Where fervent bees with humming voice Then all was joyous, all was young, And years unheeded rolled along : But now the pleasing dream is o'er, These scenes must charm me now no more. 30 Farewell! a long, a last adieu ! Me wrangling courts, and stubborn law, To smoke, and crowds, and cities draw: 35 And midnight conflagrations glare; Loose revelry, and riot bold, In frighted streets their orgies hold; 40 Shakspeare no more, thy sylvan son, 45 Nor all the art of Addison, Pope's heaven-strung lyre, nor Waller's ease, Instead of these a formal band, In furs and coifs, around me stand; 50 With sounds uncouth and accents dry, That grate the soul of harmony, And points with tottering hand the ways O let me pierce the secret shade Then welcome business, welcome strife, Welcome the cares, the thorns of life, The visage wan, the pore blind sight, 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 Find out the still, the rural cell, Where sage Retirement loves to dwell! Sir William Blackstone. 95 100 CXLV THE JUGGLERS. A Juggler long through all the town Had rais'd his fortune and renown; You'd think (so far his art transcends) The devil at his fingers' ends. Vice heard his fame, she read his bill; Convinced of his inferior skill, 5 She sought his booth, and from the crowd 'Is this then he so famed for sleight? Provoked, the Juggler cried, "Tis done; In science I submit to none.' Thus said, the cups and balls he played; 10 15 20 He shakes his bag, he shows all fair; But, when from thence the hen he draws, 25 Vice now stept forth, and took the place, With all the forms of his grimace. 'This magic looking-glass,' she cries, ‘(There, hand it round) will charm your eyes.' Each eager eye the sight desired, 30 And every man himself admired. Next, to a senator addressing, 'See this bank-note; observe the blessing. Breathe on the bill. Heigh, pass! 'tis gone.' 35 A second puff the magic broke ; The padlock vanished, and he spoke. Twelve bottles ranged upon the board, All full, with heady liquor stored, 40 And now two bloody swords are there. She bids Ambition hold a wand; 45 He grasps a hatchet in his hand. A box of charity she shows. 'Blow here;' and a churchwarden blows. 50 'Tis vanish'd with conveyance neat, And on the table smokes a treat. She shakes the dice, the board she knocks, And from all pockets fills her box. A counter, in a miser's hand, Grew twenty guineas at command. 55 She bids his heir the sum retain, A guinea with her touch you see 60 And not one thing you saw, or drew, But changed from what was first in view. 65 'Can I such matchless sleight withstand? John Gay. CXLVI ADMIRAL HOSIER'S GHOST. ON THE TAKING OF PORTO-BELLO BY ADMIRAL VERNON. NOV. 22, 1739 As near Porto-Bello lying On the gently swelling flood, From the Spaniards' late defeat; On a sudden, shrilly sounding, Hideous yells and shrieks were heard; Which for winding-sheets they wore, Frowning on that hostile shore. 5 10 15 |