CONSIDERATIONS

ΟΝ

O F THE LXXXVIIIth P s A L M. *

PART O

A COLLEGE EXERCISE. 1690.

I.

HEAVY, O Lord, on me thy judgements lie,

Accurft I am, while God rejects my cry.
O'erwhelm'd in darkness and despair I groan;
And every place is hell; for God is gone.
O! Lord, arife, and let thy beams controul
Thofe horrid clouds, that prefs my frighted foul:
Save the poor wanderer from eternal night,
Thou that art the God of Light.

The remainder of this volume contains fuch pieces as were omitted by Mr. Prior in his own edition of his works, with those he afterwards published, and fuch as have appeared fince his death.

II.

Downward I haften to my destin'd place; There none obtain thy aid, or fing thy praise. Soon I fhall lie in death's deep ocean drown'd: Is mercy there; or fweet forgiveness found? O fave me yet, whilft on the brink I stand; Rebuke the ftorm, and waft my foul to land. O let her reft beneath thy wing fecure,

Thou that art the God of Power.

III.

Behold the prodigal! to thee I come,
To hail my father, and to feek my home.
Nor refuge could I find, nor friend abroad,
- Straying in vice, and deftitute of God.

O let thy terrors, and my anguish end!
Be thou my refuge and be thou my friend:
Receive the fon thou didst fo long reprove,
Thou that art the God of Love.

то

то тн Е

REV. DR. FRANCIS TURNER,t

BISHOP OF EL Y

WHO HAD ADVISED A TRANSLATION OF

IF

PRUDENTIUS.

【F poets, ere they cloath'd their infant thought,

And the rude work to juft perfection brought,
Did ftill fome god, or godlike man invoke,
Whose mighty name their facred filence broke:
Your goodness, Sir, will eafily excuse,

The bold requests of an aspiring Muse;

t Doctor Francis Turner was at that time mafter of St. John's College, Cambridge. He was one of the petitioning Bishops who were committed to the Tower by James II. and one of those who were afterwards deprived of his fee for refusing the oaths to the new government. Bishop Burnet fays, "He was a fincere and 66 good-natured man, of too quick an imagination, and "too defective a judgment. He was but moderately "learned, having converfed more with men than with "books." He died November 2, 1700.

H 3

Who

Who, with your bleffing would your aid implore,
And in her weakness juftify your power.-

From your fair pattern she would strive to write,
And with unequal ftrength purfue your flight;
Yet hopes, the ne'er can err that follows you,
Led by your bleft commands, and great example too.
Then fmiling and afpiring influence give,
And make the Muse and her endeavours live;
Claim all her future labours as your due,

Let every fong begin and end with you:

So to the bleft retreat she'll gladly go,

Where the Saints' palm and Mufes' laurel grow;

Where kindly both in glad embrace shall join,
And round your brow their mingled honours twine;
Both to the virtue due, which could excel,
As much in writing, as in living well.—
So fhall the proudly prefs the tuneful ftring,
And mighty things in mighty numbers fing;
Nor doubt to strike Prudentius' daring lyre,
And humbly bring the verfe which you inspire,

A PAS

TELL, dear Alexis, tell thy Damon, why

Doft thou in mournful shades obfcurely lie?
Why doft thou figh, why ftrike thy panting breaft?
And fteal from life the needful hours of rest?

Are thy kids ftarv'd by winter's early froft?
Are any of thy bleating ftragglers loft?

Have ftrangers' cattle trod thy new-plough'd ground?

Has great Joanna, or her greater fhepherd frown'd.

ALEX I S.

See my kids browze, my lambs fecurely play:
(Ah! were their master unconcern'd as they !)
No beafts (at noon I look'd) had trod my ground;
Nor has Joanna, or her fhepherd, frown'd.