POEMS

Acrostic

ON THE AUTHOR'S NAME,

THE FIRST HE EVER COMPOSED.

JAMES CHAMBERS is my name,

And I am scorn'd by rich and poor,

M any a weary step I came,

E nduring hardships very sore;

So I design to take a wife,

Can I but have one to my mind,
Henceforth to live a better life,

And then we may true solace find;

B

May I but have the lass I love,

Both to each other constant prove,

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Endeavour thus to live in peace,

Renewing love in every case,

So to remain till life does cease.

Acrostic

ON A DISMAL THUNDER STORM.

(The Initials form the words) Dear Sirs, the Author of this Poem took refuge in a House on Evans-Heath, during that dismal Thunder Storm.

Dreadful one Thursday ev'ning 'twas indeed,

(E re death arrests may we repent with speed,)
At Halstead and near to Stowmarket town,

Ripe corn and hay consum'd, and barna burnt down;

Surely my friends a dire nocturnal scene,

I n which such dreary clouds did intervene,

1

Refulgent lightnings flash and thunders roll,
Should each excite to mind his precious soul.
The afternoon preceding that dread night,
How did the rising storm my mind affright,
E ach gloomy prospect chas'd away delight;
A doleful sound address'd my listening ear,
Unceasing thunder I at distance hear;

The place called Hadleigh-Heath I travers'd o'er,
How fearless till I heard the thunder roar;

O solemn thought, what danger imminent,

Replete with horror did the scene present,

O'er all the sable vesture seems to spread,

Fears still increas'd,-iny heart was fill'd with dread;

Two fields I walk'd, a cottage did espy,

Here I took shelter, while the storm drew nigh;

I, with domestics of the rustic train,

Such favours found as somewhat sooth'd my pain,

Put all your trust said they now in the Lord,

O bey his voice and tremble at his word!

E re long the thunder with its awful sound,

More fierce and more the cottage did surround,
Tremendous lightning with a lustre bright,

O'er woods and fields illum'd the darksome night;
O, what a dreary scene, no neighbour nigh,—
Kind heaven defend and spare us or we die,
Repeated peals of thunder still resound,
E ffulgent flashes rapid blazed around.
Fear came on all, for conscience all accus'd,
Unfelt before, though oft before abus'd,

Guilty and vile, aloud did seem to cry,

Entirely lost, poor wretch, where wilt thou fly! I n ev'ry place this monitor within,

Notices all our ways, rebukes for sin,

A faithful witness does the thoughts descry,

How oft I've it abus'd, alas thought I!