
Disease shall gather strength in time.

2.

The subject of my song is Health,
A good superior far to wealth.

Acts xx. 35.

Can the young mind distrust its worth? Consult the monarchs of the earth: Imperial Czars, and Sultans own

No gem so bright that decks their throne; Each for this pearl his crown would quit, And turn a rustic, or a cit.

3

Mark, tho' the blessing's lost with ease,
"Tis not recover'd when you please.
How fruitless the physician's skill,
How vain the penitential pill,

The marble monuments proclaim,
The humbler turf confirms the same.
Prevention is the better cure;

So says the proverb, and 'tis sure.

4

Let temp'rance constantly preside,
Our best physician, friend and guide!
Would you to wisdom make pretence,
Proud to be thought a man of sense ?—
Let temp'rance (always friend to fame)
With steady hand direct your aim;
For they who slight her golden rules,
In Wisdom's volume stand for fools.

XI.

THE PROVERBS OF THREESCORE:

Affectionately addressed to Eighteen.

BY NATHANIEL BLOOMFIELD.

1

HAVE you seen the delightless abode,
Where Penury nurses Despair;
Where comfortless Life is a load

Age wishes no longer to bear.
Ah! who, in this lazerhouse pent,

His lone wailings sends up to the skies?

'Tis the man whose young prime was mispent ; "Tis he who so bitterly sighs.

Left no comforts life's evening to cheer;

He must only its bitterness taste,

No friend, no kind relative near. His children by want forc'd to roam, Are aliens wherever they are; They have long left his desolate home Have left him alone to despair.