Taking leave of his Wife and Children, who was Sentenced to Transportation for Fourteen Years.

from life.

Hannah farewell I’m bound to go,
To taste the bitter draught of woe;
And as I view that starting tear,
It drives and sinks me to despair;
And now I take a last farewell,
The grief I feel no one can tell;
Two lovely children claims my care,
I’m forc’d to clothe them with despair;
As sorrow only on them press,
They are doomed to wear no other dress;
We little thought some former years,
In such a place to shed our tears;
There’s only one our tears can dry,
It is the God like Deity.
And he can all our griefs expel,
Altho’ I bid this last farewell;
These fetters he can quick undo,
And send me back to live with you;
May hope with all its balmy power,
Sooth Hannah in each trying hour,
Friendship I fear will from you flee,
Ere I am riding on the sea;
For the rich will close the door,
’Gainst those misfortune maketh poor;
And even in a lucky day,
The’ll from the brightest object stray;
And those I’ve injured will descry,
Your falling state and destiny;
The G---’s are good and often kind,
To those where troubles press the mind.
I hope when I am gone from view,
Kind friendship they will show to you;
Great confidence they placed in me,
Till lured by worldly gaiety;
Suspicion on me hurl’d its dart,
Forc’d on a sudden to depart,
From Children Home and Hannah too,
Disgraced I fled from public view;
But justice has a piercing eye,
Her runners quick did me espy;
Most fairly tried tho’ guilty found,
Calmly I heard the dreadful sound;
That ushered to my anxious heart,
That I from Hannah must depart;
For fourteen years ere I shall see
My troubles o’er and liberty;
To God my fate and life I trust,
What he ordains I know is just;
Whene’er a man from honour stray,
By vice he’s easy led away;
To every wicked artful plan,
That soon entraps the falling man;
And what increase foreboding tears,
My little ones are come of years;
When they demand a father’s aid
Methinks I hear it justly said,
I ought that thought before possess,
Ere I my wife and them distress;
Extravagance have been the cause;
That made me act against the laws;
And you that dress in rich attire,
And only flippant things admire;
Extravagance will oft too late,
Cause you to mourn a culprits fate.
The name of felon oft I hear,
That very name increase despair;
And as I now my fetters view,
I dread what shortly will ensue;
Methinks I hear the goaler say,
This day from her you go away;
From Britons happy peaceful shore,
My wife and home to see no more;
Till fourteen years are roll’d away,
I shall not see a happy day;
Oh should that happy time return,
Then will my heart with rapture burn;
At such a time my wife to view,
Would every care of life subdue;
My children to my arms I’d press,
And never more cause their distress;
Hope gently wispers to my heart,
That ere I long from you depart,
Those I have injured will obtain
A mandate to unloose the chain;
And as they view your wretched state,
They’ll mourn an absent father’s fate.
Seldom they ever sue in vain,
To our loved prince but mostly gain,
A respite from the pangs of grief,
Or gain an order for relief;
I’ve borne the unfeeling keen reproach,
Some said I longed to keep a coach;
That I in tendom oft did ride,
With all an upstarts sullen pride;
’Twas pride that led me to disgrace,
I took what I could not replace;
Had I a million, that I’d give,
With you in future for to live;
Oh! Hannah are you come again,
To sooth my woe and ease my pain;
Your cheeks I’ve furrowed with sad tears,
Come gentle hope dismiss those fears;
That do her tender frame distress,
Oh! God make Hannah’s sufferings less.
My last of efforts unless prove,
My doom I find is fixed above;
No intercession can obtain,
A respite from this galling chain.
I’m doomed to waste some years away,
Far, far, from you upon the bay.
Oh keen distress with every ill,
Obtrude on me the bitter pill;
While life remains hope will divest
A gloomy thought tho’ he’s distress’d.
It feeds the wound yet known no cure,
And often makes us more indure;
Sometimes it lulls us into sleep,
And for a time our senses steep;
And like a pleasing dream obtain,
A short abatement from our pain;
Soon as it vanish from our view,
Our earthly troubles rise anew;
Till death unwelcome strikes his dart,
And ease the captives aching heart:
But oh! that awful coming day,
That every mortals crimes display;
What creatures shall we then appear,
The Lord’s decree we all must hear;
May every soul that’s tried above,
From Christ obtain our maker’s love.
Oh! God I hear the dreadful call,
Prepare, prepare, ye felons all;
Oh! let me take a last imbrace,
I’m summoned, all appear in haste.