Thou merry laughing sprite With spirits feather light, Untouch'd by sorrow, and unsoil'd by sin- Thou little tricksy Puck! With antic toys so funnily bestruck, Light as the singing bird that wings the air(The door! the door! he'll tumble down the stair!) Thou darling of thy sire! (Why, Jane, he'll set his pinafore a-fire!) Thou imp of mirth and joy! In love's dear chain, so strong and bright a link, Thou cherub, but of earth; Fit play-fellow for fays, by moonlight pale, (That dog will bite him, if he pulls his tail!) (He'll break the mirror with that skipping rope!) With pure heart newly stamp'd from nature's mint, (Where did he learn that squint?) Thou young domestic dove! (He'll have that jug off, with another shove!) Dear nursling of the hymeneal nest! (Are those torn clothes his best?) Little epitome of man! (He'll climb upon the table, that's his plan!) Touch'd with the beauteous tints of dawning life— (He's got a knife!) Thou enviable being! No storms, no clouds, in thy blue sky foreseeing, My elfin John! Toss the light ball-bestride the stick (I knew so many cakes would make him sick!) With fancies, buoyant as the thistle-down, (He's got the scissors, snipping at your gown!) (Go to your mother, child, and wipe your nose!) I cannot write, unless he's sent above. HOOD. 174.-TRIAL OF ROARING RALPH. (From Nick of the Woods.) THE luck, good and bad together, which had distinguished Roaring Ralph in all his relations with Roland Forrester never, it seems, entirely deserted him. His improvident, harum-scarum habits had very soon deprived him of all the advantages that might have resulted from the soldier's munificent gift, and left him a landless, good-for-nothing, yet contented, vagabond as before. With poverty, returned sundry peculiar propensities, which he had manifested in former days; so that Ralph again lost odour in the nostrils of his acquaintance; and the last time that Forrester heard of him, he had got into a difficulty, in some respects similar to that in the woods of Salt River, from which Roland, at Edith's intercession, had saved him. In a word, he was one day arraigned before a county-court in Kentucky, on a charge of horse-stealing, and matters went hard against him, his many offences in that line having steeled the hearts of all against him, and the proofs of guilt in this particular instance, being both strong and manifold. Many an angry and unpitying eye was bent upon the unfortunate fellow, when his counsel rose to attempt a defence;-which he did in the following terms: "Gentlemen of the Jury," said the man of law," here is a man, Captain Ralph Stackpole, indicted before you on the charge of stealing a horse; and the affair is pretty con siderably proved on him."-Here there was a murmur heard throughout the court, evincing much approbation of the counsel's frankness. "Gentlemen of the Jury," continued the orator, elevating his voice, "what I have to say in reply, is, first, that that man thar', Captain Ralph Stackpole, did, in the year seventeen seventy-nine, when this good State of Kentucky, and particularly those parts adjacent to Bear's Grass and the mouth thereof, where now stands the town of Louisville, were overrun with yelping Injun-savages, did, I say, gentlemen, meet two Injunsavages in the woods on Bear's Grass, and take their scalps, single-handed-a feat, gentlemen of the jury, that an't to be performed every day, even in Kentucky!"Here there was considerable tumult in the court, and several persons began to swear." Secondly, gentlemen of the jury," exclaimed the attorney at law, with a still louder voice, "what I have to say secondly, gentlemen of the jury, is, that this same identical prisoner at the bar, Captain Ralph Stackpole, did, on another occasion, in the year seventeen eighty-two, meet another Injun-savage in the woods, a savage armed with rifle, knife, and tomahawk,—and met him with-you suppose, gentlemen, with gun, axe, and scalper, in like manner?-No, gentlemen of the jury!—with his fists, and" (with a voice of thunder) "licked him to death in the natural way!-Gentlemen of the jury, pass upon the prisoner, guilty, or not guilty?" The attorney resumed his seat: his arguments were irresistible. The jurors started up in their box, and roared out, to a man, "Not guilty!" From that moment, it may be supposed, Roaring Ralph could steal horses at his pleasure. Nevertheless, it seems, he immediately lost his appetite for horse-flesh; and leaving the land altogether, he betook himself to a more congenial element, launched his broad-horn on the narrow bosom of the Salt, and was soon afterwards transformed into a Mississippi alligator, in which amphibious condition, we presume, he roare on till the day of his death. DR. BIRD. DIALOGUES. 175. THE POOR SCHOLAR AND LITTLE BOY. Little Boy, reading. "THESE things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Here endeth the 16th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. Poor Schol. Most precious words! Now go your way; Sir, when my mother has been ill, I've kept her chamber neat and still, Schol. Thank you! but yet you must not stay. I know my work is finish'd here, And God-thy God too-is my friend! Receive his words and keep them long! Fear God, all-wise, omnipotent, In him we live and have our being; Fear him, and love, and praise, and trust Remember kings, like thee, are dust, The poet's soul, the sage's sense, And these demand thy reverence. To guide our inexperienced youth; The city of his rest! My boy Farewell I have had joy in thee; I go to higher joy-O, follow me ; But now farewell! HOWITT |