Softly she 'rose, of friendship's self afraid,
And sought in haste the least frequented shade;
There, with her head upon her hand reclin'd,
She thus express'd the feelings of her mind:
Oh! I have erred against common sense;
Unauthorised love is my offence.
Yet, if I love, 'tis with so pure a flame,
To own it, need not tinge my cheek with shame.
Religion, sense, and sentiment, combin'd,
To fix the soft impression on my mind.
Is love a full equivalent for love?
And should not worth the female bosom move?
'Tis the best plea; but neither should prevail :
Henceforth may all their sep'rate efforts fail.
Virtue, as well as prudence, soon must blame
The least indulgence of this hapless flame:
He'll soon be bound by the most sacred ties;
Oh, may his bride behold him with my eyes!
Then will his faults evaporate in air,
And breathing virtue in his form appear.
Amanda, rouse! thy latent powers exert,
Dispel the charm that thus inthrals thy heart.
But yet this heart, I trust, I'll never bind,
In tender union, with a meaner mind.
Still, still, his image rises to my view;
Where'er I turn, the phantom will pursue.
Fly, bright idea, thy intrusions cease;
I must resign thee, or resign my peace.
'Tis vain to look for vict'ry without strife;
And mean, to sink beneath the ills of life.
'Tis arrogant ourselves to overrate,
And plead exemption from the general fate.
'Tis true, this heart no stoic maxim steels;
The little trembler most acutely feels;
But others have their cares and sorrows borne;
And better hearts have been severely torn.
To seed committed to the furrow'd earth
A fair and plenteous harvest owes its birth;
Thus fruits divine, unfading virtues, rise
In harrow'd hearts, when heaven the seed sup-
O, pleasing consciousness! celestial flame!
I feel there's more in virtue than a name.
Thou precious emanation from above,
The blow that strengthens thee, must fall from
'Tis not the hand of an avenging God,
But a kind father's salutary rod.
To my own folly, I can trace my grief,
And mean to seek in wisdom for relief.
Thou only wise, thou whose unerring sight
Can, at a glance, distinguish wrong from right,
O, lead my wandering steps in wisdom's way!
Be thou my guide, my guardian, and my stay.
Thus tranquilis'd, Amanda left her seat,
Prepar'd the soon expected guest to meet;
Prepar'd, in him a sister's part to take,
And love Ophelia, for her husband's sake;
Both for his sake, and for her own desert:
She can't want merit, who secures his heart.
Amanda mingles with the bridal throng,
Promotes good humour, sings the sweetest song;
Not ev❜n the lovers taste more true delight,
Than she, in acting and intending right.
AMONG the moral evils which disgrace
The page historic of the human race,
Slavery seems most to blacken the records;
It militates against our blessed Lord's
Divine instructions. Is it not a shame
For that assume the christian name,
any
Who say the influence of his blood extends
From sea to sea, to earth's remotest ends,
To trade in human flesh, to forge a chain
For those who may with them in glory reign?
But, independent of the christian light,
Humanity is outrag'd, every right
Of human nature trampled to the ground;
By men who deify an empty sound,
And call it liberty, or what they please;
But God will visit for such crimes as these.
Behold the fruitful islands of the main ;
Where sweetness is extracted from the cane
Where luscious fruits in rich profusion grow,
And streams of milk and honey us'd to flow:
The cords of slav'ry were so tighten'd there,
Its hapless victims could no longer bear;
But desperation work'd in every brain,
And gave them strength to break the iron chain,
A scene of terror and of blood ensues!
The bare idea petrifies the muse !
Here is a glass: let each oppressing state
Forsake their practice, or expect their fate.
Slavery's a very monster on the earth,
Which strangles every virtue in its birth:
From the first dawning of the human mind,
Children should be instructed to be kind;
To treat no human being with disdain,
Nor give the meanest insect useless pain:
Yet mark how babes and sucklings learn to rack,
And trample down, the poor defenceless black;
Their little humours ample scope may have,
When only vented-on a wretched slave.
God's image in his creature they deride,
And daily grow in indolence and pride,
With ignorance and cruelty combin'd;
A Slavery of the most ignoble kind!
O
ye, who make and execute the laws,
Exert your influence in so good a cause;
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