Hannah More

PART I.

Sir Eldred was his name;And never did a worthier wightThe rank of knighthood claim.Where gliding Tay, her stream sends forth,To feed the neighbouring wood,The ancient glory of the North,Sir Eldred’s castle stood.The Knight was rich as Knight might beIn patrimonial wealth;And rich in nature’s gifts was he,In youth, and strength, and health.He did not think,…

Persons of the Drama.

Pharnaces, Courtier, Enemy to Daniel.Soranus, dido.Araspes, A Young Median Lord, Friend and Convert to DanielDaniel.SCENE — The City of Babylon.The Subject is taken from the Sixth Chapter of the Prophet Daniel.PART I.Pharnaces, Soranus.Pharnaces.Yes! — I have noted, with a jealous eye,The pow’r of this new fav’rite! Daniel reigns,And not Darius! Daniel guides the springsWhich move…

Good Dan and Jane were man and wife,

One point, however, they disputedAnd each by turns his mate confuted.‘Twas Faith and Works, this knotty question,They found not easy of digestion.While Dan for Faith alone contended,Jane equally Good Works defended.‘They are not Christians, sure, but Turks,Who build on Faith and scoff at Works,’Quoth Jane; while eager Dan replied,‘By none but Heathens Faith’s denied.I’ll tell…

O now wondrous is the story

See the mighty Lord of GloryLeaves his heaven to visit earth!Hear with transport, every creature,Hear the Gospel’s joyful sound;Christ appears in human nature,In our sinful world is found;Comes to pardon our transgression,Like a cloud our sins to blot;Comes to his own favour’d nation,But his own receive him not.If the angels who attendedTo declare the Saviour’s…

In the Manner of Sir Walter Raleigh.

Each man who lives, the Scriptures prove,Must as himself his neighbour love;But though the precept’s full of beauty,‘Tis an impracticable duty:I’ll prove how hard it is to findA lover of this wondrous kind.Who loves himself to great excess,You’ll grantmustlove his neighbour less;When self engrosses all the heartHow can another have a part?Then if self-love most…

O Thou, or friend or stranger, who shalt tread

Think, when this record to enquiring eyes,No more shall tell the spot where Dicey lies;When this frail marble, faithless to its trust,Mould’ring itself, resigns its moulder’d dust;When time shall fail, and nature’s self decay;And earth, and sun, and skies dissolve away;Thysoul, this consummation shall survive,Defy the wreck, and butbeginto live.This truth, long slighted, let these…

O could this verse her fair example spread,

Then, reader, should it speak her hope divine,Not to record her faith, but strengthen thine;Then should her ev’ry virtue stand confest,Till ev’ry virtue kindled in thy breast.But if thou slight the monitory strain,And she has liv’d, to thee at least, in vain;Yet let her death, an awful lesson give,The dying Christian speaks to all that…