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 ^— ^oolic^^dwt ^bition of- 
 
 
THOUGHTS 
 
 AND OTHER 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS PIECES, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. WILLIAM^DODD, LL.D. 
 
 M 
 
 WITH THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR* 
 
 «To0fce'£ ^ijition. 
 
 EMBELLISHED WITH ENGRAVINGS. - 
 
 dotation: 
 
 Printed for C. COOKE, No. 17, Paternofter«Rovr« 
 
 And fold by all the Eookfellers in 
 
 Sreat Britain and 
 
 Ireland, 
 
- f > 
 
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 ^ 
 
 
 
ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 Originally prefixed to the Prifon Thoughts. 
 
 *T*HE following Work, as the dates of the refpeeVive parts 
 evince, was begun by its unhappy Author in his apart- 
 ments at Newgate, on the evening of che day fubfequerit to his 
 trial and conviction at Juftice-haJl ,• and was finifhed, amidft 
 various neceflary interruptions, in little more than the fpace 
 of two months. 
 
 Prefixed to the Manufcript is the enfuing Note : 
 
 April 23, 1777. 
 
 u I began thefe Thoughts mereW from the irnpreflion of 
 
 my mind, without plan, purpofe, or motive, more than the 
 
 Gtuation and ftate of my foul. 1 continued them on a 
 
 • thoughtful and regular plan ; and I have been enabled 
 
 ' wonderfully — in a ftate, which in better days I mould have 
 
 u fuppofed would have deftroyed all power of reflection — to 
 
 ** bring them nearly to a concluflon. I dedicate them to 
 
 u God, and the refiecl'ing Serious among my fellow-creatures' 5 
 
 " and blefs the Almighty to go through them, amidft the 
 
 <* terrors of this dire place, and the anguifh or my oifcon- 
 
 (i folate mind ! 
 
 a The Thinking will eafily pardon all inaccuracies, as I am 
 u neither able nor willing to read over thefe melancholy lines 
 €i with a curious and critical eye ! They are imperfecT, but the 
 ** language of the heart ; and, had I time and inclination, 
 * e might and mould be improved. 
 
 « But 
 
 " W. D." 
 
 The few little Pieces fubjoined to the Thoughts, and the 
 
 Author's Laft Prayer, were found amongft his papers. Their 
 
 evident connection with the Poem was the inducement for 
 
 adding them to the Volume. 
 
 a 2 ADVER- 
 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 *TpHE Work now offered a fourth time to the Public, was the 
 lafl performance of one who often afforded amufement and 
 inftruction j who poffeffed the talents of pleafing in a high, 
 degree, whofe labours were devoted to advance the intereffs of 
 Religion and Morality, and who, during the greater part of his 
 life, was efteemed, beloved, and refpected, by all to whom he 
 was known. Uuhappily for himfelf and his connections, the 
 dictates of prudence were unattended to amidff the fafhionable 
 dilTipation of the times. "With many advantages both natural 
 and acquired, and with the moft. flattering profpecls before him, 
 he, by an act of folly, to give it no worfe a name, plunged 
 himfelf from a Situation, in which he had every happinefs to 
 expect, into a ftate, which, to contemplate, muff fill the mind 
 with artonifhrnent and horror. It was in fome of the moft 
 dreadful moments of his life, when the exercife of every faculty 
 might be prefumed to be fufpended, that the prefent work was 
 corcpofed t a work which will be ever read with wonder, as 
 exhibiting an extraordinary exertion of the mental powers in 
 very unpropitious circumflances, and affording, at the fame 
 time, a ieffon worthy the moft attentive confideration of every 
 one into whofe hands it may chance to fail. As the curiofity 
 of the World will naturally follow the perfon whofe foiitude 
 and confinement produced the inftruction to be derived from 
 this performance, a fhort Account of the Life of the Author, 
 is now prefixed. To enlarge on the merit of this Poem 
 will be unneceffary. The feelings of every reader will 
 eftimate and proportion its value. That it contains an awful 
 admonition to the gay and diftipated, will be readily acknow- 
 ledged by every reflecting mind, efpecially when it is con- 
 sidered as the bitter fruit of thofe fafhionable indulgences 
 which brought difgrace and death upon its unhappy author, 
 in fpiteof learning and genius, accomplishments the moft 
 captivating, and fervices the moll: important to mankind 
 

 I __:; 
 
 
 WW 
 
 ££? : 
 
 
 D ODD. 
 
 I 
 
 EiiJTvr. 3 rrr LJ.ccJce-Jfrii zfl^Sio 
 
THE LIFE OF 
 
 THE REVEREND 
 
 WILLIAM DODD, LL. D. 
 
 TTTILLTAM DODD was the eldeft fon of a clergy- 
 man of the fame name, who held the vicarage 
 of Bourne, in the county of Lincoln, where he died the 
 8th day of Auguft, 1756, at the age of 54. years. His 
 fon was born at Bourne, on the 29th of May, 1729, 
 and, after finiming his fchool education, was admitted 
 a Sizar of Clay Hall, Cambridge, in the year 1745, 
 under the tuition of Mr. John Courtail, afterwards 
 Archdeacon of Lewes. At the univerfity he acquired 
 the notice of his fuperiors by a clofe application to his 
 fludies ; and in the year 1749- 50 took his firrc degree of 
 .Bachelor of Arts with confiderable reputation, his name 
 being in the lift of wranglers on that occauon. It was 
 not, however, only in his academical purfuits that he 
 was emulous of diftinclion. Having a pleafing form, 
 a genteel addrefs, and a lively imagination, he was 
 equally celebrated for accomplishments which feldom ac- 
 company a life of learned retirement. In particular, he 
 was fond of the elegancies of drefs, and became, as he 
 ludicroudy expreffed it, a zealous votary of the God of 
 Dancing, to whole fervice he dedicated much of that 
 time and attention, which he could borrow from his 
 more important avocations. 
 
 The talents which he pofleiTed he very early difplayed 
 to the public : and by the time he had attained the age of 
 eighteen years, prompted by the defire of fame, and per- 
 haps to increaf e his income, commenced author, in which 
 character he began to obtain ibme degree of reputation. 
 
 At this period of his life, young, thoughtlefs, volatile, 
 and inexperienced, he precipitately quitted the imiver- 
 a 3 fityi 
 
vi THE LIFE OF 
 
 fity, and, relying entirely on his pen, removed to the 
 metropolis, where he entered largely into the gaieties of 
 the town, was a conftant frequenter of all places of pub- 
 lic diverfion, and followed every fpecies of amufement 
 with the mod dangerous avidity. In this courfe, how- 
 ever, he did not continue long. To the furpfife 4 of his 
 friends, who leaft iufpe&ed him of taking fuch a flep, 
 without fortune, with few friends, and deftitute of all 
 means of fupporting a family, he nattily united himielf 
 on the 15th of- April, 1751, in marriage with Mifs 
 Mary Perkins, daughter of one of the domeftics of Sir 
 John Dolben, a young lady then refiding in Frith Street, 
 Soho, who, though largely endowed with perfonal at- 
 tractions, 'was certainly deficient in thofe of birth and 
 fortune. To a perfon circumstanced as Mr. Dodd then 
 was, no meafure could be more imprudent, or appa- 
 rently more ruinous and deftruclive of his future prof- 
 peels in life. He did not, however, feem to view it in 
 that light, but, with a degree of thoughtfulnefs natural 
 10 him, immediately took and furniihed a houfe in War- 
 dour Street. Thus dancing on the brink of a precipice, 
 and carelefs of to-morrow, his friends began to be 
 alarmed at his iituation. His father came to town in 
 great diftrefs upon the occafion, and by parental in- 
 junction he quitted his houfe before winter. By the 
 fame advice he probably was induced to adopt a new 
 plan for his future fubfiftenee. On the 19th of Octo- 
 ber, in that year, he was ordained a deacon by the bi- 
 fhopofEly, at Caius College, Cambridge; and, with 
 more prudence than he had ever (hewn before, devoted 
 himfelf with great afnduity to the ftudy and duties of 
 his profefiion. In thefe purfuits he appeared fo lincere, 
 that he even renounced all attention to his favourite ob- 
 jects, Polite Letters. At the end of his preface to the 
 Beauties qf Shake f pear e> published in this year, he fays, 
 «< For my own part, better and more important things 
 henceforth demand my attention ; and I here with no 
 fmall pleafure takt; kaveof Shakefpeare and the Critics : 
 as this work was begun and finifhed before I entered 
 
 upon 
 
WILLIAM DODD, LL. D. vl? 
 
 upon the facred function in which [ am now happily 
 employed, let me truft, this juvenile performance will 
 prove no objection, fince graver, and fome very eminent 
 members of the church, have thought it no improper 
 employ to comment, explain, and publifh, the works of 
 their own country poets/ ' 
 
 The-firft iervice in which he was engaged as a cler- 
 gyman, was to. affirf. the Rev. Mr, Wyatt, vicar of 
 Weft Ham, as his curate • thither he removed, and there 
 he fpent the happiert and morf. honourable moments of 
 his life. His behaviour was proper, decent, and exem- 
 plary. It acquired him the refpect, and fecured him 
 the favour of his parimioners fo far, that, on the death 
 of their lecturer, in 1752, he was chofen to fucceed him. 
 His abilities had at this time every opportunity of being 
 fhewn to advantage 5 and his exertions were fo properly 
 directed, that he foon became a favourite and popular 
 preacher. Thofe who remember him at this period will 
 bear ' teftimony to the indefatigable zeal which he ex- 
 erted in his miniury, and the fuccefs which crowned his 
 efforts. The follies of his youth feemed entirely extin- 
 guiiheci, his friends viewed his conduct with the utmoft 
 fatisfaction, and the world promifed itielf an example to 
 hold out for the imitation of his brethren. 
 
 At this early feaibn of his life he entertained favour- 
 able fentimetits of the doctrine of Mr. Hutchinibn, and 
 was fufpected to incline towards the opinions of the me- 
 thodiits. A more mature age, however, induced him to 
 renounce the one, and to difclaim the other. In 175a 
 he was appointed lecturer of St. James, Garlick Hill, 
 which two years afterwards he exchanged for the lame 
 poft at St. Olave, Hart Street. About the fame tin 
 was appointed to preach Lady Mover's lectures at St, 
 Paul's ; where, from the viiit of the three angels to Abra- 
 ham, and other fimilar paflages from the Old Tellameht, 
 he endeavoured to prove the commonly received doctrine 
 of the Trinity. On the eftablifliment of the Magdalen 
 Houfe, in 175S, he was amongft the firft and moft active 
 promoters of that charitable inltitution ; which received 
 
 great 
 
 — 
 
viii THE LIFE OF 
 
 great advantage from his zeal for its profperity, and, 
 even ro the conclufcn of nis life, continued to be mate- 
 rially benefited by his labours. 
 
 From the time Mr. Dodd entered into the fervice of 
 the church, he refided at Weft Ham, and made up the 
 deficiencies of his income by fuperintending the educa- 
 tion of ibrne young gentlemen who were piaced under 
 his care. In 1759 he took his degree of Matter of Arts. 
 In the year 1763 hew-as appointed Chaplain in Ordi- 
 nary to the King, and about the fame time became 
 known to Dr. Squire, bifhop of St. David's, who re- 
 ceived him into his patronage, prefented him to the pre- 
 bend of Brecon, and recommended him to the Earl of 
 Chefterfield, as a proper perfon to be entruikd with the 
 tuition of his fucceffor in the title. The next year faw 
 him chaplain to his majefty. In 1766 he took the de- 
 gree of Doctor of Laws at Cambridge. He had fome 
 expectations of fucceeding to the rectory of Weft Ham j 
 bur, having been twice difappointed, he refigned his 
 lectiirdhips both there and in the city, and quitted the 
 place; " a place (fays he to Lord Chefterfleld) ever dear 
 and ever regretted by me, the lofs of which, truly af- 
 fecting to mv mind, (for there I was ufeful, and there I 
 truft I was loved) nothing but your lordmip's friend/hip 
 and connection could have counterbalanced." From a 
 paflage in his Thoughts in Prifon> it may be inferred, 
 that he was compelled to quit this his favourite refi- 
 dencc ; a circumftance which he pathetically laments, 
 and probably with great reafon, as the full itep to that 
 change in his fituation which led him inlenfibly to his 
 laft fatal cataftrophe. 
 
 On his leaving Weft Ham he removed to a houfe in 
 Southampton Row, and at the fame time launched out 
 into fcenes of expence, which his income, by this time 
 not a imall one, was unequal to iupport. He provided 
 himfelf with a country- houfe at Ealing, and exchanged 
 his chariot for a coach, in order to accommodate his pu- 
 pils, who, befides his noble charge, were in general per- 
 fons of family and fortune. About the fame time it was 
 
 hi* 
 
WILLIAM DODD, LL. D. . ix 
 
 his misfortune to obtain a prize of ioool. in the ftate 
 lottery. Elated with this fuccefs, he engaged with a 
 builder in a plan to erecl a chapel near the palace of the 
 Queen, from whom it took its name. He entered alfo 
 into a like partner/hip at Charlotte Chapel, Bloomfbury; 
 and both thefe lchemes were for fome time very beneficial 
 to him, tho' much inferior to his then expenfive habits 
 of living. His expectations from the former of thefe un- 
 dertakings were extremely fanguine. It is reported that, 
 in fitting up his chapel near the palace, he flattered him- 
 felf with the hopes of having fome young royal auditors, 
 and in that expectation afligned a particular pew or gal- 
 lery for the heir apparent. But in this, as in many 
 other of his views, he was difappointed. 
 
 In the year 1772 he obtained the reclory of Hocklifre, 
 in Bedfordshire ; the firft cure of fouls he ever had. With 
 this alfo he held the vicarage of Chalgrove ; and the two 
 were foon after coniblidated. An accident happened 
 about this time, from which he narrowly crfcaped with 
 his life. Returning from his living, he was llopt near 
 Pancras by a highwayman, who difcharged a piftol into 
 the carriage, which happily, as it was then thought, 
 only broke the glafs, For this fa6l the delinquent was 
 tried, and, on Dr. Dodd's evidence, convicled and 
 hanged. "Early in the next year Lord Chefterfieid died, 
 and was fucceeded by our author's pupil, who appoint- 
 ed his preceptor his chaplain. 
 
 At this period Dr. Dodd appears to have been in the 
 zenith of his popularity and reputation. Beloved and 
 refpecled by all orders of people, he would have reach- 
 ed, in all probability, the iituation which was the objecl: 
 of his willies, had he poileiTed patience enough to have 
 waited for it, and prudence fufncient to keep himfelf our of 
 difficulties which might prove fatal to his integrity. But 
 the habits of diflipation and expence had acquired too 
 much influence over him, He had, by their means, in- 
 volved himfelf in considerable debts. To extricate him- 
 felf from them, he was tempted to an acl: which en- 
 tirely cut off every hope he could entertain of rifing in, 
 
 his 
 
 : 
 
 
x THE LIFE OF 
 
 his profefiion, and totally ruined him in the opinion of 
 the world. On the tranflaxion of bifhop Mofs, in Fe- 
 bniary 1774? to the fee of Bath and Wells, the valua- 
 ble re&ory of St. George, Hanover- fqu are, fell to the 
 difpofal of the Crown, by virtue of rhe King's prero- 
 gative. Whether from the insertions of his own mind, 
 ©r from the perfuafion of fome friends, is uncertain ; but 
 on this occafion he took a ftep of all others the meft wild 
 and extrav v;anr, and leaft likely to be attended with fuc- 
 cefs. He caufed an anonymous letter to be fent to Lady 
 Apfley, offering the firm of 3000I, if by her means he 
 could be p denied to the living. The letter was im- 
 mediately communicated to the Chancellor, and, after 
 being traced to the fender, < t; ^ c la d before his Majefty. 
 The iniuk offered to fo high an » ?: cer by the propofal, 
 was foli.owc ' ' inftant punifiiment. Dr. Dodd'stiame 
 was ordered to be ftruck out ofthelift of chaplains. The 
 prefs teemed with fatire and invective; he was abufed 
 and ridiculed in + !>- papers or the day) and to crown 
 the whole, the tranfaclian became afub/eft of entertain- 
 ment in on- of Mn Foote's pieces at the Kaymarket, 
 
 As ho expl >n could juftify -~ ibfurd a meafure, 
 fo no apology co, 3 palliate it. An evafive letter in the 
 fiewfpapers, promifing a '• ft Ification at a future day, was 
 treated with univerfal contempt. Stung with remorfe, 
 and feelingly alive to the difgrace he had brought on 
 himfe;", he haftily quitted the place where neglect and 
 injtult attended him, and went to Geneva to his pupil, 
 who prefented him to the living of Winge, in Bucking- 
 ham/hire, which he held, with HockiifFe, by virtue of a 
 difpenfation. Though incumbered with debts, he might 
 ftiii i 3 ye retrieved his circum'lances, if not his cha- 
 racter, nad he attended to the Mens of prudence 3 but 
 his extravagance con inued undiminifhed, and drove him 
 to fcheiridi which overwhelmed him with additional in- 
 famy . lie defcen A t/\ fo low as to become the editor of 
 a newip per 3 and is faid to have attempted to difengage 
 himfelf from his debts by 1 conrniifiion of bankruptcy, 
 in which he failed. From this period every ftep led to 
 
 complete 
 
WILLIAM DODD, IX. D. xl 
 
 complete his ruin. In the fummer of 1776 he went to 
 France, and, with little regard to decency, paraded it in 
 a phaeton at the races on the Plains of Sablons, drefled 
 in all the. foppery of the kingdom in which he then re- 
 fided. He returned to England about the beginning of 
 winter, and continued to exercife the duties of his func- 
 tion, particularly at the Magdalen Chapel, where he ftili 
 was heard with approbation, and where his laft fermon 
 was preached February 2, 1777, two days only before 
 he figned the fatal inftrument which brought him to an 
 ignominious death. 
 
 PrefTed at length by creditors, whofe importunities he 
 was unable longer to foothe, he fell upon an expedient, 
 from the confequences of which he could not efcape. He 
 forged a bond, from his pupil Lord Chefterfield, for the 
 fum of 4200I. and upon the credit of it obtained a con- 
 fiderable fum of money. Detection of the fraud almoft 
 immediately followed. He was taken before a magi- 
 (Irate, and committed to prifon. At the feflions held at the 
 Old Bailey, February 24, his trial commenced ; and the 
 commiffion of the offence being clearly proved, he was 
 pronounced guilty 5 but' the fentence was poflponed, un- 
 til the fentiments of the judges could be taken refpecling 
 the admiffibility of an evidence; whole teflimony had 
 been made ufe of to convict him. 
 
 This accident fufpended his fate until the enfuing 
 feflion. In the mean time, the doubt which had been 
 fuggefted, as to the validity of the evidence, was re- 
 moved, by the unanimous opinion of the judges, that 
 the teltimony of the perfon objecled to had been properly 
 and legally received. This information was communi- 
 cated to the criminal on the 12th of May; and on the 
 26 th of the fame month he was brought to the bar, to 
 receive his fentence. Being afked what he had to alledge 
 why fentence of death fhould net be pronounced upon 
 him, he addrefled the court in the following animated and 
 pathetic fpeech, in the compofition of which he is faid to 
 have been materially ailiited by a very eminent writer : 
 
 " My 
 
viii THE LIFE OF 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " I now ftand before you a dreadful example of hu- 
 man infirmity. I entered upon public life with the ex- 
 pectations common to young men whofe education has 
 been liberal, and whofe abilities have been flattered, and, 
 when I became a clergyman, considered myfelf as not 
 impairing the dignity of the order. I was not an idle, 
 nor I hope, an ufelefs minifler. I taught the truths of 
 Chriitianity with the zeal of conviction, and the autho- 
 rity of innocence. My labours were improved, my pul- 
 pit become popular ; and I have reafon to believe, that 
 of thofe who heard me fome have been preferred from fin, 
 and fome have been reclaimed. Condefcend, my 
 Lord, to think, if thefe conliderations aggravate my 
 crime, how much they muft embitter my punifhment. 
 
 " Being diffinguifhed and elated by the confidence of 
 mankind, I had too much confidence in myfelf: and 
 thinking my integrity what others thought it, ertabliilied 
 in fmceiity, and fortified by religion, I did not confider 
 the danger of vanity, nor fufpect the deceitfulnefs of my 
 own heart. The day of conflict came, in which tempta- 
 tion furprifed and overwhelmed me. I committed the 
 crime, which I entreat your lordfhip to believe that my 
 confcience hourly reprefents to me in its full bulk of mif- 
 chief and malignity. Many have been overpowered by 
 temptation, who are now among the penitent in heaven, 
 
 " To an act now waiting the decifion of vindica- 
 tive juftice, I will not prefume to oppofe the counterba- 
 lance of almorr. thirty years (a great part of the life of 
 man) palTed in exciting and exercinng charity 5 in reliev- 
 ing fuch diflrefTes as 1 now feel, in adminiltering thofe 
 confolations which I now want. I will not otherwife 
 extenuate my offence, than by declaring, what many cir- 
 cumftances make probable, that I did not intend to be 
 finally fraudulent. Nor will it become me to apportion 
 my punimment, by alledging that my fufferings have been 
 not much lefs than my guilt. I have fallen from repugn 
 tation, which ought to have made me cautious j and from 
 a fortune, which ought to have given me content, I 'am 
 
 funk 
 
WILLIAM DODD, LL. D. ix 
 
 funk at once into poverty and (corn 5 my name and my 
 crime fill the ballads in the fcreet, the fport of the 
 thoughtlefs, and the triumph of the wicked. 
 
 " It may feem ftrange that, remembering what I have 
 lately been, I mould wifh to continue what I am. But 
 contempt of death, how fpecioufly foever it might min- 
 gle with Heathen virtues, has nothing fuitable to 
 Chniiian penitence. Many motives impel me to beg 
 earnciily for life. I feel the natural horror of a violent 
 death, and the univerfal dread of untimely dirToiution, 
 I am defirous of recompensing the injury I have done to 
 the clergy, to the world, and to religion, and to efface 
 the fcandal of my crime by the example of my repen- 
 tance. But, above all, I wi/h to die with thoughts 
 more compoftd, and calmer preparation. The gloom 
 of a prilbn, the anxiety of a trial, and the inevitable 
 viciflitudes. of pafTion, leave the mind little difpofed to 
 the holy exerches of prayer and felf-examination. Let 
 not a little time be denied me, in which I may, by me- 
 ditation and contrition, be prepared to Hand at the tri- 
 bunal of Omnipotence, and fupport the prefence of that 
 Judge who (hall diftribwte to all according to their 
 works, who will receive to pardon the repenting finner, 
 and from -whom the merciful (hall obtain "mercy. 
 
 Ci For thefe reafons, ami J. ft fharne and mifery, I yet 
 w'.ih to live : and moft humbly intreat, that I may be 
 recommended by your Lordfhip to the clemency of his 
 Baafefty." 
 
 Having made this fpeech to the Court, the Doclor, 
 with two other capital convicts, received fentence of 
 death. 
 
 From this time the friends of Dr. Dodd were aflidu- 
 cufiy employed in endeavouring to fave his life. Be- 
 fides the petitions of many individuals, the members of 
 thi feverai charities which had been benefited by him, 
 joined in applications to the Throne for mercy : the 
 ^City of London likewife, in its corporate capacity, 
 ^Bkited a remiflion of the punifhment, in conlideratiou 
 ^Rhe advantages which the public had derived from 
 
 his 
 
xli THE LIFE OF 
 
 his various and laudable exertions. The petitions were 
 fuppofed to be figned by near thirty thoufand perfons. 
 They were however of no avail. On the fifteenth of June 
 the Privy Council afTembled, and deliberated on the 
 cafes of the feveral prifoners then under condemnation 5 and 
 in the end a warrant was ordered to be made out for the 
 execution of Dr. Dodd, on the 27th of the fame month. 
 
 On the day preceding that of his excution he took 
 leave of his wife and fome friends, after which he de- 
 clared himielf ready to atone for the offence he had given 
 to the world. 
 
 He published many productions both in profe and 
 verfe ; among which, that particularly noticed is his 
 Novel, intituled " The Sifters," a work calculated to 
 promote morality, and at the fame time furnifh the rea- 
 der both with entertainment and initruclicn. His re- 
 ligious tra<5ls are admirable, and his political produc- 
 tions pointed with very fevere fatire. 
 
 Of his behaviour at this awful juncture, a particu- 
 lar, account was given by Mr. Villette, ordinary of 
 Newgate, in the following terms : 
 
 " On the morning of his death I went to him with 
 the Rev. Mr. Dobey, chaplain of the Magdalen, whom 
 he had defired to attend him to the place of execution. 
 He appeared compoied 5 and when I aiked him how he 
 had been fupported, he faid he had had fome comforta- 
 ble fieep, by which he mould be the better enabled to 
 perform his duty. 
 
 " As we went from his room in our way to the cha- 
 pel, we were joined by his friend, who had fpent the 
 foregoing evening with him, and alfo by another cler- 
 gyman. When we were in the veftry adjoining to the 
 chapel, he exhorted his fellow- fufferer, who had at- 
 tempted to deftroy himfelf, but had been prevented by 
 the vigilance of the keeper. He fpoke to him with 
 great tendernefs and emotion of heart, entreating him to 
 confider that he had but a fhort time to live, and that 
 it was highly neceffary that he as well as himielf, made 
 good uie of their time, implored pardon of God under a 
 
 deep 
 
WILLIAM DODD, LL; D. xiii 
 
 deep fenfe of fin, and looked to that Lord by whofe me- 
 rits alone finners could be laved. He defired me to call 
 in the other gentleman, who likewife aiMed him to 
 move the heart of the poor youth: but the Doctor's 
 words were the rnofr. pathetic and effectual. He lifted 
 up his hands, and cried out, * O Lord Jefus, have mercy 
 on us, and give, O give unto him, my fellow-finner, 
 that as we fuffer together, we may go together to hea- 
 ven!* His conversation to this poor youth was fo mov- 
 ing, that tears flowed from the eyes of all prefenu 
 
 u He prayed God to blefs his friends who were pre- 
 sent with him, and to give his blefnngs to all his bre- . 
 thren the clergy ; that he would pour out his Spirit 
 upon them, and make them true minifters of Jefus 
 Chrift, and that they might follow the divine precepts 
 of their heavenly Matter. Turning to one who Hood 
 near him, he ftretched out his hand, and faid, Now, my 
 dear friend, {peculation is at an end; all rauft be real! 
 what poor ignorant beings we are ! He prayed for the 
 Magdalens, and wifhed they were there, to fing for him 
 the 23d Pfaim. 
 
 u After he had waited fome time for the officers, lie 
 afked what o'clock it was ; and being told that it was 
 half an hour after eight, he faid, 'I wifti they were 
 ready, for I long to be gone.'* .He reqnefted of his 
 friends, who were in tears about him, to pray for him; 
 to which he was anfwered by two of them, — We pray 
 more than language can utter. He replied, ' I believe it.' 
 
 " At length he was fummoned to go down in':o a part 
 of the yard which is inclol'ed from the reft of the goal, 
 where the two unhappy convicts and the friends of the 
 Doctor were alone. On his feeing two prifoners look- 
 ing out of the windows, he went to them and exhorted 
 them fo pathetically, that they both wept abundantly. 
 He faid once, * I am now a fpectacle to men, and ilia.ll 
 toon be a fpectacle to angels.' 
 
 " J u ft before the fherifPs officers cnme with the hal- 
 ters, one who was walking with him told him that there 
 was yet a little folemnity he muft pafs through before 
 
 he 
 
xiv THE LIFE, Sec. 
 
 he went out. He aiked, c What is that?' < You will be 
 bound. 1 He looked up, and (aid, ' Yet I am free; my 
 freedom is there, 1 pointing .upwards. -^-He bore it with 
 Chriftian patience, and beyond what might be expected $ 
 and when the men offered to excufe tying his hands, he 
 deiired them to do their duty, and thanked them for their 
 kindnefs. After he was bound, I offered to afliii Kim 
 with my arm in conducting him through the yard, where 
 fibverai people were ailembled to fee him j but here- 
 plied, e No, I am as firm as a rock.'— As he paff.d 
 along the yard, the {peculators and prifoners wept and 
 bemoaned him ; and he, in return, prayed God to bids 
 them . 
 
 " On the way to execution he confoled himfelf in 
 reflecting and fpeaking on what Chrift had fuffered for 
 him : lamenting the depravity of human nature, which 
 made fanguinary laws neceffaryj aad laid he could 
 lly have QLrd in the priibn-yard, as being led out 
 to public execution tended greatly to diftrefs him. He 
 ed me to read to him the 51ft. Pfalm, and alio 
 pointed out an admirable penitential prayer from Rol- 
 lers Priibner's Director. He prayed again for the 
 King and iikewiie for the people. 
 
 " When he came near the ftreet where he formerly 
 dwelt, he was much affected, and wept. He fa id pro- 
 v his tears would feem to be the effect of cowar- 
 dice, but it was a weaknefs he could not well help ; 
 and added, he hoped he was going to a better home. 
 
 44 When he arrived at the gallows, he aicended the 
 cart, and {poke to his feilow-iuiterer. He then prayed, 
 not only for himfelf, but alio tor his w re, and the un- 
 fortunate youth that fuffered with him -, and declaring 
 that he dkd in the true faith of the gofpel of Chrift, 
 in per eel love and chanty with all mankind, and 
 with thankfulnefs to his friends, he was launched into 
 eternity, emploring mercy for his foul for the iakc of 
 bis bleffed Redeemer. " 
 
 His corpfe, on the Monday following, was carried 
 to Cowley, in Buckinghamshire, and depofite \ m the 
 chinch there. THOUGHTS 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 COMMENCED 
 
 SUNDAY EVENING, EIGHT O'CLOCK.* Feb. 23, 1777* 
 
 NT 
 
 WEEK THE FIRST. 
 
 The Imprisonment. 
 
 FY friends are gone ! Harfn on its full en hinge 
 Grates the dread door : the malYy bolts refpond 
 Tremendous to the furely keeper's touch. 
 The dire keys clang, with movement dull and flow 
 While their belief! the ponderous locks perform 5 
 And fattened firm, the objecl of their care 
 Is left to folitude, — to forrow left ! 
 
 But wherefore fattened ? Oh ftill ttronger bonds 
 Than bolts, or locks, or doors of molten brafs, 
 To folitude and forrow would confign 
 His anguiuYd foul, and prifon him, tho' free! 
 For, whither mould he fly, or where produce 
 In open day, and to the golden fun, 
 His haplefs head ! whence every laurel torn, 
 On his bald brow fits grinning Infamy ; 
 And all in fportive triumph twines around 
 The keen, the flinging adders of difgrace! 
 
 Yet what's difgrace with man ? or all the ftings 
 Of pointed fcorn ? What the tumultuous voice 
 Of erring multitudes ? Or what the marts 
 Of keenett malice, levell'd from the bow 
 Of human inquifition ? — if the God, 
 Who knows the heart, looks with complacence down 
 Upon the ftruggling victim, and beholds 
 Repentance burfting from the earth-bent eye, 
 And faith's red crofs held clofely to the breaft ? 
 
 Oh Author of my being ! of my blifs 
 Beneficent Difpenfer! wondrous power, 
 Whofe eye, all-fearching thro' this dreary gloom 
 Difcerns the deepeft fecreets of the foul, 
 
 • The hour when they lock up in this difmal place, 
 
 B Aflift 
 
3 THOUGHTS 1ft PRISON". 
 
 Ai'iift me ! With thy ray of light divine 
 Illumine my dark thoughts $ upraife my low 5 
 And give me wifdom's guidance, while I ftrive 
 Impartially to ftate the dread account, 
 And call myielf to trial ! Trial far 
 Than that more fearful*— tho" how fearful that 
 Which trembling late I proved ! Oh aid my hand 
 To hold the balance equal, and allow 
 ^he few fad moments of remaining life 
 To retrofpeclion nfefu! - f make my end, 
 As my firft wifh (thou know'ft the heart) has beeiij 
 To make my whole of being to my friends, 
 My fellow-pilgrims thro' this world of woe, 
 Inductive !-*■— Oh could I conducl but one, 
 One only with me, to our Canaan's reft, 
 How could I meet my fate, nor think it hard f 
 
 Not think it hard ?— -Burft into tears, my foul 5 
 Guih every pore of my diffracted frame, 
 Gufh into drops of blood !*- -But one j lave one, 
 Or guide to Canaan's reft ? — when all thy views 
 In better days were dedicate alone 
 To guide, perfuade to that celeftiat reft* 
 Souls which have liftened with devotion's ear 
 To Sion's longs enchanting from thy lips, 
 And tidings fweet of jefu's pardoning love ! 
 
 But one, fave oner — Oh, what a reft is this! 
 Oh what a Sabbath in this dungeon's gloom, 
 This prifon-houfe, meet emblem of the realm 
 Referv'd for the ungodly ! Hark, methinks 
 I hear the cheerful melody of praife 
 And -penitential fweetaefs* ! *Tis the found r 
 The well-known (bund, to which my foul, attun'd 
 For year fucceeding year, hath hearken'd glad, 
 And ftill with frefh delight i while all my powers 
 In bfceft employ have pre ft the faving truths 
 Of grace divine, and faith's all- conquering might, 
 On the fure Rock of Ages grounded firm. 
 
 Thofe. hours are gone! and here, from heaven fhut out, 
 
 * Mfcrriag roWe ittwdiafcely t$ she dviry ©f the Magdaleu chapel. 
 
 And 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. | 
 
 And heavenly works like thefe on this lov*d day, 
 
 Reft of my God, — I only hear around 
 
 The difmal clang of chains j the hoarfe rough fliput 
 
 Of diffonant imprecation ; and the cry 
 
 Of mifery and vice, in fearful din 
 
 Impetuous mingled • while mv frighted mind 
 
 Shrinks back in horror ! while the fcalding tears 
 
 Involuntary ftarting, furrow down 
 
 My fickly cheeks ; and whirling thought confus'd 
 
 For giddy moments, icarce allows to know 
 
 Or where, or who, or what a wretch I am { . 
 
 Not know ?— ^ Alas \ too well it ftrikes my heart, 
 Emphatieal it fpjaks ! while dungeons, chains, 
 And bars and bolts proclaim the mournful truth, 
 " Ah what a wretch thou art I how funk, how fall'in 
 tc # From what high ftate of blifs, into what woei- " 
 Fairn from the topm£>ft bough that plays in air 
 E"en of the talleft cedar ; where aloft 
 Proud happinefs her towering eyrie built j 
 Built, as I dreamt, for ages. Idle dream? 
 And yet, amongft the. millions of mankind, 
 Who fleep like me, how few, like me deceived, 
 Do not indulge the fame fantaftic dream ! 
 
 Give me the angel's clarion i— Let me found, 
 Loud as the blaft which mail awake the dead 5 
 Oh let me found, and call the {lumberers forth 
 To view the vifion which delufion charms j 
 To make the potent incantation off 5 
 Or ere it burft in ruin on their fouls, 
 As it has burft on mine.— Not on my foul ! 
 Retract the dread idea : Righteous God ! 
 Not on my foul! Gh Thou art gracious all, 
 And with an eye of pity \frdm thy throne 
 Of Majefty fupernal, thou behold'ft 
 The creatures of thy hand, thy feeble fons, 
 Struggling with fin, with Satan, and the world, 
 Their (worn and deadly foes : and, having felt 
 In human fleih the trials of our kind, 
 
 * Milton's Par. Loft, B. 5 . p. 540, 
 
 B % ' Know'ii 
 
4 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 Know*ft fym pathetic how to aid the tried ! 
 
 Rock of* my hope ! the ram, ram phrafe forgive ; 
 Safe is my foul ; nor can it know one fear, 
 Grounded on Thee Unchangeable ? Thee firft, 
 Thee laft, great Cleanfer of all human fin ! 
 
 But, tho' fecure the veflel rides in port, 
 Held firm by faith's flrong anchor,— well it fuits 
 The mariner to think by what ftrange means 
 Thro" perils unconceivable he pafsM ; 
 Thro'' rocks, lands, pirates, ftorms, and boifterous waves, 
 And happily obtain'd that port at laft. 
 ' On thefe my thoughts are bent : nor deem it wrong, 
 MinirVring angels ! whofe benignant tafk 
 Afiigii'd by Heav'n, is to confole diftrefs, 
 And hold up human hearts admift the toil 
 Of human woe* ! — Bleft fpirits, who delight 
 In fweet fubmiffive refignat ion's fmile, 
 To that high will you know for ever right ; — 
 Deem it not wrong, that with a weeping eye, 
 Deem it not wrong, that with a bleeding heart, 
 I dwell a while, unworthieft of my race, 
 On thofe black rocks, thofe quick-fands, waves and florin, 
 "Which in a fea of trouble have engulph'd 
 All, all my earthly comforts 5 and have left 
 Me, a poor naked, fhipwreck'd, luffering wretch 
 On this bleak fhore, in this confinement drear 5 
 At fight of which, in better days, my foul 
 Hath ftarted back with horror! while my friend, 
 My bofom- partner in each hour of pain, 
 With antidotes preventive kindly arm'd, 
 Trembling for my lov'd health j when chriftian calls 
 And zeal for others welfare, haply brought 
 My fteps attendant on this den of death ! 
 
 Oh difmal change ! Now, not in friendly fort 
 A chriftian-vifitoijft^poiir the balm 
 Of chriftian comfort in fome wretch's ear, — 
 I am that wretch myfplf ! and want, much want, 
 The chriftian confolation I beftow'd 5 
 
 * See Pfalm xxxiv. 7. Heb. i. 14- 
 
THOUGHTS IN. PRISON. 5 
 
 So cheerfully beftow'd ! want, want, my God, 
 From Thee the mercy, from my fellow-man 
 The lenient mercy, which, grtat Judge of hearts, 
 To Thee I make the folemn, fad appeals 
 That mercy, which Thou knoweft my gladfome foul 
 Ever fprang forth with tranfport to impart! 
 
 ■Why then, myfterious providence! purfued 
 With Inch unfeeling ardour ? why purfued 
 To death's dread bourn, by men to me unknown! 
 Why— *Stop the deep queftion ; il overwhelms my foul | 
 It reels, it ftraggers !— -Earth turns round ! my brain 
 Whirls in confufion! my impetuous heart 
 Throbs with pulfations not to be reftrain'd ; 
 Why ?— * where ?•— ^Oh Chefterfield ! my fon, my foil ! 
 
 Nay, talk not of compofure ! I had thought 
 In olden time, that my weak heart was foft, 
 And pity^'s fejf might break it.— rl had thought 
 That marble-eyed feverity would crack 
 The (lender nerves which guide my reins of fenfe, 
 And give me up to madneis. *Tis not fo : 
 My heart is callous, and my nerves are tough : 
 It will not break ! they will not. crack ; or elfe 
 What more, juft Heaven, was wanting to the deed, 
 Than to behold — -Oh that eternal night 
 Had in that moment fcreen'd me from myfelf !-*-j 
 My Stanhope to behold, whofe filial ear 
 Drank pleas'd the lore of wifdom from my tongue. 
 My Stanhope to behold !— rAh piercing fight! 
 Forget it 5— /tis diftraciion : — -Speak who can \ 
 
 But I am loft ! a criminal adjudgM ! 
 A guilty mifcreant ! Canft thou think, my friend, 
 Oh Butler,— Sm id ft a million faithful found ! — ? 
 Oh canft thou think, who know'ft, who long haft know!) 
 My inmofl foul 5 oh canft thou think that life 
 Fjrom fuch rude outrage for a moment fav'd, 
 And fav'd almoft by a miracle *, deferves 
 
 * Referring to the cafe referverl for the folemn «'ecifion of the twelve Judges, 
 and which gave the prisoner a much longer fpace than his moft fanguina 
 friends could have expected, from the complexion of the procefs. bee th* 
 Seffious Pape? fcr Feb, 1 777, 
 
 B 3 The 
 

 6 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 The languid wifh, or e'er can be fuftain'd ? 
 
 It can — it muft ! That miracle alone 
 
 To life gives confeqnence. Oh deem it not 
 
 Prelum ptuous, that my grateful fonl thus rates 
 
 The prefent high deliverance it hath found j — 
 
 Sole effort of thy wifdom, Sovereign Power, 
 
 Without whole knowledge not a fparrow falls ! 
 
 Oh may I ceafe to live, ere < eafe to blefs 
 
 That interpofing hand, which turnM afide,— « 
 
 Nay to my life and prefervation turn'd 
 
 The fatal blow precipitate, oixhin'd 
 
 To level all my little hopes in duft, 
 
 And give me to the grave ! Rather, my hand, 
 
 Forget thy cunning ! Rather mall my tongue 
 
 In gloomy filer.ce bury every note 
 
 To my glad heart refpcndent, than I eafe 
 
 To dedicate to Him who fpar'd my life, 
 
 Each breath, each power, while He vouchfafes to lend 
 
 The precious boon ! — To Him be all its praife! 
 
 To Him be all its fervice! Long or fhort, 
 
 The gift's the fame : to live or die to him 
 
 Is gain fufncient, everlafting gain : 
 
 And may that gain be mine ! I live, I live ! 
 
 Ye hours, ye minutes, bounty of his grace, 
 
 Fleet not away without improvement due : 
 
 Rich on your wings bear penitence and prayer 
 
 To Heavn's all-clement Ruler ; and to man 
 
 Bear all the retribution man can make ! 
 
 Ye precious hours, ye moments fnatchM from death, 
 
 Replete with incenie rife,— that my cheer'd foul 
 
 When comes the folemn call, may fpring away, 
 
 Delighted, to the bofom of its God ! 
 
 Who mail condemn the tiuft ?— proud rationals 
 
 (That deep in (peculation's 'wildering maze 
 
 Bemufe themfelves with error, and confound 
 
 The laws of men, of nature, and of Heaven) 
 
 Prefumptuous in their wifdom, dare dethrone 
 
 Even from his works the Maker: and contend, 
 
 That He who form'd it governs not the world : 
 
 While, fteep'd in fenfe's Lethe, fons of earth From 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. J 
 
 From the world's partial picture gaily draw 
 Their mad conclusions. Bold broad-ftaring vice, 
 Luird on the lap of every mundane blifs, 
 At meek-eyed virtue's patient flittering feoffs, 
 And dares with dauntlefs infolence the God, 
 Regardlefs of his votaries ! — Vain and blind ! 
 Alike thro' wifdom or thro' folly blind — 
 Whofe dim contracted view the petty round, 
 The mere horizon of the preient hour 
 In darknefs terminates ! Oh could I ope 
 The golden portals of eternal day ; 
 Pour on your fight the congregated blaze 
 Of light, of wifdom, burfting from the throne 
 Of univerfal glory; on the round, 
 The boundlefs cycle of His moral plan, 
 Who, hid in clouds terrific, Matter fits 
 Of fubjecl men and worlds j and fees at once 
 The ample fcene of prefent, future, part, 
 All naked to his eye of flame : — all rang'd 
 In harmony complete, to work his will, 
 And finiih with the plaudit of the ikies ! 
 
 But — while the whelming blazon may not burn: 
 On the weak eyes of mortals ; while confined 
 Thro' dark dim glafs, with dark dim fight to look 
 All trembling to the future, and collect 
 The fcatter'd rays of wifdom 5 while referr'd 
 Our infant reafon to the guiding hand 
 Of faith ftrong-eyed, which never quits the view 
 Of Jefus, her great pole-ftar ; from whofe word, 
 Irradiate with the luttre of his love, 
 She learns the mighty Matter to explore 
 In all his works ; and from the meaneft taught 
 Beholds the God, the Father,-— Scorn ye not, 
 My fellow-pilgrims, fellow-heirs of death, 
 And, oh triumphant thought ! — my fellow-heirs 
 Of life immortal j — if not fold to fenfe 
 And infidelity's black caufe, you cart 
 Ungracious from yourfelves the proffer 'd boon : 
 —Then fcorn not, oh my friends, when Heaven vouchfafes 
 
 To 
 
 — 
 
I THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 To teach by meaner! objecls, reptiles, birds, 
 «*— To take one lefTon from a worm like me I 
 Proof of a spacious providence I live J—?' 
 To him be all the glory ! Of his care 
 Paternal, his fuppcrting hgnal love, 
 I lire each hour an argument. Away, 
 The fyftematic dullnefs of difpute! 
 Away, each doating reafoner !^-^I feel, 
 Feel in my inmoif heart the confcious ienfe$ 
 The grateful prefiure of diftinguifVd grace, 
 And live, and only wifh for life to praife it ! 
 
 For fay, my foul,^nor midir. this filence fad. 
 This midnight, awful, melancholy gloom, 
 Nor in this folemn moment of account 
 'Twixt thee and Heaven, — when on his altar lies 
 A facrifice thy naked bleeding heart ! 
 Say, nor, felf- Mattering, to thy confcience hold 
 The mirror of deceit; — .cculdft thou have thought 
 Thy nerves, thy head, thy heart, thy frame, thy fenfe, 
 Sufficient to fiiftairi the fudden mock? 
 Rude as a bnrfting earthquake, which at once 
 ToppKd the happy edifice adown, 
 Yvhelnvd thee and thine beneath its ruinous cram, 
 And hurried all in forrow r — ?Torn away 
 Impetuous from thy home, thy much lov'd home. 
 Without one moment to reflection giv'n I 
 By Toothing fclemn promife led to place 
 Ingenuous all thy confidence of life 
 In men, affuming gentle pity's guile ! 
 Vain confidence m aught beneath the fun ! 
 Behold the hour, the dreadful hour arrived : 
 The prifon opes its ruthlels gates, upon thee! 
 
 Oh Horror! But what's this, this frtfh attack! 
 ^Tis (he, 'tis me! my weeping fainting wife! 
 ic And hafc thou faithful found me ? Has thy love 
 << Thus burlt thro' evhy barrier? Haft thou trae'd 
 ec — Deoreit in health, and timid as thou art — 
 (< At midnight tracM the defoiate wild ftreets ? 
 : - Thus. in a prifon's sdoom to throw thy arms 
 
 ' * - ' ' * « Of 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 9 
 
 ss Of conjugal endearment round the neck 
 M Of thy loft huiband ? — Fate, exacl thy worftj 
 " The bitternefs is pad." — Idea vain ! 
 To tenfold bitternefs drench'd in my deep cup 
 Of gall the morning rifes ? Statue like, 
 Inanimate, half dead, and fainting half, 
 To ftand a fpeclacle ! — the praeter ftern 
 Denying to my pleading tears one pang 
 Of human lympathy ! Conducted forth, 
 Amid ft th' unfeeling populace ; purfued 
 Like fome deer, which from the hunter's aim 
 Hath ta'en its deadly hurt ; and glad to find- 
 Panting with woe, — my refuge in a gaol ! 
 Can mifeiy ftretch more tight the torturing cord ? 
 But hence this foftnefs ! Wherefore thus lament 
 Thefe petty, poor efcutcheons of thy fate, 
 When lies — all worthy of thyfelf and life, 
 Cold in the hearfe of ruin ? — Rather turn 
 Grateful thine eyes, and raife, tho' red with tears, 
 To his high throne who looks on thy diftrefs 
 With fatherly companion ; kindly throws 
 Sweet comfort's mixture in thy cup, and foothes 
 With Gilead's balm thy death-wound. He it is 
 Who, 'mid ft the (hock disrupting, holds in health 
 Thy fhatter'd frame, and keeps thy reafon clear j 
 He, He it is, whofe pitying power fupports 
 Thy humbled foul, deep humbled in the duft, 
 Beneath the fenfe of guilt; the mournful fenfe 
 Of deep tranfgrefnon 'gain ft thy fellow-men, 
 Of fad offence 'gainft Him, thy Father God ; 
 Who, lavifh in his bounties, woo'd thy heart 
 With each paternal bl effing; — ah ingrate, 
 And worthlefs! Yet — (His mercies who can count, 
 Or truly fpeak his praife !) — Yet thro' this gloom 
 Of felf- convict ion, lowly He vouchfafes 
 To dart a ray of comfort, like the Sun's, 
 All-cheering thro' a fummer's evening mower 1 
 Arch'd in h;s gorgeous iky, I view the Bow, 
 Of grace nVd emblem ! 'Tis that grace alone 
 
 Which 
 
IO THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 Which gives my foul its firmnefs ; builds my hope 
 Beyond the grave ; and bids me fpurn the earth I 
 
 Firftof all hledlngs, hail ! Yet Thou, from whom 
 Both firft and lair, both great and fmall proceed $ 
 Exhaultlefs fource of every good to man, 
 Accept for all, the tribute of my praife ; 
 For all are thine! — Thine the ingenuous friends, 
 Who folace with compafTion fweet my woe ; 
 Mingle with mine,their fvmpathetic tears j 
 IncelTant and diimterefted toil 
 To work my weal ; and, delicately kind, 
 Watch every keener fenfibility 
 That lives about my foul. Oh, more than friends, 
 In tendernefs my children! — Thine are too 
 The very keepers of the rugged jail, 
 —111 ichool to learn hu inanity "s foft lore !— » 
 Yet here humanity their duty pays, x 
 
 Refpe&ably affecting ! Whi'lft they tend 
 My little wants, officious in their zeal, 
 They turn away, and fain would hide the tear 
 That gufties all unbidden to their eye, 
 And fanclifies their fervice. — On their heads 
 Thy blclTing, Lord of Bounty ! — — — - 
 
 But, of all, 
 
 All thy choice comforts in this drear diftreVs, 
 
 God of our firft young love ! Thine is the Wife, 
 
 Who with afliduous care, from night to morn, 
 
 From mom to night, watches my every need j 
 
 And, as in brighten 1 davs of peace and joy, 
 
 Smiles on my anguifh, while her own poor breaft 
 
 Is full almoft to bnrfting! Proftrate, Lord, 
 
 Before thy footftool— Thou, whole higheft ityle 
 
 On earth, in heaven, is love! — Thou, who hall breath'4 
 
 Thro* human hearts the tender charities, 
 
 The focial fond affections which unite 
 
 In bonds of iweeteft amity thole hearts, 
 
 And guide to every good ! — -Thou, whofe kind eye 
 
 Complacent mud behold the rich, ripe fruit, 
 
 Mature and mellow'd on the generous flock 
 
 Of 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. XI 
 
 Of thy own careful planting !— Low on earth, 
 And mingled with my native dull, I cry ; 
 With all the HufoancTs anxious fondnefs cry 3 
 With all the friend's folicitude and truth 5 
 With all the teacher's fervour, — u God of Love, 
 **' Vouchfafe thy choicer! comforts on her head I 
 " Be thine my fate's deciiion : To thy will 
 " With angel-refignation, lo! we bend!" 
 
 But hark ! what found, wounding the night's dull ear 3 
 Burfts fudden on my fenfe, and makes more horrible 
 Thefe midnight horrors ? — 'Tis the folemn bell, 
 Alarum to the prifoners of death* ! — 
 Hark ! what a groan, refponfive from the cells 
 Of condemnation, caUs upon my heart, 
 My thrilling lie-art, for interceflion ftrong> 
 And pleadings in the fufferer's behalf — 
 My fellow-fufferers, and my fellow -men ! 
 
 Ceafe then awhile the ftrain, my plaintive foul. 
 And veil thy face of forrow! Lonely hours 
 Soon will return thee to thy midnight talk, 
 For much remains to fing, fad themes, unfung, 
 As deemM perchance too mournful 5 — yet, what elfc 
 Than themes like thefe can fuit a mufe like mine ', 
 —And might it be, that while ingenuous woe 
 Bleeds thro' my verfe 5 while the fucceeding page 
 Weaving with my fad ftory the detail 
 Of crimes, of punimments, of prifens drear, 
 Of prefent life and future,— fad difcourfe 
 And ferious mail contain 5 Oh might it be, 
 That human hearts may liften and improve ; 
 O might it be, that benefit to fouls 
 Flow from the weeping tablet ; tho' the Maa 
 In torture die, — the Painter fhall rejoice ! 
 
 Sunday, March 2, 1777. 
 
 END OF THE FIRST WEE£. 
 
 • This alludes to a very ttriking and awful circumftance. The Bellsttan »f 
 St. Sepulchre's near the pt-ifon, is by lone and pious cuftom appointed to an* 
 bounce at midnight to the condenm»d criminal* Ul their cella, that the houf 
 •j their Ucpajrtvre i% at hanj » 
 
 WEEK 
 
IS THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 WEEK THE SECOND. 
 
 The Retrofpeft. — Sunday, March 2, 1777. 
 {^\H, not that thou goeft hence — fweet drooping flower, 
 ^Surcharg'd with Sorrow's dew! — Not that thou quitt'il 
 This pent and feverifh gloom, which beams with light, 
 With health, with comfort, by thy prefence cheer'd, 
 Companion of my life, and of my woes 
 Bleft toother! not that thou goeft hence to drink 
 A purer air, and gather from the breath 
 Of balmy fpring new fuccour, to recruit 
 Thy wanning health, and aid thee to fuftain, 
 With more than manly fortitude, thy own 
 And my affiiftive trials ! Not that here, 
 Amidft the glories of this genial day, 
 Immur'd, thro' iron bars I peep at Heaven, 
 With dim, lack luftre eye ! — Oh, 'tis not this 
 That drives the poifon'd point of torturous thought 
 Deep to my fpring of life i It is not this 
 That proftrate lays me weeping in the duft, 
 And draws in fobs the life-blood from my heart! 
 \Vell could I bear thy abfence : well, full well 5 
 Tho' angel- comforts in thy converfe fmile, 
 And make my dungeon Paradife ! — Full well 
 Could I fuftain thro' iron bars to view 
 The golden Sun, in bridegroom- majefty 
 Taking benignant nature to his love, 
 And decking her with bounties ! Well, very well 
 Could I forego the delicate delight 
 Of tracing nature's germens, ?s they bud ; 
 Of viewing fpring's fir ft children, as they rife 
 In innocent iweetnefs, or beneath the thorn 
 In rural privacy ; or on gay parterre 
 More artful, lefs enchanting! — Well, very well 
 Could I forego to lirlen, — in this houfe 
 Of unremitted din, — and nought complain j 
 To liften, as I oft have flood with thee 
 Liftening in fond endearment to the voice 
 Of Hock-dove, thro' the filence of the wood 
 
 Hoarfe 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 13 
 
 Hoarfe murmuring : — Well, oh could I forego 
 
 Thefe innocent, tho' exquiiite delights, 
 
 Still new, and to my bofom ftill attun'd 
 
 In moral, mental melody ! — Sweet Spring ! 
 
 Well could I bear this fad exile, from Thee, 
 
 Nor drop one tear reluctant : for my foul, 
 
 Strong to fuperior feelings, foars aloft 
 
 To eminence of mifery ! — Confin'd 
 
 On this blefsM day — the Sabbath of my God ! 
 
 — Not from his Houfe alone, not from the power 
 
 Of joyful worihip with arTembling crowds *, 
 
 But from the labours once fo amply mine, 
 
 The labours of his love. Now, laid aiide, 
 
 Cover'd my head with ignominious duft, 
 
 My voice is ftopp'd ! and, had I e'en the power, 
 
 Strong fhame, and ftronger grief would to that voice 
 
 Forbid all utterance I — Ah, thrice haplefs voice, 
 
 By Heaven's own finger all indulgent tuned 
 
 To touch the heart, and win th' attentive foul 
 
 To love of truth divine, how ufelefs now, 
 
 How dirTonant, unftrung! — Like Salem' harps 
 
 Once fraught with richeft harmony of praiie, 
 
 Hunjy in fad iilence by Euphrates' dream, 
 
 Upon the mournful willows ! There they wept, 
 
 Thy captive people wept, O God ! — when thought 
 
 To bitter memory recall'*! the fongs, 
 
 The dulcet fongs of Sion ! Oh bled longs, 
 
 Tranfporting chorus of united hearts, 
 
 In cheerful mulic mounting to the praife 
 
 Of Sion's King of Glory ! — Oh the joy 
 
 Tranfcendant, of petitions wing'd aloft 
 
 With fervour irreliitible from throngs 
 
 Afiembled in thy earthly courts, dread King 
 
 Of all-dependant nature I — looking up 
 
 For all to Thee, as do the fervants eyes 
 
 Up to their foftering Mafterl Joy of joys, 
 
 Am id it fuch throng' d affemblies to ftand forth, 
 
 To blow the Silver Trumpet of thy Grace j 
 
 * See pfalm lxxxir. 
 
 C The 
 
14- THOUGHTS IN PRISON, 
 
 The gladfome year of jubilee to proclaim, 
 And offer to the aching tinner's heart 
 Redemption's healing mercies ! And methinks 
 ( — -Indulge the pleating reverie, my foul ! 
 The waking dream, which in oblivion iweet 
 Lulls thy o'eriabour'd fenfe!) methinks, convey* d 
 To Ham's lov'd fhades,— <iear favourite (hades, by 
 And pure religion fanclify'd, — I hear [peace 
 
 The tuneful bells their hallow'd meflage found 
 To Chriftian hearts fymphonious ! Circling time 
 Once more hath happily brought round the day 
 Which calls us to the Temple of our God : 
 Then let us hafte, in decent neatnefs clad, 
 My cheerful little houiehold, to his courts, 
 So icv'd, fo truly honourd ! There we'll mix 
 In meek, ingenuous deprecation's cry ; 
 There we'll unite in full thankfgiving's choir* 
 And all the rich melodioufnefs of praife, 
 I feel, I feel the rapture ! David's harp 
 Concordant with a thoufand voices founds j 
 Prayer mounts exulting : Man afcends the ikies 
 On wings of angel-fervour ! Holy writ 
 Or fpeaks the wonders of Jehovah's power, 
 Or tells, in more than mortal majeity, 
 The greater wonders of his love to man ! 
 Proofs of that love, fee where the myftic hgns, 
 High emblems of unutterable grace, 
 Confirm to man the zeal of Heaven to favej 
 And call to gratitude's bell office 1 
 
 W u*~ . Wife 
 
 In all thy iacred inftitutions, Lord, 
 
 Thy Sabbaths with peculiar wifdom fhinej 
 
 Firfi: and hi^h argument, creation done, 
 
 Of thy benign folicitude for man, 
 
 Thy chiefeft, favourite creature. Time is thine j 
 
 How juft to claim a part, who giv^t the whole J 
 
 But oh, how gracious, to aflign that part 
 
 To man's fupreme behoof, his foul's be& good j 
 
 His mortal and his mental benefit ; 
 
 His body's genial comfort ! Savage elfe, Ua* 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON, 1$ 
 
 Untaught , undifciplhVd, in ftaggy pride 
 HeM rovM the wild, amidft the brutes a brute 
 Ferocious ; to the loft civilities 
 Of cultivated life, Religion, Truth, 
 A barbarous Granger. To thy Sabbaths thea 
 All hail, wife Legiflator t 'Tis to thefe 
 We owe at once the memory of thy works, 
 Thy mighty works of nature and of grace j— 
 We owe divine religion ; and to thefe 
 The decent comelineis of focial life. 
 
 Revere, ye earthly magiftrates, who wield 
 The fvvord of Heaven,— -the wifdom of Heaven's plan* 
 And fanclify the Sabbaths of your God ! 
 Religion's all j With that or {lands or falls 
 Your country's weal 1 but where mall me obtain, 
 -^Religion, fainted pilgrim ,— -(belter fare, 
 Or honourable greeting; — thro' the land, 
 If led by high and low, in giddy dance, 
 Mad profanation on the f acred day 
 Of God's appointed reft, her revel-rout 
 Inliiltiilg heads, and leaves the temple void ? 
 H'Ohj my lov'd country ! oh, ye thoughtlefs grsa*, 
 Intoxicate with draughts, that opium-like 
 For trahfient moments ftupify the mind, 
 To wake in horrors, and confunon wild !— 
 
 But fort, and know thyielf i 'Tis not for thee, 
 Poor deftitute 1 thus groveling in the dug 
 Or feif- annihilation, to affume 
 The Cenibr's office, and reprove mankind. 
 Ah me,** thy day of duty is declined ! 
 ThoUj rather, to the quick probe thine own wounds, 
 And plead for mercy at the judgment- feat, 
 Where Conscience fmites thee for th* offence deplor'd, 
 
 Yet not prelum ptuous deem it, Arbiter 
 Or human thoughts., that through the long, long gloom 
 Of multiply'd tranigreflions, I behold 
 Complacent fouling on my fickening foul, 
 " Delight in thy lovM Sabbaths !" Well Thou know'ft— 
 For thou knoweft ail things, — that the oheeiiuji found 
 
 c % or 
 
l6 THOUGHTS IN PRISON, 
 
 Of that bleft day's return, for circling weeks, 
 For months, for years, for more than thrice feven years, 
 Was mufic to my heart ! My feet rejoic'd 
 To bear me to thy temples, haply fraught 
 With Comfort's tidings ; with thy gofpel's truth, 
 The goipel of thy peace ! Oh, well Thou know'ft, 
 Who k no weft all things, with what welcome toil, 
 What plealing affiduity I fearch'd 
 Thy heavenly word, to learn thy heavenly will ; 
 That faithful I might minifter its truth, 
 And of the high commifiion nought keep back 
 From the great congregation * 1 Well thou know'fr, 
 — Sole, facred Witnefs of my private hours,— 
 How copioufiy I bath'd with pleading tears, 
 How earneftly in prayer confign'd to Thee 
 The humble efforts of my trembling pen ; 
 My beft, weak efforts in my Mailer's caule ; 
 Weak as the feather Vainft the giant's fhield, 
 Light as the gofmer floating on the wind, 
 Without thy aid omnipotent ! Thou know^ft 
 How anxious to improve in every grace, 
 That befl to man's attention might commend 
 Th' important meffage, ftudious I apply'd 
 My feeble talents to the holy art 
 Of fuafive elocution $ emulous 
 Of every acquifition which might clothe 
 In pureft dignity the pureft work, 
 The firft, the higheft office man can bear, 
 " The Meffenger of God ;" And well Thou know'ft, 
 — For all the work, as all the praife is Thine— 
 What fweet fuccefs accompanied the toil : 
 What harvefts blefs'd the ieed-time ! Well Thou 
 With what triumphant gladnefs my rapt foul [know'ft 
 Wrought in the vineyard ! how it thankful bore 
 The noon day's heat, the evening's chilly froft, 
 Exuking in its much-loved Mafter's caufe 
 To fpend, and to be fpent ! and bring it home 
 From triple labours of the well-toil'd day, 
 
 * P&lm xl. ver. 10. 
 
 A body 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON, tf 
 
 A body by fatigue o'erborne 5 a mind 
 Keplete with glad emotions to its God ! 
 
 Ah my lovM houfehold ! ah my little round 
 Of fecial friends ! well do ye bear in mind 
 Tno£ pleafing evenings, when, on my return, 
 Mucn-wiih s d return— ferenity the mild, 
 And eheerftilnefs the innocent, with rue 
 Etttef'd the happy dwelling! Thou, my Emeft, 
 Ingenuous youth ! whofe early fpring beipoke 
 Thy unnmer, as it is, with richeft crops 
 Luxuriant waving j gentle youth canit thou 
 Thoie welcome hours forget F or thou— ~oh thcu ! 
 *^How mall I utter from my beating heart 
 Thy name* fo mufical, fo heavenly fweet 
 Once to theie ears diftracled '.—Stanhope, fay, 
 Can ft thou forget thofe hours, when clothM in lmiles 
 Offend refpe£t, thou and thy friend have ftrove 
 Whofe little hands mould readier! fupply 
 My willing wants 5 officious hi your zeal 
 To make the Sabbath-evenings, like the day, 
 A fcene of fweet compofure to my foul # ! 
 Oh happy Sabbaths !— Oh my foul's delight ! 
 Oh days of niatchlefs mercy ! matchlefs praife ! 
 Ooflej gone, for ever gone ! How dreadful fpent, 
 Uieieis, in tears, and groans, and bitter woe, 
 In this wild place of horrors f ! — Oh, return, 
 Ve happy Sabbaths !— 3r to that lovM realm 
 Difnifs me, Father of compandors, where 
 Keigns one eternal Sabbath ! Tho 1 my voicej 
 Feeble at beft, be damp\l, and cannot foar 
 To ftrains fab lime, beneath, the farrowing fenie 
 Of bafe ingratitude to thee, my God, 
 My Father, Benefaclor, Saviour, Friend,— 
 Vet in that realm of felt, 'twill quickly catch 
 Congenial harmony I 'twill quickly rife 
 
 * Gcod^FriJay, Eaftefj Sec. cr.ee fo peculiarly happy—yet how pari her* !-=> 
 What a fid want of the foirit of reformation ! 
 
 f i3<*thius has a re. ''.td ion highly applicable to the fenie of our Author j— — 
 
 ' NCt infi'ciari poffum profperitatis mex velocifiimum curfum. Sed hoc eft 
 
 <}-.,6d recolentem me vehementius coqu'tt. Naifl in omni adverfitate fortuns* 
 
 nfetitiffirtium genu3 eft imfortunli, fuifle felicem." T>C Confol. L. a- Prof. 4, 
 
 C 3 Even 
 
IS THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 Even from humility's weak, trembling touch 5 
 Rife with the glowing feraph in the choir, 
 And ftrive to be the loudeft in thy praife. 
 Too foaring thought ! that, in a moment funk 
 By fad reflection and convicting guilt, 
 Falls proftrate on the earth. — So pois'd in air, 
 And warbling his wild notes about the clouds, 
 Almoft beyond the ken of human fight ; 
 Ciapp'd to his fide his plumy fteerage, down 
 Drops — inftantaneous drops the filent lark ! 
 — How mail I mount to Heaven ? how join the choir 
 Celeftial of bright Seraphim ? depreft 
 Beneath the burden of a thoufand fins, 
 On what bleft dove-like wing fliall I arife, 
 And fly to the wifh'd reft ? 
 
 — Of counfel free, 
 Some to my aching heart, with kind intent, 
 Offer the poifonous balfam of defert 5 
 <c Bid me take comfort from the cheering view 
 Cl Of deeds benevolent, and active life 
 < e Spent for the weal of others !" Syren-fongs, 
 Soon hufh'd by howlings of fevere reproach, 
 Unfeeling, uncompalhonate, and rude, 
 Which o'er my bodv? panting on the earth, 
 With wounds incurable, infulting, whirls 
 Her iron fcourge : accumulates each ill 
 That can to man's beft fame damnation add : 
 Spies not one mark of white throughout my life \ 
 And, groaning o'er my anguilh, to defpair, 
 As my foul, fad reiburce, indignant points ! 
 
 But not from you, — ah cruel, callous foes, 
 Thus to exult, and prefs a fallen man ! 
 Nor even from you, tho' kind, miftaken friends, 
 Admit we counfel here. Too deep the flake, 
 Too awful the enquiry — how the foul 
 May fmile at death, and meet its God in peace— 
 To reft the anfwer on uncertain man ! 
 Alike above your friend (hip, or you hate 
 Here, here I tow'r triumphant, and behold, 
 
 At 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON, J£ 
 
 At once confirm'd fecurity and joy, 
 
 Beyond the reach of mortal hand to fhake, 
 
 Or for a moment cloud*- — Hail, bleeding Love! 
 
 In thy humiliation deep and dread, 
 
 Divine Philanthropic, my ranfom'd foul 
 
 Beholds its triumph, and avows its cure! 
 
 Its perfect, free falvation, knows or feels 
 
 No merit, no dependence, but thy faith, 
 
 Thy hope and love coniummate ! All abjures 3 
 
 Carts all, — each care, each burden, at the foot 
 
 Of thy victorious crofs j its heart and life 
 
 One wifh, one word uniting — ever may 
 
 That wifh and word in me, bleft Lord, unite !— 
 
 " Oh, ever may in me Thy will be done !** 
 
 Firm and unfhaken, as old Sion's Hill, 
 Remains this fure foundation : who on ChnfT, 
 The Corner-Stone, build faithful, build fecure. 
 Eternity is theirs. Then talk no more, 
 Ye airy, vague, fantaftic reafoners, 
 Of the light ftubble, crackling in the fire 
 Of- God's investigation ; of the chaff 
 Difpers'd, and floating Tore the flighted wind,— 
 The chaff of human merit ! gracious God ! 
 What pride, what contradiction in the term ! 
 Shall man, vain man, dreit. in little power 
 Deriv'd from Nature's Author ; and that power 
 Holding, an humble tenant, at the will 
 Of him who freely gave it 5 His high will, 
 The dread Supreme Difpofer, mall poor man, 
 A beggar indigent and vile, — enrich'd 
 With every precious faculty of foul, 
 Of reaiar?, intellect ; with every gift 
 Of animal life luxuriant — from the ftore 
 Of unexhaufted bounty 5 fhall he turn 
 That bounty to abufe ? lavifh defy 
 The Giver with his gifts, — a rebel bafe ; 
 And yet, prefumptuous, arrogant, deceived, 
 ArTume a pride for actions not his own, 
 Or boaft of merit, when his all's for God, 
 
 And 
 
20 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 And he that all has fquander'd ! Pureft faints, 
 
 Brighten: archangels, in the choir of heaven, 
 
 Fulfilling all complete his holy will, 
 
 Who plac'd them high in glory as they Hand ; 
 
 Fulfil hut duty ! nay, as owing more 
 
 From love's fupreme diftinclion, readier veil 
 
 Their radiant faces with their golden plumes ; 
 
 And fall more bumbled 'fore the throne they hymn 
 
 With gratitude fuperior. Could bold pride 
 
 One moment whifper to their lucid fouls 
 
 Pefert's intolerable folly.-^down 
 
 Like Lucifer, the Morning- liar, they'd fall 
 
 From their bright ftate oblcur'd ! Then, proud, poor 
 
 Conceived in fins, offending from thy youth, [worm, 
 
 In every point tranfgreiTor of the law 
 
 Of righteouihefs ; of merit towards God 
 
 Dream, if thou can' ft : or, madman it thou art, 
 
 Stand on that pica for heav'n.- — and be undone t 
 
 Bleft be thy tender mercy, God of Grace I 
 That 'midft the terrors of this trying hour, 
 When in this midnight, lonely, pviibn- gloom, 
 My inmoit ioul hangs naked to thy view ; 
 When unciifTembled in the fearch, I fain 
 Would know, explore, and balance every thought 
 (For oh, I fee Eternity's dread gates 
 Expand before me, foon perhaps to clofe !)— «• 
 Bleft be thy mercy, that, iubdued to thee. 
 Each lofty vain imagination bows 5 
 Each high idea humbled in the duit ? 
 Of felf-furncient righteouihefs my foul 
 Diiclaims, abhors, with reprobation full 
 The (lighten: apprehenfion ! — Worthlefs, Lord 3 
 Even of the meanefl crumb beneath thy board. 
 
 Biell be thy mercy, that, fo far trom due, 
 I own thy bounties^ manifold and rich, 
 Upon my foul have laid a debt fo deep, 
 That I can never pay 1— And oh! I feel 
 Compunction inexpreftible, to think 
 How I have us'd thole bounties 1 fackcloth-clad a 
 
 ■ And 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON, %J 
 
 And cover'd o'er with afhes, I deplore 
 
 My utter worthleflhefs 5 and trembling, own, 
 
 Thy wrath and juft difpleafure well might fink 
 
 In deeper floods than thefe, that o'er my head 
 
 Roar horrible, in fiery floods of woe, 
 
 That know nor end nor refpite ! but my God, 
 
 Bleft be thy mercy ever ! Thou'ft not left 
 
 My foul to Defperation's dark difmay ! 
 
 On Calvary's Hill my mourning eye difcerns, 
 
 With faith's clear view, that Spectacle which wipes 
 
 Each tear away, and bids the heart exult ! 
 
 There hangs the Love of God ! There hangs of man 
 
 The Ranfom ! there the Merit ; there the Cure 
 
 Of human griefs — The Way, the Truth, the Life ! 
 
 Oh Thou, for fin burnt- facrifice complete ! 
 Oh Thou of holy life th' exemplar bright ! 
 Perfection's lucid mirrour ! while to Thee 
 Repentance fcarce dare lift her flowing eyes, 
 Though in his ftrong arms manly Faith fupports 
 The felf-convicled mourner ! — Let not love, 
 Source of thy matchlefs mercies, aught delay, 
 Like Mary, with Humility's meek hand 
 Her precious box of coftly Nard to pour 
 On thy dear feet : diffufing through the houfe 
 The odour of her unguents ! Let not Lcve, 
 Looking with Gratitude's full eye to Thee, 
 Ceafe with the hallow'd fragrance of her works 
 To cheer thy lowiieft members ; to refrefh 
 Thee in thy faints afflicted ! Let not Love 
 Ceafe with each fpiritual grace, each temper mild 5 
 Fruits of the Holy Spirit. — to enrich, 
 To fill, perfume, and fanctify the foul, 
 Aflimilate to Thee, fweet Jefa ! Thee 
 That foul's immortal habitant. How bleft, 1 
 How beyond value rich the privilege, 
 To welcome fuch a gueft ; how doubly blefl 
 With fuch a fignature, — the roya! (lamp 
 Of thy refembbnee, Prince oi Righteoufneft 
 Of Mercy, Peace, and Truth ! Oh more and nore 
 
 Transform 
 
22, THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 Transform me to that image ! More and more 
 Thou New Creation's Author, form complete 
 In me the birth divine ; the heavenly mind ? 
 The love conlummate, — all-performing love. 
 Which dwelt in Thee, its Pattern and its Source; 
 And is to man, happy regenerate man, 
 Heaven's fureft foretafte, and its earned too. 
 
 The thought delights and cheers, though not elates ; 
 Through penfive Meditation's fable gloom 
 It darts a ray of ibft, well-lemperM light, 
 A kind of lunar radiance on my foul, 
 Gentle, not dazzling I Thou, who knoweft all, 
 Know' ft well, thrice gracious Mafter ! that my heart 
 Attun'd to thy dear love, howe'er fedue'd 
 By worldly adulation from its vows, 
 And for a few contemptible, contemn'd 
 Unhappy moments faithlefs j well thou know'ft 
 That heart ne'er knew true peace but in thy love t 
 That heart hath in thy love known thorough peace 1 
 Hath frequent panted for that love's full growth $ 
 And fought occafions to difplay its warmth 
 By deeds of kindnefs, mild humanity, 
 And pitying mercy to its fellow-men! 
 
 And thou haft bieft me! and I will rejoice 
 That thou haft bleft me ! thou haft giv'n my foul 
 The Luxury of Luxuries, to wipe 
 The tear from many an eye 5 to flop the groan 
 At many an aching heart. And Thou wilt wipe 
 The tears from mine, and Thou the groan reprefs : 
 And Thou— for oh, this beating heart is thine, 
 Framed by thy Hand to pity's quickeft touch,-?- 
 Thou wilt forgive the (inner $ and bellow 
 Mercy, fweet mercy I which, infpir'd by Thee, 
 *He never had the power, and ne'er the will, 
 To hold from others, where he could beftow ! 
 
 Shall he not then reft happily fecure 
 Of mercy, thrice bleft mercy from mankind ? 
 Where refts it ? — -Reiignation's meek-eyed power 
 Suftain me ftili j Compofure ftill be mine i 
 
 Where 
 
THOUGHTS ifc PRISON. 2$ 
 
 Where refts it ?— Oh myfterous Prcvidenee ! 
 Silence the wild idea :~t haye found 
 No mercy yet j no mild humanity : 
 With cruel unrelenting rigour torn, 
 And, loft in prifon, wild to all below : 
 
 So from his daily toil returning late 
 O'er Grifon's rugged mountains, clad in fnoy/j 
 The peafant with ailoniuYd eyes beholds 
 A gaunt wolf, from the pine-grove howling rufh l 
 Chill horror rtiffcns him, 3 like to fly 
 Unable, to refift : the monfter feeds 
 Blood-happy, growling, on his quivering heart ! 
 Meanwhile light blazes in his lonely cot 
 The crackling hearth j his careful wife prepares 
 Her humble cates ; and thro" the lattic'd light 
 His little ones, expecting his return, 
 ?eep, anxious ! Ah, poor yiclim, he nor hearth 
 Bright blazing, wor the houfewife's humble cates, 
 Nor much-lov'd children henceforth more mall fee ? 
 
 But foft : 'Tis calm reflexion's midnight hoiirj 
 *Tis the foul*s fclemn inqueft. Broods a thought 
 Refentful in thy bofom ? Art thou yet, 
 Penitent pilgrim^ on eanrf s utmoit bourn, 
 And candidate for Heaven,~art thou yet 
 In love imperfe£t ? and has malice place> 
 With dark revenge* and unforgiving hate, 
 Hell's blackeft offspring ? — Glory to my God ! 
 With triumph let me ling, and clofe my ft rain j 
 
 Abliorrent ever from my earlieft youth 
 Of thefe detefted paftions, in this hour, 
 This trying hour of keen oppreffive grief, 
 My foul iuperior rifes ; nor of thefe 
 Malevolent, a touch, the (lighten, touch 
 Feels, or mall ever harbour \ Tho' it feels 
 In all their amplitude, with all their weightj 
 tJngcntleit treatment, and a load of woe, 
 Heavy as that which fabling poets lay- 
 On proud Enceladus ! Tho' life be drawn 
 £/ Cruelty's fitf€g hand down to the leesi 
 
24 THOUHTS IN PRISON 
 
 Yet can my heart, with all the truth of prayer, 
 
 With all the fervour of fincere defire, 
 
 Looking at Thee, thou love of God and man !— 
 
 Yet can my heart in life or death implore, 
 
 11 Father, forgive them, as Thou pititft me!" 
 
 Oh where' s the wonder, when thy crofs is feen ! 
 Oh, where' s the wonder, when thy voice is heard 5 
 Harmonious interceflion ! Son of God. 
 Oh, where's the wonder — or the merit where, 
 Or what's the tank to love-attuned fouls — 
 Poor fellow- creatures pitying, to implore 
 Forgivenefs for them ? Oh forgive my foes ! 
 Belt friends, perchance, for they may bring to Thee! 
 —Complete forgivenefs on them, God of grace j 
 Complete forgivenefs, in the dreadful hour, 
 When molt they need forgivenefs ! And oh fuch 
 As, in that dreadful hour, my poor heart wants, 
 And trufts, great Father, to receive from Thee, 
 Such full forgivenefs grant, — and my glad foul 
 Shall fold them then, my brethren, in thy houfe I 
 
 Thus do I footh, and while away with fong 
 My lonely hours, in drear confinement pad, 
 Like thee, oh gallant Raleigh ! — or like thee, 
 My haplefs anceft or, fam'd Overbury ! — 
 But Oh, in this how different is our fate ! 
 Thou, to a vengeful woman's fubtle wiles 
 A haplefs victim rall'ft ; while my deep gloom, 
 Bnghten'd by female virtue and the light 
 Of conjugal affection — ieads me oft, 
 Like the poor priion'd linnet, to forget 
 Freedom, and tuneful friends, and ruffe t health, 
 Vocal with native melody 5 to fwell 
 The feeble throat and chaunt the lowly (train $ 
 As in the feai'on, when from ipray to ipray 
 Flew liberty on light eiaftic wing, 
 She files no more : — Be mute, my plantive lyre ! 
 
 March 15, 1777. 
 
 END OF THE SECOND WEEK, 
 
 WEEK 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 25 
 
 WEEK THE THIRD. 
 
 Public Punijbment.-— March 18, 1777. 
 "\7\AIN are thy generous efforts, worthy Bull*, 
 
 * Thy kind companion's vain ! The hour is come : 
 Stern fate demands compliance : I muft pafs 
 Thro 1 various deaths, keen torturing, to arrive 
 At that my heart fo fervently implores 5 
 Yet fruitleis. Ah! why hides he his fell front 
 PYom woe, from wretchedness, that with glad fmiles 
 Would welcome his approach ; and tyrant-like, 
 Delights to dafli the joucund rofeate cup 
 From the full hand of gaudy luxury 
 And unlufpecling eafe — Far worie than death 
 That prifon's entrance, whofe idea chills 
 With freezing horror ail my curdling blood; 
 Whofe very name, itamping with infamy, 
 Makes my foul frighted (tart, in phrenzy whirled, 
 And verging near to madneis I See, they ope 
 Their iron jaws ! See the vaft gates expand, 
 Gate after gate-— and in an inftant twang, 
 Clos'd by their growling keepers : — When again, 
 Myfterious powers !-— oh when to ope on me ? 
 Mercy, fweet Heaven, fupport my faltering fteps, 
 Support my fickning heart ! My full eyes iwim ; 
 O'er all my frame diitils a cold damp fweat. 
 Hark — what a rattling din; On every fide 
 The congregated chains clank frightful : Throngs 
 Tumultuous prefs around, to view, to gaze 
 Upon the wretched Granger ; fcarce believ'd 
 Other than vilitor within fuch walls, 
 With mercy and with freedom in his hands. 
 Alas, how changed ! — Sons of confinement, fee 
 No pitying deliverer, but a wretch 
 O'erwheim'd with mifery, more haplefs far 
 Than the moft haplefs 'mongft ye ; loaded hard 
 With guilt's oppreffive irons I His are chains 
 
 * Frederick Bull Ffq. Alderman of London ; to whofe kindnefs and humanity 
 the Author has exprelTeU the highclt obligations. 
 
 D N* 
 
*6 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 No time can loofen, and no hand unbind : 
 
 Fetters which gore the foul. Oh horror, horror I » 
 
 Ye mafTive bolts, give way : ye fullen doors, 
 
 Ah, open quick, and from this clamorous rout, 
 
 Cloie in ray diimal, lone, allotted room 
 
 Shrowd me ; — -for ever fhrowd from human fight, 
 
 And make it, if 'tis poiTible, my grave ! 
 
 How truly welcome, then ! Then would I greet 
 With hallow 'd joy the drear, but bleft abode j 
 And deem it far the happieft I have known 
 The bell: I e'er inhabited. But, alas! 
 There's no iuch mercy for me. I muft run 
 Misery's extremeft round 5 and this muft be 
 A while my living grave 5 the doleful tomb* 
 Sad founding with my unremitted groans, 
 And moiften'd with the bitternefs of tears ! 
 
 Ah, mournful dwelling! deftin'd ne'er to fee 
 The human face divine in placid fmiles, 
 And innocent gladnefs cloth'd : deftin'd to hear 
 No found of genial, heart-reviving joy ! 
 The fons of ibrrows only are thy guefts, 
 And thine the only muiic of their fighs, 
 Thick fobbing from the tempeft of their breads ! 
 Ah, mournful dwelling ! never haft thou feen, 
 Amidft the numerous wretched ones immur'd 
 Within thy ftone-giit compafs, wretch fo funk, 
 So" loft, fo ruin'd> as the man who falls 
 Thus, in deep angui/h, on the ruthlefs floor, 
 And bathes it with the torrent of his tears I 
 
 And can it be ? or is it all a dream ? 
 A vapour of the mind ?^-I fcarce believe 
 jVIyfelf awake or acting. Sudden thus 
 Am I — lb compafs'd round with comforts late* 
 Health, frcdom, peace, torn, torn from all, and loft ! 
 A priibner in — Impoffible !^— I fleep : 
 *Tis fancy's coinage ; 'tis a dream's delufion. 
 
 Vain d:\am 1 vain fancy! Quickly am I rous'd 
 To all the dire reality's diftrefs : 
 I tremble, ftart, and feel myftlf awake, 
 dreadfully by awake to all my woes ? juid roll Fronv 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. Z? 
 
 From wave to wave on Sorrow's ocean toft ! 
 
 Oh for a moment's paufe, — a moment's reft, 
 To calm my hurried fpirits ! to recall 
 Reflection's daggering pilot to the helm, 
 And (till the maddening whirlwind in my foul! 
 — It cannot be ! The dm increafes round : 
 Rough voices rage difcordant ; dreadful fhrieks I 
 Hoarfe imprecations dare the thunderer's ire, 
 And call down fwift damnation ! thouland chains 
 In difmal notes clink, mirthful ! Roaring burfts 
 Of loud obftreperous laughter, and ftrange choirs, 
 Of gutturals, dilfonant and rueful, vex 
 E'en the dull ear of Midnight! Neither reft, 
 Nor peaceful calm, nor ftlence of the mind, 
 Refrefiiment fweet, nor interval or paufe 
 From morn to eve, from eve to morn is found 
 Amidft the forges of this troubled lea * I 
 
 So, from the Iceman Lake th' impetuous Rhone 
 His blue waves pufhes rapid, and bears down 
 (Furiate to meet Saone's pellucid ftream, 
 With roar tremendous, thro" the craggy ftreights 
 Of Alpine rocks) his freight of waters wild ; 
 Still rufhing in perturbed eddies on 5 
 And ft ill, from hour to hour, from age to age, 
 In conflux vaft and unremitting, pours 
 His boifterous flood to old Lugdunim's wall ! 
 
 Oh my rack'd brain~-oh my diftracled heart j 
 The tumult thickens : wild diforder grows 
 More painfully confusM !— And can it be ? 
 Is this the manfion — -this the houfe ordain'd 
 For recollection's folemn purpofe; — this 
 The place from whence full many a flitting foul 
 (The work of deep repentance — mighty work, 
 Still, ftill to be performM) rauft mount to God, 
 And give its dread account ! Is this the place 
 
 *rt is but a juft tribute to Mr.Akermaa the Veeper of this difmal place, to observe 
 that ail the evils here enumerated are the .au^eJiiiteconiequencto or promiscuous 
 co. Inement, and no way chargeable to Mr. A's account. It is from the ftrifteft 
 observation, I am perfuaded, that no man could do more in the prefent circum- 
 ftances. His attention isgreat, and hi6 kindnefs and humanity to thofein ficknefs 
 «r ;iffli&ion, peculiarly pleafing. I can bear teftimony to many fignal inftanc?s, 
 which I have remarked fince my fad confinement. 
 
 P A Ordain'd 
 
aS THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 Ordain* d by juftice, to confine a while 
 The foe to civil order, and return 
 Reformed and moraliz'd to focial life ! 
 This den of drear confufion* wild uproar, 
 Of mingled riot and unblufhing vice! 
 This fchool of infamy ! from whence, improvM 
 In every hardy villany, returns 
 More hardened, more a foe to God and man, 
 The miicreant, nurs'd in its infectious lap j 
 All cover'd with its peftilential lpots, 
 And breathing death and poifon wherefo'er 
 He ftalks contagious ! from the lion's den 
 A lion more ferocious as conhVd ! 
 
 Britons, while failing in the golden barge 
 Of giddy diflipation, on the ftream, 
 Smooth diver ftream of gorgeous luxury, 
 Boaft gaily — and for ages may they boaft, 
 And truly ! for through ages we may truft 
 'Twill interpofe between our crimes and God, 
 And turn away his juft avenging fcourge— 
 " The national Humanity!" Hither then, 
 Ye fons of pity, and ye fons of thought ! — 
 Whether by public zeal and patriot love, 
 Or by Companion's gentle ftirrings wrought, 
 Oh hither come, and find fufficient fcope 
 For all the patriot's, all the chriftian's Fearch! 
 Some great, fome falutary plan to frame, 
 Turning confinement's curfes into good ; 
 And, like the God who but rebukes to fave, 
 Extracting comfort from correction's ftroke ! 
 
 Why do we punifh ? Why do penal laws 
 Coercive, by tremendous fanclions bind 
 Offending mortals ? — Juftice on her throne 
 Rigid on this hand to example points j 
 More mild to reformation upon that : 
 —She balances, and finds no ends but thefe. 
 
 Crowd then, along with yonder revel-rout, 
 To exemplary punimment, and mark 
 The language of the multitude, obfccne, 
 
 Wild, 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON, 2g 
 
 Wild, blafphemous, and cruel ! Tend their looks 
 
 Of madding, drunken, thoughtlefs, ruthlefs gaze, 
 
 Or giddy curiofity and vain ! 
 
 Their deeds ftill more emphatic, note ; and fee, 
 
 By the fad fpeclacle unimprefs'd, they dare 
 
 Even in the eye of death, what to their doom 
 
 Brought their expiring fellows ! Learn we hence. 
 
 How to example's falutary end 
 
 Our juftice fagely minifters ! But one,-r- 
 
 Sliould there be one — thrice haplefs,— »of a min4 
 
 By guilt unharden'd, and above the throng 
 
 Of defperate mifcreants, thro' repeated crimes 
 
 In ftupor lulPd, and loft to every fenie 5 — 
 
 Ah me, the fad reverie! — mould there be one 
 
 Of generous feelings ; whom remorfelefs fate, 
 
 Pallid necefTity, or chill diftrefs, 
 
 The family's urgent call, or juft demand 
 
 Of honeft creditor,-*— (folicitudes 
 
 To recklefV, pamper'd worldlings all unknown) 
 
 Should there be one, whole trembling, frighted hand. 
 
 Caufes like thefe in temporary guilt, 
 
 Abhorrent to his inmoft foul, have plung'd, 
 
 And made obnoxious to the rigid law! 
 
 Sentenc'd to pay, — and, wearied with its weight* 
 
 Well-pleas'd to pay with life that law's demand, 
 
 Awful difpenfers of ftric~t. juftice, fay, 
 
 Would you have more than life ? or, in an age, 
 
 A country, where humanity reverts 
 
 At torture's bare idea, would you tear 
 
 Worie than on racking wheels a foul like this, 
 
 And make him to the ftupid crowd a gaze 
 
 For lingering hours ?— drag him along to death 
 
 An ufelds fpectacle ; and more than flay 
 
 Your living victim ? — Death is your demand : 
 
 Death your law's fentence: then this life is yours a . 
 
 Take the juft forfeit ; you can claim no more ! 
 
 Foe to thy infidelity, — and griev'd 
 That he avows not, from the chriftian fource, 
 The firft great chriftian duty, which lb well, 
 
 £>3 S© 
 
30 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 So forcibly he paints! — Yet let me greet 
 
 With heart-felt gratulations thy warm zeal, 
 
 Succefsful in that lacred duty's caufe, 
 
 The caufe of our Humanity, Voltaire! 
 
 Torture's vile agents trembling at thy pen : 
 
 Intolerance and Perfecution gnafli 
 
 Their teeth, defpairing, at the lucid rays 
 
 Of truth all prevalent, beaming from thy page. 
 
 The rack, the wheel, the dungeon, and the flame, 
 
 In happier Europe ufelefs and unknown, 
 
 Shall foon, — oh fpeed the hour, Companion's God, 
 
 Be feen no more ; or feen as prodigies 
 
 Scarce credited, of Gothic barbarous times. 
 
 Ah, gallant France, for milder manners fam'd, 
 How wrung it my fad foul, to view expos'd 
 On inftruments of torture — mangled limbs 
 And bleeding carcafes, beiide thy roads, 
 Thy beauteous woods and avenues ! Fam'd works, 
 And worthy well the grandeur of old Rome ! 
 
 We too, who boaft of gentler laws, reformed 
 And civiliz'd by liberty's kind hand : 
 Of mercy boaft, and mildeif punimments : 
 Yet punimments of torture exquifite 
 And idle 5 — painful, ruinous parade! 
 We too, with Europe humaniz'd, mail drop 
 The barbarous fe verity of death} 
 Example's bane, not profit ; — (hall abridge 
 The lavage bafe ovation ; mail affign 
 The wretch, whole life is forfeit to the laws, 
 With all the filent dignity of woe, 
 With all the mournful majefty of death, 
 Retir'd and folemn, to his awful fate ! 
 Shall to the dreadful moment, moment ftill 
 To fouls beft fitted, give diftinclion due 5 
 Teach the well-order'd fufterer to depart 
 With each imprefTion ferious ; nor infult 
 With clamorous crowds and exultations bafe, 
 A foul, a fellow-foul, which ftands prepar'd 
 On time's dread verge to take its wonderous flight 
 
 To 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 3X 
 
 To realms of immortality i Yes, the day 
 — I joy in the idea, — will arrive, 
 When Britons philanthropic mall rejeft 
 The cruel cuftom, to the fufFerer cruel, 
 Ufelefs and baneful to the gaping crowd ! 
 The day will come, when life, the deareft price 
 Man can pay down, fufficient forfeit deem'd 
 For guilty man's tranfgreflion of the law, 
 Shall be paid down, as meet for fuch a price, 
 Refpe&ful, fad ; with reverence to a foul's 
 Departure hence ; with reverence to the fouPs 
 And body's reparation, much-lov'd friends I 
 Without a torture to augment its lofs, 
 Without an infult to moled its calm ; 
 To the demanded debt no fell account 
 Of curious, hifTing ignominy annex'd : 
 Anguifh, beyond the bittereft torture keen 5 
 Unparallel'd in realms where bigotry 
 Gives to the furious fons of Dominic 
 Her fable flag, and marks their way with blood. 
 
 Hail, milder fons of Athens ! civiliz'd 
 By arts ingenious, by the 'fuafive power 
 Of humanizing fcience ; well ye thought, 
 Like you may Britons think, that 'twas enough, 
 The fentence pafs'd, a Socrates fhould die! 
 The fage, obedient to the law's decree, 
 Took from the weeping executioner 
 The draught, refign'd : amidft his forrowing friends, 
 Full of immortal hopes convers'd fublime ; 
 And, half in Heaven— compos'd himfelf, and died ! 
 
 Oh envy'd fate! oh happinefs fupreme ! 
 So let me die ; fo, midft my weeping friends, 
 Refign my life ! I afk not the delay 
 ,Ev'n of a moment. Law, thou'dft have thy due ! 
 Nor thou, nor juftice, can have more to claim. 
 
 But equal laws, on truth and reafon built, 
 -Look to humanity with lenient eye, 
 And temper rigid juftice with the claims 
 Of heaven-defcended mercy! to condemn 
 
 Sorrow- 
 
3* THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 Sorrowing and flow 5 while fhidious to correcT^ 
 
 Like man's all-gracious parent, with the view 
 
 Benign and laudable, of moral good, 
 
 And reformation perfect. Hither then, 
 
 Ye fons of fympathy, of wifdom ; friends 
 
 To order, to companion, to the ftate, 
 
 And to your fellow- beings j hither come, 
 
 To this wild realm of uproar \ hither hafte, 
 
 And fee the reformation, fee the good 
 
 Wrought by confinement in a den like this ! 
 View, with unblufhing front, undaunted heait 3 
 
 The callous harlot in the open day 
 
 Adminifrer her poifons, 'midft a rout 
 
 Scarcely lefs bold or poifonM than herfelf ! 
 
 View, and with eyes that will not hold the tear 
 
 In gentle pity gufhmg for fuch griefs, — 
 
 View, the young wretch, as yet unfledg'd in vice, 
 
 Juft fhackled here, and by the veteran throng, 
 
 In every infamy and every crime 
 
 Grey and infulting, quickiv taught to dare, 
 
 Harden'd like them in guilt's opprobrious fchool \ 
 
 Each bafhful fentiment, incipient grace, 
 
 Each yet remorfeleis thought of right and wrong 
 
 Murder'd and buried in his darkenM heart !— 
 
 Hear how thofe veterans clank, — ev'n jovial clank 
 
 — Such is obduracy and vice,— ^their chains * ! 
 
 Hear, how with curfes hoarfe and vauntings bold, 
 
 Each fpirits up, encourages and dares 
 
 His defperate fellow to more defperate proofs 
 
 Of future hardy enterprize ; to plans 
 
 Of death and ruin ! Not exulting more 
 
 Heroes or chiefs for noble acts renown'd, 
 
 Holding high converfe, mutually relate 
 
 Gallant atchievements worthy, than the fons 
 
 Of plunder and of rapine here recount 
 
 * This circtimftance is fliehtlv mentioned before; and alludes to a fa<3 
 equally fingular and ditgullful. The rattling of their fetters is frequently, 
 and in' a uanton manner, nradtifed amongft fome of the worft offenders : as 
 if an amufement or to Oiew thtir infertility to fhame. How (hocking to fee 
 human nature thus in ruins ! Here it is emohatically fo, v/orfe than in bedlam, 
 as Madnels with reafon is mere uVadi'ul than without it 1 
 
 No 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 33 
 
 On peaceful life their devaluations wild 5 
 Their dangers, hair-breadth 'fcapcs, atrocious feats, 
 Confederate, and confederating Itill 
 In fchemes of deathful honor! Who, furpriz'd, 
 Can fuch effects contemplate, upon minds 
 Eftrang'd to good ; fermenting on the lees 
 Of pregnant ill ; affociate and combined 
 In intercourfe infernal, reftlefs, dire ; 
 And goading conftant each to others thoughts 
 To deeds of defperation from the tale 
 Of vaunted infamy oft told : fad fruit 
 Of the mind's vacancy ! — And to that mind 
 Employment none is offer'd : not an hour 
 To fecret recollection is aflign'd ; 
 No feafonable found inftruclion brought, 
 Food for their thoughts, felf- gnawing. Not the day 
 To reft and duty dedicate, finds here 
 Or reft or duty ; revel'd off, unmark'd ; 
 Or like the others undiftinguinVd, fave 
 By riot's roar, and felf-confuming (loth \ 
 For ufeful occupation none is found, 
 Benevolent t' employ their liftlefs hands, 
 With indolence fatigued ! Thus every day 
 Anew they gather guilt's corrofive ruft ; 
 Each wretched day accumulates frefh ills ; 
 And horribly advanced, flagitious grown 
 From faulty, they go forth, tenfold of Hell 
 More the devoted children : to the ftate 
 Tenfold more dangerous and envenom'd foes 
 Then firft they enter'd this improving fchool ! 
 So, cag'd and fcanty fed, or taught to rage 
 By taunting infults, more ferocious burft 
 On man the tyger or hyaena race 
 From fell confinement ; and, with hunger urg'd, 
 Gnafh their dire fangs, and drench themfelves in blood. 
 
 But, (hould the felon fierce, th' abandon'd train 
 Whofe inroads on the human peace forbid, 
 Almoft forbid Companion's mild regard 5 
 (Yet, ah ! what man with fellow-men can fall 
 
 So 
 
34 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 So low, as not to claim foft pity's care!) 
 
 Should thefe aught juftify the rigid voice, 
 
 Which to fevere confinement's durance dooms 
 
 Infallible the body and the foul 
 
 To bitterer!, fureft ruin, mail we not 
 
 With generous indignation execrate 
 
 The cruel indiicriminating law, 
 
 Which turns misfortune into guilt and curfe, 
 
 And with the felon harden'd in his crimes 
 
 lianks the poor haplefs debtor ?— Debt's not guilt % 
 
 Alas ! the worthier! may incur the flroke 
 
 Or worldly infelicity ! What man, 
 
 How high foe'er he builds his earthly neit, 
 
 Can claim feourity from fortune's change, 
 
 Or boaf! him of to morrow ! Of the earl 
 
 Greater! and chief, lo } humbled in the duft, 
 
 Sits Job the fport of mifery ! Wealthier! late 
 
 Of ali bleft Araby's mof! wealthy fons, 
 
 He wants a potflierd now to fcrape his wounds 3 
 
 He wants a bed to fhrowd his tortur'd limbs, 
 
 And only finds a dunghill ! Creditor, 
 
 Would!! $hou add ibrrows to this forrowing man? 
 
 Tear him from ev'n his dunghill, and confine 
 
 'Mid ft recreant felons in a Britifh jail !— 
 
 Oh Britiih inhumanity I Ye climes, 
 
 Ye foreign climes-*-Be not the truth proclaimed 
 
 Within your ftreets, nor be it heard or told 3 
 
 Left ye retort the cruelty we urge, 
 
 And fcorn the boailed miklnefs of our laws! 
 
 Bleft be the hour,-^~amidil my depth of woe a 
 Amidft this perturbation of my foul, 
 God of my life, I can, I will exult \ — 
 Bleft be the hour, that to my humble thought 
 Thy fpirit, facred fource of every good, 
 Brought the fublime idea, to expand 
 By charity, the angels grace divine, 
 The rude, relentlefs, iron prifon-gates, 
 And give the pining debtor to the world, 
 His weeping family, ajid humble home \ 
 
 Bleft 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 35 
 
 Bleft be the hour, when, heedful to my voice 
 Bearing the priibners fad fighs to their ears, 
 Thou lands, with ibft commiferation touch'd, 
 Delighted to go forth, and villt glad 
 Thofe prifoners in their woe, and fet them free ! 
 God of the merciful ! Thou haft announced 
 On mercy, thy firft, deareit attribute, 
 Chofen beatitude. Oh pour the dew, 
 The foftering dew of mercy on thy gifts, 
 Their rich donations grateful! May the prayers 
 OF thofe enfranchisM by their bounteous zeal 
 Arife propitious for them! and, when hears'd 
 In deaths cold arms this hapiefs frame mall lie, 
 —The generous tear, perchance, not quite withheld j— 
 When friendly memory to reflection Ji'ings 
 My humble efforts and my mourufulTate ; 
 On ftable baiis founded, may the work 
 Diffufe its good through ages ! nor withhold 
 Its refcuing influence, till the hour arrives 
 When wants, and debts, and ficknefs are no more, 
 And univerfal freedom bleffeth all ! 
 
 But, till that hour, on reformation's plan, 
 Ye generous ions of fympathy, intent, 
 Boldly ftand forth. The caufe may well demand, 
 And juftify full well your noble ft zeal. 
 Religion, policy, your country's good, 
 And chriftian pity for the fouls of men, 
 To priions call you ; call to eleanfe away 
 The filth of thele foul dens ; to purge from guilt, 
 And turn them to morality's fair fchoof. 
 
 Nor deem impoflible the great attempt, 
 Augaea» tho' it feem 5 yet not beyond 
 The ftrength of thofe that, like Alcides, aim 
 High to be ranked amidft the godlike few, 
 Who mine eternal on fame's ampleft roll : 
 HonouVd with titles, far beyond the firft 
 Which proudeft monarchs of the globe can give ; 
 1 Saviours and benefactors of mankind J" 
 Hail, generous Hanway? To thy noble plan, 
 
 Sage 
 
3*> THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 Sage fympathetic,* let the mufe fubfcribe, 
 
 Rejoicing ! In the kind purfuit, good luck 
 
 She wifheth thee, and honour. Could her ftrain 
 
 Embellifh aught, or aught aflift thy toils 
 
 Benevolent, 'twould cheer her lonely hours, 
 
 And make the dungeon fmile. But toils like thine 
 
 Need no embellifhment ; need not the aid 
 
 Of mufe or feeble verfe. Reafon approv'd 
 
 And charity- fultain'd, firm will they ftand, 
 
 Under his fanclion, who on meicy's works 
 
 E'er looks complacent ; and his ions on earth, 
 
 His chofen ions, with angel-zeal inipires 
 
 To plan and to fupport. And thine well plann'd, 
 
 Shall be fupported. Pity for thy brow, 
 
 With policy the fige, mall fhortiy twine 
 
 The garland, wormier far than that of oak, 
 
 So fam'd in ancien Rome — the meed of him 
 
 Who lav'd a fingle citizen. More bleis'd 
 
 Religion mild, with gentle mercy join'd, 
 
 Shall hail thee — for the citizens, the fouls 
 
 Innumerous reftor'd to God, the ftate, 
 
 Themfelves, and focial life, by lblitude ; 
 
 Devotion's parent, Recollection's nurfe, 
 
 Source of repentance true 5 of the mind's wounds 
 
 The deeper! prober, but the fafeft curef ! 
 
 Hail, facred lblitude! Thefe are thy works, 
 True fource of good fupreme ! Thy bleft effecls 
 Already on my mind's delighted eye 
 Open beneficent. E'en now I view 
 The revel-rout difpers'd ; each to his cell 
 Admitted, filent ! The obftreperous cries 
 Worle than infernal yells ; the clank of chains— 
 Opprobrious chains, to man fevere difgrace, 
 Hulh'd in calm order, vex the ears no more ! 
 While in their ftead, reflection's deep-drawn figl.S, 
 And prayers of humble penitence are heard, 
 To heaven well pleaiing, in fott wifpers round ! 
 
 * Sec Mr. Haway's pamphlet entitled, " Solitude in Imprifonment."' 
 t Vide Taylor's Holy Living and Dying) part ii* p# *«. 
 
 No 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 37 
 
 No more, Widft wanton idlenefs, the hours 
 Drag wearifome and flow : kind induftry 
 Gives wings and weight to every moment's fpeed 5 
 Each minute marking with a golden thread 
 Of moral profit. Harden'd vice no more 
 Communicates its poifon to the fouls 
 Of young aflbciates, nordiffufes wide 
 A peftiiential taint. Still thought prevades 
 The inmoit heart : inftruclion aids the thought 5 
 And bleft religion with life giving ray 
 Shines on the mind fequefter'd in its gloom ; 
 Difclofmg glad the golden gates, thro' which 
 Repentance, led by faith, may tread the courts 
 Of oeace and reformation ! Cheer'd and changed, 
 —His happy days of quarantine perform'd— 
 I,o, from his folitucle the captive corrtes 
 New-born, and opes once more his grateful eyes 
 On day, on life, on man, a fellow man ! 
 
 Hail facred foiitude ! from thee alone 
 Flow thefe high bleffings. Nor be't deem'd fevere, 
 Such fequeftration 5 deftin'd to retrieve 
 The mental lapfe ; and to its powers reftore 
 The Heaven -born foul, encrufted with foul guilt: 
 'Tis tenderer!: mercy, 'tis humanity 
 Yearning with kincilieft foftnefs : while her arm 
 From ruin plucks, effectuates their releafe, 
 And gives a ranfom'd man to earth — to Heaven! 
 
 To the lick patient, ftruggling in the jaws 
 Of obftinate diieaie, e'er knew we yet 
 Grateful and pleaiing from p.hyfician's hand 
 The rough but iaiutary draught ! — For that 
 £>o we withold the draught ? and, ialfely kind, 
 Hang iighing o'er our friend, — aliowYi to tofs 
 On the hot fever'd bed, rave on and die, 
 Unmedicin'd unreliev'd ? — But fages, fay, 
 Where is the medicine ? Who will prefcribe a cure, 
 Or adequate to this corroding ill, 
 Or in its operation milder found ? 
 
 See, on old Thames's waves indignant ride, 
 
 E In 
 
3$ THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 In fullen terror, yonder fable bark, 
 By ftate-phyficians lately launched, and hight 
 Juflitia*! Dove-eyed Pity, if thou canfr. 
 That bark afcend with me, and let us learn 
 How. temper'd with her fifler Mercy, there 
 Reigns juftice ? and, effective to the ill 
 Inveterate grown, her lenient aid fupplies. 
 
 And rolls this bark on Thames's generous flood- 
 Flood that wafts freedom, wafts the high-born ions 
 Of gallant liberty to every land ? 
 See the chain'd Britons, fetter'd man by man I 
 See in the llifled hold — excluded whence 
 Man's common bleMing, air ne*'er freely breathes — . 
 They mingle, crowded ! — To our pamper'd fteeds 
 Inferior how in lodging ! Tainted food 
 And poifon'd fumes their life-fprings Magnate rank, 
 They reel aloft for breath : their tottering limbs 
 Bend weak beneath the burden of a frame 
 Corrupted burning j with blue feverous fpots 
 Contagious ; and, unequal to the toil, 
 UjgM b)- talk- mailers vehement, fevere, 
 On the chill fand-bank! — by defpair and pain 
 Worn down and wearied, fome their being curfe, 
 Ami die, devoting to deftruction's rage 
 
 Society's whole race deterred ! Some, 
 
 More mild, gaip out in agonies of foul 
 
 Their loath d exiftence 5 which nor phynVs aid, 
 
 Nor fweet religion's interpofr.g fmile, 
 
 Soothes with one ray of comfort ! Gracious God ! 
 
 And this is mercy ! — Thus, from fentencM death 
 
 Britons in pity reipite, to reftore 
 
 And moralize mankind ! Correction this, 
 
 Juil Heaven, deiign'd for reformation's end ! 
 
 Ye (laves, that bred in tyranny's domains 
 
 Toil at the galiies, how iupremely bleft, 
 
 How exquihte your lot (ib much deplord 
 
 » The Author feems chiefly to have formed his i'ha of the mode of t-eitirg 
 copvifts Gr, the Thames from a late pamrhkt publilhed by Dr. Smith ; But ve 
 are ir formed that the evils here complained or have been already, in a great 
 rncafiArc, and we truft will foon be wholly, removed. 
 
 By 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 39 
 
 By haughty Tons of freedom) to the fate 
 Experienc'd hourly by her free-born fons, 
 In our Britannia's vaunted refidence* 5 
 Sole, chofen refidence of faith refinM, 
 And genuine liberty ! Ye fenators, 
 Ye venerable fages of the law, 
 In juit refentment for your country's fame, 
 Wipe off this contradictory reproach 
 To manners, and to policy like yours ! 
 Correcl, but to amend : 'Tis God's own plan. 
 Corre6t, but to reform ; then give to men 
 The means of reformation ! Then, reftor'd 
 To recollection, to himfelf, to God, 
 The criminal will blefs your faving hand ; 
 And, brought to reafon, to religion brought, 
 Will own that folitude, as folely apt 
 For work fo folemn, has that work atchiev'd, 
 Miraculous, and perfect of his cure. 
 
 Ah me 1 — to fentiments like thefe eftrang'd, 
 Eftrang'd, as ignorant, — and never pent 
 Till this fad chance within a prifon's wall, 
 With what deep force, experienc'd, can I urge 
 The truths momentous ! How their power I feci 
 In this my folitude, in this loan hour, 
 This melancholy midnight hour of thought, 
 Encircled with th' unhappy ! firmly clos'd 
 Each barricaded door, and left, juft God, 
 Oh blelTing — left to penfivenefs and Thee ! 
 
 To me how high a biefimg ! Nor contains 
 Secluiion aught of punifhment : to mix 
 With wretches here were punifhment indeed ! 
 How dread a punifhment ! — In life's belt days, 
 Of all raoft chofen, valued and belov'd, 
 Was foft retirement's ieafon. From youth's dawn 
 To folitude inur'd, " ne'er lefs alone 
 
 * There is a thought in Lucan to the fame pnrpofe, elegantly exprefled : 
 «•** helices Arabes, Medique, Eoaque tellus, 
 4 * Quamftib perpetuis tenuerunt rata tyrannis. 
 14 Ex populis, qui regna fcrunt, Sors ultima noftra eft, 
 *« quos fervire pudet." Fharfal. Lib. 7. 
 
 E a " Than 
 
40 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 " Than when alone," with him fo truly fam'd 
 In wifdom's fchool, my heart could ever beat 
 Glad unifon. To meditation's charms, 
 Pleas'd votary, how have pafs'd my iweeteft hours 
 In her fecrete and calm fociety ! 
 Still Meditation, Solitude's fair child, 
 Man's deareft friend, — O happy be the time 
 That introduced me to the hallow'd train ; 
 That taught me, thro 1 thy genial leflbns fage, 
 My beft, my trueft dignity to place 
 In thought, reflection deep, and ftudious fearch, 
 Divineft recreations of the mind ! 
 Oh happy be the day which gave that mind 
 Learning's firft tincture — bleft thy foftering care, 
 Thou moftbelov'd of parents, worthier!: fire! 
 Which, tafte-infpiring, made the ietter'd page 
 My favourite companion : moft efteem'd, 
 And mod improving ! Almoft from the day 
 Of earlier! childhood to the prefent hour 
 Of gloomy, black misfortune, books, dear books. 
 Have been, and are, my comforts. Morn and night, 
 Adverfity, profperity, at home, 
 Abroad, health, ficknefs, — good or ill report, 
 The fame firm friends ; the fame refrefhment rich, 
 And fource of confolation ! Nay, e'en here 
 Their magic power they lofe not ; ftill the fame, 
 Of machlefs influence in this priibn-houfe, 
 Unutterably horrid : in an hour 
 Of woe, beyond all fancy's fictions drear. 
 
 Drear hour! — What is it? — Loft in poignant thought, 
 Loft in the retrofpection manifold 
 Of thee, loved ftudy, — and of thee, my &re, 
 Who to the fountain fair of Science led 
 My infant feet, — I lofe all count of time, 
 I lofe my 111 f. Lift — 'tis dread midnight's hour, 
 When waking fancy (with invention wild 
 By ages hallow'd) hath to fpirits aflign'd 
 — Spirits of dear departed friends — to walk 
 The iilent gloom, and bring us from the dead 
 
 Tales 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 4 1 
 
 Tales harrowing up the foul aghaft ! — And, hark ! 
 Solemn and flow the iron tongue ot night 
 Reibunds alarming! — My o'er-harrafs'd foul, 
 Confus'd, is loft in forrows : down mine eyes 
 Stream the full tears, diftrefs is all alive, 
 And quick imagination's pulie beats high! 
 
 " Dear father^ is it thou ?" Methought his ghoft 
 Glided in fdence by me! Not a word, — 
 While mournfully he (hakes his dear pale face ! 
 
 fray, thou much-lov'd parent ! ftay, and give 
 Oiie word of coniblation ; if allow' d 
 
 To foil, like whom no Ton hath ever lov'd, 
 None ever (uffer'd ! See, it comes again : 
 Auguft it flits acrofs th' aftonim'd room! 
 
 1 know thee well, thy beauteous image know : 
 Dear fpirit ftay, and take me to the world 
 
 Where thou art. And where thou art, oh my father, 
 
 I muft, I muft be happy. — Every day 
 
 Thou know'ft, remembrance hath embalm'd thy love, 
 
 And wifh'd thy prefence. Malancholy thought, 
 
 At laft to meet thee in a place like this ! 
 
 Oh ftay, and waft me inftant — But, 'tis gone, 
 
 The dear deluflon ! He nor hears my words, 
 
 My filial anxiety, nor regards 
 
 My pleading tears. 'Twas but a coinage vain 
 
 Of the diftemper'd fancy ! Gone, 'tis gone, 
 
 And here I'm left a trembling wretch, to weep 
 
 Unheard, unpitied left, to weep alone ! 
 
 Nor thou, Maria, with me ! Oil, my wife, 
 And is this bitter with the bittereft mix'd, 
 That I muft lofe thy heavenly company, 
 And confolation foothing! Yet, 'tis beft : 
 Thy tendernefs, thy prefence, doth but wound 
 And ftab to the keeneft quick my burfting heart I 
 " I have undone thee!" Can I then iuftain 
 Thy killing afpecl, and that tender tear 
 Which fecret fteals a-down thy lovely face, 
 DiiVunbliftg imiles to cheer me — cheer me, Heavens ! 
 Look on the mighty ruin I have pluck'd, 
 
 E 3 PluckM 
 
4-1 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 Pluck'd inftant, uniufpe&ed, in the hour 
 
 Of peace and dear fecurity on her head ! 
 
 And where — O where can cheerfulnels be found ? 
 
 Mine mn ft be mourning ever. Oh my wife, 
 
 " I have undone thee !" — What th' infuriate hand 
 
 Of foes vindictive could not have atchiev'd, 
 
 In mercy would not, I have wrought ! Thy hufband \ 
 
 Thy hufband, lov'd with fuch a fteady flame, 
 
 From youth's firft hour ! — Ev'n he hath on theepluck'd, 
 
 On thee, his foul's companion, life's beft friend, 
 
 Such defclation, as to view would draw 
 
 From the wild lavage pity's deepeft groan ! 
 
 Yes, yes, thou coward mimic, pamper'd vice, 
 High praife be fure is thine. Thou haft obtain'd 
 A worthy triumph * ! Thou haft pieic'd to the quick 
 A weak, an amiable female heart, 
 A conjugal heart moft faithful, mcft attach'd : 
 Yet can I pardon thee : for, poor buffoon, 
 Thy vices rriuft be fed 5 and thou muft live. 
 Luxurious live, a foe to God and man j 
 Commiilicn'd live, thy poifon to diftufe, 
 And taint the public virtue with thy crimes. 
 Yes, I can pardon thee — low as thou art, 
 And far too mean an object ev'n of fcorn 5 
 For thou her merits knew'ft not. Hadft thou known, 
 Thou, — callous as thou art to every fenfe 
 Of human feeling, every nobler touch 
 Of generous fenfibiiity, — even thou 
 Couldft not have wanton pierc'd her gentle breail 5 
 But at a diftance awful wouldft have ftcoJ, 
 And, like thy prototype of oldeft time, 
 View'd her juft virtues pafs in triumph by, 
 And own'd, how'er reluctant 
 
 March 30, 1777. 
 
 END OF THE THIRD WEEK. 
 
 * Allwiinf to the character of Mrs. Simony, introduced by Mr. root in his 
 pUy of l;:e Cozeners. 
 
 WEEK 
 
D T 
 
 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 34 
 
 WEEK THE FOURTH. 
 
 The Trial. 
 
 ^READ'ST thou an earthly bar? Thou who fo oft 
 In contemplation ferious haft employ'd 
 Thy deareft meditations on a bar 
 Tremendoufly decifive ! who Co oft 
 That bar's important terrors haft difplay'd 
 To crowds attentive ; with the folemn theme 
 Rapt in thought profound — And beats thy heart 
 With throbs tumultuous — fail thy trembling knees, 
 Now that in judgment thou muft {land before 
 Weak mortals, like thyfelf, and foon like thee, 
 Shivering with guilt and apprehenfions dire, 
 To anfwer in dread judgment 'fore their God! 
 
 What gives that judgment terror ? Guilt, pale guilt 5 
 Co^fcience accufmg ftern ; the fiery law, 
 The terrible hand-writing on the wall ! 
 But vantfh cbefe,— that mighty day's-man found, 
 Who, fmiling on confeffion's genuine tear, 
 The meek repentant afpecl, and the hand 
 With ready, perfect retribution fraught, 
 Urges complete his ranfom, and fets free 
 Th* immortal prifoner. — But, ah me! on earth 
 Such golden mercv reigns not : here is found 
 No potent dayVman ; here no ranfom full, 
 No clement mediator. Here ftern law, 
 With vifage all unbending, eyes alone 
 The rigorous a 61. ConfefTion here is guilt, 
 And reftitution perfect, perfect lofs ! 
 Ah me the while, here men the judges are ; 
 And there, th'Omnifcient mercy's fource and ftream! 
 
 Triumphant coniblation ! Firm in faith, 
 And juftify'd by him whofe precious blood 
 For man fiow'd liberal, the foul fecure 
 Of future acceptation at that bar 
 Of trial moil momentous, foars above 
 
 The 
 
44 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 The world's fevereft trials *, and can view 
 Serene the horrors of an earthly bar, 
 Though far than death more horrid. Yes, kind death, 
 How preferable far thy fight to me ! 
 Oh that, without this tedious, dread detail 
 Of awful circumftance, — this long, fad pomp 
 Of miniftering wretchednefs, thy friendly fhaft 
 Had inftant reachM, and piercM my tortur'd heart : 
 How had I blefsM the (broke, and been at peace ! 
 But thro' a dreary avenue of woe, 
 A lengthened vault of black diftrefs and fhame, 
 With mournful malancholy fable hung, 
 Mult. I be led f , — or ere I can receive 
 Thine icy comforts to my chillM life's blood ! 
 
 Welcome, thrice welcome were they. But the call 
 Of Heaven^s dread arbiter we wait : His will 
 Is rectitude confummate. 'Tis the will 
 Parental of high wifdom and pure love. 
 
 * The verfps Conjoined were written by the King of Pruffia. after a defeat ^ 
 when one of his general officers had propofed to fet him the example ofieli*. 
 •leftru&ion : 
 
 Dans ces jours, pleins d "alarmes, 
 La conltance et la fermet6 
 Sont les boucliers et les arrnes 
 Que j*oppofe a l'dverfitc : 
 
 Que le Deftin me persecute, 
 Qu'il prepare ou hate ma chute, 
 
 Le danger ne peut m'ebranler : 
 Quand levulgaire eft plein decrainte, 
 Que lefpfrar.ee femble eteinte, 
 
 L'homme fort doit fe fignaler. 
 
 A friend having given Dr. Eodd in prifgn a copy ofthefe lines, he was much 
 pleafed with them, and immediately paraphrased them as follows : 
 
 In thefe fad moments offevere diftrefs, 
 
 When dangers threaten, and when forrows prefs, 
 
 For my defence beheld what arms are given 
 
 Firmnefs of foul, and confidence in Heaven ! 
 
 With thefe. tho' Fortune hunt me thro' the land, 
 
 Tho' inftant, utter ruin feem at hand, 
 
 Comn<->s'd and felf-collefted I remain, 
 
 J* or ftart at perils, nor of ills complain. 
 
 To mean defpair the low, the fervile Hy, 
 
 When Hope's bright ftar feem- darkend in their flcy : 
 
 Then lhinesthe Chriftain, and deliehts to prove 
 
 His faith unfhaken, and unchang*d his love ! 
 
 + Segnius irritant animos demifla rer aurem, 
 Quam qusfunt oculis fubje&a fidelibus, et quas 
 Ipfe fibi tradit Spectator I ' UOR. 
 
 Then 
 

 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 45 
 
 Then to that will fubmiffive bend, my foul : 
 And, while meek refignation to the rod 
 Corrective of his juftice and his love 
 Obedient bows, — Oh for impartial fearch! 
 Oh for a trial ftric~r, to trace the caufe, 
 The fatal cavife, whence fprimg the ill deplor'd ! 
 And why — fad fpectacle of woe— we ftand 
 Thus, fin and forrow funk, at this dread bar ! 
 
 Return, bleft hours — ye peaceful days, leturn ! 
 When thro 1 each office of celeftial love 
 Ennobling piety my glad feet led 
 Continual, and my head each night to reft 
 Lulled on the downy pillow of content ! 
 Dear were the /hades, O Ham, and dear the hours 
 In manly muling 'midft thy forefts pafs'd, 
 And antique woods of fober folitude, 
 Oh Epping, witnefs to my lonely walks 
 By Heaven-direcled contemplation led ! 
 Ye days of duty, tranquil nights, return! 
 How ill exchang'd for thofe, which bufier fcenes 
 To the world's follies dedicate, engrofs'd, 
 In fpecious trifling 5 all important deem'd, 
 While guilt, O Chefterfield, with feeming gold 
 Of prime refinement, thro'' thy foftering fmile, 
 And patronage aufpicious ! 
 
 Sought by thee, 
 And fingled out, unpatroniz'd, unknown ; 
 By thee, whofe tafte confummate was applaufe, 
 Whole approbation merit ; forth I came, 
 And with me to the taik, delighted, brought 
 The upright purpofe, the intention firm 
 To fill the charge, to juftify the choice, 
 Perchance too flattering to my heart j a heart 4 
 Frank, inexpert, unhackney'd in the world, 
 And yet eftrangM to guile! But ye, more ikuTd 
 In that world's artful ftyle, judges fevere ; - 
 Say, in the zenith of bright Stanhope's fun 
 (Though fet that fun, alas, in mifty clouds !) 
 Say 'mid (I his mitre, whom would not that choice 
 
 Have 
 
46 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 Have flattered ? — and ftill more, when urg'd, approv'd, 
 
 And blefs'd by thee, St. David's ! Honour'd friend 5 
 
 Alike in wifdom's and in learning's fchool 
 
 Advanc'd and fage ! — Short paufe, my mufe, and fad 
 
 Allow, while leaning on affection's arm 
 
 Deep-fighing Gratitude, with tears of truth, 
 
 Bedews the urn, the happy urn, where reft 
 
 Mingled thy aflies, oh my friend ; and hers 
 
 Whofe life bound up with thine in amity 
 
 IndhToluhly firm, felt thy laft pang 
 
 Difrupting as her own 5 gently figh'd forth 
 
 The precious boon : while fprung her faithful foul, 
 
 Indignant without thee to reft below, 
 
 On wings of love, to meet thee in the ikies ! 
 
 Blefl pair ! and envied ! Envied and embaim'd 
 In our recording memory, my wife, 
 My friend, my lov'd Maria, be our lot 
 Like theirs ! — Bat foft,— ah my foreboding thoughts! 
 Reprefs the gufhing tear j — return, my fong. 
 
 PlacM thus, and fhelter'd underneath a tree, 
 Which feeirfd like that in viiions of the night 
 To Babylonia's haughty prince pourtray'd, 
 Whofe hight reach'd Heaven, and whofe verdant boughs 
 Extended wide their fuccour and their lhadc, 
 How did I truft, too confident ! How dream 
 That fortune's fmiles were mine ! and how deceiv'd, 
 By gradual declenfion yield my truft, 
 My humble happy truft on Thee, my God ! 
 How ill exchanged for confidence in man, 
 In Chefterfields, in princes ! — Wider fcenes, 
 Alps ftill on Alps were open'd to my view 5 
 And, as the circle in the flood enlarged, 
 Enlarged expences call. Fed to the full 
 With flattery's light food*, and the puff'd wind 
 
 * So prayfen babes the peacock's ftarry traine, 
 And won-iren at bright Argus' blazing eye ; 
 But who rewards him e'er the more for thy ? 
 Or feeds him once the fuller by a graine ?— — 
 Sike praife is fmoke, that fneddeth in the fkie, 
 Sike words been winde, and waftenfoon in vair.e, 
 
 S?IK£ER. 
 
 Of 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 47 
 
 Of promifes delufive (t Onward ftill, 
 
 « Pi efs onward," cried the world's alluring voice j 
 
 " The time of retribution is at hand : 
 
 " See the ripe vintage waits thee !" Fool and blind, 
 
 Still credulous I heard, and itili purfued 
 
 The airy meteor glittering thro"" the mire, 
 
 Thro'' brake and bog, till more and more ingulph'd 
 
 In the deceitful o^iag, floundering I lay. 
 
 Nor heard was then the world's alluring voice, 
 
 Or promifes delufive : then not fetn 
 
 The tree umbrageous, with its ample fhade ; 
 
 For me, alas, that tree had made no more ! 
 
 But, ftruggling in the gulph, my languid eye 
 
 Saw only round the barren rufhy moor, 
 
 The flat, wide dreary defart : — Till a hope, 
 
 Dreis'd by the tempter in an angel's form, 
 
 Presenting its fair hand, — imaginM fair, 
 
 Though foul as murkielt Hell, to drag me forth, 
 
 Down to the centre plung'd me, dark and dire 
 
 Of howling ruin 5 — bottomlefs abyfs 
 
 Of dcfolating ftiame, and namelefs woe! 
 
 But, witneis Heaven and earth, 'rriidft this brief ilage, 
 This blading period of my chequerd life, 
 Tho' by the world's gay vanities allur'd, 
 I dane'd, too oft, alas, with the wild rout 
 Of thougbtleis fellow- mortals, to the found 
 Of folly's tinkling bells ; tho' oft, too oft 
 Thofe paftimes fhar'd enervating, which ill 
 — Hewc'er by iome judg'd innocent, — become 
 Religion's fober character and garb : 
 Tho' oft, too oft, by weak compliance hd, 
 External feemings, and the ruinous bait 
 Of fmcoth politenefs, what my heart condemned 
 Unwife it pra&is'ri ; never without pang 5 
 Tho' too much influenced by the pleafmg force 
 Of native gereroiity, uncurb'd 
 And unchaftis'd (as realon, duty taught) 
 Prudent ceconomy, in the ibber fchool 
 Of parfimonious k&ure j uieful lore, 
 
 An* 
 
4-S THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 And of prime moment to our worldly weal ; 
 — Yet witnefs Heaven and earth, amidft this dream 5 
 This tranfient vifion, ne'er fo (lept my foul, 
 Or facrific'd my hands at folly's fhrine, 
 As to forget Religion's public toil, 
 Study's improvement, or the pleading caufe 
 Of fufFering humanity. — Gracious God, 
 How wonderful a compound, mixture ftrange, 
 Incongruous, inconfiftent, is frail man ! 
 
 Yes, my lov'd Charlotte, whofe top-ftone with joy 
 My careful hands brought forth, what time expdFd 
 From Ham's loft paradife, and driv'n to feek 
 Another place of reft ! Yes, beauteous fane, 
 To bright religion dedicate, thou well 
 My happy public labours canft atteft, 
 Unwearied and fuccefsful in the caufe, 
 The glorious, honour'd caufe of Him, whofe love 
 Bled for a human race. Thou canft atteft 
 The Sabbath-days delightful, when the throng 
 Crowded thy hallow'd walls with eager joy, 
 To hear truth evangelical ; the found 
 Of gofpel comfort ! When attentive fat, 
 Or at the holy altar humbly knelt, 
 Prefuafive, pleafmg patterns — Athol's Duke, 
 The poliuYd Hervey, Kingfton the humane, 
 Aylefbury and Marchmont, Romney all-rever*d j 
 With numbers more — by fplendid titles lefs 
 Than piety difiinguim'd and pure zeal. 
 
 Nor, 'midft this public duty's bleft difcharge, 
 Pafs'd idle, unimproving, unemploy'd, 
 My other days j as if the Sabbath's talk 
 Fulfiil'dj the buiinefs of the week was done, 
 Or feir'-aliow'd. Witnefs, thrice holy book, 
 Pure tranicript of th' Eternal Will to man : 
 Witnefs with what afTiduous care I turn'd 
 Daily the hallow'd page j with what deep fearch 
 Explored thy facred meaning • thro' the round 
 Ot leam'd expofitors and grave trod flow, 
 And painfully deliberating j the while 
 
 Mv 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 4.9 
 
 My labours unremitting to the world 
 Convey'd inftruclion large ; — and mail convey, 
 When moulders in the grave the feeble hand, 
 The head, the heart, that gave thofe labours * birth. 
 
 Oh happytoil, oh labours well employ'd, 
 Oh fweet remembrance to my fickening foul, 
 Bleft volumes ! Nor tho' levelPd in the dull 
 Of felf-annihilation, mall my foul 
 Ceafe to rejoice, or thy preventive grace 
 Adoring laud, Fountain of every good S 
 For that no letter' d poifon ever ftain'd 
 My page, how weak foe'er ; for that my pen, 
 However humble, ne'er has trac'd a lin@ 
 Gf tendency immoral, whofe black guilt 
 It well might wi(h to blot with tears of blood. 
 Dear to the chriftian mall my little works, 
 — Efrufions of a heart fncere, devote 
 To God and duty, happily furvive 
 Their wretched mafter j and thro 1 lengthen'd years 
 To fouls oppreft, comfort's fweet balm impart, 
 And teach the peniive mourner how to dief . 
 
 Thou too, bleft Charity, whofe golden key 
 So liberal unlocks the prifon's gate 
 At the poor debtor's call $ oh, witnefs thou, 
 To cruel taxers of my time and thought, 
 All was not loft, all were not miiemploy'd, 
 Nor all humanity's fair rights forgot : 
 Since thou, fpontaneous effort of the lad, 
 My pity's child, and by the firft matur'd, 
 Amjdft this flattering fatal sera role, 
 Rofe into being, to perfection role, 
 Beneath my humble foftering j and at length 
 Grown into public favour, thou malt live ; 
 And endlefs good diffufc, when fleeps in dull 
 Thy haplefs founder now, by direil fate, 
 Lock'd in a prifon, whence thy bounty lets, 
 And (hall — oh comfort — long let thoufands free. 
 
 * AlHuVrng to " Commentary on the Bible," in three volumes, folio. 
 
 r Ktrcrdng to « Comfort for the Afflicted," a*:d vt Reflexions on Death," 
 
 F Happy, 
 
53 THOUGHTS IN PRISCN. 
 
 Happy, thrice happy, had my active zeal,— 
 Already deemM too active chance, by ibme, 
 Whofe frozen hearts, in icy fetters bound 
 Of fordid lelfiflmefs, n^er felt the warmth, 
 The genial warmth of pure benevolence, 
 Love's ardent flame afpiring; — had that flame 
 Kindled my glowing zeal into effect, 
 And to thy counterpart *exiftence giv'n, 
 Lov'd institution : with its guardian aid 
 Protecting from the priibiTs ruinous doors, 
 Thofe whom thy kindly mercy refcues thence! 
 Or, had that zeal, on firm foundation flx'd 
 Like thine my favourite Magdalen, — the plan, 
 
 * He intended to have eftablifhed a " Charity for the Loan of Money without 
 * 4 intereft, to induitrious tradefmen." Neceffary papers for that end were col- 
 lected from Dublin, &c. and the following addrefs, which he wrote and infert- 
 ed in the Public Ledger of the ift January 1776, will, in fome meafure, explaift 
 his purpofe : 
 
 To the Wealthy in the Commercial World* 
 
 I HAVE often wrflied rnoft fincerely to fee a charitable fund eftablimed in 
 this great and trading city, for the beneficent rnroofe of li lending to honeit 
 Cw and lndulrrious Tradefmen fmall fums without intereft, and on a reafona- 
 " ble fecurity." 
 
 The benef.ts which would arife from fuch an eftablifhment are too obvious tr> 
 need enumeration. Aimoft every newfpaper tends more and more to convince 
 me of the neceffity of fuch a plan ; for in almoft every newfpaper we read 
 A''vertifements from Tradefmen, folicitine little fums in their diftrefs ; and 
 offering — poor unhappy men! even premiums for thofe little fums. 
 
 It is not ponYole but that perfon* occupied in trade and commerce muft 
 feel for the difficulties of their brethren, and be ready to promote the 
 undertaking T would wifh to recommend, although on no interefted motives; 
 —for T am no tradefman, nor can any way be benefitted by the plan. Pune 
 good-will, and a companionate refpect to the hardfhips and diftreflTes of my 
 fellow c»eatiues actuate my heart: And f 1 om thefe motives, I fhail be 
 happy to proceed upon, and profecute this plan, with all the efforts and af!i- 
 duity I am able, if it fhall be approved by the benevolent, and they will 
 teftify that approbation, and deilre of concurrence, by a line directed to D. at 
 Ande'rton's Coffee houfe, Fleet-ftreet. In confequence of which, fhould a pro- 
 bability of fuccefs appear, a meeting fliall fpeedily be advertifed in the 
 papers,' and all meafures purfued to put the good defign into immediate ex- 
 ecution, which on fuch a metting nay be judged advifeable. It may be pro- 
 per juft to obferve, that in many cities abroad, at Rome in particular, there 
 are institutions of this fort : and there has been one eftabl jibed for many 
 years at Dublin which is found productive of the happieft confluences. 
 
 It is marie in Scripture one character ift ic of the good man " that he is merci- 
 st fill and lendeth,'" and a very fmall fum thus given to a permanent eftabliih- 
 inent m?.v enable a man to leiwi for perpetuity! 
 
 How C'.n ve better begin the new year, my worthy and humane country- 
 men, than b' entering en a work, which may draw down *ipnn us God's 
 bleffine, by our charitable reliet to many fons and daughters of honeft ani 
 laborious induftry ? HUMANITY. 
 
 Prefervative 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 5'I 
 
 Prefervative of tender female fame *, 
 Fair innocence and virtue, from thofe ills 
 Peftru£live, complicate, which only find 
 Relief beneath thy hofpitable roof, 
 How had I died exulting ! — But, oh raife, 
 Infpire fome godlike lpirit, fome great foul, 
 Father of mercies, of all love, all good 
 Author and finifher ; — thefe, and every work 
 Beneficent, with courage to purfue, 
 With wifdom to complete ! — Oh crown his zeal | 
 While forrowing human nature, by his hand 
 CheriuYd and footh'd, to lateft times mall tell, 
 And blefs with tears of gratitude his name ! 
 
 Mine is a different fate, — confefs'd, juft Judge, 
 The meed of human mixture in my works 
 Imperfect, frail : and needing, even the beft, 
 Thy pardon and the cleanfing of thy blood, 
 Elfe whence the frequent retributions bafe, 
 Calumnious and ungrateful, for the deeds 
 Of private pity ? Whence, for public afts, 
 The ftab opprobrious, and the (landers vile ? 
 Or whence, at this dread moment, — from the fight 
 $hrowd me in tenfold darknefs ! — Mercy, Heavens ! 
 
 And is it He— th* ingenuous youth, fo oft 
 Of ail my being, fortune, comfort, deemM 
 The generous, ample fource ? — And is it He, 
 In whom, thro' drear misfortune's darkeft night, 
 I faw Hope's day-ftar riling? — Angel of peace, 
 Amidft his future hours, my life's fad lofs, 
 Let not accufmg confeience to his charge 
 Impute, diffracting—- to my crimfon'd guilt 
 Oh let him lay it, as the forfeit due, 
 And juftly paid ! — Would Heaven that it were paid ! 
 Oh, that with Rome's firft Caefar, in my robe 
 From fight fo killing, mantled up mine eyes, 
 I might receive the welcome ftab j figh forth, 
 u My Philip, my lovM Stanhope, — Is it thou ? 
 
 * «* A plan for a National Female Seminary" — fince Found among-ft the Ae- 
 ther's papers , and which appears to have undergone the infpeclion, and re- 
 setted tlie approbation of fome very diftinguiflied names, 
 
 F 2 " — Thcrt 
 
5* THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 " — Then let me die." 
 
 Yet, tho' thus wounded at this bar I (land 
 In pangs unutterable, witnefs Heaven, 
 With deep commiferation do I view 
 Their jfcdulous anxiety to prove 
 A guilt, my heart, — too wounded to deny, 
 Wounded by that guilt's fenfe, its bittereit part,— 
 Inftant avowed. What need then all this toil ? 
 The deed is done. Wound not the fall'n hart,— 
 'Tis cruel — that lies bleeding at your feet; 
 
 * I own the whole ; I urge no legal plea. 
 
 * On dire neceffity's imperious call, 
 
 * (Sons of the robe, of commerce, ions of men, 
 c That call imperious have you never heard ?) 
 
 * On full intention to repay the whole. 
 
 ' And on that full intention's perfeel work, 
 
 € Free reiteration and complete: on wrong 
 
 c Or injury to none defign'd or wrought, 
 
 c I reft my claim ; — I found my fble defence.' 
 
 €C Groundleis, — 'tis thunder 1 d in my ears — and 
 
 " For in the rigid courts of human law, 
 
 cf No reftitution wipes away th' offence, 
 
 (C Nor does intention juitify." So ipoke 
 
 (And who mail argue?) Judgment's awful voice! 
 
 Hafte then, ye weeping jurymen, and pafs 
 Th' awarded fentence. To the world, to fame, 
 To honour, fortune, peace, and Stanhope loit, 
 What have I more to lofe ? or can I think 
 Death were an evil to a wretch like me ! 
 
 Yet, oh ye fons of juftice ! — ere we quit 
 This awful court, expostulation's voLce 
 One moment hear impartial. Give a while 
 Your honeft hearts to nature's touches true, 
 Her fine rebutments faithful. Draw afide 
 That veil from reaion's clear reflecting view, 
 Which practice long, and rectitude iupposM 
 X)f laws eftablinYd, hath obftruclive hung. 
 But pleads or time, or long prefer iption aught 
 In favour or abatement of the wrong 
 
 By 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 53 
 
 By folly wrought, or error? Hoary grown, 
 And i'antlify'd by cuftom's habit grey, 
 Abiurdity ftalks forth, ftill more ablurd, 
 And double fhame reflects upon an age 
 Wife and enlightened. Should not equal laws 
 Their punimments proportionate to crimes* ; 
 Nor, all Draconic, ev*n to blood purine 
 Vindictive, where the venial poor offence 
 Cries loud for mercy ? Death's the laft demand 
 Law can exa& : the penalty extreme 
 Of human crime ! and (hall the petty thief 
 Succumb beneath its terrors, when no more 
 Pays the bold murderer, crimibn'd o'er with guilt? 
 
 Few are the crimes againft or God or man, 
 — — Confult th"" eternal code of right or wrong, — ■ 
 Which e'er can jwftify this laft extremef , 
 This wanton {porting with the human life, 
 This trade in blood. Ye fages, then, review, 
 Speedy and diligent, the penal code, 
 Humanity's difgrace : our nation's firft 
 And juft reproach, amid ft its vaunted boafts 
 Or equity and mercy : Shiver not 
 Full oft your inmoft fouls, when from the bench 
 Ye deal out death tremendous? and proclaim 
 Th' irrevocable fentence on a wretch 
 Pluck'd early from the paths of focial life, 
 And immature, to the low grave coniign'd 
 For mifdemeanors trivial ! Runs not back, 
 Affrighted, to its fountain your chill'd blood, 
 When, deck'd in all the horrid pomp of death, 
 
 * Horace's precept muft for ever ftand forth as irrefcagably. juS : 
 
 *« Ad fit 
 
 Regula I peccatis: quae pcenas irroeet squas :: 
 Ke Scutica dignum horribili fe<fiere flagello.. M 
 
 Sat. 3. Life. 1. 
 
 + cc TTe had fometimes exprefied his thoughts about our penal laws, that 
 " they were too fanguinary ; — that thty were againft. not only the laws of 
 ** God', but of nature ;— that his own Cafe was hard", that he mould die for an 
 4 ' ae"t which he always declared to be wrong but by which he never 
 * 4 intended to injure any one individual ; and that, as the public had for- 
 «« given him, he thought he might have been pardoned. But now 'the day 
 «' before his execution) he laid all thefe thoughts touching htmfelf afide, 
 " though he continued to think in the fame manner of the penal laws to 
 *' hii »nd." S&e the 0r4irtar\ 's account. 1 
 
 F3 And 
 
54 THOUGHTS IN PRISON/ 
 
 And Gothic rage furpafling, to the flames 
 The weaker fex,— incredible — you doom ; 
 Denouncing punifhments the more fevere, 
 As lefs of fcrength is found to bear their force? 
 Shame on the favage practice ! Oh {land forth 
 In the great caufe, — Companion's, Equity's, 
 Your Nation's, Truth's Religion's, Honours caufe, 
 —Stand forth, fefte&ing Eden*! Well thou' ft toil'd 
 Already in the honourable field : 
 Might thy young labours animate, the hour 
 Aufpicious is arriv'd. Sages efteem'd, 
 And venerably learn'd, as in the fchool 
 Of legal fcience, fo in that of worth 
 And fentiment exalted, fill the bench: 
 And lo ! the imperial Mufcovite, intent 
 On public-weal, a bright example mines 
 Of civilizing juftice. Sages rife : 
 The caufe, the animating pattern calls. 
 Oh, I adjure you, with my parting breath, 
 By all your hopes of mercy and of peace, 
 Ey all the blood henceforth unjuftly fplit, 
 Or wantonly by all the forrows def p, 
 And fcalding tears flied for that blood fo fpilt ! 
 In God's tremendous name, lo, I adjure, 
 Without procraftination to the talk 
 Important that you hafte ! W 7 ith equal hand 
 In fcaies of temperate juftice, balance well 
 The claims of pleading mercy ! Unto crimes 
 Inflictions }«ft and adequate affigftj 
 On reformation or example fole, 
 And ail impartial, conflantly intent, 
 Banifh the rage for blood ! for tortures fell, 
 Savage, reproachful. Study to reftore 
 Its yonng, its ufeful members to the ftate. 
 Well difciplin'd, corrected, moraliz'd ; 
 Preferv'd at once from mame, from death, from Hell, 
 Men, rationals, immortals, — Sons of God. 
 Onprofperous be your labours, crown'd your zeal! 
 
 * See Mr. Eden's admirable book oa i'enal Laws. 
 
 So 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 55 
 
 So fhall the annals of our Sovereign's reign, 
 DiftinguifrTd by your virtue, — noble fruit 
 Or that high independence He beftow'd * 
 So freely from the treafury of his love 
 To genuine juftice — down to- future times, 
 Transmitting the rich bleiimg, ilvine renownM 
 With truer! glory 5 not by hers iurpaiVd, 
 Trf immortal Legislator of the north ! 
 
 Ah me unhappy ! to that Sovereign's ear 
 RefolvM to bring thofe truths which, labouring long, 
 Have lain, and toft upon my anxious thoughts f : 
 Thence too am I excluded ! Fatal frroke, 
 And wounding to my peace ! Rigour extreme 
 Of angry vengeance ! ' ' Nay, it recks not now," 
 Oft, mid ft the tempeft of my grief, I cried, 
 " It recks not now what falls me ! From the houfe 
 " Of him I honourVI, (hut! Him whole lov'd fire 
 (i My mufe in drains elegiac weeping fung J, 
 *' Mixing her tribute with a nation's tears ! 
 fi Him to whofe high-born race, — of liberty 
 u Firm friends and fautors — from my earlieft youth, 
 u My heart, devoted, willing homage paid, 
 " And facred reverence : So paternal love 
 ** And fo my college taught, delightful Clare." 
 Dear ever to my memory for hours 
 In innocence and peaceful ftudy paft ; 
 Nor lefs for thee, my friend, my Lancafter ! 
 Bleft youth, in early hour from this life's woes 
 In richeft mercy borne ! Had I but died, 
 Oh had I died for thee, how had I fhunn'd 
 This harm feverity, — excluiion iad 
 From my lov'd royal mafter ! How efcap'd 
 Its ills attendant 1 — Reputation dies, 
 The darling of my foul, beneath the ftroke! 
 Wild, wanton curies tear my mangled frame ! 
 
 * Referring to the independence of the judges, fettled by the King, as al- 
 molt one of the firft ac~ts of his reign. 
 
 i See my Sermon on the Injuiiice, &c. of Capital Punifhments. 
 I See my " Elegy on the Death of Frederick Prince of Wales.*' Poems, p. 63 
 
 My 
 
56 THOUGHTS IN ?RISON. 
 
 My fphere of ufefulnefs contracted fhrinks; 
 And infamy herfelf with " ghaftly fmiles'* 
 My ruin ridicules 1 Turn, turn, my brain, 
 Diftra&ed, madden'd, turn ! Of reafon more, 
 Religion, duty, eminence, dream not : 
 The door of mercy's clos'd. Thee — oft from thee 
 Mercy, fweet Heaven, have I fought and found j 
 From fellow-mortals feldom could I find 
 How humbled e'er, or penitent, for faults ! 
 —And who of erring mortals faultleis breathes? 
 Mercy that gift of thine, which moft adorns 
 The judge's veftment, and the monarch's crown. 
 
 Adieu, then, to its hope; its earthly hope, 
 Elfewhere we'll leek it. Forth — oh forth, my friends 5 
 My generous, fupporting, weeping friends, 
 Forth from the bar conducf me. It is paft. 
 Juftice has done her office. Mercy's fled j 
 And fmiling, lo ! fhe fits upon a cloud 
 Of fleecy whitenefs, ting'd with azur'd gold, 
 And beams ineffable compofure on me ! 
 Light fits my bofom'd mafter on his throne 5 
 Airy ard difencumber'd feels my foul ? 
 And, panting, whiles to fpring inftant up 
 To that white cloud,-— the golden vehicle 
 To realms of reft immortal ! In my eyes, 
 So languid late, and all fuffus'd with tears, 
 Methinks I fee hope'? lamp rekindled bright 5 
 A living luftre j fhedding like the fun, 
 
 After thick mifts, illumination's fmile 
 
 O'er all my countenance, marr'd, dimnf d, and wan* 
 Cheerly my friends, oh cheerly ! Look not thus 
 
 With pity's melting ibftnefs I That alone 
 
 Can make my fortitude. All is not loft. 
 
 Lo I have gain'd, on this important day 
 
 A victory confummate o'er myfeif, 
 
 And o'er this life a vicfory. n hilthis day— 
 
 My birth-day to eternity — Ig've gain'd 
 
 Difmiflion from a world, where for a while, 
 
 Like you, like all, a pilgrim pafling poor, 
 
 A traveller 
 
THOUCHTS IN PRISON. 57 
 
 A traveller, a ftranger, I have met 
 But ftranger treatment, rude and harfh ! So much 
 T dearer, more defir'd, the home I feek 
 Eternal of my father and my God ! 
 
 Ah little thought ye. profecutors prompt, 
 To do me good like this ! little intend 
 For earthly poverty to give th" exchange 
 Of wealth eternal ! Cheronea's fage, 
 Thy dogmas here, ib paradoxal deem'd 
 By weak half thinkers * — fee how amply proved 
 How verfify'd by men I judg'd my foes ; — 
 Friends in difguiie, Heaven's infhuments of good ; 
 Freely, triumphantly, my foul forgives 
 Each injury, each evil they have wrought, 
 Each tear they've drawn, each groan they've cofl my hearty 
 Guiltlefs tow'rds them, uninjur'd. Haplefs men ! 
 Down do I lock, with pity : fervent beg, 
 And unremitting from all-gracious Heaven 
 Eternal blefrlngs on you ! Be your lives, 
 Like mine, true convertites to grace, to God ' 
 And be your deaths, — ah, there all difference ends- 
 Then be our deaths like his, th 1 atoning juftj 
 Like his, the only righteous, our lad end ! 
 
 But oh, oblivious memory ! baneful woe, 
 Which thus in dull forgetfuinefs can fceep 
 My faculties; forgetfuinefs of her 
 My better felf, for whom alone I wifh, 
 Thus fall'n to remember that I am ! 
 My wife, my foul's dear partner in diftrefs, 
 Where fits Hie ? lives me? Ah not lives but drags 
 The tedious, torturing, horrid, anxious hours 
 Of this dire day ! — In iblemn fiience wrapt, 
 — ExprefTive fiience motionlefs, compos'd, 
 The melancholy mourner meekly waits 
 The awful ifiue ! From her lovely eyes 
 Drops not a tear ! not ev'n a figh is heard 
 From her deep-wounded heart: Nor through her lips, 
 1 Unfever'd from the iucklefs morn till night, 
 
 * See Plutarch " On the benefits deducible from enemies. Morals, Vol. I. 
 
 Mute 
 
58 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 Mute fufferer, deals a murmur * ! Gentle dove, 
 So, in the mournful abfence of thy mate, 
 Perhaps or levellM by the fowler's art, 
 Or lur'd in net infidious, fitteft thou alone 
 Upon the bared bough ; thy little head 
 Neftling beneath thy filvery wings 5 while hang 
 Thy pennons, late lb glofly, (hivering down 
 UnplumM, neglected, drooping ! Thro' the day 
 So tried, my tender friends, — another talk, 
 And heavier yet, remains to be performed. 
 Oh, with the balm of comfort, with the voice 
 Of foothing foftnefs, the fad truth unfold ! 
 Approach the beauteous mourner, all rever'd 5 
 And tell her, " that her hufband triumphs, lives; 
 * € Lives tho" condemned ; lives to a nobler life \ 
 " Nor, in the giadfome view of that high life, 
 €C Feels he to death reluctance : Bleft with her, 
 * ( Indifferent in his choice to live or die 1" 
 
 Be the decifion, thine, Father of life! 
 Thou gaveft, thou haft right to take away ; 
 In each alike beneficent i If thou 
 Haft pleafure in me, once more fhall I ihare 
 Thy hallow' d fervices, my hearf s chief joyj 
 If not with happy David — oh like his 
 Could my fong flow repentant — every thought 
 Uniting cries with reugnation's voice, 
 " Do with me, Lord, as it mall feem thee goodf P 
 
 Thus fupplic3ting, down my weary head 
 To (lumber on its wretched pillow funk, 
 O'erpower'd, opprefs'd. Nor on the main maft high 
 RockM by the billowing tempeft, and the dam 
 Of furious furges, the poor mip-boy fleeps 
 More foundly, than my powers o'erwrought, amidft: 
 The din of defperate felons, and the roar 
 Of harden'd guilt's mad mi > night orgies loud! 
 
 But, fancy free, the bufy foul was wake 3 
 
 * " I Speechlefs fat ; — nor plaintive word, 
 ** No; murmer, from my lips was heard." 
 
 Merrick's Pfaltns. p. S9* 
 + 2 Sam, xv. 25, 26. 
 
 Anticipation 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. $9 
 
 Anticipation pleafing of its ftate, 
 When fleeps its clayey prifon in the grave, 
 And forth it burfts to liberty ! Methought 
 —Such was the vifion— in a lowly vale 
 Myfelf I found, whofe living green was decked 
 With all the beauteous family of Spring j 
 Pale primrofe, modeft violet, hare- bell blue, 
 Sweet fcented eglantine of fragrance rich, 
 And permanent the rofe : golden jonquil, 
 And polyanthus variegate of hue, 
 With lilies dale-delighting. Thro 1 the midft 
 Meandering of pure cryftal flowM a ftream 
 The flowery banks reflecting : On each iide, 
 With homely cots adorn'd, whole 'habitants, 
 When forrow-funk, my voice of comfort footh/dj 
 When ficknefs worn, my hand of care relievM, 
 Tended, and, miniftering to all their wants, 
 Inftructed in the language of the ikies. 
 Dear was the oflice, cheering was the toil, 
 And fomething like angelic felt my foul ! 
 
 When liu'd, methought, bv one of glittering hue 
 (Bright gleam'd the coronet upon his brow, 
 Rich glow'd his robe of crimlon, ermine deckYi) 
 I toilM to gain a neighbouring mountain's top, 
 Where blaz'd preferment's temple. So my guide 
 With imiie complacent taught and led me on, 
 Softening with artful fpeech the tedious way, 
 And arduous ever. As I rofe, the view 
 Still gloomier ieem'd, and dreary 5 the ftrait path 
 Still nraighter, and more (harp the pointed briars 
 Entangling \ With infulting iheers the crowd, 
 Preffing the fame bad road, jollied me by, 
 Or threw me proftrate ; till fatigued and faint 
 With feeble voice, exhaufred quite, I cried, 
 €i Oh to my vale reltore me ! to my cots, 
 f* IUuftrlous guide ! my miniftrations bleft, 
 u Angelical and blefling I" — With a look 
 Of killing fcorn he eyed me : Inftant down, 
 ,Piccipitary dam'd o'er me craggy rocks, 
 
 Tumbling 
 
60 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 Tumbling tumultuous ; and in dungeon dark, 
 IUurnin'd only by the furious glare 
 Of lynx and tygers eyes, thro' hunger fierce, 
 And eager to devour, trembling I lay ! 
 
 When, in a moment, thro' the dungeon's gloom 
 Burft light refplendent as the mid-day fun, 
 From adamantine mield of Heavenly proof, 
 Held high by one *, of more than human port, 
 Advancing flow : while on his tov/ring creft 
 Sat fortitude unfhaken .* at his feet 
 Crouch 1 d the haif-faminVd lavages ! From earth 
 He raised me, weeping, and with look of peace 
 Benignant, pointed to a crimfon crofs 
 On his bright fhield pourtray'd. A milder form, 
 Yet of celeilial fweetnefs, — iuch as oft 
 My raptur'd e)'es have in the tablet trac'd 
 Of unaffected penitence; of her 
 Pleafing fimilitude — the weeping fair 
 Early from royal, but unhallow'd love, 
 To God's fole fervice flying * — Fam'd Le Brim, 
 Thy glowing pencil's mailer-piece ! Such leem'd 
 Repentance, meek approaching. From the den, 
 IIluminM and defended by faith's mield, 
 My trembling feet me led ; and having borne 
 Thro' perils infinite, and terrors wild 
 And various, — fainting almofi my fick foul- 
 She left me at a gate of glittering gold, 
 Which open'd infcantaneous at the touch 
 Of homely potter f , clad in wclfey grey} 
 And ever bending lowly to the ground 
 His modefr. countenance ! But what a fcene 
 —Admitted thro' the portal — on ray fight 
 Transported, rufli'd ! High on a fapphire throne, 
 Amidit aflame like carbuncle, fat Love, 
 Beaming forth living rays of light and joy- 
 On choral crowds of fpirits infinite, 
 
 * Faith. 
 
 + Madame de la Yaliere. This fine picture is in the Chapel of the Carmelite 
 2- uri? at P<.ris. 
 
 * Humility, 
 
 In 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON, 6l 
 
 In immortality and glory cloth'd ; 
 And hymning lofty ftrains to minftrelfy 
 Of golden harps accorded, in his praife, 
 Love, uncreate, effential $ Love, which bled ; 
 Which bleeding blanch'd to pureft white their robes, 
 And with eternal gold adorn'd their brows ! 
 
 Diflblv'd, methought, and all my fenfes rapt, 
 In vifion beatific, to a bank 
 Of purple amaranthus was I borne 
 By a iuperior genius. His white wings 
 Diltilling panacea, dove-like fpread 
 Refrefhing fragrance o'er me : Firm of brow 
 And mafcuiine he feem'd — th 1 ennobling power 
 Angelic, deftin'd in the human heart 
 To nourifh friendfhip's flame ! Uprais'd my eyes 
 As from a trance returning— " Spirit belov'd, 
 " And honour'd ever!" anxious {trait I cried, 
 « c Thrice welcome to my wifhes ! Oh impart— 
 <( For you can tell — in thefe delightful realms 
 * ( Of happinefs fupernal, fhail we know, — 
 « Say, mail we meet and know thofe deareft friends^ 
 *'* Thofe tender relatives, to whole concerns 
 « c You minifter appointed ? Shall we meet 
 *' In mutual amity ? mutual converfe hold, 
 u And live in love immortal ? — Oh relieve 
 " My aching heart's folicitude ; and fay, 
 <c Here mail I meet, here know, in boundlefs blifsj 
 " Here view tranfported, her, my life's beft friend, 
 " My forrows faithful foother I" — Gufhing tears 
 Impetuous ftopp'd my voice \ and I awoke 
 To earth, to night, to darknefs, and a jail ! 
 
 April 14, 1777. 
 
 END 0? THE FOURTH WEEK. 
 
 G WEEK 
 
k% THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 WEEK THE FIFTH. 
 
 futurity. 
 16 rpO death devote 1" Thus in the vernal bloom 
 
 ■*- Of redolent youth and beauty, on the crofs 
 Hung high her motto * ; — fhe, in name and choice 
 Of that far better part, like her fo fam'd 
 In {lory evangelical, — Sweet faint, 
 Friend of my foul, and f bother of my grief, 
 Shall I then dread in age, and worn with woe, 
 To meet the king of terrors ? — Coward fear 
 Of what we all muff meet : The primal curfe 
 Of our fir ft father refts on all his race, 
 And " Duft to duft," the charter of mankind! 
 
 But, were it poftlble, oh ! who would wifh 
 To ftretch the narrow fpan, grown tedious, dale, 
 With dull recurrence of the fame dull a&s, 
 Ev'n in its happieft itate ! A toilfome care, 
 A wearying round of clothing, food, and fleep : 
 While chequer'd over with a thoufand ills 
 Inevitably painful '- — In our frame 
 Dwell (death's artillery) difeafes dire, 
 And potent to diflodge the brittle life 
 With agonies heart-rending! In the foul 
 Lurks fin, the ferpent, with her fiery ft ing 
 Of forrow, rankling in the confcience deep, 
 Source of all mental miiery ! — From without, 
 In clofe battalion, a black troop of ills 
 Level their deep-drawn arrows at our peace ; 
 And fail not, as we pafs thro 1 life's bad road, 
 To wound th 1 unguarded traveller ! witnefs you 
 Who groan diftrefs'd beneath oppreflion's fcourge 5 
 Ingratitude's fharp tooth 5 the canker'd tongue 
 Of flander 5 fortune's lofs 3 or, bitterer far, 
 The lofs of fame, and foul- connected friends ! 
 
 Thus tax'd, thus wretched, can the man be wife 
 Who wimes to retain fo poor a boon ? 
 
 * Mifs MaryBofanquet, whofe motto, encircling a crofs, is, " Devoted to 
 Death." From fourteen years of age fhe dedicated herfelf to fincere religion and 
 to the prefent hour has perfevered in the mod exemplary line of duty. Her letters 
 to the author, in his iaft diftrefs, afforded him peculiar comfort. 
 
 Who 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 63 
 
 Who fears to render the depofit up 
 
 To his bled hands who gave it ? And who thus 
 
 Beneficent hath rang'd his moral plan, 
 
 Thus good with evil mix'd ; from earth's poor love 
 
 (School of probation) futfering man to wean, 
 
 And raife his hopes to heaven ! Silence then 
 
 The whiiper of complaint ; low in the duft 
 
 Diflatisfaclion's daemons growl unheard ! 
 
 All, all is good, all excellent below : 
 
 Pain is a blefling ; forrow leads to joy, 
 
 Joy permanent and folid ! Every ill 
 
 Bears with it love paternal : nay, ev'n death, 
 
 Grim death itfelf, in all its horrors clad, 
 
 Is man's fupremeft privilege ! It frees 
 
 The foul from prifon, from foul fin, from woe, 
 
 And gives it back to glory, reft, and God ! 
 
 When will its welcome meflage lay at peace 
 My burden 'd, beating heart ? — Oh ft range ! to point 
 Thy darts, inexorable tyrant, there, 
 Where life laughs crown'd with roles j when thefe arras, 
 Familiar to thy fifter Sorrow's fold, 
 Would fo delighted hug thee ! But thou lov'il 
 Full oft the nobleft quarry, higheft aim : 
 Lov'ft, unfufpecled, and with iilent ftep, 
 To fteal on the fecure : Lov'ft to deal round 
 Tremendous and impartial thy ftern ftrokes, 
 AfTerting terrible o'er human-kind 
 Thy empire irrefiftible : And now 
 At monarchs, now at mimics, grinning fcorn, 
 Thy hand indifferent hurls the twanging fhaft. 
 
 Ah, what a groupe of primeft deer lie pierc'd, 
 Thou Hunter all- victorious, at thy feet 5 
 Since to thy empire dedicate I fell 
 From life's bright hope, and languifh'd in this grave, 
 This living, doleful iepulchre immur'd ! 
 
 Not all thy gold or orient pearl could fave 
 Thee, Lufitania's monarch, from the ftroke 
 Impending long and dread ! Nor, Terrick*, thee, 
 
 * Bifliop of London. 
 
 G z Thy 
 
64. THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 Thy mitre and thy rochet ! Enfigns bleft, 
 When worn with fanctity ; then furely changed 
 For crown cf gold, and robe of fpotiefs white 1 
 
 See, neither can the coronet, nor garb 
 Of errahrd pomp, from Temple* turn afide 
 The levelPd blow j nor, higher far in price, 
 Th' uplifted fhield of Janflen's honeft heart I 
 Lo ! too, as if in fcorn of purpled pride, 
 And all life's glories, in this high parade 
 Funereal marches, tragic- aclor now 
 He who fo late light on the comic fock 
 Trode the gay ftage, and bade with laughter's burft 
 Involuntary the throng'd theatres relbund ! 
 Ah, food for worms, poor Woodward, thou, no lefs 
 Than patriots, princes, counteffes and priefts ! 
 Death fcorns diftinclions : But, defpotic power, 
 Clotrfd in his direft terrors, here he reigns, 
 Here revels ! Here, with bittereft vengeance fhak«s 
 O'er trembling convict, s his determin'd fhaft, 
 And gluts himfelf with horror ! See him lead 
 From yonder darkfome cell, all pale with woe, 
 That ftranger-f* finking ! who, in Jucklefs hour, 
 With rafli hand pierc'd the bofom he ador'd, 
 Nor drank of comfort more ! half in his heart 
 The black lance fettering flicks ; and death himfelf, 
 However relentlefs, ere he drives it home, 
 Of ftrange commiferation feels a pang, 
 Reluctant to his office ! — 
 
 But, that fliriek— 
 Thrilling with dread— whence is it ? 'Tis the voice 
 Of female mifery, burfting thro' the crowd 
 To the lone dungeon : view that lovely formj, 
 
 * Countefs of Temple. 
 
 +■ Alluding to Tolofa, a poor unhappy Spaniard, latelv executed for the murder 
 of his female friend. He took fcarce 'any fuftenance from the time of the fact, 
 and was more than half dead when conveyed to the place of execution. 
 
 j This alio alludes to a miferable catattrophe, which happened her on the 
 morning of a late execution. The poor young woman who came to vifit her huf- 
 band, had lain in butfeven days. As fooii as the hunSand's fetters were knocked 
 off, he ftepped afide, and cut his throat in a dilmal manner ; but not quite fuflti- 
 ciently to rlnifh his exiftence ;— And in that ihocking itate— paid his debt— at the 
 deftined place. 
 
 Decked 
 
^ 
 
«ir Classics . 
 
 niyS-Cprbauld. IrmUdffrC.CooluJPata7ix>Jtzr£cnvJki0 r 6.i [ $j& EngrwtdTty cyfarrtru 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 6$ 
 
 Deck'd In the neater! white, — yet not (6 white 
 And wan as her wild vifage : " Keep me not,"" 
 Raving flie cries, " Keep me not, cruel, from him. 
 *' He dies this morn ; I know it ! he's condemn'd 5 
 " The dreadful judge has done it ! He muft die, 
 " My hufband ! and I'm come, clad in my beft, 
 €f To go and fuffer with him ! I have brought 
 <c Sweet flowers to cheer him, and to ftrew his corfe, 
 " Pale, pale, and fpeechlefs lies it! — Hufband, come! 
 " The little infant, fruit of our glad loves, 
 <( Smil'd on me, as with parting breath I bleft, 
 (( And kifs'd the dear babe for thee ! 'Tis but young ; 
 M 'Tis tender yet 5 — feven days is young in life : 
 (i Angels will guard my little innocent : 
 m Thy'll feed it, tho' thou could'ft not find it food, 
 " And its poor mother too ! — And fo thou dy'ft ! 
 " For me and it thou dy'ft ! But not alone, 
 " Thou malt not go alone ; I will die with thee : 
 " Sweet mercy be upon us ! Hence, hence, hence !" 
 Impetuous then, her white arms around his neck 
 She threw 5 and, with deep groans would pierce a rock, 
 Sunk fainting, Oh the huioand's, father's pangs, 
 Stopping all utterance ! Up to Heaven he roll'd 
 His frantic eyes 5 and (taring wildly round 
 In defperation's madnefs, to his heart 
 Drove the deftruclive fteel ! — Fell death, 
 Would'ft thou a fuller triumph ? — Oh my wife, 
 How difmal to our ears the mrieks, the groans ! — 
 And what a crowd of wild ideas prefs 
 Diftracling on the foul ! " Merciful Heaven, 
 « c In pity fpare us ! Say, It is enough, 
 « And bid the avenging angel flay his hand V 
 
 Death bars the plea ; and with this thundering ftalk 
 Brufhing befide us, calls, in folemn found, 
 Heed to his dart grief-pointed. Its keen ftroke, 
 Ah gentle Eleonora* ! gives at once 
 Relief to thy o'er-burden'd breaft ! to ours 
 
 * Mrs. Dodd's fifter ; who, in the midft of our forrows, did — what fhe never 
 did before — augment them, by dying of a -heart broken with grief for our 
 calamity. Oh roifery ! * 
 
 G ^ Ahguifli 
 
66 THOUGHTS INT PRISON. 
 
 AnguiiTi unutterable ! 'Tis ours he wounds, 
 Thou amiable friend ! — whofe languid eye 
 Ne'er rais'd a look from earth fince that fad hour 
 When funk my fun ! Thou, who from earlieft youth 
 Haft humbly i ought thy God, thou art at peace : 
 Happy, thrice happy, on that golden more, 
 Where from the toiling of thefe troublous waves 
 We foon mall land. Oh flay affectionate, 
 Oh wait, and welcome us ! Or, if in Heaven 
 Bleft faints retain concern for thofe on earth 
 Held in the dearefl amity, become 
 Thy darling lifter's gurdian ! As from youth, 
 From childhood's dwan, her dear maternal guide, 
 Be now, lov'd fpirit, in this hour of woe 
 Her angel-comfort, her fupport ! Alas, 
 What talk I of fupport ! thou mercy's God ! 
 When ail her conducl , by the grace infpir'd— 
 When all her patient gentlenefs and love, 
 Her fortitude unparallel'd, and peace, 
 Have thee their Author: Be the glory thine ! 
 
 But fay, my foul, 'mid ft thefe alarming calls, 
 This dread familiarity with death ; 
 Our common debt, from infancy's fhfr. cry 
 Denounc'd, expected, tho' its fure approach 
 Lurks in uncertainty's obfcureft night ; — - 
 Our common debt, which babes and paired feers, 
 Princes and pilgrims, equally muft pay ; — 
 Say, caiift thou feel reluctance to di (charge 
 The claim inevitable ? Senfelefs he, 
 Who in life's gaudieft moments fondly ftrives 
 To turn his eyes unheeding from the view, 
 Inftructive. 'Midft thofe moments, deep it dwelt 
 On mv reflecting mind* ! a mind which iiv'd 
 More in the future than the prefent world ; 
 Which frequent call'd by duty's folemn voice 
 From earth's low icen&s, on thofe fublimer far 
 Hath ever thought delighted ; and thofe thoughts 
 Conveying to mankind, in them defires 
 
 •Reflections ou Death— Thoughts in Epiphany--Sernion on Mutual Knowledge ,&c 
 
 Its 
 
 
THOUGHTS IH PRISON. 67 
 
 Its real tranfcript, its refembiance true 
 May be furvey'd — the picture of itfelf. 
 For, whatfoe'er may be our earthly Hate, 
 The mind's the man. My humble labours, then, 
 When refts my part corporeal in the dull, 
 Hang up my living portrait ! — And to give 
 Thofe labours all their force, iurnmon'd I itand 
 By awful Providence, to realize 
 The theoretic leffons I have taught. 
 And lo ! composed, I fix my dying feal 
 In atteftation to their truth, their power, 
 Felt at my heart, my inmoft confcience felt 5 
 Imparting triumph o^er life's love $ o'er death 
 Confummate exultation! while my foul 
 Longs to go forth, and pants for endleis day* 
 But who can wonder, that amid ft the woes, 
 Like a fwoln torrent, which with frightful roar 
 Have burft deftrucllve o'er me ; 'mid ft the lofs 
 Of all things dear, Fame, Honour Peace, and Reft \ 
 Amidft the cruel fpoiling of my goods, 
 The bittereft rancour of envenom" 1 d fpite, 
 And calumny unfeeling* ; — what fur prize 
 That my weanM foul, above this worldly wreck, 
 "With anxious expectation waits the call 
 From malancholy mourning ami din grief, 
 To everlafting giadnefs ? Powerful Hope, 
 And all-fufficient to iuftain the foul, 
 Tho' walking thro' the darkeft vale of woe 1 
 Who (hall diiprove that Hope ? or who pretend 
 By fubtie fophiftry that foul to rob 
 Of its chief anchor, choiceil privilege, 
 And nobleft coniblation — w Stedfaft Faith, 
 " In great Futurity's extended fcene : 
 
 I ** Ererni r y of Being?" All things round 
 
 " Arife in brighter! proof: I fee it, feel it, 
 Thro' all my faculties, thro' all my powers, 
 Pervading irrefiftible. Each groan 
 
 * Numherlcfs letters, of n rani unchriftUn, horrid, an'l cruel nature,, were 
 continually fent to him in the height or hisdiftrelTes. Vet fogae of thei'e Letter 
 B'^rcfsibfcribed, A Lady, A Cbriftian, or, A Chriftiao Brother. 
 
 Sen/ 
 
68 THOUGHTS IN PRISON.. 
 
 Sent from my farrowing heart ; each icalding tear 
 
 From my convicted eyes ; each fervent prayer 
 
 By meek repentance oifer'd np to Heaven, 
 
 AfTerts my immortality? proclaims 
 
 A pardoning Deity and future world, 
 
 Nor lefs the thought, chill, comfortlefs, abhorr'd, 
 
 Of loath' d annihilation ! — From the view, 
 
 Humiliating, mean, unworthy man, 
 
 Almoft unworthy reptiles, — Glad I turn, 
 
 And triumph in exiftence ! Nay, each ill 
 
 And every mundane trouble preaches loud 
 
 The fame important truth. I read it fair 
 
 And legibly engraved on all below: 
 
 On ail the inequalities difcern'd 
 
 In this perplexing, mix'd, and motley fcene j 
 
 In every rank and order of mankind * ; 
 
 Nay, in the wifeft fyftem of our laws, 
 
 Inadequate, imperfect., — and full oft 
 
 Unjuft and cruel ; in this difmal jail, 
 
 And in the prouder! palaces alike 
 
 I read, and glory to trace out the marks 
 
 Irrefragably clear of future life; 
 
 Of retribution's juft and equal ftate. 
 
 So reafon urges j while fair Nature's felf, 
 At this fweet feafon f , joyfully throws in 
 Her atteftation lovely : bids the fun, 
 All bounteous, pour his vivifying light, 
 To rouie and waken from their wint'ry death 
 The vegetable tribe ! Frefh from their graves, 
 At his refiftlefs fummons, ftart they forth, 
 A verdent refurre&ion ! In each plant, 
 Each flower, each tree to blooming life reftor'd, 
 I trace the pledge, the earneft, and the type 
 Of man's revival ; of his future rife 
 And victory o'er the grave, — compell'd to yield 
 
 * See Macleane's Anfwer to Jenyns, &c. p. 52. 
 •f spring. See my Poem on the Epiphany, ver. 131, &c. I would have 
 that Poem co-fidered, in dependence with this, as i«y ferious thoughts on 
 thefe a'.vful fubjedb. in an early period of my lite; and which, in this laft 
 and dreadful one, 1 find no »eafon to alter. 
 
 Her 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 69 
 
 Her facred, rich depofit, from the feed 
 Corrupt and mortal, and immortal frame 
 Glorious and incorruptible 5 like his, 
 The Sun of righteoufnefs, whofe living power 
 The mighty work mall operate ! Yes, bright fource 
 Of fpiritual life ! — the immaterial world 
 Pervading, quickening, gladdening, — in the rays 
 Full-orbM of revelation, thy prime gift, 
 I view difplay'd, magnificent, and full, 
 What reaion, nature, in dim darknefs teach, 
 Tho' vifible, not diftinct : I read with joy 
 Man^s high prerogative ; tranfported read 
 The certain, clear difcovery of life 
 And immortality, announc'd by thee, 
 Parent of truth, celeftial viiitant, 
 Fountain of all intelligence divine ! 
 Of that high immortality the King, 
 And of that life the Author ! How man mounts j> 
 Mounts upon angel- wings, when fiePd, fecurM 
 In that fublime inheritance $ when feen 
 As a terreftrial ftranger here j a god 
 ConnVd a while in prifon of the flefh, 
 Soon, foon to foar, and meet his brother-gods 
 His fellows, in eternity ! — How creeps, 
 How grovels human nature • What a worm, 
 An infect of an hour, poor, {infill, fad; 
 Defpis'd and defpicable, reptile-like 
 Crawls man, his moment on his ant-hill here? 
 —Marking his little mining path with {lime,— 
 If limited to earth's brief round 
 His painful, narrow views ! Like the poor moth, 
 By lights delufive to deft ruction led 9 
 Still ftruggling oft its horrors to evade, 
 . Still more and more invoked $ in flame he lives 
 His tranfient toilfome minute, and expires 
 In luffbcating fmoke. 
 
 Hume, thou art gone! 
 Amidft the catalogue of thoie mow'd down 
 
 B 
 
 / 
 
JO THOUGHTS IN PRISON, 
 
 By time's huge fey the, late noted # ; Thou, be fure, 
 Waft not forgotten ! Author thou has gain'd 
 Thy vaft ambition's fummit : Fame was thine j 
 Wealth too, beyond thy ampleft wifh's bound, 
 Encompafs'd thee : and lo, the pageant ends 1 
 For who without companion's generous tear, 
 Thy mind at once capacious and humane, 
 Can view, to truth, to hope immortal dead ? 
 Thy penetrating reafon, iubtle, ftrong, 
 Hoodwinked by dark infatuation's veil : 
 And all thy fine and manly lenfe employ'd 
 Ev'n on eternity's thrice awful verge, 
 To trifle with the wonders of a ftate 
 Refpeclably alarming ! of a ftate 
 Whofe being gives to man — had given to thee 
 (Accepted by the humble hand of faith) 
 True glory, iblid fame, and boundlefs wealth ! - 
 Treasures that wax not old. 
 
 Oh the high bleflings of humility ! 
 Man's firft and richeft grace ! Of virtue, truth, 
 Knowledge and exaltation, certain fource, 
 And mod abundant : Pregnant of all good j 
 And, poor in fliew, to treafures infinite 
 Infallibly conducting ; her fure gift ! 
 So, when old Hyems has deform' d the year, 
 We view, on fam'd Burgundia's craggy cliffs, 
 The flow vines, fcarce diftincl, on the brown earth 
 Neglecled lie and grovelling 5 — promife poor, 
 From plant i'o humble, of the fwelling grape 
 In glowing clufters purpling o'er the hills :— 
 When all impregnating rolls forth the fun, 
 And from the mean ftalk pours a lufcious flood 
 of juice ne£tareous thro' the laughing land I 
 
 Nervous efTayift ! haply had thy pen, 
 Of mafculine ability, this theme 
 Purfued intelligent ; from lowly heart 
 Delineating true the features mild 
 
 * see Mr. Hume's Life written by himfelf ; with a letter by Dr. Smith gir. 
 «g an account of his Death. 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON* 71 
 
 Of genuine humility 5 mankind, 
 Now 'wilder'd by thy fophiftry, had blefs'd 
 And honoured well thy teaching : whilft thyfelf 
 Secure had fail'd and happy, nor been caft, 
 On pride's black rocks, or empty fcorn's bleak fhore ! 
 
 Proud fcorn, how poor and blind — how it at once 
 Deftroys the fight, and makes us think we fee ! 
 While defperate ridicule in wit's wild hands 
 Implants a dangerous weapon ! How it warps 
 From clear difcernment, and conclufions juft, 
 Ev'n captive reafon's felf ! How gay fce'er— • 
 (Ah mifplac'd gaiety on fuch a theme) 
 In life's laft hour ! — on Charon's crazy bark, 
 On Tartarus and Elifium, and the pomp 
 Solemn and dreaded of dark pagans Heil ! 
 Thy reafoning powers knew well, full well to draw 
 Deductions true from fables grofs as thefe, 
 By poets fancy heighten'd ! Well thou knew'ft 
 The deep intelligence, the folid truth 
 Conceal'd beneath the myflic tale ; well knew'ft 
 Fables like thefe, familiar to mankind 
 In every nation, every clime, through earth 
 Widely dilfeminate, through earth proclaim'd 
 In language ftrong, intelligent and clear, 
 " A future ftate retributive." Thou knew'ft, 
 That in each age the wife embrac'd the truth, 
 And gloried in an hope, how dim foe'er, 
 Which thou amidft the blaze, the noon-day blaze 
 Of chriftian information, madly fcorn'dft 
 And diedft infulting ! Hail of ancient times, 
 Worthies and fam'd believers ! Plato, hail ! 
 And thou, immortal Socrates, of Rome 
 Prime ornament and boaft ! my Tully, hail $ 
 Friend and companion of my (tudious life, 
 In eloquence and found philofophy 
 Alike fuperlative ! — with minds enlarg'd, 
 Yet teachable and modeft, how ye fought, 
 You and your kindred fouls, — how daily dug 
 For wifdom as the labourer in the mines i 
 
 How 
 
?3 THOUGHTS IN FRISO?f, 
 
 How groped, in fancy's and dark fable's night, 
 Your way affiduous, painful ! How diicerrfd 
 By the mind's trembling, unamfted fight,-— 
 (Or, haply, aided by a fcatter'd ray 
 Or diftant revelation, half extinct) 
 The glimmering of a dawn ; the twinkling ftajf 
 Of day-light far remote I How iigh'd fincere 
 For fuller information ! and how long'd, 
 How panted for admimon to that world 
 O'er which hung veils impervious ! Sages, yes, 
 Your fearch ingenuous proves it : every page 
 Immortal of your writing (peaks this truth ! 
 Hear, ye minute philosophers ^ ye herd 
 Of mean half-thinkers, who chief glciy place 
 In boldnefs to arraign and judge your God, 
 And think that fingularity is lenie ! 
 Hear and be humbled : Socrates himfelf *— 
 And him you boaft your matter, — would have falks 
 In humble, thankful reverence at the feet 
 of Jeius — and drank wifdom from his tongue I 
 Divineft fountain \ from the copious iheam 
 Then drink we freely, gladly, plenteous draughts 
 Of ever- living wifdom > knowledge clear, 
 And otherwiie attainlefs of that itate 
 Supernal, glorious : where, in angel- form 
 And angel-bleiTcdnefsf, from Dea:h's dread power, 
 From Sin's dominion, and from Sorrow's fenie 
 Emancipated ever, we mall mare 
 Complete, uninterrupted, bound leis blifs ; 
 Inceffant flowing forth from God's right hand, 
 Well of perennial joy J ! Our moral powers, 
 By perfect pure benevolence enlarged, 
 With universal (ympathy, mall glow 
 Love's flame ethereal ! And from God himfelf, 
 Loves primal fource, and ev.tr- bl effing fun, 
 Keceive, and round communicate the warmth 
 
 * Alluding to his celebrated viifh of divine Illumination from fome tUpetht 
 power. 
 
 •f 1 5-^775X0; . 
 t See Vfalm xiv. »a. 
 
 Of 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 73 
 
 Of gladnefs and of glory I Then (hall rule, 
 From dregs of fordid intereft defecate, 
 Immortal friend&ip. Then too mail we trace — 
 With minds congenial and athirft for truth 
 Sincere and fimple, the Creator's works, 
 lllumin'd by the intellectual foul, 
 Refin'd, exalted ! — Animating thought ! 
 To talk with Plato, or with Newton tread 
 Thro 1 empyrean fpace the boundlefs track 
 Of {tars erratic, or the comet vague 
 With fiery luftre wandering thro' the depths 
 Of the blue void, exhauftlefs, infinite ; 
 While all its wonders, all its myftic ufe, 
 Expand themfelves to the admiring fight I 
 Defcending then from the celeftial range 
 Of planetary worlds, how bleft to walk 
 And trace with thee, nature's true lover, Hale, 
 — In fcience fage and venerable — trace 
 Thro" 1 vegetation's principle, the God I 
 Read in each tube, capillary, and root, 
 In every leaf and blofTom, fruit and flower, 
 Creative energy, coniummate art, 
 Beauty and bounty blended and complete ! 
 Oh what a burft of wifdom and delight, 
 Intelligence and pleafure, to engage 
 Th' enraptur'd mind for ages ! 'Twere too fhort 
 Eternity itfelf, with reafoning queft 
 To fearch, to contemplate great nature's God 
 Thro' all his nature's works ! Suns, ftars, and fkies> 
 With all their vaft and elemental (tore : 
 Seas, with their finny myriads : birds that wing 
 With glittering pinions the elaftic air, 
 And fill the woods with mufic : Animals, 
 That feed, that clothe, that labour for their lord, 
 Proud man ; and half up to his reafon climb 
 By inftincl: marvellous ! Fruits, that infinite 
 In glow and tafte refrefh creation's toil : 
 And flowers, that rich in icent their incenfe fweet 
 ■—Delicious offering both to Gcd and man, — 
 
 H Breathe 
 
74 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 Breathe free from velvet variegated hues, 
 And {peak celeftial kindnefs then from thefe 
 His leffer wonders — Fam'd anatomifts, 
 Ye, who vrith fcrupulous, but Mill painful fearcri* 
 Pore doubtful in the dark recefs of life ; 
 Then turn we, Chefelden, to man 5 fo form'd 
 With fear and wonder by the matter- hand, 
 And learn we, fromdiicovery of the fprings 
 Of this divine automaton : the blood 
 In nimble currents courfing thro* the veins 
 And purple arteries ; the fibres fine ; 
 The tubal nerves, fo ramified, and quick 
 To keen fen fat km j all the various parts 
 So complicate, yet diftincl ; adapted each 
 Its functions with minuteneis to fulfil, 
 While to the one great end concurring all 
 With harmony unvarying ! — Learn we hence 
 The wifdom exquifite, which gave to life, 
 To motion, this his prime, his chief machine ! 
 And fuperadded, in his love's diiplay, 
 The foul's fuperior, intellectual rule, 
 Connection wonderful ! and till that hour 
 Of all-expanding knowledge, to man's mind 
 Inexplicable ilill, and ftili unknown ! 
 
 How rife upon the thought, to truth attent, 
 Truths new and interesting, 'midft this field 
 Of univerfal fcience ! — Nor mall then 
 The fpirifs feat and influence on our frame, 
 Grofs and material, be alone evolvM 
 To our aftonifiVd viCw. Spirit itfelf, 
 Its nature, properties, diftinclions, powers, 
 — Deep fubjecl of investigation deep, 
 And chief refolver of man's anxious doubts j 
 Tho' to his fight impoffible, or iearch, 
 While darkened by mortality — iliail rife, 
 Soon as he burfts the barrier of the grave, 
 Clear and familiar on his hght enlarged : 
 Seen in himfelf, beatify 'd, and cloth'd 
 With lpiritual glory : in the angelic world 
 
 Sun 
 
THOUGHTS IN FRISON. 75 
 
 Seen and admir'd. And — oh ecftatic view, 
 Whofe fight is perfect blifs, transforming, pure*,— 
 Seen and ador'd in Thee, great firft and laft, 
 Sole, felf-exiftent Thou the gracious cauie 
 Of all exigence ; Infinitely bleit, 
 Yet pleafed with life and being to impart 
 That blefling to innumerous creatures round! 
 Spirit of the nni verfe, thro' all diffus'd, 
 And animating all ! Dread Triune Godf , 
 With beams exhauftlefs of eternal love, 
 Of life, of glory, from thy central throne 
 Shining beneficent : and kindling warm 
 In every being fubjecl: to thy rule, 
 Devotion's rapture and thanksgiving's fong j 
 Mellifluous fongs, and hallelujahs high ! 
 New wonders elevate ! For not alone 
 By contemplation up to nature's God 
 From nature's work's afcending, mall the foul 
 Beatified receive in future blifs 
 Acceffions of delight through endlefs day : — 
 Lo, what a fcene, engaging and profound, 
 Prefents itfelf the darkening curtain drawn-— 
 From the high acts of Providence, difplay'd 
 In one clear view confident j in one end 
 Important, grand, concentering: one defign 
 Superlatively gracious, through the whole 
 Purfued invariably ; even from the hour 
 When pafs'd the (enrence on the ierpent's head, 
 To that thrice-awful moment, when the Son 
 His viclor-c-ar o'er death and hell fhall drive 
 Triumphant, and bolt fall the gates of time ! 
 
 * There muft be fyrnpathy in the future ftate to render it uniformly com- 
 plete and perfect. We can have no pleafure in God, or God in us, but from that 
 fyrnpathy arifing from fimilitude. We muft he made like God to enjoy beatific 
 virion. Ering a bad man to Heaven, with a foul encrufted and fenfualited, he 
 would have no pleafure in it ; nor could he endure the fight, any more than 
 reptiles that grovel in a caveami.^ft filth and darknefs, could endure the fplen- 
 dorsofthe mid-day fun. Shakefneare's defcription is, in this view, highly 
 animated: 
 
 *' For vice, tho' to a radiant Angel link'd 
 
 *' Would fate itfelf in a celeftial bed, 
 
 4t And pre yon garbage." 
 ♦ See Maclean's A-nfwer to ;enyn'«, p. 72. 
 
 H z Unroll'd 
 
76 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 UnrolPd the myftic volume, we behold 
 In characters of wifdom ftrong pourtray'd 
 The rife and fall of empires : in thy hand 
 Omnipotent, or inftruments of good, 
 Or of thy juftice punitive and dread 
 Awful difpenfers ! There, of heroes, kings, 
 Sages, and faints, of prophets and of priefts, 
 Thy diftributions difficult, but wife, 
 Bifcerning, mall we gratefully adore : 
 And in the long, long chain of feeming chancej 
 And accidents fortuitous, mall trace 
 Omnifcience all-combining, guiding all ! 
 No difpeniations then will ieem too hard, 
 Through temporary ills to blifsful life 
 Leading, tho' labyrinthal ! All will mine 
 In open day : all, o'er the mighty plan, 
 Difcover Thee, with wifdom infinite 
 Prefiding glorious : All thy ftedfaft truth, 
 And love paternal, manifeft j while falls 
 The proftrate world of fpirits, angels, faints, 
 In adoration's homage 'fore thy throne ! 
 
 Nor to our earth, or earth's poor confines bound : 
 The foul dilated, glorified and free, 
 On feraph's wings mail foar, and drink in glad, 
 New draughts of high delight from each furvey 
 Of its Creators kingdoms ! Pleas'd mail pafs 
 From fear to ftar j from planetary worlds, 
 And fyftems far remote, to fyftems, worlds 
 Remoter ftill, in boundlefs depths of fpace ; 
 Each peopled with its myriads : and mall learn 
 The wife and ftricl dependence of the whole 5 
 Concatenation finking of thy works, 
 All-perfect, mighty Mafter! Wonder-loll 
 In thelaft view of fyftems numberlefs, 
 Ail regular, in one eternal round 
 Of beauteous order roiling ! All defign'd 
 With fkill confummate, tending to one goal, 
 And manifeft ing all, in characters 
 Tranfparent as the diamond's brilliant blaze, 
 
 Their 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON* 77 
 
 Their Sovereign Ruler's unity of will, 
 His all-efficient wifdom, and his love, 
 In grace and glory infinite; the chain 
 Connecting firm, and through its every link 
 Transfufing life's ineffable delights ! 
 Oh goodnefs providential ! fleepiefs care ! 
 Intent, as ever bleft, to blefs the whole ! 
 What plaudits from that whole are due, mail burft 
 From full creation's ui.iverfal choir 1 
 
 Then, oh tranfporting ! mail the icheme profound, 
 Heaven's labour, and of angels anxious thought 
 Sublimed meditation ; — then mall blaze 
 In fulleft glory on the race redeem'd, 
 Redemption's boundleis mercy ! — High in Heav'n, 
 To millions bleft, rejoicing in its grace, 
 And hymning all its bounties, ihall the crofs, 
 Thy crofs, ail- conquering Saviour be difplay'd, 
 While feraphs veil their glories, and while men, 
 Thronging innumerable, proftrate fall 
 Before thy feet, and to the bleeding Lamb 
 Afcribe their free falvation!-~ 
 
 'Midft that throng 
 Of fpirits juftified, and thro' thy blood 
 Cleans'd, perfected, and bleft, might I be found, 
 To fcenes r o high exalted ; to fuch views 
 Ennobling brought, fuch intellect reftVd, 
 Such light and love, fuch holinefs and peace ; 
 Such fpheres of (cience, and fuch realms of reft ! . 
 Ah, how I'd fcorn the paflage {trait of death, 
 How doleful e'er and horrid ! How I'd look 
 With ftedfaftnefs unlhaken through the grave, 
 Ana (mile o'er all its fadnefs ! How I'd rife. 
 Exulting, great Forerunner, o'er the waves 
 And bitternefs of life ! How, fmiiing, court 
 £v'n the fell hand of horror, to dilmifs 
 From earth, from darknefs, my delighted foul 
 To Heaven, to God, and everlafting day ! 
 
 Teacher of truth, bleft Jeiii ! — On the throne 
 Of majefty co-equal thou who fiu'it 
 
 H 3 From 
 
78 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 From all eternity in glory's blaze 
 With thy Almighty Father ! Thou, benign, 
 From bofom of that Father haft brought down 
 Intelligence to man of this bleft ftate 
 Confolatory, rational j and fraught 
 With every good beyond the higheft reach 
 Of man's fupreme conception! How fhall then 
 In equal languageman his homage pay, 
 Or grateful laud thy goodnefs ! Sons of Greece, 
 Or ye, who in old times, of fevenfold Nile, 
 Proud Tyber, or the Ganges 1 facred flood 
 Religious drank, and to your daemon's dark 
 Paid fuperftition's tribute ; — tho' I trace 
 Delighted, in your viiions of the world 
 Beyond the grave, your dreams of future life,— 
 Proofs of that life's firm credence, of your faith 
 In the foul's deathlefs nature 5— yet with tears 
 Of human pity, humbled o'er the fenfe 
 Of human imbecility, I read 
 Your futile fables, puerile and poor; 
 To the foul's life, to virtue's godlike love 
 Unanimatirig, ufelefs ; while illum'd 
 By gofpel-iplendor, — elfe, no doubt, as dark 
 And worthy pity — owns my heart rejoie'd, 
 That gofpel's eminence of wifdom, truth, 
 And heavenly emanation, in its traits 
 Of future life fnperlatively drawn 1 
 
 And who could paint that life, that fcene defcrjbe 
 Immortal, and all-glorious, from the view 
 Of mortals fhrouded ever, — fave the Son, 
 Who from eternity that life enjoyed \ 
 And came in condefcenlion to reveal 
 A glimpfe of its perfection to mankind ? 
 
 Preemption vain and arrogant in man, 
 To think of fketching with his weak, faint line, 
 A fcene fo much above him ! And behold 
 That vain prelum pticn punifh'd as it ought, 
 In Arahy's Impoftor, dark and lew'd ; 
 Who dar'u, with temporary follies fraught, 
 
 And 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 79 
 
 And low felf-intereft, ftalking in the van 
 Of mad ambition's route — to cheat his train, 
 Deluded by his darings, with the hope 
 Of fenfual ravifhment, and carnal joys 
 Perpetual in the Paradife of God ; 
 RefervM — for fons of murder and of luft ! 
 
 Shame on the impious madnefs ! — Nor lefs mame 
 Muff, truth indignant dart on thofe who boaft 
 Exclufive Chriftianity j yet dare 
 Prefumptuous, in their fancied penal fire 
 To fetter the free foul, " till the foul fins 
 <e Done in its days of nature be purged out 
 " And burn'd away* ;" unlefs by lucky chance 
 The oft-repeated mafs, thro 1 potent gold, — 
 All-facred influence! — gahVd, unlocks the door 
 Of difmal prifon-houfe, and gives the foul 
 EnfrancmVd, up to Peter's better care! 
 
 Prepofterous, weak delufion ! ftrange reproach 
 To Chriftian fapience, and to manly fenfe ! 
 But not to Chrift's true gofpel, and the code 
 Of Revelation pure ; before whofe light, 
 Refpendently informing, fables old 
 Like thefe, and vain (of ignorauce the birth, 
 Or coinage facerdotal, in an age 
 Of grofs Cimmerian darknefs), growling hide 
 Their ignominious heads : as birds of night, 
 Reptiles, and beaffs of prey before the fun, 
 Mounting the mifty hills, in fplendor robM, 
 And beaming all around refulgent day ! 
 
 Other, far other, from that luminous code 
 Breaks on the rational, enlightenM mind 
 In perfect beauty that exalted flate, 
 Of whofe high excellence our fight hath dar'd, 
 How dim foe'er, to take an humble glimpfe, 
 And peep into its wonders ! — But what tongue 
 Of man in language adequate can tell, 
 What mortal pencil worthily pourtray 
 That excellence, thofe wonders — where nor death 
 
 * See Hamlet. 
 
8o THOUGHTS ttf PRISON. 
 
 Nor fin, nor painfhall enter ever;— where, 
 Each ill excluded, every good fhall reign ; 
 Where day (hall ne'er decline; butceafelefs light 
 —The Lamb's eternal luftre — blazing bleis 
 With falutary glory ! where fhall rmile 
 One fpring unvarying j and glad nature teem 
 Spontaneous with exuberance of bounty ! 
 Where, in immortal health, the frame fublim'd, 
 Refin'd, exalted thro' the chymic grave, 
 In union with the foul made perfecl, pure, 
 And to the likenefs of its God transformed, 
 Shall find for every {^ylCq divine employ, 
 Gratification ample, exquifite, 
 Angelical, and holy: Chief in fight,. 
 In vifion beatific of its God ; 
 In bleit communion of his love ; in praife, 
 High choral praife, ftrung to the golden harp 
 In untfon eternal, with the throng, 
 Thoufands of thoufands that furround the throne, 
 And feel his praife, their glory, and their blifs ! 
 
 There too his works conftant th 1 adoring foul 
 Shall pleas'd inveftigate ; and conftant find 
 Frefh well-fpring of delight j there conftant fliare 
 The lov'd fociety and converfe high 
 Of all the good, the wife, the truly great 
 Of every age and clime ; with faints and feers 
 Divine communication holding, rapt 
 Perpetually in new and deep difplays 
 Of wifdom boundleis, and of perfect love. 
 Then too, oh joy ! amidft this blaze of good, 
 This ccnfummation rich of higheit blifs ; 
 Then mail we meet, — meet never more to part, 
 Dear, dear, departed friends ! and then enjoy 
 Eternal amity. My parents then, 
 My youth's companions* !— From my moiftenM cheeks 
 Dry the unworthy tear ! Where art thou, Death ? 
 Is this a caufe for mourning ? — What a ftatc 
 Of happinefs exalted hes before me ! 
 
 * See Thoughts on the Eyiphanyj yer. 331, &c. 
 
 X-0, 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 8l 
 
 Lo my bar'd boiom ! Strike : — I court the blow : 
 I long, I pant for everlafting day, 
 For glory, immortality, and God ! 
 
 But, ah, why droops my foul ? why o'er .me thus 
 Comes a chill cloud ? Such triumph well befuits 
 The faithful chriftian ? thee had fuited well, 
 If haply perfevering in the courfe, 
 As firft thy race exuhingly began. 
 But thou art fallen, fallen! Oh my heart, 
 What dire compunction ! — funk in foul offence 
 A prifoner, and condemn'd : an outcaft vile 5 
 Bye- word and fcorn of an indignant world, 
 Who reprobate with horror thy ill deed : 
 Turn from thee loath'd, and to damnation ju ft 
 Affign, unpitying, thy devoted head, 
 Loaded with every infamy ! 
 
 Dread God 
 Of Juftice and of Mercy ! wilt thou too, 
 In fearful indignation on my foul, 
 My anguinYd foul, the door of pity clofe, 
 And flmt me from thee ever ? — Lo ! in duft, 
 Humiliant, proftrate, weeping 'fore thy throne—* 
 Before thy crofs, oh dying Friend of man, 
 Friend of repentant finners I confefs, 
 And mourn my deep tranfgreflions j as the fand 
 Innumerous, as the glowing crimfon red 5 
 With every aggravation, every guilt 
 Accumulate and burden'd ! Againft light, 
 'Gainft love and clearer!: knowledge perpetrate ! 
 Stampt with ingratitude's moil odious itain 5 
 Ingratitude to thee ; whofe favouring love 
 Had blefs'd me, had diftinguinVd me with grace, 
 With goodnefs far beyond my wifh or worth 1 
 Ingratitude to man ; whofe partial ear 
 Attended to my doctrine with delight 5 
 And from my zeal confpicuous juftly claim'd 
 Conipicuous example !< — —Lord, I fink 
 O'erwhelmM with felf conviction, with difmay, 
 With anguifh and confufion paft compare 1 
 
 And 
 
 
%1 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 And could I weep whole leas of briny tears 
 In painful penitence ; could I deplore 
 From my heart's aching fountain, drop by drop, 
 My crimes and follies j my deep grief and fhame. 
 For vile difhonour on thy goipel brought j 
 For vile difcredit to my order done ; 
 For deep offence againfl my country's laws! 
 For deep offence to pity and to man,-— 
 A patriarchal age would be too fhort 
 To fpeak my forrows and lament my fins ; 
 Chief, as I am, of finners! Guiltier far 
 Than he who, falling, at the cock's fhrill call 
 Rofe, and repented weeping : Guiltier far— 
 I dare not fay, than Judas ; for my heart 
 Hath ever lov'd, — could never have betray'd, 
 Oh never, never Thee, dear Lord ! to death \ 
 Tho' cruelly, unkindly and unwife 
 That heart hath facrinVd its truth and peace, 
 —For what a ihameful, what a paltry price I— 
 To fin, deterred fin ; and done thee wrong, 
 Oh bleffed fource of all its good, its hope ! 
 For tho' thus funk, thus finful, ibrrowing thus, 
 It dare not, cannot Judas' crime commit, 
 Laft crime, — and of thy mercy, Lord deipair! 
 But, conicious of its guilt : contrite and plung'd 
 In lowefl felt abjeclion, in the depths 
 Of fad compunction, of repentence due 
 And undiffembled, to thy crofs it cleaves, 
 And cries for — ardent cries for mercy, Lord \ 
 Mercy, its only refuge ! Mercy, Chrift ! 
 By the red drops that in the garden guftVd 
 'Mid ft thy foul's anguifh from thee ! By the drops 
 That down thy precious temples from the crown 
 Of agony diftillM ! By thofe that flowM 
 From thy pierc'd hand's and blefTcd feet fofree; 
 By all thy blood, thy fufferings, and thy death, 
 Mercy, oh Mercy, Jefus ! Mercy Thou, 
 Who erft on David, with a clement eye, 
 When mourning at thy footflool, deign'dft to look 
 
 Thou, 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 2% 
 
 Thou, who th* adulterous Magdalen forgav'ft, 
 When in the winning garb of penitence 
 Contrite (he knelt, and with her flowing tears 
 Wafh'd lowly thy lov'd feet ! Nor thou the thief, 
 Ev'n in the laft, the bittereft hour of pain, 
 Refufedft, gracious ! Nor wilt thou refufe 
 My humble fupplication, nor reject: 
 My broken bleeding heart, thus offer' d up 
 On true contrition's altar; while thro' thee, 
 Only thro 1 Thee acceptance do I hope, 
 Thou bleeding love! Confummate Advocate, 
 Prevailing Interceffor, great High Prieft, 
 Almighty Sufferer I Oh look pitying down ! 
 On thy fufficient merits I depend ; 
 From thy unbounded mercies I implore 
 The look of pardon, and the voice of grace,-— 
 Grace, Grace ! — Victorious Conqueror over fin, 
 O'er death, o'er Hell, for me, for all mankind j 
 For grace I plead : repentant at thy feet 
 I throw myfelf, unworthy, loft, undone ; 
 Trufting my foul, and all its dear concerns, 
 With filial refignation to thy will : 
 Grace, — iiill on grace my whole reliance built s 
 Glory to grace triumphant !— And to thee, 
 Difpenfer bounteous of that fovereign grace! 
 Jefus, thou King of glory ! at thy call 
 I come obedient : lo, the future world 
 Expands its views tranfporting ! Lord, I come 5 
 And in that world eternal truft to 'plaud, 
 With all Redemption's fons, thy glorious grace ! 
 
 Then farewell, oh, my friends ! light o'er my grave 
 The green fod lay, and dew it with the tear 
 Of memory affectionate I and you 
 — The curtain dropt decilive, oh my foes, \ 
 
 Your rancour drop j and, candid, as I am 
 Speak of me, haplds ! Then yoifil fpeak of one 
 Whole boibm beat at pity's gentleft touch 
 From earlieft infancy ; whole boyifh mind 
 In a£ls humane and tender ever joy'd j 
 
 And 
 
S4 THOUGHTS IN PRISON, 
 
 And who, — that temper by his inmoit fenfe 
 Approv'd and cultivate with conftant care,—* 
 Melted thro 1 life at Sorrow's plaintive tale 5 
 And urgM, companionate with pleaiure ran 
 To ibotne the fufferer and relieve the woe ! 
 Of one, who, though to humble fortune bred, 
 With fplendid generality's bright form 
 Too ardently en amourM, turn'd his light, 
 Deluded, from frugality's juft care, 
 And pariimony needful ! one who fcorn'd 
 Mean love of gold, yet to that power, — his fcorn 
 Retorting vengeful, — a marked victim fell I 
 Of one, who, uniuipecling, and ill-form' d 
 For the world's fubtleties, his bare breaft bore 
 Unguarded, open 5 and ingenuous, thought 
 All men ingenuous, frank and open too! 
 Of one, who, warm with human pailions, foft 
 To tendered impreflions, frequent rufh'd 
 Precipitate into the tangling maze 
 Of error y — inftant to each fault alive 
 Who, in his little journey through the world-— 
 Milled, deluded oft, miftook his way; 
 Met with bad roads and robbers, for his fteps 
 Infidious lurking: and, by cunning craft 
 Of fellow-travellers fometimes deceiv'd, 
 Severely felt of cruelty and fcorn, 
 Of envy, malice, and of ill report*, 
 
 * The followine is a ftriking inftance, and an alarming proof, that calumny 
 and flander will one day grievoufly afflict the conicious mind. — A Clergyman, 
 with whom I had lived in much friendship, always ready to fliew him every 
 proof of civility, and for whom I had much efteem ; after anabienceofa 
 twelvemonth and more, fent me a line, that he was then in a dangerous ftate, 
 apprehenfive of fpeedy death, i flew to my friend with all zeal and fpeed; and 
 found him, as itfeemed, in a very dangerous way. Almoft as foon as he faw 
 me he burft into tears, and clafping my hands vehemently, laid, " Oh, my dear 
 " Doftor, I could not die in peace without feeing you , and earneftly imploring 
 ** your pardon. For amidft all the feeming friendihip T (hewed, I have been 
 '« your bitter enemy. I have done all I could upon every occafion to traduce 
 *' and leflen you : Envy, bafe envy alone, being my motive ; for I could not 
 *« bear the brilliancy of your reputation, and the iplendor of your abilities. 
 " — Can you forgive me?" 
 
 1 was mocked ; but with great truth told him to be perfectly at peace ; that 
 
 he had my moft fincere forgivenefs I did all I could to foothe his mind. He 
 
 recovered ; and furely muft ever be my friend ! Would to God what he then 
 fuffered may be a warning to him,a;id to all, how they indulge fuch diabolical 
 pafflons ; which, being moft oppofite to the God who is Jove, cannot but fooner 
 er later woefully diftraft the hezri 1 
 
 The 
 
THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 85 
 
 The heavy hand oppreflive ! One who brought 
 ■ — From ignorance, from indifcretion blind, — 
 Ills numerous on his head 5 but never aim'd. 
 Nor wifh'd an ill or injury to man ! 
 Injur'd, with cheerful read ineis forgave j 
 Nor for a moment in his happy heart 
 Harbour' d of malice or revenge a thought : 
 Stiii glad and bleft to avenge his foes deipite 
 By deeds of love benevolent! — Of one— *• 
 Oh painful contradiction, who in God, 
 In duty, placM the fummit of his joy ; 
 Yet left that-God, thatbiifsful duty left, 
 Prepofterous, vile deferter ! andj-eceiv'd 
 A juft return — " Defertion from his God, 
 " And coniequential plunge into the depth 
 ** Of all his preient — of all human woe I" 
 
 Then hear his fufferings ! Hear (if found too faint 
 His feeble fong to win attention) hear 
 And heed his dying counfel ! Cautious, fhun 
 The rocks on which he fplit. Cleave dole to God, 
 Your Father, fure Protector, and Defence : 
 Foriake not his lov'd fervice j and your caufe 
 Be fure he'll ne'er foriake. Initiate once 
 Happy and prosperous, in religion's courfe 
 Oh perfevere unfainting! Nor to vice 
 Or tempting folly flighted parley give : 
 Their black tents never enter: On the watch 
 Continue unremitting, ncr e'er flack 
 The neceffary guard. Trivial neglecfs, 
 Smalieft beginnings*, to the wakeful foe 
 Open the door of danger ; — and down finks, 
 Thro' the minuted leak once fprung, the Ihip 
 In gayeit and moft gallant tackle trim. 
 By fmall neglects he fell ! — 
 
 Oh could ye rife, 
 
 » Principiis obfta : fero medicina paratur, 
 Cmn mala per longas convaluere mor2s 
 Sed propera; nee te Venturas differ in horas. 
 Qui! non eft hodie, eras minus aptus erit. 
 
 Ov, R. A. Ub. I, L, 
 
 Bleft 
 
S6 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 Bicft mimfters of peace, by his fad fall; 
 
 Gather increaie of caution and of zeal? 
 And, feeing on what ilippcry edge ye itand, 
 Of foul and fatal lapfe take the more heed j— 
 With deeper thanktulnefs he'd bow the knee, 
 While thus his fate productive prov'd of good 
 To you, of truth bled heralds \ whom he views 
 With heart-felt anguifh fcandaliz'd impugn'd 
 By his atrocious follies : But for that 
 Not honour'd lefs, or honourable, if rous'd, 
 Ev'n by his errors, wifely you maintain 
 Your high profeflion's dignity, and look 
 With fingle eye intent on the great work 
 Thrice holy, of your calling; happier! work 
 Of mortals here, a Salvation of mens fouls," 
 
 Oh envied paitor, who thus occupied 
 Looks down on low preferment's diftant views 
 Contemptible ; nor e'er his plotting mind 
 To little, mean iervilities enflavesj 
 Forgetting duty's exercife fubiime, 
 And his attachments heavenly! Who nor joins 
 In frivolous converfe on the rife cf this, 
 Nor profpecls flattering of that worldly clerk j 
 Strange inconfiftency ! Marching aloft 
 With frep fuperior and ambition's paw 
 To dignity's wifh'd fummit! — Nor allows 
 Envious, or fpreads malicious the low tales 
 Diminiihing of brethren, who by zeal, 
 Of eminence of merit in the caufe, 
 The common caufe of Chrift, diiiinguiuYd mine 
 Or futile politics and party rage 
 Who, heed lefs, ever for the powers that be 
 In meek iincerity implores : and lives 
 Only to fpread around the good, the peace, 
 The truth, the happinefs, his open heart 
 Innocuous podelfes, as the gift 
 Of him, the God of peace he ferves and loves I 
 
 Much envied paitor ! Ah, ye men of God, 
 Who crowd the kvee, theatre, or court - } 
 
 Foremeft 
 
THOUGHTS IN FRISOST, 87 
 
 Foremarr. In each amufement's idle walk ; 
 Of vice and vanity the fportive fcorn, 
 The vaunted pillars j — ah, that ye were aH 
 Such happy, envied paftors ! how mankind 
 With eyes of reverence would devoutly look, 
 How would yourfelves with eyes of pleafure look 
 On characters fo uniform ! while now, 
 What view is found lefs pleafmg to the fight ? 
 Nor wonderful, my aged friends ! For none 
 Can inward look complacent where a void 
 Prefents its deflations drear and dark. 
 Hence 'tis you turn (incapable to bear 
 Reflection's juft refentment) your lull'd minds 
 To infantine amufements, and employ 
 The hours, — fhort hours, indulgent Heaven affords 
 For purpofes moif folemn, — in the toil 
 Of bufy trifling ; of diverfions poor, 
 Which irritate as often as amufe : 
 Pafilons mod low and fordid! With due mame, 
 With forrow I regret — Oh pardon me 
 This mighty wrong ! — thai: frequ.nt by youv fide 
 Silent I've fat, and with a pitying eye 
 Your follies marked, and unadmenifh'd left, 
 Tho' tenderly lamenting ! Yet, at raft, 
 — If haply not too late my friendly call 
 Strike on dead ears, oh profit by that call ! 
 And, to the grave approaching, its alarms 
 Weigh with me all confederate 1 Brief time 
 Advances quick in tread 5 few hours and dark 
 Remain : thofe hours in frivolous employ 
 Waite not impertinent j they ne'er return ! 
 Nor deem it dulnefs to ftand ftill and paufe 
 When dread eternity hath claims fo high. 
 Oh be thofe claims "fulfili\i ! 
 
 Nor, my young friends, 
 Whom life's gay funfhine warms with laughing joy, 
 Pais you thofe claims unheeding i — In the bud 
 Or earliefl: rofe oft have I forrowing feen 
 The canker worm lurk blighting j oft, ere noon, 
 
 I z The 
 
88 THOUGHTS IN PRISON. 
 
 The tulip have beheld drop its proud head 
 In eminent beauty open'd to the morn ! 
 In youth, in beauty, in life's outward charms 
 Boaft not felf- flattering ; virtue has a grace, 
 Religion has a power, which will preferve 
 Immortal your true excellence! Oh give 
 Early and happy your young hearts to God, 
 And God will fmile in coimtlefs blernns-s on vou! 
 Nor, captivate by famon's idle glare, 
 And, the world's mews delufive, dance the maze, 
 The fame dull round, fatiguing and fatigu'd, - 
 Till, difcontented, down in folly's feat, 
 And difappointment's, worthlefs, toil'd, you fink, 
 Deipifmg and defpis'd ! Your gentle hearts 
 To kind impreffions yet fufceptible, 
 Will amiably hear a friend's advice ; 
 And if, perchance, amidft the giddy whirl 
 Of circling folly, his unheeded tongue 
 Hath whifper'd vanity, or not announc'd 
 Truth's falutary dictates to your ears, 
 Forgive the injury, my friends belov'd ; 
 And fee me now, folicitous t' atone 
 That and each fault, each error ; with full eyes 
 Intreating you, by all your hopes and fears, 
 By all your dear anxieties ; by all 
 You hold in life molt precious, to attend, 
 To liften to his lore ! to ieek for blifs 
 In God, in piety; in hearts devote 
 To duty and to heav'n ! and feeking thus, 
 The treafure is your own. Angels on earth, 
 Thus pure and good, foon will ye mount, and live 
 Eternal angels with your Father — God I 
 Of admonition due, juft felf-contempt, 
 And frank expoftulation's honeft charge, 
 The needful debt thus paid ; hafle thou, my fong, 
 As haftes my life, — brief madow, — to its clofe ! 
 
 Then farewell, oh my friends, molt valued ! bound 
 By confanguinity's endearing tye, 
 Or friendfhip's noble fervice, manly love, 
 
 And 
 
THOUGHTS IN rmsoK, g 9 
 
 Arid generous obligations ! See, in all 
 —•And fpare the tear of pity— Heaven's high will 
 Ordaining' wife and good. I fee, I own 
 His difpenfation, howfoever harm, 
 To my hard heart, to my rebellious foul 
 Needful and falutary ! His dread rod 
 Paternal, lo, I kifsj and to the ftroke 
 Severe, fubmiflive, thankfully reiign ! 
 It weans me from the world 5 it proves how vain, 
 How poor the life of erring man ! — hath taught, 
 Experimentally hath taught, to look 
 With fcorn, with triumph upon death ;— to wifh. 
 The moment come !• — Oh were that moment come, 
 When, launched from all that's ilnful here below, 
 Securely 1 (hall fail along the tide 
 Of glorious eternity ! My friends, 
 BelovM and honoured, oh that we were launched, 
 And tailing happv there, where fhbrtly all 
 Muft one day fail! Oh that in peaceful port 
 We all were landed ! all together fafe 
 In everlafting amity and love 
 With God, our God ; our pilot thro* 1 the ftorms 
 Of- this lifers fea!-~ But, why the frivolous wifh r 
 Set a few funs, — a few more days decline, 
 And I /hall meet you. — Oh the glaelbme hour! 
 M- j et you in glory, nor with flowing tears 
 Afflic'led drop my pen, and iigh Adieu ? 
 
 FND OF THE FIFTH WEEK,, 
 
 f-t-f &| a po&fcript to a friend, the Author write? 
 thus : J forgot to requeft my good friend to tell Mr, 
 Hanway, that in one of my little melancholy Poems, 
 written in this dreary place, I have made fuch men- 
 tion of him as I think his attention to the improvement 
 of jails demands : — That I earnestly prefs him, as a 
 Chriftian and a Man, to purfae that improvement with 
 zeal: — That much, very muck is to be done: — .And 
 that while the (late: of prifons remains as it is, the legis- 
 lature has fbme rsaibn to charge itielf with the greater 
 I \ part 
 
<)0 PIECES FOUND AMONG THE 
 
 part of the robberies, &c. committed. For the of- 
 fenders for petty crimes are here hardened in almoft 
 every fpecies of vice, and turned out, necefiary plun- 
 derers of the public, from the depravity of their un- 
 altered difpofition, and the deficiency of proper employ- 
 ment. I have felt much on this lubjecl fmce I have 
 been here ; and exprefled fomething of it in the Poem, 
 Week the Third. 
 
 PIECES FOUND AMONG THE AUTHOR'S PAPERS 
 IN' PRISON, WITH HIS LAST PRAYER, 
 
 I.— THE ADMONITION. 
 A FFLICTED priibner, whofoe'er thou art, 
 ■*^* To this lone room unhappily confin'd ; 
 Be thy nrft bufinefs here to learch thy heart, 
 
 And probe the deep corruptions of thy mind ! 
 Struck with the foul tranigrefHons thou haft wrought, 
 
 With fin,— the fource of all thy worldly woe 5 
 To fhame, to forrow, to conviction brought, 
 Oh, fall before the throne of mercy low ! 
 With true Repentance pour thy foul in prayer, 
 
 And fervent plead the Saviour's cleanling blood : 
 Faith's ardent cry will pierce the Father's ear 5 
 And Chrift's a plea which cannot be withftood 
 
 IL— SCRIPTURE-PENITENTS. (A Fragment,) 
 THIRST in the life of penitents we place 
 The finful parent of our finfnl race; 
 W r ho by temptation foii'd , and man's firft foe, 
 " Brought death into the world, and all our woe V* 
 
 TranfgrefTion's debt how deeply does he pay I 
 Depriv'd of innocence ; to death a prey 5 
 From Paradife expell'd ; to toil arTigii'd — 
 Toil of the fainting frame and fick'ning mind ! 
 And doom' d to fhed, for near a thoufand y^ears, 
 O'er fall'n defendants penitential tears ! 
 
 Thus feized the triple league* on mortal man, 
 And thus, Repentance, thy fad reign began, 
 
 ♦5:n, Sorrow and Death, 
 
 Yet, 
 
author's papers in prison. 91 
 
 Yet, awful Power ! how bleft beneath thy fway, 
 Who feel Contrition's dictates, and obey ! 
 Their vicious deviations who deteft, 
 And hold Faith's cro ; 's, all humbled, to their breaft! 
 Fi e>m God's lov'd preience then they need not fly * 5 
 Nor ope in wrath the flood-gates of the Hey : 
 For fince to man perfection was deny'd, 
 By thee his deep demerits are fupply'd : 
 And, led by thee a iuppliant to the throne, 
 The God of mercy looks with pity down : 
 Smiles on the mourner, and delights to prove 
 How free is grace, and how triumphant love ! 
 
 Eternal proof! Sec, bath'd in floods of tears, 
 Where David foremofr. in thy train appears : 
 How deep his crime, the prophet pictures well 5 
 How deep his penitence, thofe forrows tell ! 
 That, whether to deplore the crime, or blefs, 
 We ftand fufpended 5 fince its evil lefs, 
 Lefs bright his foul's ingenuous grief had fhene, 
 And lefs at once his comfort*, and our own ! 
 
 Hear, like a torrent how his forrows roll; 
 Conviction's tempefc tearing up his foul ! 
 Hear, iad and folemn, to the mournful firings, 
 In trembling anguifh, how he weeps and fings ! 
 iC Mercy, oh mercy, Lord ! with humble heart ; 
 
 " For thy known pity's fake, mercy I pray ! 
 u Boundlefs in tender mercies as Thou art, 
 
 u Take, Lord ! oh take my foul offence away ! 
 €t Oh, from my loathfome guilt, wafh, cleanfe my foul 5 
 
 " Remove, dear Father, each defiling Main : 
 u Guilty, oh, guilty, Lord ! I own the wliole ; 
 
 " I fee, I feel it ; all excufe is vain. 
 " Againft Thee, Lord ! ev'n Thee, have I tranfgrefs'd $ 
 
 " Lo, felf-convifted, I before Thee fall ! 
 €e Julf are thy words ; their truth is thus confefs'd j 
 
 " Tuft are thy judgments ! Sinners are we all. 
 *' Prone to offend, or ere to birth I came, 
 
 16 My mother, when conceiving, gave me guilt : 
 
 * As Cain. Gen. iv. 14, 16. 
 
 P Shapen 
 
Q)Z PIECES FOUND AMONG THE 
 
 " Shapen in fin was my corrupted frame, [built. 
 
 " When in the womb that wonderous frame was 
 M But Thou, of purer eyes than guilt to view, 
 
 " Thou wilt accept the foul's iincere defire ; 
 f< Pardon the part, the humbled heart renew, 
 
 ee And wifdom by thy fecret one hifpire. 
 Cf Then liften to my cry ; and oh, my God, 
 
 " Purge me with hyflop, and I pure mall grow | 
 " Warn me, foul leper, in the myftic blood, 
 
 (C And whiter I (hall be than whiter): mow, 
 (( Againft the voice of gladnefs let me hear 
 
 " Thy voice of pardoning love, for it is fweett 
 w The foul dejecled fo fhakthou upreaiy— [feet, 
 
 <c The worm which, crufh'd, lies trembling at thy 
 <c Hide from my fins, — the obje&s of thy hate,— ■■ 
 
 " Oh, hide thy face, and blot them from thy view -: 
 €t A clean heart, God of grace, in me create, 
 
 e< And a right fpirit in my foul renew ! 
 * ( From thy lov'd prefence let me not be driven : 
 
 " Let me not lofe thy blefTed fpirit's aid j 
 P Again the joy of thy falvation giv'n, 
 
 " Uphold, fupport, fuftain my heait difmay'd. 
 6( Then, of thy pardoning mercy fatisry'd, 
 
 " Thy pardoning mercy loud will I proclaim : 
 (t So mail tranlgreffors, taught by me, confide 
 
 " In thy companions ; turn, and blefs thy name. 
 F* Ah ! my foul fnudders ! — From the guilt of blood, 
 
 " Oh, from blood-guiltinefs deliver me 1 
 €< Oh God, deliver— my falvation's God, 
 
 " And praife unceafmg will I pay to thee. 
 *< Permit my lips, now cjos'd by guilt and fhamc* 
 
 " Thy pardoning love, Jehovah, to expreis ; 
 f? Then to the lift'ning world I'll tell thy name, 
 
 '* Proclaim thy praife, and fing thy righteoufnefs. 
 f* For crimes like mine no offerings can atone j 
 
 " The gift of outward facrifice is vain 5 
 * f Could thefe avail, before thy righteous throne 
 
 ?{ Whole hecatombs I gladly would have (lain. 
 
 " The 
 • 
 
author's papers in prison. 93' 
 
 u The contrite i'pirit and the fighs fincere, 
 
 " Which from the broken, bleeding heart arife, 
 €t To thee more pleafing facrifkes are : . 
 
 " Are gifts, my God, which thou wilt not defpife. 
 €t Hear then, and fave ! and to my people, Lord, 
 
 " Thy faving mercy gracioufly extend ! 
 " Oh let our Zion live in thy regard ; 
 
 " The walls of our Jerusalem defend ! 
 " So mall the righteous to thy temple go 9 
 
 Ci And joyful bring their offering and their praife : 
 " So (hall the blood of lambs in plenty flow, 
 
 * c And incenfe on thy altar copious blaze*. 
 
 With joy, with grief, the penitent I fee, 
 Offending Heav'n, yet Heavm-abfolv'd for me ! 
 Oh while, like his, I feel my guilt and fliame, 
 Be my repentance and my grief the fame ! 
 Then mall the truth which cheerM his heart be mine j 
 "Thy God has pardon "d thee, and life is thine. 
 
 But hark, my foul, what melancholy found 
 Re-echoes from the dungeon's dark profound ! 
 Hear, fympathetic hear : A King complains, 
 Fall'n from his throne, a prifoner, and in chains I 
 
 ** God of the world, at length thy rule T own, 
 " And proftrate fall before thy bound iefs throne : 
 €i Thy power refiftlefs, trembling I confers : 
 " In threafnings awful, but in love no lefs ! 
 
 " O what a bleffing has that love affignM, 
 " By penitence to heal the wounded mind ! 
 €C By penitence to finners, who like me, 
 11 More than tlvunnumber'd fands that fhore the fea, 
 " My crimes acknowledge ; which, of crimfon dye, 
 <l In all their fear jet horrors meet my eye ! 
 
 " Oh, eye, unworthy of the light of Heav'n : 
 " Oh fins too mountainous to be forgiv'n : 
 " Oh rebel to the law and love divine, 
 u How juftiy God's fevereft vengeance thine ! 
 
 *,' But oh, I bend my hearfs obedient knee, 
 u In amplication, Lord for grace from Thee 1 
 
 * Se Ffalni 51, and Chriltian's Magazine, vol. III. p. 134 
 
 " Yes. 
 
94 PIECES FOUND AMONG THE 
 
 1 Yes, I have iinn'd, and I confefs the who!e-~ 
 ' Forgive me then, nor calt away my foul ! 
 ' Save me from evil, — from thine anger fave, 
 ' And fnatch me from the dark, untimely grave! 
 1 Friend of the contrite, Thou wilt pardon give: 
 1 A monument of mercy I mail live! 
 f And worthlefs as I am, for ever prove, 
 ( That true repentance leads to laving love ! 
 f That true repentance tunes to praife the heart, 
 c And in the choir of Heaven (hall bear an ample part* 1 . 
 Thus by affliction's deep correction taught, 
 Manaffeh to the Lord for mercy fought : 
 By the kind chaftening of a Father's rod, 
 Brought to the knowledge of himfeif and God I 
 Happy affliction, for iuch knowledge giv'n ; 
 And blcft the dungeon which led thus to Heaven'! 
 
 III.— REFLECTIONS, (ununified.) 
 
 TTERE, feclufe from worldly pleafure, 
 *"*■ In this doleful place confiifd, 
 Come, and let's improve the leifure : 
 
 Meditate, my thoughtful mind ! 
 Soul alike and body fharing, 
 
 How have I the one forgot 1 
 While for t'other only caring, 
 
 Lo ! my miferable lot ! 
 Yet the one I fo much cherifh, 
 
 Doom'd to death when giv'n fo life, 
 Soon, perhaps, muft fink and perifh, 
 
 Duit to dud— muft end the ftrife ! 
 From a tedious tour returning, 
 
 Into diftant foreign land, 
 How my anxious heart is burning 
 
 News of home to underiland ! 
 
 * See Prayer of NfanaiTeh, in the Apocrypha, next to the Firft Book of Mac- 
 cabees j and compare 2 Chron. xiuuii. 21, &c. 
 
AUTHOR'S PAPERS IN PRISON. 95 
 
 To my Friends y efpe dally of the Charitable Sodeties, 
 
 On their folicitude. 
 
 A H, my lov'd friends ! why all this care for one 
 -f* To life fo loft, fo totally undone ; 
 Whole meat and drink are only bitter tears, 
 Nights paiYd in forrow, mornings wak'd to cares 3 
 Whofe deep offence fits heavy on the foul, 
 And thoughts felf-torturing in deep tumult roll ! 
 
 Could you, by all your labours fo humane, 
 From this dread prifon his deliverance gain > 
 Could you, by kind exertions of your love, 
 To generous pardon royal mercy move, 
 Where mould he fly ? where hide his wretched head, 
 With fhame fo cover' 1 d ; fo to honour dead ? 
 
 Spare then the talk, and as he longs to die, ) 
 
 Set free the captive,— let his fpirit fly, S 
 
 J^nlarg'd and happy, to its native iky! ) 
 
 Not doubting mercy from his grace to nnd, 
 Who bled upon the crofs for all mankind. 
 
 But if it mu ft not be ;— it Heaven's high will 
 Ofdains him yet a duty to fulfil ; 
 
 Oh may each breath, while God that breath mail fpare^ 
 Be yours in gratitude, be Heaven's in prayer! 
 Dc^]i as his (in, and low as his offence, 
 High be his rife thro 1 humbleft penitence! 
 While, life or death, — mankind at lead mall learn 
 From this fad ftory, and your kind concern, 
 That works of mercy, and a zeal to prove 
 By iym pathetic aid the heart of love, 
 On earth itfeif a fure reward obtain ; 
 Nor e'er fall pity's kindly drops in vain ! 
 
 I live a proof ! and dying,' round my urn 
 AffV.clion's family will crowd and mourn : 
 *' Huv rtfts our friend, " if weeping o'er my grave 
 1 hey cry— 'tis ail the epitaph I crave, 
 
 THE 
 
96 THE CONVICT'S ADDRESS 
 
 THE CONVICTS ADDRESS TO HIS UNHAP- 
 PY BRETHREN : 
 
 Delivered in the Chapel of Newgate, on Friday, June 6, 1777. 
 I acknowledge my faults : and my Sin is ever 
 
 before me. Pfalm li. 3. 
 
 TO THE REVEREND MR. VILLETTE, 
 ORDINARY OF NEWGATE, 
 
 Reverend Sir, 
 THE following Addrefs owes its prefent public ap- 
 pearance to you. I read it to you after it was compof- 
 ed, and you thought it proper to.be delivered, as was 
 intended. You heard it delivered, and are pleafed to 
 
 think that its publication will be ufeful. To a poor 
 
 abject worm, like myfelf, this is a Sufficient inducement 
 to that publication 5 and I heartily pray God, that in 
 your hands it may frequently and effectually adminifter 
 to the init.ru ction and comfort of the miferable. 
 I am, dear Sir, 
 With my fincereft thanks for your humane 
 and friendly attention, 
 your truly forrowful 
 Friday, June 6, and much afflicted brother in Chriit, 
 1777, WILLIAM DODD. 
 
 AN ADDRESS, &C 
 
 My dear and unhappy fellow^ prisoners, 
 /CONSIDERING my peculiar circumftances and fitu- 
 ^~ / ation, I cannot think myfelf juftified, if I do not 
 deliver to you, in fmcere Chriftian love, fome of my fe- 
 rious thoughts on our prefent awful ftate. 
 
 hi the nxteenth chapter of the Acts cf the Apofties, 
 you read a memorable ftory refpecting Paul and Silas, 
 who, for preaching the gofpel, were caft by magiftrates 
 into prifon, ver. 23. — and after having received many 
 (tripes, were committed to the jailor, with a ftrict charge 
 to keep them fafely. Accordingly he thruft them into 
 the inner prifon, and made their feet faft in the flocks. 
 
 At 
 
TO HIS UNHAPPY BRETHREN. 97 
 
 At midnight Paul and Silas, fupported by the tefKmony 
 of a good confcience, prayed, and fung praifes to God, 
 and the prifoners heard them j and fuddenly there was 
 a great earthquake, fo that the foundations of the prifon 
 were fliaken ; and immediately all the doors were open- 
 ed, and every one's chains were loofed. The keeper 
 of the prifon awaking out of his fleep, and feeing the 
 prifon doors open, in the greater! diftrefs, as might well 
 be imagined, drew his fword, and would have killed 
 himfelf, fuppofmg that the prifoners had been fled. — But 
 Paul cried with a loud voice, Do thyfelf no harm, for 
 we are all here. — The keeper calling for a light, and 
 finding his prifoners thus freed from their bonds by the 
 imperceptible agency of divine power, was irrefiftibly 
 convinced that thefe men were not offenders againft the 
 law, but martyrs to the truth : he fprang in therefore, 
 and came trembling, and fell down before Paul, and Si- 
 las, and brought them out and faid, " Sirs, What muft 
 I do to be faved ?" 
 
 " What muft I do to be faved?" is the important 
 queftion, which it becomes every human being to ftudy, 
 from the firfc hour of reafon to the laft : but which we, 
 my fellow- prifoners ought to confider with particular di- 
 ligence and intenfenefs of meditation. Had it not been 
 forgotten or neglected by us, we had never appeared in 
 this place. A little time for recollection and amend- 
 ment is yet allowed us by the mercy of the law. Of 
 this little time let no particle be loft. Let us fill our re- 
 maining life with all the duties which our prefent condi- 
 tion allows us practife. Let us make one earned effort 
 for falvation !— And oh I heavenly Father, who defireft 
 not the death of a fmner, grant that this effort may not 
 be in vain ! 
 
 To teach others what they muft do to be faved, has 
 long been my employment and profeflion. You fee with 
 what confufion and diihonour I now ftand before you— 
 no more in the pulpit of inftruction, but on this humble 
 feat with yourfelves. — You are not to confider me now 
 as a man authorifed to form the manners, or direct the 
 confcience, and fpeaking with the authority of a paftor 
 & to 
 
9? THE CONVICT'S ADDRESS 
 
 to his flock. — I am here guilty, like yourfelves, ef a 
 capital offence; and fentenced, like yourfelves, to pub- 
 lic and (hameiul death. My profeiiion, which has given 
 me Wronger convictions of my duty than moft of you 
 can be fuppofed to have attained, and has extended my 
 views to the confequences of wickednefs farther than 
 your obfervation is likely to have reached, has loaded 
 my fin with peculiar aggravations ; and I entreat you 
 to join your prayers with mine, that my forrow may be 
 proportionate to my guilt ! 
 
 I am now, like you, inquiring what I rauft do to be - 
 faved ! and (land here to communicate to you what that 
 inquiry fuggefts. Hear me with attention, my fellow - 
 prifoners j and in your melancholy hours of retirement, 
 confider well what I offer to you from the fmcerity of 
 my good-will, and from the deeped conviction of a pe- 
 hitent heart. 
 
 Salvation is promifed to us Chriftians, on the "terms 
 of Faith, Obedience, and Repentance. I (hail therefore 
 endeavour to mew how, in the fhort interval, between 
 this moment and death, we may exert faith, perform 
 obedience, and exerciie repentance, in a manner which, 
 our heavenly Father may, in his infinite mercy, vouch- 
 fafe to accept. 
 
 I. Faith is the foundation of all Chriftian virtue. It 
 Is that, without which it is impoffible to pleafe God. 
 I (hail therefore confider, firit, How faith is to be par- 
 ticularly exerted by us in our prefent (late. 
 
 Faith is a full and undoubting confidence in the de- 
 clarations made by God in the holy Scriptures j a fin* 
 cere reception of the doctrines taught by our bieffed Sa- 
 viour j with a firm affurance that he died to take away 
 the fins of the world, and that we have, each of us, a 
 part in the bound lefs benefits of the univerfal Sacrifice. 
 
 To this faith we mult have recourfe at all times, but 
 particularly if we find ourfelves tempted to defpair. If 
 thoughts arife in our minds, which lugged that we hzve 
 finned beyond the hope of pardon, and that therefore it 
 is vain to feek for reconciliation by repentance, we mult 
 terr.ember how God willeth that every man mould be 
 
 faved, 
 
TO HIS UNHAPPY BRETHREN. 99 
 
 faved, and that thofe who obey his call, however late, 
 (hall not be rejected. — If we are tempted to think that 
 the injuries we have done are unrepaired, and therefore 
 repentance is vain, let us remember that the reparation 
 which is impciTible is not required ; that fmcerely to 
 will, is to do, in fhe fight of H:m to whom all hearts 
 are open j and that what is deficient in our endeavours, 
 is iuppiied by the merits of Him who died to redeem 
 us. 
 
 Yet let us I ike wife be careful, left an erroneous opi- 
 .nion ot '■he all-iutficiencv of our Saviour's merits lull us 
 inrc carelcflh-is and fecur ty. His merits are indeed 
 all-fufncient ! But he has pr-fcribed the terms on which 
 they are to operate. He died to fave Gnners, but to 
 fave only thofe miners that repent. Peter, who denied 
 him, was forgiven $ but he obtained his pardon by 
 weeping bitterly. They who lived 11. perpetua'l regu- 
 larity of duty, and are free from any grbls or vilible 
 trair grcflion, are yet but unprofitable lervants : — What 
 then are we, whole crimes are haftenlng us to the grave 
 before our time ? — Let us work, with fear and trembling, 
 but ftiil let us endeavour to work out our falvation. 
 Let us hope without prefumption ; let us fear without 
 defperation $ and let our faith animate us to that which 
 we were to coniider. 
 
 Secondly, " Sincere Obedience to the laws of God." 
 Our obedience, for the fhort time yet remaining is ref- 
 trained to a narrow circle. Thofe duties, which are 
 •called fecial and relative, are for the moft part out of 
 our power. We can contribute very little to the gene- 
 ral happinefs of mankind, while on thofe, whom kin- 
 dred and friend fhip have allied to us, we have brought 
 difgrace and forrow. We can only benefit the puolic 
 by an example of contrition, and fortify our friends 
 againft temptation by warning and admonition. 
 
 The obedience left us now to practife is " fubmifrion 
 
 •' to the will of God, and c dm acquiefcence in his wif- 
 
 *' dom and his juftice." We muft not allow ourfelves 
 
 to repine at thofe miieries which have followed our of- 
 
 K % fences? 
 
100 THE CONVICT'S ADDRESS 
 
 fences, but fuffer, with filent humility and refigned pa- 
 tience, the punifhment which we deferve j remembering 
 that, according to the apoille's decifion, no praiie is due 
 to them who bear with patience to be buffetted for their 
 faults. 
 
 When we confider the wickednefs of our pad lives 
 and the danger of having been fummoned to the final 
 judgment without preparation, we (hall, I hope, gradu- 
 ally rife fo much above the grois conceptions of human 
 nature as to return thanks to God for what once feemed 
 the moil dreadful of all evils — our detection and con- 
 viction ! — We fhrink back, by immediate and inftinctive 
 terror from the public eye, turned as it is upon us with 
 indignation and contempt. Imprifonment is afflictive, 
 and ignominious death is fearful ! But let us compare 
 our condition with that which our actions might reason- 
 ably have incurred. — The robber might have died in 
 the act of violence, by lawful refiftance ; the man of 
 fraud might have funk into the grave while he was en- 
 joying the gain of his artifice,—- and where then had been 
 our hope ? We have now leifure for thought 5 we have 
 opportunities of inftruction ; and whatever we fuffer 
 from offended laws, may yet reconcile ourfelves to God, 
 who, if we fincerely feck him, will afTuredly be found. 
 
 But how are we to leek the Lord ? By the way which 
 he himfeif hath appointed , by humble, fervent, and 
 frequent prayer. Some hours of worfhip are appointed 
 us ; let us duly obferve them. Some afTiftance to our 
 devotion is fupplied j let us thankfully accept it. But 
 let us not reft in formality and prefcription s let us call 
 upon God night and day. When, in the review of the 
 times which we have paft, any offence arifes to our 
 thoughts, let us humbly implore forgivenefs ; and for 
 thole faults (and many they are and mull be) which we 
 cannot recoiled, let us folicit mercy in general petitions. 
 But it muft be our conilant care that we pray not mere- 
 ly with our lips ; but that when we lament our fins, we are 
 really humbled in felf-abhorrence*j and that when we 
 
 * See Job, chap. xlii. ver. 6. 
 
 call 
 
TO HIS UNHAPPY BRETHREN. IOI 
 
 call for mercy, we raife our thoughts to hope and trufi 
 in the goodnefs of God, and the merits of our bleiTed 
 Saviour Jefus Chrift. 
 
 The reception of the holy Sacrament, to which we 
 /hall be called, in the moft folemn manner, perhaps a 
 few hours before we die, is the higheft acl: of Chriitian 
 worfhip. At that awful moment it will become us to 
 drop for ever all worldly thoughts, to fix our hopes fole- 
 ly upon Chrift, whofe death is repreiented, and to con- 
 fider ourfelves as no longer connected with mortality.—- 
 And, poflibly, it may pleafe God to afford us fome con- 
 foJation, fome fecret intimations of acceptance and for- 
 giveneis. But thefe radiations of favour are not always 
 felt by the fincereft penitents. To the greater part of 
 thofe whom angels ftand ready to receive, nothing is 
 granted in this world beyond rational hope ;— and with 
 hope, founded on promife, we may well be fatisfled. 
 
 But fuch promifes of falvation are made only to the 
 penitent. It is requifile then that we confider, 
 
 Thirdly, " How repentance is to be exercifed.*' Re- 
 pentance, in the general ftate of Chriftian life, is fuch a 
 ibrrow for fin as produces a change of manners, and an 
 amendment of life. It is that dilpofition of mind, by 
 which he who ftole, fteals no more ; by which the wick- 
 ed man turneth away from his wickednefs, and doth that 
 which is lawful and right. And to the man thus reform- 
 ed it is exprefsly promifed, that he mall fave his foul 
 alive*. Of this repentance the proofs are vifible, and 
 the reality certain, always to the church with which he 
 communicates ; becaufe the irate of the mind is diico- 
 vered by the outward actions. — But of the repentance 
 which our condition requires and admits, no inch evi- 
 dence can appear j for to us many crimes and many vir- 
 tues are made impoflible by confinement ; and the 
 ihortnefs of the time which is before us, gives little 
 power even to ourfelves, of diftinguifhing the effects of 
 
 * There cannot be a ftronger exemplification of this idea than the conduct o* 
 the 5ailor, who uttered the queftion, with which we commenced our enquiry — 
 What fhall I do to be faved ! What a change of rniiul a«d n«anuers was wrought 
 in him % by the power of God ! Read A6s, chap. xvi. 
 
 K 3 terror 
 
102 THE CONVICT'S ADDRESS 
 
 terror from thofe of conviction ; of deciding, whether 
 our pre lent forrow for fin proceeds from abhorrence of 
 guilt, or dread of punifhment ? whether the violence of 
 our inordinate pafiions be totally fubdued by the fear of 
 God, or only crumed and reftrained by the temporary 
 force of prefent calamity ? 
 
 Our repentance is like that of other finners on the 
 death- bed ; but with this advantage, that our danger is 
 not greater, and our ftrength is more. Our faculties 
 are not impaired by weaknefs of body. We come to 
 the great work not withered by pains, nor clouded by 
 the fumes of difeafe, but with minds capable of conti- 
 nued attention, and with bodies, of which we need have 
 no care! We may therefore better difcharge this tremen- 
 dous duty, and better judge of our own performance. 
 
 Of the efficacy of a death-bed repentance many have 
 difputed ; but we have no leifure for con trover fy. Fix 
 in your minds this deciiion, " Repentance is a change 
 <c of the heart ; of an evil to a good difpofition." 
 When that change is made, repentance is complete. 
 God will confider that life as amended, which would 
 have been amended if he had fpared it. Repentance 
 in the fight of man, even of the penitent, is not known 
 but by its fruits; but our Creator fees the fruit in the 
 blofTom, or the feed. He knows thofe reiblutions which 
 are fixed, thofe converfions which would be permanent $ 
 and will receive them who are qualified by holy defires 
 for works of righteoufnefs, without exacting from them 
 thofe outward duties which the fhortnefs of their lives 
 hindered them from performing. 
 
 Nothing therefore remains, but that we apply with all 
 our fpeed, and with all our ftrength, to rectify our de- 
 fires and purify our thoughts ; that we fet God before 
 us in ail his goodnefs and terrors ; that we confider him 
 as the Father and the judge of all the earth; as a Fa- 
 ther, deiirous to fave ; as a Judge, who cannot pardon 
 unrepented iniquity ; that we fall down before him felf- 
 condemned, and excite in our hearts an intenfe detec- 
 tion of thofe crimes which have provoked him : with 
 
 vehement 
 
TO HIS UNHAPPY BRETHREN. 10$ 
 
 vehement and Heady refolutions, that if life were grant- 
 ed us, it mould be fpent hereafter in the practice of our 
 duty * ; that we pray the Giver of grace to ftrengthen 
 and imprefs thofe holy thoughts, and to accept our re- 
 pentance, though late, and in its beginnings violent 5 
 that we improve every good motion by diligent prayer ; 
 and having declared and confirmed f our faith by the 
 holy communion, — we deliver ourfelves into his hands, 
 in firm hope, that he who created and redeemed us will 
 not fufFer us to perifh. Rom. v. 8. viii. 32. 
 
 The condition, without which forgivenefs is not to 
 be obtained, is that we forgive others. There is al- 
 ways a danger left men, frem from a trial in which life 
 has been loft, mould remember with refentment and ma- 
 lignity the profecutor, the witneffes, or the judges. It 
 is indeed fcarce pofliblej that with all the prejudices of 
 an intereft fo weighty and fo affecting, the convict mould 
 think otherwife than that he has been treated, in fome 
 part of the procefs with nnnecefTary feverity. In this 
 opinion he is perhaps lingular, and therefore probably 
 miftaken. But there is no time for difquifition : we 
 muft try to find the (horteft way to peace. It is eafier 
 to forgive than to reafon right. He that has been inju- 
 rioufly or unneceflarily harrafted, has one opportunity 
 more of proving his fincerity, by forgiving the wrong, 
 and praying for his enemy. 
 
 It is the duty of a penitent to repair, fo far as he has 
 the power, the injury which he has done. What we 
 can do, is commonly nothing more than to leave the 
 world an example of contrition. On the dreadful day, 
 when the fentence of the law has its full force, ibme will 
 be found to have affected a fhamelefs bravery, or negli- 
 
 * See 2 Cor. ch. v. 14, 15. 
 
 + I would have this exprefiion to be particularly attended to—While as a dy- 
 ing man, and with all pcflible fincerity or' foul, J add, that it" I could wifh to 
 declare ray faith, ^ know not of any words in which I could do it fo well, and 
 fo perfectly to my fatisfa&ioi:, as in the communion-fervice of our church ; and 
 it I would wiJh to confirm that faith, 1 know not of any appointed method fo 
 thoroughly adapted to that end of participation jn that communion itfeir. — ^ce 
 particularly in this fervice, the Exhortation. ConfefTson, prayer beginning U we 
 ch> not prtfume," 8cc.~Conffcrat\on— and prayer after receiving, O Lord 2nd 
 heavenly rather, S-e — Convitfs mould, diligently And repeatedly read over the 
 iervtce before they communicate, 
 
 gent 
 
 - 
 
104- th e convict's address 
 
 gent intrepidity. Such is not the proper behaviour of 
 a convicled criminal. To rejoice in tortures is the pri- 
 vilege of a martyr 5 to meet death with intrepidity 
 is the right only of innocence, if in any human being 
 innocence could be found. Of him whofe life is fhorten- 
 ed by his crimes, the laft duties are humility and felf- 
 abaiement. We owe to God fmcere repentance : we 
 owe to man the appearance of repentance* — We ought 
 not to propagate an opinion, that he who lived in wick- 
 cdnefs can die with courage. If the ferenity or gaiety 
 with which feme men have ended a life of guilt, were 
 unfeigned, they can be imputed only to ignorance or ftu- 
 pidity, or, what is more horrid, to voluntary intoxica- 
 tion : — if they were artificial and hypocritical, they are 
 acts of deception, the ufelefs and unprofitable crimes of 
 pride unmortified, and obftinacy unfubdued, 
 
 There is yet another crime poilible, and, as there is 
 reafon to believe, fometimes committed in the laft mo- 
 ment, on the margin of eternity.— Men have died with 
 a ftedfaft denial of crimes, of which it is very difficult 
 to fuppofe them innocent. By what equivocation or 
 referve they may have reconciled their confeiences to 
 falfehood, if their confeiences were at all confulted, it is 
 impoflible to know, But if they thought that, when 
 they were to die, they paid their legal forfeit, and that 
 the world had no farther demand upon them 5 that 
 therefore they might, by keeping their own fee rets, try 
 to leave behind them a difputable reputation ; and that 
 the falsehood was harmlefs, becaufe none were injured, 
 «— they had very little confidered the nature of fociety. 
 One of the principal parts of national felicity arifes from 
 a wife and impartial adminiftration of juftice. Every 
 man repofes upon the tribunals of his country the liabi- 
 lity of porTefTion, and the ferenity of life. He therefore 
 who unjuftly expofes the courts of judicature to fuipicion, 
 either of partiality or error, not only does an injury to 
 thofe who difpenfe the laws, but diminishes the public 
 confidence in the laws themfelves, and fhakes the foun~ 
 dation of public tranquillity. 
 
 For 
 
TO HIS UNHAPPY BRETHREN. I05 
 
 For my own part, I confefs, with the deepeft com- 
 punction, the crime which has brought me to this place ; 
 and admit the juftice of my fentence, while I am linking 
 under its feverity. And I earneftlv exhort you, my fel- 
 low-prifoners, to acknowledge the offences which hav r e 
 been already proved 5 and to bequeath to our country 
 that confidence in public juftice, without which there 
 can be neither peace nor fafety. 
 
 As few men fuffer for their firft offences, and moll 
 convicts are conicious of more crimes than have been 
 brought within judicial cognizance, it is neceffary to in- 
 quire how far confeffion ought to be extended. Peace 
 of mind, ordelireof inftruclion. may fometiines demand, 
 that to the minifter, whole couniel is requefted, a long 
 courfe of evil life mould be difcovered : — but of this 
 every man muft determine for himielf. — To the public, 
 every man, before he departs from life, is obliged to 
 confefs thofe acls which have brought, or may bring, 
 unjuft iufpicion upon others; and to convey fuch infor- 
 mation as may enable thofe who have fuffered lofes to 
 obtain restitution. 
 
 Whatever good remains in cur power we muft dili- 
 gently perform. We muft prevent, to the utmoit of 
 our power, all the evil coniequences of our crimes : 
 We muft forgive all who have injured us : We muft, 
 by fervency of prayer and ecnftancy in meditation, en- 
 deavour to reprefs all worldly paffions, and generate in 
 our minds that love of gocdnefs and hatred of fin, which 
 may fit us for the fociety of heavenly minds. And, fi- 
 nally, we muft commend and entruft our fouls to Him 
 who died for the fins of men j with earned wiflies and 
 humble hopes, that he will admit us with the labourers 
 who entered the vineyard at the laft hour, and aftbciate 
 \i$ with the thief whom he pardoned on the crofs ! 
 
 To this great end you will not refufe to unite with 
 me, on bended knees, and with humbled hearts, in fer- 
 vent prayer to the throne of grace ! May the Father of 
 mercy hear our fupplications, and have companion upon 
 us ! 
 
 €t O almighty 
 
I06 THE CONVICT'S ADDRESS 
 
 " O almighty Lord God, the righteous Judge of all 
 the earth, who in thy providential juftice deft frequently 
 inflict fevere vengeance upon Tinners in this life, that 
 thou mayeft by their fad examples effectually deter 
 others from committing the like heinous offences ; and 
 that they themfelves, truly repenting of their faults, 
 may efcape the condemnation of hell, — look down in 
 mercy upon us, thy forrowful fervants, whom thou haft 
 fuffered to become the unhappy objects of offended juf- 
 tice in the world ! 
 
 " Give us a thorough fenfe of all thofe evil thoughts, 
 v/ords, and works which have fo provoked thy patience, 
 that thou haft been pleafed to permit this public and 
 mameful judgment to fall upon us 5 and grant us fuch a 
 portion of grace and godly fincerity, that we may hear- 
 tily confefs and unfeignedly repent of every breach of 
 thofe moft holy laws and ordinances, which if a man do, 
 he fhall even live in them. 
 
 cc Let no root of bitternefs and malice, no habitual 
 and deadly fin, either of omiffion or c ommiflion, remain 
 undifturbed in our hearts ! But enable us to make our 
 repentance univerfal, without the leaft flattering or de- 
 ceitful referve, that fo we may clear our confeiences be- 
 fore we clofe our eyes. 
 
 ie And now that thou haft brought us within the 
 view of our long home, and made us fenfible, that the 
 time of our diflblution draweth near, — endue us, we 
 humbly pray thee, O gracious Father, with fuch Chrif- 
 tian fortitude, that neither the terrors of thy prefent dif- 
 penfations, nor the remembrance of our former fins, may 
 have power to fink our fpirits into a defpondency of thy 
 everlafting mercies in the adorable Son of thy love. 
 
 '* Wean our thoughts and affections, good Lord* 
 from all the vain and delufive enjoyments of this tranfi- 
 t-ory world, that we may not only with patient refigna- 
 tion fubmit to the appointed ftroke of de'a'th, but that 
 our faith and hope may be fo elevated, that we may con* 
 ceive a longing deiire to be diflblved from the'e our 
 
 earthly 
 
TO HIS UNHAPPY BRETHREN. 10-7 
 
 earthly tabernacles, and to be with Chrift, which is tar 
 better than all the happinefs we can wifh for befides ! 
 
 (e And in a due fenie of our own extraordinary want 
 of forgivenefs at thy hands, and of our ucter unworthi- 
 nefs of the very leaft of all thy favours — of the meaner! 
 crumbs which fall from thy table — O blefTed Lord Je- 
 fns, make us fo truly and univerfally charitable, that in 
 an undiiTembled compliance with thy own awful com- 
 mand and moft endearing example, we may both freely 
 fo- give and cordially pray for our moft inveterate ene- 
 mies, perfecutors, and (tenderers ! Forgive them, O Lord, 
 we befeech thee — turn their hearts, and fill them with 
 thy love 1 
 
 " Thus, may we humbly trult, our forrowful prayers 
 and tears will be acceptable in thy fight. Thus mall 
 we be qualified, through Chrift, to exchange this difmal 
 bodily confinement [and thefe uneafy fetters] for the 
 glorious liberty of the fons of God. — And thus fhall 
 our legal doom upon earth be changed into a comfort- 
 able declaration of mercy in the higheft heavens : — and 
 all through thy moft precious and all fufficient merits, 
 O blefled Saviour of mankind ! — who with the Father, 
 and the Holy Ghoft, liveft and reigned ever, One God, 
 world without end. Amen *. 
 
 G J 
 
 DR. DODD'S LAST PRAYER. 
 
 Written June 27, in the Night previous to his Suffering. 
 ~ iREAT and glorious Lord God ! Thou Father of 
 Mercies, and God of ail Comfort ! a poor and hum- 
 ble publican ftands trembling in thy awful pretence^ 
 and, under the deep fenie of innumerable tranigrefTions, 
 fcarce dares fo much as to lift up his eyes or to fay, 
 ** Lord, be merciful to me, a firmer!" 
 
 For I have finned, oh Lord 1 I have moft grlevonily 
 firmed againft Thee ; finned againft light, again ft con- 
 
 * See Roflfelfs Priforer's DireAor : — 3 work of fome merit— and which I have 
 endeavoured, in my melancholy hours of ltiiure ; to revife, and <l humbl\ h< pt 
 improve , and mean to leave behind me, in the hands or the Ordinary. ^- : a 
 teftimor.v of my fincere, but very weak, endeavours for the belt wcifsrt af un- 
 men in confinement ; to whom 1 have written £• general Ad-ureig, to be 
 fatwtsi to the nev» edition ©* &off«ll, 
 
 vi£tlcn i 
 
IOS DR. DODD'S LAST PRAYER. 
 
 viction ; and by a thouiand, thouiand offences, juflly 
 provoked thy wrath and indignation ! My fins are pe- 
 culiarly aggravated, and their burden more than ordi- 
 narily opprtfnve to my fcui, from the fight and fenfe I 
 have had of thy love, and from the high and folemn ob- 
 ligations of my facred character ! 
 
 But, oppreffed with conicioufhefs, and broken in 
 heart under the fenfe of guilt, I come, oh Lord ! with 
 earneft prayer and tears, fupplicating Thee, of thy mer- 
 cy, to look upon me ; and forgive me for his precious 
 merit's fake, which are infinitely more unbounded than 
 even all the fins of a whole fmful world ! By his erof's 
 and pafFion, I implore, to fpare and to deliver me, O 
 Lord ! 
 
 BlefTed be thy unfpeakable goodnefs for that wonder- 
 ful difplay of divine love, on which alone is my hope 
 and my confidence ! Thou bait invited, oh bleifed Re- 
 deemer, the burdened and heavy-laden, the fick in foul, 
 an I wearied with fin, to come to Thee, and receive reft. 
 Lord, I come I Be it unto me -according to thy infal- 
 lible word ! Grant me thy precious, thy inertirnable 
 reft! 
 
 Be with me, thou all-fufficient God, in the dreadful 
 trial through which I am to pais 1 and gracioufly vouch- 
 fafe to fulfil in me thofe precious promifes which Thou, 
 in fuch fatherly kindnefs, hail delivered to thy amicled 
 children ! Enable me to fee and adore thy d if poring 
 hand in this awful, but mournful event 5 and to con- 
 template at an humble diftance thy great example ; who 
 did go forth, bearing thy crois, and enduring its fhame, 
 under the coniblatory aflurance of the joy fet before 
 Thee ! 
 
 And oh, my Triumphant Lord 1 in the moment of 
 death, and in the laft hour of confli6t , fuffer me not to 
 doubt or defpond ! But fuitain me in thy arms of love ; 
 and ch, receive and prefent faultlefs to thy Father, in 
 the robe of thy righteouihefs, my poor and unworthy 
 foul, which thou hail redeemed with thy molt precious 
 blood I 
 
 Thus 
 
BR, DODD'S LAST PRAYER. 109 
 
 ■ Thus commending myfelf and my eternal concerns 
 into thy moil faithful hands, in firm hope of a happy 
 reception into thy kingdom ; Oh, my God hear me, 
 while I humbly extend my Amplications for others ; 
 and pray, That thou wouldeft bleis the King and all his 
 family : that thou wouldeft preferve the crown in his 
 houfe to endlefs generations, and make him the happy 
 minifter of truth, of peace, and of profperity to his peo- 
 ple ! Bleis that people, O Lord ! and mine, as thou haft 
 done, with the light of thy favour, on this little portion 
 of thy boundleis creation. Diffufe more and more a 
 ipirit of Chriftian piety amonglt all ranks and orders of 
 men j and in particular fill their hearts with univerfal 
 and undiflembled love : — Love to thee and love to each 
 other ! 
 
 Amidft the manifold mercies and bleffings vouch- 
 fafed through thy gracious influence — thou Sovereign 
 Ruler of all hearts! — to lb unworthy a worm, during this 
 dark day of my forrows, enable me to be thankful ; and 
 in thefmcerity of heart-felt gratitude to implore thine ef- 
 pecialblefTmgon allmy beloved fellow-creatures,who have 
 by any means interefled themfelves in my prefervation ! 
 May the prayers they have offered for me return in mer- 
 cies on their own heads i May the fympathy they have 
 fhewn, refrem and comfort their own hearts ! And may 
 all their good endeavours and kindneffes be amply re- 
 paid by a full fupply of thy grace and abundant afTift- 
 aiice to them in their day of diftrefs ; — in their moft 
 anxious hours of need ! 
 
 To the more particular and immediate inftruments of 
 thy providential love and goodnefs to me, O vouchiafe 
 to impart, Author of all good, — a rich fupply of thy 
 choiceft comforts ! Fill their hearts with thy love, and 
 their lives with thy favour ! Guard them in every dan- 
 ger : foothe them in every foi row : bleis tl>em in every 
 laudable undertaking : reftore an hundred-fold all their 
 temporal fupplies to me and mine : and after a courfe of 
 exteniive utility, advance them, through the merits of 
 Jefus, to lives of eternal blifs. 
 
 L Extend, 
 
I TO DR. BODD'S LAST PRAYER. 
 
 Extend, great Father of the world, thy more efpecia! 
 care and kindnefs to my nearer and mod dear connec- 
 tions. Bleis with thy continual pre fence and protection 
 my dear brother and lifter, and all their children and 
 friends ! Hold them in thy hand of tender care and 
 mercy ; and give them to experience, that in thee there 
 is infinite loving-kindnefs and truth ! — Look with a ten- 
 der eye on all their temporal concerns ; and after lives of 
 faithiulnefs and truth, oh bear them to thy boiom, and 
 unite us together in thy eternal love ! 
 
 But oh, my adorable Lord and hope, futTer me in a. 
 more particular maimer to offer up to thy fovereign and 
 gracious care my long-rried and mod affectionate wife I 
 Hufband of the widow, be thou her fupport ? fuftain 
 and confole her affU6ted mind ! enable her with patient 
 fubmiflion to receive all thy will : — and when, in thy 
 good time, thou haft perfected her for thy bleffed king- 
 dom, unite again our happy and immortal fpirits in ce- 
 leftial love, as thou haft been pleafed to unite us in im 
 cere earthly affection ! Lord Jefus, vouchfafe unto her 
 thy peculiar grace and all-fufficient confclation ! 
 
 If I have any enemies, oh, thou who dieditforthy 
 enemies, hear my prayers for them 1 Forgive them all 
 their ill-will to me, and fill their hearts with thy love! 
 And, oh, vouchfafe abundantly to blefs and fave all 
 thofe who have either wifhed or done me evil ! Forgive 
 me, gracious God ! the wrong or injury I have dene to 
 others ; and fo forgive me my trefpafTes, as I freely and 
 fully forgive all thofe who have in any degree trefpaiTed 
 againft me. I defire thy grace, to purify my foul from 
 every taint of malevolence ; and to fit me, by perfect 
 love, for the fociety of fpirits, whole bufinefs and happi- 
 nels is love ! 
 
 Glory be to thee, oh God ! for all the bleflings thou 
 Jiaft granted me from the day of my creation until the 
 prefent hour ; I feel and adore thy exceeding goodnefs 
 in all j and in this laft and clofing affliction of my life, I 
 acknowledge moft humbly the juftice of thy fatherly 
 correction, and bow my head with thankfulnefs for thy 
 
 rod ! 
 
LETTER TO DR. DODD. Ill 
 
 rod ! Great and good in all ! I adore and magnify thy 
 mercy : I behold in all thy love manifeftly difplayed j 
 and rejoice that I am at once thy creature and thy re- 
 deemed ! 
 
 As fuch, oh Lord, my Creator and Redeemer, I com- 
 mit my foul into thy faithful hands ! Warn it and puri- 
 fy it in the blood of thy Son from every defiling ftain : 
 perfecl what is wanting in it j and grant me, poor, re- 
 turning, weeping wretched, prodigal — grant me the low- 
 ed place in thy heavenly houfej in and for his 
 lbleand all-fufficierit merits — the adorable Jefus 5 — who 
 with the Father and the Holy Ghoft, livetii and reign- 
 eth ever, one God, world without end ! 
 
 Amen and Amen, Lord Jefus ! 
 
 A LETTER TO THE REVEREND DOCTOR DODD. 
 
 Sent to him during bis Confinement in Newgate. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 T ET it not furprife you in this tremendous hour to 
 J_J be accoited by an old, perhaps forgotten, but ftill 
 fympathizing Friend. The world fmiles in profperity ; 
 the Chriftian love in adverfity 5 and the hour of Nature's 
 forrow is the important period for fuch a friendfhip. 
 
 From the firft moment the melancholy news had 
 reached s my ear, how truly was my heart engaged in 
 prayer and pity! I anticipated the dreadful pangs which 
 rend your foul ; and the awful confideration, that theie 
 things were but the beginning of forrow, was ready to 
 draw blood from my heart, as well as tears from my 
 'eyes. I turned to him, from whom proceeds all that is 
 'truly great and good, and was encouraged to intreat the 
 merciful Redeemer to look down with tender pity, and 
 caufe this dark night to become the womb of a bright 
 morning j yea, the brightest your eyes have ever feen. 
 
 Every ftroke of your rod deeply affects me 5 but, 
 above all, I feel for your precious, your immortal foul. 
 
 Will you permit me, my dear Sir, to throw aiide all 
 refcrve, while treating on this important fubjecli Shall 
 L z I pre* 
 
*1Z LETTER TO DR. DODD, 
 
 . I prevail with you to bear with the manner for the fake 
 of the matter 3 and defpife' not truth though ignorantly 
 uttered ? 
 
 I fear you have lived a long time in that friendfliip 
 with the world which the Spirit of God declares is en- 
 mity with himfelf. However excellent fome or many of 
 your aclions may have been, you have reited in the let- 
 ter, not in the ijpirit of Chriftianity j you have been 
 contented without the experimental" knowledge of thole 
 words, " He that is in Chriit Jems is a new creature/* 
 Your will, your affections, your deilres and delights, 
 have they not all been fixed on earthly objects ? Re- 
 joicing in the pofleflion or mourning the difappointment, 
 your daily delight has not been in the divine communi- 
 cations of the Holy Spirit ; fellowfliip with God has not 
 been your chiefeft joy 5 the purfoit of empty fhadows 
 found nearer ace els to your heart than the noble choice 
 of following the defpiied Nazarene. Think not, dear 
 Sir, I draw this judgment from the late unhappy event. 
 O, no ; that I only confider as the natural fruit of the 
 unregenerate heart. The point I aim at is, the want of 
 that change, that death unto fin, that new birth unto 
 righteouineis, whereby the children of wrath become 
 the children of grace. St. Paid fays, " I ha\e fought 
 the good fight, I have kept the faith :" therefore he was 
 willing to be offered up, ilnce nothing but a crown of 
 righteoufnefs prefented itfelf to his opening profpecl. 
 He had kept that faith which purifieth the heart, cver- 
 ccmeth the world, and quencheth ail the fiery darts of 
 the evil one. 
 
 I remember, when I was about fourteen, the feafon in 
 which I was favoured with your mod intimate acquaint- 
 ance, you once told a ftory which I mall never forget, 
 concerning one of the Scotch Divines, who faid on his 
 death-bed, " If every ftone, timber, and nail in this 
 <« houfe could fpeak, they would bear witneis to the 
 (i many hours of fweet communion my foul hath {pent 
 ci with God therein." O, Sir, can the beams of your 
 houfe bear witneis that your enjoyments have been iuch 
 
 as 
 
LETTER TO DR. DODD. 11% 
 
 as eternity mail ripen ? And this heavenly difpofition^ 
 you muft be fenfible, can alone fit us for the enjoyment 
 of the New Jerufalem. No object can give pleafure nn- 
 lefs it meets with a fenfe which fuits and apprehends it, 
 The grain of corn is more welcome to the fowl than the 
 richeft pearl. So to the foul whofe treafure is yet on 
 earth, the beauties of thy lovely Jefus mine in vain. 
 But, alas! who can break this adamantine chain ! Who 
 can unlock the heart bound down with twice ten thou- 
 sand ties, and bring the captive foul into the glorious li- 
 berty of the fons of God ? Can difappoimment, can 
 reproach, difhonour, lofs, or even death itfelf? Alas! 
 thefe may torment, but never change the heart : it is a 
 fight of the crucified Jefus alone which breaks your 
 heart in pieces. This Jefus waits to do you good j 
 hear him faying, Thou haft deftroyed thyfelf, but in me 
 is thy help. O that you would cry ; his ear attends 
 the fofteft prayer. This is my fear left you (hculd for- 
 get there is no way into the fheepfold but through the 
 door, and no way of entering that door but knowing 
 ourfelves to be loft and undone creatures, whole ways 
 have been altogether perverfe before him, and then to 
 be faved by faith in Chrift alone. 
 
 How often has Chrift appeared delightful even in a 
 prifon ! Several have praifed God for bringing them 
 there, and by that means awakening them to a know- 
 ledge of their loft eftate, that they might be made ac- 
 quainted with a happinefs till then unknown. Adora- 
 ble Jefus ! fo work on the foul of this my unhappy 
 friend, difplay thy pardoning love, and write it on his 
 aching heart : 
 
 " No; my beft actions cannot fave, 
 " But thou muft cleafe e'en them 3 
 
 " Yet when on thee I do believe, 
 
 " My worft ihall not condemn." 
 
 I know not how to break off. My fpirit deeply 
 
 mourns both for your prefent and approaching faffer- 
 
 ings, and equally for her who fo fadly fhares your eVery 
 
 woe. Had you remained in profperiiy, nothing \Koukt 
 
 have 
 
114 LETTER TO DR. DODD. 
 
 been farther from my thoughts than a renewal of ac- 
 quaintance ; for I have found, in being defpifed and 
 trampled under foot of the great ones of the earth, more 
 folid peace? more lading joy, than my warmed wifhes 
 could ever have expected : but now I cannot forget you 
 if I would, I long for your falvation $ will you acknow- 
 ledge all the wiidom of the world can never fave you ? 
 Will you look for falvation from the mere mercy of 
 God ? How many have gone triumphantly to glory, 
 even from under the hand of an executioner ! My dear 
 Sir, that triumph may be yours ; and if you do not re- 
 ject it, it furely mall. The king of terrors mall appear 
 no longer terrible ; and your happy fpirit, loofed from 
 every earthly tie, and delighted with the freedom of the 
 living water, mail fpring into eternity with fo feeling a 
 joy as you have never known in all your life. You 
 have tried the world, and found it empty. Never did 
 man drive more for the honours of it than you have 
 done j for that, you turned your back on the clofed fol- 
 lowers of the Lamb, the little few defpifed indeed of 
 man, but whole lives were hid with Chrid in God j for 
 that you have been conformed in all your life and con- 
 versation to the cuftoms, fafhions, and maxims of it s 
 but while you were a flave to man, ungrateful man \ 
 who neither thanked nor payed yon, you flighted Him 
 who is able to cad both body and foul into hell. But, 
 O the unbounded love of Jefus ! He bladed all your 
 hopes 5 he chadened and corrected. For what end? 
 Only to convince you how ready he is to receive and 
 make you a beloved fon. The wicked have no bands 
 in their death, they will not liden to awakening fears ; 
 but whom the Lord loveth he chafteneth : yea, the body 
 may be given up to ruder, that the fpirit may be laved 
 in the day of the Lord. 
 
 I am not yet without hope, even for your life. It h 
 founded on this : I know the hearts of all are in the hand 
 of my God, from the king on the throne to the beggar 
 on the dunghill, and he turneth them what way foever he 
 will. I know, if you leek but Daniel's faith, PaniePs 
 
 Cod 
 
LETTER TO DR. DODD. IT5 
 
 VGod can fhut the lion's mouth. If, with Nebuchad- 
 | nezzar, you have learned to acknowledge to Mod High 
 luler over all, he can re (tore you again to your former 
 tftate, or elfe take you to behold his glory. When I 
 coniider your great talents, and how much you might 
 have done for God, I cannot help crying to the Lord 
 once more to fend you into his vineyard with a changed 
 heart full of the Holy Ghoft and power. And now my 
 dear Sir, what mall I fay ? My heart is full : I know 
 not how to leave off: It is as though my pen could not 
 part from the paper. Nature Shrinks from that pang which 
 is ufually the fad attendant of a laft farewell : but Grace 
 cries out, Yet there is hope. An eternity of joy pre- 
 fects a kingdom where no horrid alarm of war mall 
 break our eternal repofe ; where lorrow, death, and part- 
 ing fhall be no more ; and the Royal Army of Crofs-bear- 
 ers, who have warned their robes and made them white 
 in the blood of the Lamb, are ready to embrace and 
 welcome you among them. 
 
 To that efficacious blood, with tears of love and far- 
 row, I commit you 5 and, though with reluctance, I 
 inn ft now conclude, 
 
 Your fmcerely affectionate 
 
 and fympathizing friend, 
 Feh.ij-jj. Mary Bosanquet* 
 
 By a feries of correfpondence, almoft weekly, from the 
 above date, till within three days of his execution, Mifs 
 Bofanquet fays Jhe had reafon to believe he felt a con- 
 triie heart, and found the firmer* s Friend to he his, — • 
 June z$th 9 he wrote her his laft farewell, as follows ; 
 My dear Friend, June 25, 1777. 
 
 /^N Friday morning I am to be made immortal ! I die 
 with a heart truly contrite, and broken under a 
 fenfeof its great and manifold offences, but comforted 
 and fuftained by a firm faith in the pardoning love of 
 jeiiis Chrift. My earned: prayers to God are, that we 
 may meet and know each other in that kingdom to- 
 wards which you have been fo long and lb happily tra^ 
 
 veiling* 
 
Il6 PR. dodd's account of himself. 
 veiling. I return you my moft. affectionate thanks for 
 all your friendly attention to me j and have no doubt, 
 fhould any opportunity offer, you will remember my ex- 
 cellent, but n.oft afflicted partner in diftrefs. I do not 
 know where to direct to worthy Mr. Parker, but beg 
 to trouble you with my dying love and kind remem- 
 brance to him. The Lord Jeius Chrift be with our fpi- 
 rits. Amen, 
 
 W. DODD. 
 
 Soon after the Doctor's death, the lady received from 
 a faithful minifter of Jefus Chrift, who conftantly at- 
 tended him, a very encouraging account, in which he 
 declares he believes him to be fmging the fong of the 
 redeemed 5 and concludes his letter with the following 
 words : 
 
 " Thus ended the mortal, and began the never-ceafing 
 €c life of your old and my anew friend : and I blefs God 
 c< our Saviour for this new proof of his faving grace, and 
 €C the power of his precious blood. 
 
 " The time is elapfed 5 I have written more than I 
 " intended ; and yet not a tenth part of what I could, 
 " You may be comforted, as I have been richly. Your 
 ei and my fears are at an end. 
 
 " May the God of all grace keep your and my heart 
 *' in the knowledge of him, yea, caufe us to grow in 
 £( grace and love ! This is the earneft prayer of 
 " Your affectionate friend, 
 
 " and willing fervant in Chrift.'** 
 
 DR. DODD'S* ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF. 
 
 HPHE greateft affliction and oppreffion to my mind at 
 •*■ prefent is, the piercing reflection that I, who have 
 lived all my life in an endeavour to promote the truth of 
 Chriftianity, fhould now become an obftacle to that 
 truth, and a fcandal to that profeftion; — that I, who 
 have with all my power, and with ail fincerity, laboured 
 
 • Of this account Dr. Dodd may be fkid to have only drawn the outlines; the 
 picture, as it appears, was finilhed by Dr. Jchnfon. 
 
 t(» 
 
DR. DODD'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF, 117 
 to do good, and be a bkfling to my fdiow-creatures P 
 mould now become an evil and a curie, What mail I, 
 can T, ought I to do, to prevent, as much as in me lies, 
 any Inch dreadful confequences of my mame and my 
 crime ? Will a public atttftation of my fmcere belief of 
 Chridianity, and an ingenuous detail and confefTion of 
 my offences, be of any avail ? — In order to do this, and 
 to acquaint you in few words with a perfect knowledge 
 of myfelf (though I mould wifh to do it more fully) be 
 fo good as to confider the few following particulars : 
 
 I entered very young on public life, very innocent— 
 very ignorant — and very/ingenuous. I lived many hap- 
 py years at Weft Ham, in an uninterrupted and iuccefs- 
 i'ul difcharge of my duty. A difappointment in the 
 living of that pariih obliged me to exert myfelf '$ and I 
 engaged for a chapel near Buckingham Gate. Great 
 i'ucceis attended the undertaking : it pleafed and elated 
 rue. At the fame time Lord Chefterflcld, to whom I 
 was perlbnaily unknown, offered me the care of his 
 heir, Mr. Stanhope*. By the advice of my dear friend, 
 now in heaven, Dr. Squire, I engaged under promifes 
 which were not performed. Such a difiinclion too, 
 you muft know, ferved to increafe a young man's vani- 
 ty. I was naturally led into more extenfive and impor- 
 tant connections, and, of courfe into greater expences 
 and more diilipations. Indeed, before, I never didi pate d 
 at all — for many, many years, never feeing a play-houie, 
 or any public place, but living entirely in Chriflian du- 
 ties. Thus brought to town, and introduced to gay 
 life, I fell into its lhares. Ambition and vanity led 
 me on. My temper, naturally cheerful, was pleafed 
 with company; naturally generous, it knew not the uie 
 of money ; it was a tlranger to the u r eful fcience of 
 ceconomy and frugality ; nor could it withold from dif- 
 trefs, what it too much (often) wanted itfelf. 
 
 Befkies this, the habit of unitorm, regular, fober 
 piety, and of watchfulnefs and devotion, wearing off, 
 anudft this unavoidable fcene of diflipation, I was not, 
 M as 
 
 * The prefent Lord Ckefterfieli,. 
 
IlS DR. DODD'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF. 
 
 as at Weft Ham, the innocent man that I lived there, 
 I committed offences againft my God ! which yet, I 
 blefs him, were always, in reflection deteftable to me. 
 
 But my greater!, evil was expence. To fupply it, I 
 fell into the dreadful and ruinous mode of raifing mo- 
 ney by annuities. The annuities devoured me. 
 Still I exerted myfelf by every means to do what I 
 thought right, and built my hopes of perfect extrica- 
 tion from all my difficulties when my young and be- 
 loved pupil mould come of age. But, alas! during 
 this interval, which was not very long, I declare with 
 folemn truth, that I never varied from the fteady belief 
 of the Chriltian doftrines ! I preached them with all 
 my power, and kept back nothing from my congrega- 
 tions which I thought might tend to their bed welfare 5 
 and I was very fuccefsful in this way during the time. 
 Nor, though I fpent in diffipation many hours which I ' 
 ought not, but to which my connections inevitably led, 
 was I idle during this period ; as my Commentary on 
 the Bible, my Sermons to Young Men, and feveral o'her 
 publications prove. I can fay too, with pleafure, that 
 I ftudioufly employed my intereft, through the connec- 
 tions I had, for the good of others. I never forgot or 
 neglected the cauie of the diftrefled ; many, if need were, 
 could bear me witnefs. Let it fuffice to fay, that du- 
 ring this, period I inftituted the charity for the Difcharge 
 of Debtors. 
 
 Such is the plain and ingenuous detail of myfelf. T 
 fevcereiy lament all I have done wrong. I love, and 
 .ever did, religion and goodnefs. I hate and abhor vice, 
 and myfelf for ever having committed any. I look 
 with peculiar deteilation on the crime to which I am at 
 preient obnoxious 5 and I wifn before I die, of all things, 
 pofTible, to make amends — by the moil fincere and full 
 •onfeffion and humiliation of myfelf. 
 
 May xi, 1777, W. DODD. 
 
DR. DODD'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF. 119 
 
 "The following Declaration Dr. Dodd inclofed in a Letter 
 to a friend fame time before hefuffered. 
 
 THOUGH I acknowledge in all its atrocity, and 
 more efpecially with a v view to my peculiar circumftances 
 and character, the offence for which I fuffer, — yet, con- 
 fidering that it is punifhed with fuch fanguinary feverity 
 in no commercial ftate under heaven 5 and that in my 
 cafe it has been fully atoned for, fo far as human crea- 
 tures can atone to each other, I cannot but judge my 
 punifhment rather hard : — and ftill more fo, as that pub- 
 lic (for whofe benefit and example fuch ignominious 
 death and punifhment can alone be intended) has with 
 a pleading (and almoft unanimous) voice fupplicated 
 the throne, in the moil humble manner, to (hew mercy 
 and avert the abhorred ftroke, by affigning another, 
 though perhaps not lefs afflictive punifhment. 
 
 In this difpenfation, however, I look far beyond the 
 hand of poor human vengeance, and adore the juftice and 
 goodnefs of God, who correcting me in judgment for 
 deviations from the purity of his Gofpel, as a diftin- 
 guifhed minifter of it, has been pleafed to call me thus 
 by death to proclaim my repentance, and to attefl my 
 faith in Him ; and to declare to all my fellow-creatures, 
 and to my beloved countrymen in particular, for whofe 
 love to me I am under the higheft obligations, my firm 
 belief of the principles which I have long preached, and 
 in my writings delivered with the utmoft truth and fin- 
 cerity s and which I thus feal with my blood, in per- 
 fect refignation to the will of my adorable Mafter, and 
 in a firm dependence on thofe principles for the falvation 
 of my own foul. 
 
 W. DODD. 
 
 M % Letters 
 
xlO DR. DODD'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF. 
 
 Letters to Two Noble Lords of His Majeftfs Moft He- 
 nourable Privy Council, 
 LETTER I, 
 My Lord*. 
 
 I HAVE committed a capital crime, for which the 
 Sentence of the law has patted upon me ; and whether 
 that fentence (hall be executed in its full rigour, may, 
 perhaps, depend upon the fufFrage of your Lordfhip. 
 
 The (name and felf-reproach with which I now foli- 
 cit your commiferation, I hope no man will ever feel, 
 who has not deferved to feel them like myfelf. But I 
 will not defpair of being heard with pity, when, under 
 the terrors of a fpeedy and difgraceful death, I moft 
 humbly implore your Lordfhip's intercefTion. 
 
 My life has not been wholly ufelefs ; I have laboured 
 in my calling diligently and fuccefsfully ; but fuccefs 
 inflamed my vanity, and my heart betrayed me. Vio- 
 lent paflions have expofed me to violent temptations j 
 but I am not the firft whom temptation has overthrown. 
 I have, in all my deviations, kept Right always in 
 view, and have invariably refolved to return to it. 
 Whether, in a profperous ilate, I mould have kept my 
 refolution, public juftice has not fuffered me to know. 
 
 My crime has been indeed atrocious, but my punifh- 
 ment has no been light. From a height of reputation, 
 which perhaps railed envy in others, and certainly pro- 
 duced pride in myielf, I have fallen to the loweft and 
 grcfTeft infamy ; from an income which prudence might 
 have made plentiful, 1 am reduced to live on thofe re- 
 mains of charity which infamy has left me. 
 
 Whrn lo much has been given to juftice, I humbly 
 intreat that life, fuch as it muft now be, may be given 
 to mercy ; and that your Lordfliip's influence may be 
 employed in difpoiing our Sovereign to look with com- 
 panion on, My Lord, 
 
 Your lordihip's moft humble Supplicant, 
 
 June 11,1777. ,. WILLIAM DODD. 
 
 * Lord North, then Prime Minifter. 
 
 LETTER 
 
DR. DODD'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF. 121 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 My Lord *, 
 
 NOT many days are now to pafs before the fate of 
 one of the moft miferable of human beings will be final- 
 ly determined. The efficacy of your Lordfhip's voice 
 is well known 5 and whether I mall immediately fuffej^ 
 an ignominious death, or wander the reft of my days nr 
 ignominious exile, your opinion will probably deter- 
 mine. Do not refufe, my Lord, to hear the plea, what- 
 ever it may be, which I humbly oppofe to the extremi- 
 ty of juftice. 
 
 I acknowledge, my Lord, the atrocioufnefs of my 
 crime ; I admit the truth of the verdict that condemned 
 me ; yet I hope, that when my evil is cenfured, my 
 good may Hkewife be remembered j and that it may be 
 confidered how much that fociety which is injured by 
 my fraud, has been benefited by my charitable labours. 
 I have offended 5 I am penitent ; I entreat but for life, 
 for a life which mult pafs certainly in difhonour, and 
 probably in want. Do not refufe, my Lord, to com- 
 panionate a man who, blafted in fame and ruined in for- 
 tune, yet fhrinks with terror from the precipice of eter- 
 nity. Let me live, however miferable ; and let my mi- 
 feries warn all thofe to whom they fnall be known, 
 againft felf- indulgence, vanity, and profuiion. 
 
 Once more, my Lord, let me beg for life 5 and wher^ 
 you fee me going from the gloom of a prifon to the pe- 
 nury of banifhment, do not confider public juftice as 
 wholly unfatisfied by the fufterings of, 
 My Lord, 
 Your Lordfhip , s moft humble Supplicant, 
 
 June 11, j 777. WILLIAM DODD, 
 
 * Earl Mansfield. 
 
 M 3 Vu 
 
1*3 DR. DODD'S PETITION. 
 
 Dr. DODD's PETITION 
 
 (prefented by his Brother) 
 To the king's Moil Excellent Majefly. 
 Sire, 
 IT is moft humbly prefented to Your Majefty by 
 ^Villiam Dodd, the unhappy convict now under fentence 
 ^ft death, 
 
 That William Dodd, acknowledging the juftice of the 
 fentence denounced again it him, has no hope or refuge 
 but in Your Majefty 1 ! clemency : 
 
 That though to recollect or mention the ufefulnefs of 
 his life, or the efficacy of his miniftry, muft overwhelm 
 Jiim, in his prefent condition, with fhame and -forrow, 
 he yet humbly hopes that his pail labours will not 
 wholly be forgotten ; and that the zeal, with which he 
 has exhorted others to a good life, though it does not 
 extenuate his crime, may mitigate his punifliment : 
 
 That debaied as he is by ignominy, and diftreffed as 
 he is by poverty, fcorned by the world, and detefted by 
 himielf, deprived of all external comforts, and afflicted 
 by corrfcioufnefs of guilt, he can derive no hopes of lon- 
 ger life, but that of repairing the injury he has done to 
 mankind, by exhibiting an example of fliame and fub- 
 roirlion, and of expiating his fins by prayer and peni- 
 tence : 
 
 That for this end he humbly implores from the cle- 
 mency of Your Majefty, the continuance of a life legal- 
 ly forfeited ; and of the days which by your gracious 
 companion he may yet live, no one mall pais without a 
 prayer, that Your Majefty, after a long life of happinefs 
 and honour, may ftand, at the day of final judgment, 
 3mong the merciful that obtain mercy. 
 
 So fervently prays the moft diftreffed and wretched of 
 - Majefty's rubje&s, 
 
 WILLIAM DODD. 
 Mr$, 
 
CONCLUSION. 123 
 
 Mrs. DODD's PETITION 
 
 (prefented bv Herfelf) 
 To the qu£ EN'S Moft Excellent Majefty. 
 Madam, 
 
 IT is moft humblv reprefented by Mary Dodd, the 
 wife of Dr. William Dodd, now lying in priibn undei^ 
 fentence of death, 
 
 That me has been the wife of this unhappy man more 
 than twenty -feven years, and has lived with him in the 
 greateft happinefs of conjugal union, and the highefl 
 ftate of conjugal confidence : 
 
 That (he has been a conftant witnefs of his unwearied 
 endeavours for public good, and his laborious atten- 
 dance on charitable inftitutions. Many are the fami- 
 lies whom his care has delivered from want $ many are 
 the hearts which he has freed from pain, and the faces 
 which he has cleared from forrow : 
 
 That therefore me moft humbly throws herfelf at the 
 feet of the Queen, earneftly intreating that the petition 
 of a diftrefied wife aiking mercy for a hufband, may be 
 considered as naturally foliciting the companion of Her 
 Majefty ; and that when her wifdom has compared the 
 offender's good actions with his crime, me will be pleaf- 
 ed to reprefent his -cafe to our Molt Gracious Sovereign 
 in fuch terms as may dilpoie him to mitigate the rigour 
 of the law. 
 
 So prays your Majefty y s moll dutiful RibjecT: and fup- 
 plicant, 
 
 MARY DODD. 
 
 SUCH were the lafts thoughts of a man wfcom wc 
 have (qqw exalting in popularity, and funk in fhame. 
 For his reputation, which no man can give to himfelf, 
 thofe who conferred it are to anfwer. Of his public 
 miniftry, the means of judging were fufficiently attain- 
 able. He muft be allowed to preach well, whole fer* 
 moos ftrike the audience with forcible conviction. 
 his lifej thofe who thought it confident with his 
 
 tr - 
 
124 OBSERVATIONS BY/DR. JOHNSON, 
 trine, did not originally form falfe notions. He was- at 
 firfc what he endeavoured to make others ; but the world 
 broke down his refolution, and be in time ceafed to ex- 
 emplify his own inftrucYions. 
 
 Let thofe who are tempted to his faults, tremble at 
 Iris punimment ; and thofe whom he imprefTed from the 
 pulpit with religious fentiments, endeavour to confirm 
 them, by considering the regret and felf- abhorrence with 
 which he reviewed in prifon his deviations from recti- 
 tude. 
 
 Whatever afliftance his anxiety might prompt him to 
 folicit in forming the petitions (which, however he mull 
 be coniidered as confirming by his name) the account of 
 his pari life, and of his dying fentiments, are the effu- 
 fions of his own mind. Thofe who read them with the 
 proper difpondon, will not read in vain. 
 
 A few Days before Dr. Dodd fnffered Death, the follow- 
 ing Observations on the Propriety of Pardoning him, 
 were written and fent to the Public Papers by Dr. 
 Johnfon. 
 
 YESTERDAY was prefented to the Secretary of 
 State, by the Earl Percy, a Petition in favour of Dr. 
 Dodd, fi'gned by twenty-three thouiand hands.* On 
 this occafion it is natural to confider, 
 
 That in all countries penal laws have been relaxed as 
 particular reafons have emerged : 
 
 That a life eminently beneficent, a iingle action emi- 
 nently good, or even the power of being ufeful to the 
 public, have been fufficitnt to protect the life of a delin- 
 quent: 
 
 That no arbiter of life and death has ever been cen- 
 fured for granting the life of a criminal to honeft and 
 powerful felicitation : 
 
 That the man for whom a nation petitions, muft be 
 prefumed tc i it uncommon in Kind or in degree ; 
 
 for however Hie mode of collecting fubfcriptions,or the 
 right of judgment exercifed by the iufcribers, may be 
 
 open 
 
OBSERVATIONS BY DR. TOHNSO^. 12$ 
 
 open to difpute, it is at lead plain that fomething is done 
 for this man, that was never done to any other, and 
 Government which muft proceed upon general views, 
 may rationally conclude that this man is iome thing bet- 
 ter than other offenders have been, or has done fomething 
 more than others have done : 
 
 That though the people cannot judge of the adminis- 
 tration of juftice fo well as their governors, yet their 
 Voice has always been regarded : 
 
 That this is a cafe in which the petitioners determine 
 againft their own intereft j thofe for whole protection 
 the law was made, intreat its relaxation : and our go- 
 vernors cannot be charged with the confequences which 
 the people bring upon themfelves : 
 
 That as this is a cafe without example, it will pro- 
 bably be without confequences, and many ages will 
 elapfe before fuch a crime is again committed by fuch a 
 man : 
 
 That though life be fpared, juftice may be fatisHed 
 with ruin, imprisonment, exile, in£amy, and penury. 
 
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 Parnel 
 
 Akenside 
 
 Glover 
 
 Shenstone 
 
 Watts 
 
 Somerville 
 
 Thomson 
 
 Gay 
 
 Prior 
 
 Butler 
 
 Milton 
 
 Pope 
 
 Young 
 
 Dry den 
 
 2 
 2 
 2 6 
 2 6 
 2 6 
 2 6 
 2 6 
 
 2 6 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 4 
 4 
 4 6 
 4 6 
 46 
 6 6 
 
 At a Period when the Arts have arrived to a degree of Per- 
 fection unexampled in the Annals of this Country, — when the 
 Genius of the Nation is refined in proportion to* its Improve- 
 ment, and an universal Taste prevails for Beauty and Excel- 
 lence, it was thought the best Season for offering to the Notice 
 of the Public, the complete Productions of the most admired 
 British Bards ; and since the most approved Productions of 
 the English Classics, the Drama, the most esteemed Novels, 
 and the History of our Country, have been reduced to a 
 convenient and portable Size, and* embellished with the most 
 finished Execution of the Press and Pencil, the Proprietor 
 thought«the Pods no less entitled to those superior Decorations. 
 
 There is a happy Combination between the Effects o£ 
 Poetry and Painting. What the Poet achieves by elaborate 
 Detail, the Painter accomplishes by instantaneous Effect* 
 To the Imagination of the Poet, the Painter is indebted for 
 all his happiest Subjects; and, in return, the Embellishments 
 of the Pencil Reflect a Lustre on the best Productions of the 
 Muse. The Union, therefore, of Poetry and Painting affords 
 an Employment for the Mind, at once 'elegant, delightful, and 
 insiructivt ; and, when recommended with every Degree of 
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 play of lively Fancy. It is, therefore, the Design of this 
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SACRED CLASSICS 
 
 Fenelon's Pious Reflections 6 
 
 Economy of Human Life 1 
 
 Death of Abel - - - 1 6 
 
 Howe's Devout Exercises 1 -6 
 
 Sentaur not fabulous 1 
 
 odd's Thoughts in Prison 1 
 
 Fenelon's Dialogues 1 6 
 
 Addison's Evidences of - f 
 
 tiie Christian Religion " x " 
 
 Blackmore's Creation - - - 1 6 
 
 Pilgrim's Progress - - - 2 " 6 
 
 Rowe's Letters - - -30 
 
 
 L/UUll 3 HIUUtiHJ 111 JL 11.1 11 4. »' i JU'WC O 1JCLLGIQ - - ,1 
 
 Dodd's Reflections on Death 1 6 i Harvey's Meditations 3 
 
 The Intention of Ibis Undertaking is to presentto the Pub- 
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 of the most ESTEEMED Works on MORAL and RELI- 
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 have selected for this Purpose, tend to convey both Instrvc 
 tion and Entertainment ; some of them exhibit Examples of 
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 cite Abhorrence ; and all of them abound with exalted Senti- 
 ments and apposite Allusions, and thereby contribute to impart 
 Knowledge of the mcst important and interesting Nature, 
 
 The Subjects, though variegated, are treated with equal 
 Ability ; so that the Serious and the Sprightly equally enter- 
 tain us, while they excite no distinct Images of corrupt En- 
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 tend to the Accomplishment of one grand Design, which is 
 to render Mankind religious and happy, by alluring the Reader 
 insensibly into an Acquaintance with the Principles and 
 Pmctice which they recommend. 
 
 In an A^e of Erudition and free Inquiry, it must give a 
 sensible Pleasure to reflecting Minds to see Instruction 
 mingled with Amusement, and the most serious and impor- 
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 and Entertainment. 
 
 As these Works tend so essentia!'./ to th? promotion of 
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 in particular; a Consideration which must recommend them 
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 of Learning, as peculiarly adapted to animate the Progress 
 of Youth, in their religious and literary Pursuits. 
 
 By means of the Economy adopted in printing of the Sacred 
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 Works of the most beneficial Tendency at a Price which ren- 
 ders them attainable to the generality of Readers, who have 
 previously been precluded from the purchase of such valuable 
 works, by the enormous Price that has been attached to 
 them, though, from the Importance and Value of the Subjects 
 they contain, they ought to be the Companions of every 
 Christian Reader. 
 
a SELECT BRITISH CLASSICS. 
 
 Goldsmith's Essays 10 1 Citizen of the World 3 
 
 Shenst one's Essavs 1 Adventurer ... 5 6 
 
 Johnson's idler \ .0 3 I Rambler .... 6 6 
 
 The Classics, as above enumerated, will be succeeded by 
 the following, as soon as the Embellishments can be procured 
 from the Artists; 
 
 Spectator I Guardian World 
 
 Tatler Minor I Connoisseur 
 
 The Design of the Proprietor of this Work i= to present to 
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 The British Classics is submitted to the Public as an eli- 
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 tions. 
 
Cumberland's Ornamental Edition of ike 9 ; 
 
 SELECT BRITISH DRAMA; 
 
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 Critique on each Play ; 
 
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 Eve; y Man in hi; 
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 Way to iveep Him, 
 
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 Rec uitiug Officer 
 
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 The Plays ^numerated are published. Those intended to follow 
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 This Wor': contains a Selection of the most approved Plays on the Eng. 
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10 
 
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 BY GEORGE ALEXANDER COOKE, ESQ. 
 
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Cooke's Elegant Pocket Edition of 11 
 
 HUMES HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 
 
 WITH A CONTINUATION BY SMOLLETT. 
 
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 HUMES HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 
 
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