[Page 52]

THE PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETY.
34 The Philanthropic Society was instituted in September 1788, for the prevention of crimes, by seeking out and training up to virtue and industry the children of the most abject and criminal among the vagrant and profligate poor; by these means more effectually to alleviate human misery, and to oppose the progress of vice.

INSCRIBED TO THE DUKE OF LEEDS.

1 When Want, with wasted mien and haggard eye,
2 Retires in silence to her cell to die;
3 When o'er her child she hangs with speechless dread,
4 Faint and despairing of to-morrow's bread;
5 Who shall approach to bid the conflict cease,
6 And to her parting spirit whisper peace!
7 Who thee, poor infant, that with aspect bland
8 Dost stretch forth innocent thy helpless hand,
9 Shall pitying then protect, when thou art thrown
10 On the world's waste, unfriended and alone!
11 O hapless Infancy! if aught could move
12 The hardest heart to pity and to love
13 'Twere surely found in thee: dim passions mark
14 Stern manhood's brow, where age impresses dark
15 The stealing line of sorrow; but thine eye
16 Wears not distrust, or grief, or perfidy. [Page 53]
17 Though fortune's storms with dismal shadow lower,
18 Thy heart nor fears, nor feels the bitter shower;
19 Thy tear is soon forgotten; thou wilt weep,
20 And then the murmuring winds will hush thy sleep,
21 As 'twere with some sad music; — and thy smiles,
22 Unlike to those that cover cruel wiles,
23 Plead best thy speechless innocence, and lend
24 A charm might win the world to be thy friend.
25 But thou art oft abandoned in thy smiles,
26 And early vice thy easy heart beguiles.
27 Oh for some voice, that of the secret maze
28 Where the grim passions lurk, the winding ways
29 That lead to sin, and ruth, and deep lament,
30 Might haply warn thee, whilst yet innocent
31 And beauteous as the spring-time o'er the hills
32 Advancing, when each vale glad music fills!
33 Else lost and wandering, the benighted mind
34 No spot of rest again shall ever find;
35 Then the sweet smiles, that erst enchanting laid
36 Their magic beauty on thy look, shall fade;
37 Then the bird's warbled song no more shall cheer
38 With morning music thy delighted ear;
39 Fell thoughts and muttering passions shall awake,
40 And the fair rose the sullied cheek forsake!
41 As when still Autumn's gradual gloom is laid
42 Far o'er the fading forest's saddened shade,
43 A mournful gleam illumines the cold hill,
44 Yet palely wandering o'er the distant rill;
45 But when the hollow gust, slow rising, raves,
46 And high the pine on yon lone summit waves,
47 Each milder charm, like pictures of a dream,
48 Hath perished, mute the birds, and dark the stream!
49 Scuds the dreer sleet upon the whirlwind borne,
50 And scowls the landscape clouded and forlorn! [Page 54]
51 So fades, so perishes frail Virtue's hue;
52 Her last and lingering smile seems but to rue,
53 Like autumn, every summer beauty reft,
54 Till all is dark and to the winter left.
55 Yet spring, with living touch, shall paint again
56 The green-leaved forest, and the purple plain;
57 With mingling melody the woods shall ring,
58 The whispering breeze its long-lost incense fling:
59 But, Innocence! when once thy tender flower
60 The sickly taint has touched, where is the power
61 That shall bring back its fragrance, or restore
62 The tints of loveliness, that shine no more?
63 How then for thee, who pinest in life's gloom,
64 Abandoned child! can hope or virtue bloom!
65 For thee, exposed amid the desert drear,
66 Which no glad gales or vernal sunbeams cheer!
67 Though some there are, who lift their head sublime,
68 Nor heed the transient storms of fate or time;
69 Too oft, alas! beneath unfriendly skies,
70 The tender blossom shrinks its leaves, and dies!
71 Go, struggle with thy fate, pursue thy way; —
72 Though thou art poor, the world around is gay!
73 Thou hast no bread; but on thy aching sight
74 Proud luxury's pavilions glitter bright;
75 In thy cold ear the song of gladness swells,
76 Whilst vacant folly chimes her tinkling bells:
77 The careless crowd prolong their hollow glee,
78 Nor one relenting bosom thinks of thee.
79 Will not the indignant spirit then rebel,
80 And the dark tide of passions fearful swell!
81 Will not despight, perhaps, or bitter need,
82 Urge then thy temper to some direful deed!
83 Pale Guilt shall call thee to her ghastly band,
84 Or Murder welcome thee with reeking hand! [Page 55]
85 O wretched state, where our best feelings lie
86 Deep sunk in sullen, hopeless apathy!
87 Or wakeful cares, or gloomy terrors start,
88 And night and tempest mingle in the heart!
89 All mournful to the pensive sage's eye,
90 The monuments of human glory lie;
91 Fall'n palaces, crushed by the ruthless haste
92 Of time, and many an empire's silent waste,
93 Where, 'midst the vale of long-departed years,
94 The form of desolation dim appears,
95 Pointing to the wild plain with ruin spread,
96 The wrecks of age, and records of the dead!
97 But where a sight shall shuddering sorrow find,
98 Sad as the ruins of the human mind; —
99 As Man, by his Great Maker raised sublime
100 Amid the universe, ordained to climb
101 The arduous height where Virtue sits serene; —
102 As Man, the high lord of this nether scene,
103 So fall'n, so lost! — his noblest boast destroyed,
104 His sweet affections left a piteous void!
105 But oh, sweet Charity! what sounds were those
106 That met the listening ear, soft as the close
107 Of distant music, when the hum of day
108 Is hushed, and dying gales the airs convey!
109 Come, hapless orphans, meek Compassion cried,
110 Where'er, unsheltered outcasts! ye abide
111 The bitter driving wind, the freezing sky,
112 The oppressor's scourge, the proud man's contumely;
113 Come, hapless orphans! ye who never saw
114 A tear of kindness shed on your cold straw;
115 Who never met with joy the morning light,
116 Or lisped your little prayer of peace at night;
117 Come, hapless orphans! nor, when youth should spring
118 Soaring aloft, as on an eagle's wing,[Page 56]
119 Shall ye forsaken on the ground be left,
120 Of hope, of virtue, and of peace bereft!
121 Far from the springtide gale, and joyous day,
122 In the deep caverns of Despair ye lay:
123 She, iron-hearted mother, never pressed
124 Your wasted forms with transport to her breast;
125 When none o'er all the world your 'plaint would hear,
126 She never kissed away the falling tear,
127 Or fondly smiled, forgetful, to behold
128 Some infant grace its early charm unfold.
129 She ne'er with mingling hopes and rising fears,
130 Sighed for the fortune of your future years:
131 Or saw you hand in hand rejoicing stray
132 Beneath the morning sun, on youth's delightful way.
133 But happier scenes invite, and fairer skies;
134 From your dark bed, children of woe, arise!
135 In caves where peace ne'er smiled, where joy ne'er came,
136 Where Friendship's eye ne'er glistened at the name
137 Of one she loved, where famine and despair
138 Sat silent 'mid the damp and lurid air,
139 The soothing voice is heard; a beam of light
140 Is cast upon their features, sunk and white;
141 With trembling joy they catch the stealing sound;
142 Their famished little ones come smiling round.
143 Sweet Infancy! whom all the world forsook,
144 Thou hast put on again thy cherub look:
145 Guilt, shrinking at the sight, in deep dismay
146 Flies cowering, and resigns his wonted prey.
147 But who is she, in garb of misery clad,
148 Yet of less vulgar mien? A look so sad
149 The mourning maniac wears, so wild, yet meek;
150 A beam of joy now wanders o'er her cheek,
151 The pale eye visiting; it leaves it soon,
152 As fade the dewy glances of the moon[Page 57]
153 Upon some wandering cloud, while slow the ray
154 Retires, and leaves more dark the heaven's wide way.
155 Lost mother, early doomed to guilt and shame,
156 Whose friends of youth now sigh not o'er thy name,
157 Heavy has sorrow fall'n upon thy head,
158 Yet think — one hope remains when thou art dead;
159 Thy houseless child, thy only little one,
160 Shall not look round, defenceless and alone,
161 For one to guide her youth; — nor with dismay
162 Each stranger's cold unfeeling look survey.
163 She shall not now be left a prey to shame,
164 Whilst slow disease preys on her faded frame;
165 Nor, when the bloom of innocence is fled,
166 Thus fainting bow her unprotected head.
167 Oh, she shall live, and Piety and Truth,
168 The loveliest ornaments, shall grace her youth.
169 And should her eye with softest lustre shine,
170 And should she wear such smiles as once were thine,
171 The smiles of peace and virtue they shall prove,
172 Blessing the calm abode of faithful love.
173 For ye
35 The promoters of the charity.
who thus, by pure compassion taught,
174 Have wept o'er human sorrows; — who have sought
175 Want's dismal cell, and pale as from the dead
176 To life and light the speechless orphan led; —
177 Trust that the deed, in Mercy's book enrolled,
178 Approving spirits of the just behold!
179 Meanwhile, new virtues here, as on the wing
180 Of morn, from Sorrow's dreary shades shall spring;
181 Young Modesty, with fair untainted bloom;
182 And Industry, that sings beside her loom;
183 And ruddy Labour, issuing from his hatch
184 Ere the slant sunbeam strikes the lowly thatch;[Page 58]
185 And sweet Contentment, smiling on a rock,
186 Like a fair shepherdess beside her flock;
187 And tender Love, that hastes with myrtle-braid
188 To bind the tresses of the favoured maid;
189 And Piety, with unclasped holy book,
190 Lifting to heaven her mildly-beaming look:
191 These village virtues on the plain shall throng,
192 And Albion's hills resound a cheerful song;
193 Whilst Charity, with dewy eyelids bland,
194 Leading a lisping infant in her hand,
195 Shall bend at pure Religion's holy shrine,
196 And say, These children, God of Love, are thine!

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Title (in Source Edition): THE PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETY. INSCRIBED TO THE DUKE OF LEEDS.
Author: William Lisle Bowles
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Bowles, William Lisle, 1762-1850. The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. I. With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan. Edinburgh: James Nichol, 9 North Bank Street..., 1855, pp. 52-58.  (Page images digitized from a copy held at the University of California Libraries.)

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