THE RAVENS, THE SEXTON, AND THE EARTH-WORM

TO LAURA.

LAURA, methinks you're over-nice.
True. Flatt'ry is a shocking vice;
Yet sure, whene'er the praise is just,
One
may commend without disgust.
Am I a privilege deny'd,

Indulg'd by ev'ry tongue beside?
How singular are all your ways;
A woman, and averse to praise!
If 'tis offence such truths to tell,
Why do your merits thus excel?

Since then I dare not speak my mind, A truth conspicuous to mankind; Though in full lustre ev'ry grace Distinguish your celestial face,

Though beauties of inferior ray,
Like stars before the orb of day,

Turn pale and fade; I check my lays,
Admiring what I dare not praise.

If you

the tribute due disdain,

The muse's mortifying strain:

Shall, like a woman, in mere spite,

Set beauty in a moral light.

Though such revenge might shock the ear

Of many a celebrated fair;

I mean that superficial race

Whose thoughts ne'er reach beyond their face; What's that to you? I but displease

Such ever-girlish ears as these.

Virtue can brook the thoughts of age,
That lasts the same through ev'ry stage.
Though you by time must suffer more
Than ever woman lost before,
To age is such indiff'rence shown,
As if your face were not your own.

Were you by ANTONINUS taught, Or is it native strength of thought, That thus, without concern or fright, You view yourself by reason's light?

Those eyes of so divine a ray,

What are they?-mould'ring, mortal clay.

Those features, cast in heav'nly mould,
Shall. like my coarser earth, grow old;
Like common grass, the fairest flow'r
Must feel the hoary season's pow'r.

How weak, how vain, is human pride! Dares man upon himself confide ? The wretch, who glories in his gain, Amasses heaps on heaps in vain. Why lose we life in anxious cares To lay in hoards for future years? Can those, when tortur'd by disease, Cheer our sick heart, or purchase ease? Can those prolong one gasp of breath, Or calm the troubled hour of death?

What's beauty? Call ye that your own, A flow'r that fades as soon as blown ? What's man in all his boast of sway? Perhaps the tyrant of a day.

Alike the laws of life take place Through ev'ry branch of human race. The monarch of long regal line Was rais'd from dust as frail as mine. Can he pour health into his veins, Or cool the fever's restless pains? Can he (worn down in nature's course) New brace his feeble nerves with force?

Can he (how vain is mortal pow'r !)
Stretch life beyond the destin❜d hour?

Consider, man; weigh well thy frame; The king, the beggar, is the same.

:

Dust form'd us all each breathes his day, Then sinks into his native clay.

Beneath a venerable yew,

That in the lonely church-yard grew,
Two RAVENS sat. In solemn croak
Thus one his hungry friend bespoke :-

Methinks I scent some rich repast;
The savour strengthens with the blast-
Snuff, then; the promis'd feast inhale;
I taste the carcass in the gale.
Near yonder trees the farmer's steed,
From toil and daily drudg'ry freed,
Hath groan'd his last. A dainty treat!
To birds of taste delicious meat.

A SEXTON, busy at his trade, To hear their chat suspends his spade; DEATH struck him with no farther thought, Than merely as the fees he brought : Was ever two such blund'ring fowls, In brains and manners less than owLS! Blockheads, says he, learn more respect; Know ye on whom ye thus reflect?

In this same grave (who does me right,
Must own the work is strong and tight)
The 'squire, that yon fair hall possess'd,
To night shall lay his bones at rest.
Whence could the gross mistake proceed?
The 'squire was somewhat fat indeed.
What then? The meanest bird of prey
Such want of sense could ne'er betray;
For sure some diff'rence must be found
(Suppose the smelling organ sound)
In carcasses, (say what ye can)
Or where's the dignity of man?

With due respect to human race, The RAVENS undertook the case: In such similitude of scent,

Man ne'er could think reflection meant.
As epicures extol a treat,

And seem their sav'ry words to eat,
They prais'd dead horse, luxurious food!
The ven❜son of the prescient brood.

The SEXTON's indignation mov'd, The mean comparison reprov'd; Their undiscerning palate blam'd, Which two-legg'd carrion thus defam'd.

Reproachful speech from either side. The want of argument supply'd.