Said Mr. Clay to Mr. Bray,

"Your threats I do explode; One who has been a volunteer Knows how to prime and load. "And so I say to you, unless Your passion quiet keeps,

I, who have shot and hit bulls' eyes,
May chance to hit a sheep's!"

Now gold is oft for silver changed,
And that for copper red;

But these two went away to give
Each other change for lead.

But first they found a friend apiece,
This pleasant thought to give,

That when they both were dead, they'd have
Two seconds yet to live.

To measure out the ground, not long

The seconds next forbore;

And having taken one rash step,

They took a dozen more.

They next prepared each pistol pan,
Against the deadly strife;

By putting in the prime of death,
Against the prime of life.

Now all was ready for the foes;

But when they took their stands,
Fear made them tremble so, they found
They both were shaking hands.

Said Mr. C. to Mr. B.,

"Here one of us may fall,

And, like St. Paul's Cathedral, now
Be doomed to have a ball.

"I do confess, I did attach

Misconduct to your name!

If I withdraw the charge, will then
Your ramrod do the same?"

Said Mr. B., "I do agree ;-
But think of honor's courts,-
If we go off without a shot,
There will be strange reports.

"But look! the morning now is bright,
Though cloudy it begun;
Why can't we aim above, as if
We had called out the sun?"

So up into the harmless air

Their bullets they did send;
And may all other duels have
That upshot in the end.

[Hood.

FRANK HAYMAN.

FRANK HAYMAN dearly loved a pleasant joke,
And after long contention with the gout,
A foe that oft besieged him, sallied out
To breathe fresh air, and appetite provoke.

It chanced as he was strolling, void of care,
A drunken porter passed him with a hare;
The hare was o'er his shoulder flung,
Dangling behind in piteous plight,

And as he crept in zigzag style, Making the most of every mile, From side to side poor pussy swung, As if each moment taking flight.

A dog who saw the man's condition,
A lean and hungry politician,
On the look-out, was close behind,-
A sly and subtle chap,

Of most sagacious smell,
Like politicians of a higher kind,

Ready to snap

At anything that fell.

The porter staggered on; the dog kept near,
Watching each lucky moment for a bite,
Now made a spring, and then drew back in fear,
While Hayman followed, tittering at the sight.
Through many a street our tipsy porter goes,
Then 'gainst a cask in solemn thought reclin'd;
The watchful dog the happy moment knows,

And Hayman cheers him on not far behind.

Encouraged thus, what dog would dare refrain ?
He jumped and bit, and jumped and bit, and jumped
Till having made a hearty meal, [and bit again;
He careless turned upon his heel,

And trotted at his ease away,

Nor thought of asking,-"What's to pay ?"

And here some sage, with moral spleen may say, This Hayman should have driven the dog away! The effects of vice the blameless should not bear, And folks that are not drunkards lose their hare."

Not so unfashionably good,

The waggish Hayman laughing stood,

Until, our porter's stupor o'er,

He jogged on, tottering as before,

Unconscious anybody kind

Had eased him of his load behind ;

Now on the houses bent his eye,
As if his journey's end were nigh,
Then read a paper in his hand,
And made a stand.-

Hayman drew near with eager mien,
To mark the closing of the scene,

His mirth up to the brim;

The porter read the address once more,

And hiccoughed, "Where's one Hayman's door?
I've got a hare for him!"

[Taylor.

A GRECIAN FABLE.

ONCE on a time, a son and sire, we're told,-
The stripling tender, and the father old,—
Purchased a donkey at a country fair,

To ease their limbs, and hawk about their ware;
But as the sluggish animal was weak,

They feared, if both should mount, his back would break.
Up got the boy, the father plods on foot,

And through the gazing crowd he leads the brute;-
Forth from the crowd the graybeards hobble out,
And hail the cavalcade with feeble shout:

"This the respect to feeble age you show?
And this the duty you to parents owe?
He beats the hoof, and you are set astride;
Sirrah! get down, and let your father ride!"
As Grecian lads were seldom void of grace,
The decent, duteous youth resigned his place.
Then a fresh murmur through the rabble ran ;
Boys, girls, wives, widows, all attack the man:
"Sure ne'er was brute so void of nature!

Have you no pity for the pretty creature?
To your own baby can you be unkind?
Here, Luke,-Bill,-Betty,-put the child behind !"

Old dapple next the clowns' compassion claimed: "'Tis passing strange those bodies be n't ashamed,Two at a time upon a poor dumb beast!

They might as well have carried him, at least." The pair, still pliant to the partial voice, Dismount, and bear the brute.-Then what a noise! Hurrahs, loud laughs, low gibe, and bitter joke, From the yet silent sire these words provoke: "Proceed, my boy, nor heed their farther call; Vain his attempt who strives to please them all!"

[Foote.

THE COUNTRY BUMPKIN AND RAZOR SELLER.

A FELLOW, in a market town,

Most musical, cried razors up and down, And offered twelve for eighteen pence: Which certainly seemed wondrous cheap; And, for the money, quite a heap,

As every man would buy, with cash and sense.

A country bumpkin the great offer heard;

Poor Hodge, who suffered by a broad black beard, That seemed a shoe-brush stuck beneath his nose; With cheerfulness the eighteen pence he paid,

And proudly to himself in whisper said, "This rascal stole the razors, I suppose.

"No matter if the fellow be a knave, Provided that the razors shave;

It certainly will be a monstrous prize."

So home the clown with his good fortune went,
Smiling, in heart and soul content,

And quickly soaped himself to ears and eyes.

Being well lathered from a dish or tub,

Hodge now began, with grinning pain, to grub,