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40 PHILLIS WHEATLEY.

gious; which ran through several editions in England, and in the United States. It was in England that they were first given to the world. Phillis was taken there on account of her health, which, always delicate, became at this time so feeble as to alarm her friends. In 1775, she received her freedom, and two years afterwards she married a man of colour, who, in the superiority of his understanding, was also a kind of phenomenon. At first a grocer, in which busness he failed, he ambitiously became a lawyer, and under the name of Dr. Peter, pleaded the cause of the negroes, before judiciary tribunals. The reputation he enjoyed procured him a fortune. He was, however, proud and indolent, and brought a good deal of unhappiness upon poor Phillis. Unfortunately, she had been a spoiled and petted child, and could not bear to turn her thoughts to household duties. Her husband required of her more than she could perform. At first he reproached, afterward rebuked, and at last so harshly and cruelly distressed her, that she could bear it no longer, but died in 1780, literally of a broken heart. Peace be to her memory! Doubtless she has proved long ago the truth of her own spirited couplet,

Remember Christians, negros, black as Cain,
May be refined, and join the angelic train!

ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG GENTLEMAN OF GREAT PROMISE

WHO taught thee conflict with the powers of night,
To vanquish Satan in the fields of fight!
Who strung thy feeble arms with might unknown?
How great thy conquest, and how bright thy crown!
War with each princedom, throne, and power, is o'er;
The scene is ended, to return no more.
Oh, could my muse thy seat on high behold,
How decked with laurel, and enriched with gold!
Oh, could she hear what praise thy harp employs,
How sweet thy anthems, how divine thy joys;
What heavenly grandeur should exalt her strain!
What lively raptures in her members reign!
To soothe the troubles of the mind to peace,
To still the tumult of life's tossing seas,

PHILLIS WHEATLEY. 41

To ease the anguish of the parent's heart,
What shall my sympathizing verse impart?
Where is the balm to heal so deep a wound?
Where shall a sovereign remedy be found?
Look, gracious Spirit! from thy heavenly bower,
And thy full joys into their bosoms pour;
The raging tempest of their griefs control,
And spread the dawn of glory through the soul!

SLEEP.
(FROM A POEM ON THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD.)

As reason's powers by day our God disclose,
So may we trace him in the night's repose.
Say, what is sleep? and dreams, how passing strange.
When action ceases, and ideas range
Licentious and unbounded o'er the plains,
Where fancy's queen in giddy triumph reigns.
Hear in soft strains the dreaming lover sigh
To a kind fair, or rave in jealousy;
On pleasure now, and now on vengeance bent,
The labouring passions struggle for a vent.
What power, oh man! thy reason then restores,
So long suspended in nocturnal hours?
What secret hand returns the mental train,
And gives improved thine active powers again?
From thee, oh man! what gratitude should rise?
And when from balmy sleep thou op'st thine eyes,
Let thy first thoughts be praises to the skies.
How merciful our God, who thus imparts
O'erflowing tides of joy to human hearts,
When wants and woes might be our righteous lot,
Our God forgetting, by our God forgot!

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-06-27 15:20:14