MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS.- 407 gination has refused to attend the wish ; so there are seasons when verse comes almost without a call, and the will might re- sist in vain. A few such seasons have I met with in the course of my life, and some of them have found me even in the cham- bers of death. When I have spent days in the midst of mourn- ing, and the whole soul hath been turned to sorrow, the harp bath sounded of its own accord, and awakened all the doleful strings. Such was the hour when your dear and honoured brother, Mr. Thomas Gunston departed this life: and such is the present providence. Uncommon worth forsaking our world, strikes all the powers of nature with sentiments of honour and grief, and the hand and the heart consent to raise a monument of love and sorrow." ac Accept then, honoured madam, these lines of elegy, as a sincere pledge of the greatest veneration which my heart pays to the memory of Sir Thomas Abney. How far so ever the verse may fall below the theme, yet now it must always live, since it is joined to these memoirs, and attached to a character that cannot die. And while succeeding ages shall read the honours due to the deceased, let them know also the gratitude I pay to your ladyship, for the signal benefits of many years con- ferred on Your Ladyship's most obliged, and obedient servant, L WATTS. At the Death of that excellent Man Sir Thomas Abney. A Soliloquy, or Mourning Meditation. " Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus " Tam chart capitis? principe lugubres " Cantus, Melpomene. " Ergone Ahneium perpetues sopor " Urget? Cui pudor& justitimsoror Incorrupta fides, nudaque veritas, " Quando ullum inventent parera ?" Hor. PART I. His private Life, 1 ABNEY expires. A general groan Sounds thro' the house. How must a friend behave Where deathand grief have rais'd a throne, And the sad chambers seem th'apart- ments of the grave? o Shall I appear amongst the chief Of mourners, wailing o'er the dear de- ceas'd? Or must I seek to charm their grief, And in distress of soul to comfort the distress'd? 3 I mourn by turns, and comfort too; He that can feel can ease another', smart: The drops of sympathetic woe Convey the heav'nly cordial warmer to the heart. 4 Wemourn a thousand joys deeeás'd, We name the husband with a mourn- ful tongue; He, when the pow'rs of life decreas'd, Felt the diviner Eames of love forever young. 5 Thrice- happy man ^! Thrice happy pair! If love could bid approaching death remove,
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