tragic fragment

all devil as i am—a damned wretch,

a hardened, stubborn, unrepenting villain,

still my heart melts at human wretchedness;

and with sincere but unavailing sighs

i view the helpless children of distress:

with tears indignant i behold the oppressor

rejoicing in the honest man's destruction,

whose unsubmitting heart was all his crime.—

ev'n you, ye hapless crew! i pity you;

ye, whom the seeming good think sin to pity;

ye poor, despised, abandoned vagabonds,

whom vice, as usual, has turn'd o'er to ruin.

oh! but for friends and interposing heaven,

i had been driven forth like you forlorn,

the most detested, worthless wretch among you!

o injured god! thy goodness has endow'd me

with talents passing most of my compeers,

which i in just proportion have abused—

as far surpassing other common villains

as thou in natural parts has given me more.