A N 
 
 ELEGY 
 
 THE DEATH 
 
 OF 
 
 C— P — -N SN — L. ' 
 
 B Y 
 
 A FRIEND. 
 
 llonDon; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1796. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
T O 
 
 J-J** R**** 
 
 £{******* 
 
 Bright Star ! that with thy warm and orient ray 
 
 Cheer’ll this our wretched world ; and from the breall— 
 Which foft Hope’s Toothing whifpers had not bleft — 
 Doll drive defpair and gloomy grief away : 
 
 Methought, when, on the breeze, the pealing bell 
 Swell’d long, and mournful, as it Teem’d to figh 
 At ruthlefs Death’s enfanguin’d victory. 
 
 And founded on mine ear a loft Friend’s knell. 
 
 Thine orb grew clouded 1 and thy pale beam fhone 
 
 Dim through the pearly mill ! So through her tears 
 
 Smiles Friendlhip, loveliell, of her tender years 
 When the companion, and the pride is gone. 
 
 She weeps her favourite llain; yet, fmiling, knows 
 In happier fhades he’s fought a long repofe. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 , • 
 
 
 
 
 . ‘ ’ ’ ' 
 
 
 
 
A N 
 
 DEATH 
 
 ELEGY ON THE 
 
 O F 
 
 C— P— — N S N- — - L. 
 
 MOST HUMBLY ADDRESSED TO THAT 
 ILLUSTRIOUS CHARACTER 
 
 WHOSE CONFIDENCE HE HAD THE HONOR TO ENJOY, 
 
 WHO KNEW HIS MERITS THE BEST, AND ESTEEMED THEM THE MOST. 
 
 Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit ! 
 
 o FT has the Mufe, in fportive meafures, fung 
 The joys of youth, the golden dreams of love ; 
 
 Oft frolic Mirth the flow’ry chaplet hung 
 On Beauty’s brow, that wanton Fancy wove. 
 
 This fcene, alas ! defponding Nature leaves, 
 
 Delufive Fancy’s airy vifion’s flown ; 
 
 Truth tells the tale my fick’ning foul receives, 
 
 “ And judge, oh judge, my feelings by your own.” 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 Should Sympathy, that foothes the wounds of Fate, 
 Sad folace to the aching fenfe impart ; 
 
 Accept, in pity, e'er it be too late, 
 
 Th’ untutor’d numbers of a bleeding heart. 
 
 Farewell !— -farewell !---thou poor, departed fhade ! — 
 In heavenly manlions of eternal reft 
 Thy peaceful haunts fhould Malice dare invade, 
 Harmlefs would fall her arrow from thy breaft. 
 
 Mufing, in filence, o’er thy early grave, 
 
 The laft fad tribute I could e’er bellow, 
 
 (’Twas all I had) to thy dear dull I gave, 
 
 The figh of forrow, and the tear of woe ! 
 
 Sure, no blind vow, no conftant faith, was fworn 
 At Hymen’s altar, and confirm’d above ! 
 
 Nor didft thou light, by fecret palfion borne, 
 
 The torch of friendlhip at the lamp of love ! 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 Sure, not from thee domeftic joys were fled ! 
 
 Nor all the blandifhments of life were gone ! 
 
 Nor Want on thee her chilling hand had laid, 
 
 <fi That Melancholy mark’d thee for her own !” 
 
 That brooding Grief, and wild Delirium’s train, 
 Threw the black veil o'er Reafon’s holy fhrine, 
 That Phrenzy’s frantic empire o'er thy brain 
 Drove thee, unfummon’d, to the Sight divine ! 
 
 Shall man, prefumptuous, from this earthly ball 
 Th’ unbounded works of Providence arraign ? 
 
 No ! Though the world may wonder at thy fall, 
 
 What Fate ordains is not ordain'd in vain. 
 
 Ere this, thy kindred fpirits haft thou fought, 
 Pleas’d the bland retrofpefl of life to trace : 
 
 Ere this, thy fpotlefs innocence of thought 
 Has fued for mercy at the Throne of Grace. 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 Bright dawn’d the morning of thy dreary day ; 
 
 The laughing hours their joyous circle ran ; 
 
 Carelefs thy playful childhood roll’d away, 
 
 And rip’ning Time proclaim’d the finifh'd man. 
 
 Thy noon with wand’ring clouds of Sorrow met, 
 Whofe fhadowing mantle overfpread thy light ; 
 
 Ev’ning foon clos’d thy fun for ever fet 
 
 And wrapp’d thy glories in th ? eclipfe of night. 
 
 Kind Nature form’d thee in her faireft mould : 
 
 Would thou hadft fojourn’d here!— Each manly grace 
 And artlefs air, that wantons uncontroul’d, 
 
 Hung o’er thy lips, and play’d around thy face : 
 
 With bounteous hand her choiceft boon was given, 
 Who through thy form (which ev’ry charm combin’d) 
 Infus’d a foul that breath’d the fire of heaven, 
 
 And in thy features had pourtray’d thy mind. 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 Pale Peeps thy corfe where no glad zephyrs cheer ; 
 Mute lies the tongue where fofteft accents dwelt ; 
 Lifelefs the hand that dried the widow’s tear. 
 
 And cold the heart that others’ forrow felt. 
 
 Serene the fmile that grac’d thy hour of death, 
 
 When the wild tumult of the brain grew faint ; 
 
 Such thy laft look, in life’s departing breath, 
 
 As angels fhed upon a dying faint.. 
 
 So, in its mother’s breaft fecurely laid, 
 
 Smiles the lull’d infant at the howling blaft ; 
 
 So through the gloom, where tranfient fun-beams fade, 
 Brightens the tempeft, when the whirlwind’s part. 
 
 Pale Hope, Religion’s child, on thee, below, 
 
 Shed the warm influence of her cheering pow’r ; 
 Brufh’d the dank dew-drop from thy fainting brow, 
 Buoy’d thy weak foul, and blefs’d thy lateft hour. 
 
 B 
 
( 10 ) 
 
 Superior to the world’s fantaftic joys, 
 
 Life’s goodly profpect now will pleafe no more; 
 Nor rofy Love, nor buxom Health’s rude noife : 
 Youth’s idle tale, and blifsful dreams are o’er. 
 
 Each fleeting minute, on its balmy wing, 
 Seraphic raptures to thy foul fhall bear ; 
 
 Which, pure, fhall flourifh in eternal fpring, 
 And the foft fmiles of Peace and Virtue wear. 
 
 Yet, thou’rt not gone for ever ! far away 
 
 Though fancy paints thee fled from mortal pain ; 
 Methinks fome fecret Spirit feems to fay, 
 
 “ We part on earth, to meet in heav’n again.” 
 
 Ne’er can the foul in dark oblivion lie, 
 
 Nor warm affeftion wither in the tomb ; 
 
 Elfe dreadful the foul fiend of battle’s cry ! 
 
 And piteous were the bleeding foldier’s doom ! 
 
( ) 
 
 Near thy lamented Sebright thou didft hear 
 With pleafure, from thy radiant feat above, 
 
 What kindred fighs were murmur’d o’er thy bier, 
 What broken accents of a parent’s love ! 
 
 The hand of Friendfhip clos’d thy dim funk eyes : 
 The hand that bore thee thro’ the world’s wild wave 
 Perform’d the laft, fad, folemn obfequies, 
 
 And fcatter’d incenfe o’er thy filent grave. 
 
 Pale Pity, and her fifter Sorrow, here 
 
 Shall chaunt foft requiems to thy wand’ring gholf ; 
 
 Meek Charity {hall drop the pearly tear, 
 
 And mourn the lofs of him fhe knew the moft, 
 
 Fond Memory loves to linger round the fpot 
 Where fades the bloffom of thy life’s fair prime : 
 Thy frailties in thy tomb fhall Ileep, forgot ; 
 
 Thy virtues foar beyond the reach of Time ! 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 EPITAPH* 
 
 Stranger, beneath this ftone, in Death’s cold arms. 
 Sleeps Nature’s darling. The foft tint of youth 
 Bloom’d lovely in his cheeks : the voice of Truth 
 
 Sat on his lips ; warm was he to the charms 
 
 Of genial love, and to the milder train 
 
 Of focial virtues ; gentle his foul, befide. 
 
 As is the lone bird’s plaint at eventide ; 
 
 And Mifery ne’er told her tale in vain ! 
 
 Oft on his fmile hung fadnefs ! Of the noife 
 
 Of circling pleafures heedlefs, o’er the ftream 
 Mufing, he fpake of fond Hope’s fairy dream. 
 
 Of friendfhips falfe, and brief life’s fruitlefs joys ! 
 
 Stranger, in peaceful {lumbers let him reft. 
 
 Whom had you known the molt, you’d lov’d the beft. 
 
 * Imitated from a printed Epitaph : author unknown. 
 
 FINIS,