To alter fate, and providence to mend.
As well in judgment as in mercy kind,
God hath for both the fittest date design'd.
The wise on death, the fools on life depend,
From toils and pains some sweet reverse to find.
Scheme after scheme the dupe successive tries,
And never gains, but hopes to gain the prize.
From the delusion still he ne'er will wake,
But dream of bliss, and live on the mistake.
Thus Tantalus in spite the furies placed
Tortured and charm'd to wish, and yet accursed :
In every wish infatuate, dreads lest Jove
Should move him from the torments of his love
To see the tempting fruit and stream no more,
And trust his Maker on some unknown shore.
Death buries all diseases in the grave,
And gives us freedom from each fool and knave,
To worlds unknown it kindly wafts us o'er-
Come death, my guide, I'm raptured to explore.

JOSEPH LATHROP

Was born at Norwich in Connecticut, October 20th, 1731, and graduated at Yale College in 1754, soon after which he was settled in the ministry at Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1793 he was chosen Professor of Theology in Yale College, but declined the office. He died December 31st, 1820, in his 90th year. Several volumes of his sermons have been published.

THE EXISTENCE OF A DEITY.

WHEN I lift up my wond'ring eyes,
And view the grand and spacious skies,
"There is a God! my thoughts exclaim,
Who built this vast stupendous frame.

The sun by day with glorious light,
The moon with softer rays by night,
Each rolling planet, glowing star,
Wisdom and power divine declare.

The lightning's blaze, the thunder's roar,
The clouds, which wat'ry blessings pour,
The winter's frost, the summer's heat,
This pleasing, awful truth repeat.

The forest and the grassy mead,

Where wild beasts roam, or tame ones feed,

Corn, springing from the lifeless clod,
Confess the agency of God.

My body form'd with nicest art,

My heaving lungs, and beating heart,
My limbs, obsequious to my will,
Show forth my Maker's power and skill.

The various passions of the mind,
The powers of reason more refined,
Bold fancy's flight, each lively sense
Prove a supreme intelligence.

A God so great and always near,
Shall be the object of my fear;
His goodness, wisdom, truth, and love,
Shall my best passions ever move.

My care shall be, his sacred will
To understand and to fulfil:
His service shall my life employ,
His favor is my highest joy.

STEPHEN SEWALL

Was born at York in Maine, in 1734, and studied at Harvard College, where he received a degree in 1761. The following year he was appointed teacher, and afterward Professor of Hebrew in that institution. He retained this office with the reputation of the most accomplished classical scholar in the country, till 1785. He died in 1804. He was the author of a Hebrew Grammar, and a Chaldee and English Dictionary; the last is still in manuscript.

Professor Sewall was one of the authors of the Pietas et Gratulatio Collegii Cantabrigiensis, which we have mentioned in the life of Dr Church. Many of the Greek and Latin verses are by him, and two of the compositions in English.

ON THE DEATH OF GEORGE II.

OF cypress deign, celestial muse, to sing;
To plaintive numbers tune the trembling string,
And soothe the gen❜ral grief.—

The voice of joy 's no more,
On Albion's sadden'd shore:
He's gone-Britannia's royal chief!
From the north to southern pole,
From the farthest orient floods
To Hesperia's savage woods,
Swelling tides of sorrow roll:

Nor wonder; all an ample share

Partook, through boundless climes, of his paternal care.
Whate'er the muse's mournful lays can do,
And more, blest shade! to thy loved name is due.

Under thy gentle sway,

Religion, heaven-born fair,

In her own native air,

Refulgent shone in golden day:

Virtue, science, liberty,

Blooming sisters, wreathed with bays,

Grateful sung their patron's praise:

Commerce, o'er the broad-back'd sea,

Extending far on floating isles,

Imported India's wealth, and rich Peruvian spoils.

Let Rome her Julius and Octavius boast;

What both at Rome, George was on Albion's coast.
An olive-wreath his brow,

Majestic, ever wore;
Unless by hostile power

Long urged, and then the laurel bough.
Faithful bards, in epic verse,

Vict'ries more than Julius won,

And exploits, before undone,

George the Hero, shall rehearse:

While softer notes each tuneful swain

Shall breathe from oaten pipe, of George's peaceful reign.

But, ah! while on the glorious past we dwell,
Enwrapt in silken thought, our bosoms swell
With pleasing ecstacy,
Forgetful of our wo.

-Shall tears forbear to flow?

Or cease to heave the deep-fetch'd sigh?

Flow, ye tears, forever stream;

Sighs, to whisp'ring winds complain;
Winds, the sadly-solemn strain

Waft, and tell the mournful theme.

But what, alas! can tears or sighs?

What could, has ceased to be; the spirit mounts the skies.

With sympathetic wo, thy noontide ray,
Phoebus, suspend; ye clouds, obscure the day;

Her face let Cynthia veil,

Thick darkness spread her wing,

And the night-raven sing,

While Britons their sad fate bewail.

Sacred flood, whose crystal tide,

Gently gliding, rolls adown

Fast by, once, the blissful town,
Thames! with pious tears supply'd,
Swell high, and tell the vocal shore

And jovial mariner, their glory's now no more!

But stop, my plaintive muse: lo! from the skies
What sudden radiance strikes our wond'ring eyes?
As had the lab'ring sun,

From black and dismal shades,
Which not a ray pervades,
Emerging, with new lustre shone,

In the forehead of the east,
See the gilded morning star,
Of glad day the harbinger:

Sighing, now, and tears are ceased:

Still George survives; his virtues shine

In him, who sprung alike from Brunswick's royal line.

JAMES BOWDOIN

Was born in Boston in 1727. He received his education at Harvard College, and at an early period of life was appointed to many public offices of importance. In 1775 he became President of the Council of Massachusetts, and remained in that station till the adoption of the State Constitution in 1780. He was President of the Convention which formed the constitution of Massachusetts, and in 1785 and 1786, was Governor of the State. He died in 1790. He was a man of extensive literary attainments, and was honored with a Doctor's degree from several European universities, and created a member of the Royal Societies of London and Dublin. He wrote much on philosophical subjects, and was a principal agent in forming the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at Boston. He was the first President of this institution, and bequeathed it a valuable legacy.

Among his various pursuits he also cultivated poetry. He contributed to the Pietas et Gratulatio, but his principal work of this kind is an enlarged paraphrase of The Economy of Human Life, published at Boston in 1759. He had a respectable talent as a versifier, though his poetry displays little inventive faculty.

WOMAN.

NATURE, fair creature! when she form'd thy mind,
Form'd thee a fit companion for mankind: