Doom'd ever in fufpence to dwell, 'Tis now no kettle, but a bell.

A wooden jack, which had almost
Loft by difufe the art to roast,
A fudden alteration feels,
Increased by new inteftine wheels;
And, what exalts the wonder more,
The number made the motion flower:
The flier, though 't had leaden feet,
Tuṛṇ'd round so quick, you searce could
fee't;

But flacken'd by fome fecret power,
Now hardly moves an inch an hour.
The jack and chimney, near ally'd,
Had never left each other's fide:
The chimney to a steeple grown,
The jack would not be left alone;
But, up against the steeple rear'd,
Became a clock and ftill adher'd ;
And ftill its love to houfehold cares,
By a fhrill voice at noon declares,
Warning the cook-maid not to burn
That roaft-meat which it cannot turn.
The groaning-chair began to crawl,
Like a huge fnail, along the wall;
'There stuck aloft in publick view,
And with small change a pulpit grew.

The porringers, that in a row
Hung high, and made a glittering show,
To a lefs noble fubftance chang'd,
Were now but leathern buckets rang'd.

The ballads, pasted on the wall,
Of Joan of France, and English Moll,
Fair Rofamond, and Robin Hood,
The Little Children in the Wood,
Now feemed to look abundance better,
Improv'd in picture, fize, and letter;
And, high in order plac'd, defcribe
The heraldry of every tribe.

A bedstead of the antique mode,
Compact of timber many a load,
Such as our ancestors did use,
Was metamorphos'd into pews;
Which still their ancient nature keep
By lodging folks difpofed to fleep.

The cottage by fuch feats as these
Grown to a church by just degrees,
The hermits then defir'd their hoft
To ask for what he fancy'd most.

Philemon, having paus'd a while, Return'd them thanks in homely style: Then faid, My house is grown fo fine, Methinks I still would call it mine; I'm old, and fain would live at ease; Make me the parson if you please.

He spoke and presently he feels
His grazier's coat fall down his heels:
He fees, yet hardly can believe,
About each arm a pudding-sleeve;
His waistcoat to a caflock grew,
And both affum'd a fable hue;
But, being old, continued juft
As thread-bare, and as full of duft.
His talk was now of tithes and dues :
He fmok'd his pipe, and read the news:
Knew how to preach old fermons next,
Vamp'd in the preface and the text;
At christenings well could act his part,
And had the fervice all by heart;
Wish'd women might have children fast,
And thought whofe fow had farrow'd
laft;

Against diffenters would repinę,
And stood up firm for right divine;
Found his head fill'd with many a system:
But claffic authors,-he ne'er mifs'd 'em.

Thus having furbish'd up a parfon, Dame Baucis next they play'd their farce

on.

Inftead of home-spun coifs, were seen
Good pinners edg'd with colberteen ;
Her petticoat, transform'd apace,
Became black fattin flounc'd with lace.
Plain Goody would no longer down;
'Twas Madam, in her grogram gown.
Philemon was in great furprize,
And hardly could believe his eyes,
Amaz'd to see her look fo prim;
And the admir'd as much at him.

Thus happy in their change of life
Were feveral years this man and wife;
When on a day, which prov'd their last,
Difcourfing o'er old stories past,
They went by chance, amidst their talk,
To the church-yard to take a walk;
When Baucis haftily cry'd out,
My dear, I fee your forehead sprout!

tell us?

I hope you don't believe me jealous!
But yet, methinks, I feel it true;
And really yours is budding too-
Nay, now I cannot stir my foot;
It feels as if 'twere taking root.
Description would but tire my Mufe;
In short, they both were turn'd to yezus.

Old Goodman Dobson of the green
Remembers, he the trees has feen;
He'll talk of them from noon till night
And goes with folks to fhew the fight;
On Sundays, after evening-prayer,
He gathers all the parish there;
Points out the place of either yew;
Here Baucis, there Philemon, grew:
Till once a parson of our town,
To mend his barn, cut Baucis down ;
At which 'tis hard to, be believ'd
How much the other tree was griev'd,
Grew fcrubbed, dy'd a top, was stunted;
So the next parfon stubb'd and burnt it.

That occupy mankind below,

Secure, and at his ease.

4

You think, no doubt, he sits and muses On future broken bones and bruises,

If he should chance to fall.

No; not a single thought like that
Employs his philosophick pate,

Or troubles it at all.

5

He sees, that this great roundabout-
The world with all its motley rout,
Church, army, physick, law,

Its customs, and its bus'nesses
Is no concern at all of his,

And says-what says he?-caw.

6

Thrice happy bird! I too have seen Much of the vanities of men :

And, sick of having seen 'em, Would cheerfully these limbs resign For such a pair of wings as thine, And such a head between 'em.

THE JACKDAW. A Fable.

BY COWPER.

THERE is a bird, who, by his coat,
And by the hoarseness of his note,
Might be suppos'd a crow;
A great frequenter of the church,
Where, bishop-like, he finds a perch
And dormitory too.

2

Above the steeple shines a plate,
That turns and turns, to indicate

From what point blows the weather.
Look up your brains begin to swim,
"Tis in the clouds-that pleases him,
He chooses it the rather.

3

Fond of the speculative height, Thither he wings his airy flight, And thence securely sees

attune

The trembling leaves.......

....

ftraight the doors,

MILTON.

Opening their brazen folds, discover wide Within her ample spaces o'er the smooth

And broad-leaved Zennars in long colonades

O'er-arched delightful walks, Where round their trunks the thousandtendriled vine.

Wound. up and hung the bows with greener wreaths,

And clusters not their own. Wearied with endless beauty did his eyes

And level pavement. From the arched roof,

Pendent by fubtle magick, many a row
Of starry lamps and blazing creffets, fed
With Naphtha and Afphaltus, yielded
light
As from a sky....

MILTON.

ARTICLE 29.

New-York Term Reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of that state. By George Caines, counsellor at law, and reporter to the state. In three volumes; from May, 1803, to Nov. 1805. New-York, printed for, and sold by Isaac Riley & Co.

We congratulate the profession upon the appearance of these volumes, as we have no doubt that their utility will be generally acknowledged. The reporter, in The reporter, in his preface, makes some pertinent observations upon the importance of his office, the propriety of which will be fully felt. We were here sorry to observe a violation of grammar, a blot which does not often stain the pages of the reporter. Preface, page 5. "And the bar has generously and frankly afforded their cases," &c. Upon perusing these volumes, every reader, who has any pretensions to the character of a lawyer, will acknowledge the superiority of the system of jurisprudence in NewYork, to most others in the United States. We speak of the English nisi prius system. When we perceive how favourable it is at once to the utmost deliberation, and to the greatest economy and expedition, it is difficult to tell why the good people of our country should so long oppose its introduction. Every lawyer knows, that in a science so technical as his; a science

composed very much of rules, made and adhered to more from the necessity of having a rule, than from any intrinsick propriety in the rule itself; a science, which embraces almost the whole extent of human action, there can be neither accuracy nor safety in the decisions of a judge, who has not much time for deliberation, and all the lights which books can give. The maxim of a lawyer should be, via trita, via tuta. The aids of genius alone, in such a science, will not suffice, and the man who follows them will soon find himself bewildered and lost. For the trial of a simple or a complicated question of fact, (no other question should ever be definitively settled upon a trial) our own experience has shown, that one judge is more fit than half a dozen, or than a Roman court of judices selecti would be, composed even of such men as Hortensius and Cicero.

In

In reading the reports of American decisions, we too often have to lament frequent differences in the opinions of the judges. these volumes we find the same cause for regret. In a country like ours, we know of no remedy for the evil. In some states the office of a judge is elective, in all it is considered, more or less, as a round on the ladder of power, from which the judge can exhibit himself most effectually for the admiration and approbation of the citizens. Hence the frequent changes in our courts; so great