ON THE PRESERVATION OF MR. BRUCE AND HIS SCHOOL-FELLOWS,

IN ST. ANDREW'S BAY,

On the 19th of August 1710.

S IX times the day with light and hope arose,
As oft the night her terrors did oppose,
While, toss'd on roaring waves, the tender crew
Had nought but death and horror in their view:
Pale famine, seas, bleak cold, at equal strife,
Conspiring all against their bloom of life;
Whilst, like the lamp's last flame, their trembling souls
Are on the wing to leave their mortal goals;
And death before them stands with frightful stare,
Their spirits spent, and sunk down to despair.

Behold th' indulgent Providential eye
With watchful rays descending from on high;
Angels came posting down the divine beam,
To save the helpless in their last extreme:
Unseen the heav'nly guard about them flock,
Some rule the winds, some lead them up the rock,
While other two attend the dying pair,
To waft their young white souls thro' fields of air.