Tragic Fragment

    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.