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170

Ah! never more th' expecting friendShall greet the luckless Doris' distant sail;Each cherish'd hope, alas! and boding fear must end,As time confirms the melancholy tale.
And thou, oh, Melby! art thou gone—In life's meridian snatch'd so soon away!For thee, but all in vain, love, wealth and pleasure shone,Nor could th' appointed hour one moment stay.
And, Duncan, thou, whose soul refin'dFrom worldly dross, had long been fix'd above,Far, far beyond the stars, in happier realms to findThe beauteous object of thy early love—
Thy spirit 'rapt in praise and pray'r,Serene, though death and horror glar'd around,Consign'd with glowing faith thy babes to Heav'n's sweet care;Then sunk to rest amid the deep profound!
Poor Henderson! sure many storms,Ere this, had pass'd all scathless o'er thy head;But now the fatal blast its destiny performs,And numbers thee too early with the dead.

    of property, and of the first respectability in the place, were lost; and mothers, wives, and children, were suddenly plunged into distress and sorrow of the most melancholy and afflicting nature.