[2] Founded on facts which actually occurred in Devonshire, a short
time after the peace of 1815.

* * * * *


STANZAS.

(_For the Mirror_.)


Oh! poverty, thou tyrant of the mind,
How eager would I shun thy cold embrace,
And try some hospitable shore to find!
Some welcome refuge; some more happy place.

But ah! the stars shone adverse at my birth,
Tho' boyish pleasures all my youth beguil'd,
And little thought amidst those scenes of mirth,
That I was doom'd to be misfortune's child.

At last the haggard wretch is come; and I,
Like some poor hark, toss'd by the mighty wave,
Am solitary left, nor have wherewith to fly
Her dread embrace, save to man's friend--the grave.

No hope, alas! possesses now my mind,
Plung'd in the deepest gulf of penury;
No earthly friend, to pity none inclined;
To soothe the bitter pang of misery.