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Go, fellow!-whither ?—turning short about―
Nay-stay at home-you're always going out.
'Tis but a step, Sir, just at the street's end.-
For what?-An't1 please you, Sir, to see a friend.—
A friend! Horatio cried, and seemed to start-
Yea marry2 shalt thou, and with all my heart.-
And fetch my cloak; for, though the night be raw,
I'll see him too-the first I ever saw.

I knew the man, and knew his nature mild,
And was his plaything often when a child;
But somewhat at that moment pinched him close,
Else he was seldom bitter or morose.

Perhaps his confidence just then betrayed,

His grief might prompt him with the speech he made;
Perhaps 'twas mere good-humour gave it birth,
The harmless play of pleasantry and mirth :
Howe'er it was, his language, in my mind,
Bespoke at least a man that knew mankind.
But not to moralize too much, and strain
To prove an evil of which all complain;
(I hate long arguments verbosely spun)
One story more, dear Hill, and I have done.
Once on a time an emperor, a wise man,
No matter where, in China or Japan,
Decreed, that whosoever should offend
Against the well-known duties of a friend,
Convicted once should ever after wear
But half a coat, and show his bosom bare;
The punishment importing this, no doubt,
That all was naught within, and all found out.
O happy Britain! we have not to fear
Such hard and arbitrary measures here;
Else, could a law like that which I relate,
Once have the sanction of our triple state,
Some few that I have known in days of old
Would stand most dreadful risk of catching cold;
While you, my friend, whatever wind should blow,
Might traverse England safely to and fro,
An honest man, close-buttoned to the chin,
Broad-cloth without, and a warm heart within.

1 An't-for, an it, which is an obsolete expression for, if it.

Cowper.

2 Marry-a corruption of the word Mary, formerly employed as a kind of oath, "By Mary." It is used above in the sense of indeed, to be sure.

EPITAPHS.

I. ON A YOUNG LADY.

UNDERNEATH this stone doth lie
As much virtue as could die;
Which when alive did vigour give
To as much beauty as could live.

Ben Jonson.

II. ON THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE.
UNDERNEATH this marble hearse
Lies the subject of all verse,
Sidney's1 sister, Pembroke's mother;
Death! ere thou hast slain another
Learned and fair and good as she,
Time shall throw his dart at thee.

1

III. INTENDED FOR SIR ISAAC NEWTON.
NATURE and Nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said "Let Newton be! and all was light.

Idem.

Pope.

IV. FOR THE TOMB OF MR. HAMILTON.

PAUSE here, and think: a monitory rhyme
Demands one moment of thy fleeting time.
Consult life's silent clock, thy bounding vein;
Seems it to say "Health here has long to reign?"
Hast thou the vigour of thy youth? an eye
That beams delight? a heart untaught to sigh?
Yet fear. Youth, ofttimes healthful and at ease,
Anticipates a day it never sees;

And many a tomb, like Hamilton's aloud
Exclaims, Prepare thee for an early shroud."

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Cowper.

1 This accomplished lady was the sister of Sir Philip Sidney, who has been styled by Mr. Coleridge "the star of serenest brilliancy in the glorious constellation of Elizabeth's court."

1

THE EMIGRANTS.

WHERE the remote Bermudas ride
In ocean's bosom unespied,

From a small boat that rowed along,

The listening winds received this song;—
“What should we do but sing his praise,
That led us through the watery maze,
Unto an isle so long unknown,
And yet far kinder than our own.

"Where He the huge sea-monsters racks,
That lift the deep upon their backs,
He lands us on a grassy stage,
Safe from the storm and billows' rage.

"He gives us this eternal spring,
Which here enamels every thing
And sends the fowls to us, in care,
On daily visits through the air.

"He hangs in shades the orange bright,
Like golden1 lamps in a green night,
And does in the pomegranate close2
Jewels more rich than Ormus shows.

"He makes the figs our mouths to meet,
And throws the melons at our feet;
With cedars chosen by his hand,
From Lebanon, He stores the land.

"He cast-of which we rather boast-
The gospel's pearl3 upon our coast,
And, in these rocks, for us did frame
A temple, where to sound his name.

"Oh! let our voice His praise exalt,
Till it arrive at heaven's vault,
Which thence perhaps resounding, may
Echo beyond the Mexique bay."

Like golden, &c.-No one can have seen an orangery, even in our own country, who will not acknowledge the truth and beauty of this line.

2 Close-enclose.

3 Gospel's pearl, &c.-The emigrants had left their country to avoid persecution on religious grounds;-hence their thankfulness that here they would be unmolested.

Thus sang they in the English boat
A holy and a cheerful note,

And all the way, to guide their chime,
With falling oars they kept the time.

OLDER

Andrew Marvell.

LYRICS FROM THE OLDER WRITERS.

I. WINTER.

WHEN icicles hang by the wall,

And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,

And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipt, and ways be foul,1
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-whoo!

Tu-whit! tu-whoo! a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel2 the pot.

When all around the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,3
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-whoo!

Tu-whit! tu-whoo! a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

II. INGRATITUDE.

BLOW, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind

As man's ingratitude;

Thy tooth is not so keen
Because thou art not seen,

Although thy breath be rude.

1 Ways be foul-the roads are dirty.

2 Keel-skim, according to some; others say it means, to cool.

Shakspere.

3 Saw-from say-a saying. Shakspere in "The Seven Ages" speaks of "wise saws, and modern instances."

4 Crabs-i. e. apples, which it was usual to put into the wassail-bowl.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot;

Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp

As friend remembered not.

III. THE REVeillé.

Shakspere.

HARK! hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings,

And Phoebus 'gins arise,

His steeds1 to water at those springs

On chaliced flowers that lies;2

And winking marybuds begin

To ope their golden eyes;

With every thing that pretty bin ;3

My lady sweet, arise;
Arise, arise!

IV. HYMN TO DIANA.*

QUEEN and huntress, chaste and fair,

Now the sun is laid to sleep,

Seated in thy silver car,

State in wonted manner keep,
Hesperus entreats thy light,
Goddess excellently bright!

Earth, let not thy envious shade
Dare itself to interpose;
Cynthia's shining orb was made
Heaven to clear when day did close;
Bless us then with wished sight,
Goddess excellently bright.

Shakspere.

1 His steeds, &c.-i.e. the sun begins to drink up the dew from the cups of the flowers; a more exquisite application of the mythological fable can scarcely be conceived.

2 That lies-i. e. the springs that lies. See a remark on a similar expression in note 2, p. 140.

3 Bin-an old form of the 3rd person, for which we now have is and are. 4 Diana is here addressed as the moon, though reference is incidentally made to her functions as Goddess of hunting.

5 Hesperus--God of evening.

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