VERSES

ON READING

MR. HOWARD's

DESCRIPTION OF PRISONS, &c.

INSCRIBED TO

THE REV. J. WARTON,

MASTER OF WINCHESTER SCHOOL.

ON

MR. HOWARD's

ACCOUNT OF LAZARETTOS.

MORTAL! who, arm'd with holy fortitude,
The path of good right onward hast pursued;
May HE, to whose eternal throne on high
The sufferers of the earth with anguish cry,
Be thy protector! On that dreary road
That leads thee patient to the last abode
Of wretchedness, in peril and in pain,
May He thy steps direct, thy heart sustain!
('Mid scenes, where pestilence in darkness flies;
In caverns, where deserted Misery lies;)
So safe beneath his shadow thou may'st go,
To cheer the dismal wastes of human woe.

T

Oh, CHARITY! our helpless nature's pride, Thou friend to him who knows no friend beside, Is there in morning's breath, or the sweet gale That steals o'er the tir'd pilgrim of the vale, Cheering with fragrance fresh his weary frame, Aught like the incense of thy holy flame? Is aught in all the beauties that adorn The azure heav'n, or purple lights of morn? Is aught so fair in evening's ling'ring gleam, As from thine eye the meek and pensive beam That falls like saddest moonlight on the hill And distant grove, when the wide world is still? Thine are the ample views, that unconfin'd Stretch to the utmost walks of human kind; Thine is the spirit, that with widest plan Brother to brother binds, and man to man.

But who for thee, O CHARITY! will bear Hardship, and cope with peril and with care?.. Who, for thy sake, will social sweets forego For scenes of sickness, and the sights of woe? Who, for thy sake, will seek the prison's gloom, Where ghastly Guilt implores her lingʼring doom;

Where Penitence unpity'd sits, and pale,
That never told to human ears her tale;
Where Agony, half-famish'd, cries in vain;
Where dark Despondence murmurs o'er her chain;
Where sunk Disease is wasted to the bone,
And hollow-ey'd Despair forgets to groan?

Approving Mercy marks the vast design, And proudly cries-" HOWARD, the task be thine!"

Already 'mid the darksome vaults profound, The caves, hid fathoms deep beneath the ground, Consoling hath thy tender look appear'd:

In horror's realm the voice of peace

is heard!

Be the sad scene disclos'd;-fearless unfold
The grating door-the inmost cell behold!

Thought shrinks from the dread sight; the paly lamp
Burns faint amid th' infectious vapours damp;
Beneath its light full many a livid mien,

And haggard eye-ball, through the dusk are seen.
In thought I see thee, at each hollow sound,
With humid lids oft anxious gaze around.