5 "Again, would your worship a moment suppose

("Tis a case that has happened, and may be again) That the visage or countenance had not a Nose

Pray, who would, or who could, wear spectacles then! 6 "On the whole it appears, and my argument shows, With a reasoning the court will never condemn, That the spectacles plainly were made for the Nose, And the Nose was as plainly intended for them." 7 Then, shifting his side, (as a lawyer knows how) He pleaded again in behalf of the Eyes: But what were his arguments few people know, For the court did not think they were equally wise. 8 So his lordship decreed, with a grave, solemn tone, Decisive and clear, without one if or butThat whenever the Nose put his spectacles on, By day-light or candle-light,-Eyes should be shut!

5

Cowper.

With cautious step, and ear awake,
He climbs the crag and threads the brake;
And not the summer solstice, there,
Temper'd the midnight mountain air,
But every breeze that swept the wold,
Benumbed his drenched limbs with cold.
In dread, in danger, and alone,
Famish'd and chilled, through ways
unknown,
Tangled and steep, he journeyed on ;
10 Till, as a rock's huge point he turned,
A watch-fire close before him burned.
Beside its embers red and clear,

15

Basked, in his plaid a mountaineer;
And up he sprung
with sword in hand,-

"Thy name and purpose! Saxon, stand!"—
"A stranger."—" What dost thou require ?"-
"Rest and a guide, and food and fire.
My life's beset, my path is lost,

The gale has chilled my limbs with frost."

20

"Art thou a friend to Roderick ?"-" No." "Thou darest not call thyself a foe ?”"I dare! to him and all the band He brings to aid his murderous hand.”"Bold words!-but, though the beast of 25 The privilege of chase may claim,

game

Though space and law the stag we lend,
Ere hound we slip, or bow we bend,
Who ever reck'd, where, how, or when,
The prowling fox was trapped or slain !
30 Thus treacherous scouts,-yet sure they lie,
Who say thou camest a secret spy!"—

35

40

66

They do, by heaven !-Come Roderick Dhu,
And of his clan the boldest two,

And let me but till morning rest

I write the falsehood on their crest."-
"If by the blaze I mark aright,
Thou bear'st the belt and spur of Knight."
"Then, by these tokens may'st thou know,
Each proud oppressor's mortal foe."-
"Enough, enough; sit down and share
A soldier's couch, a soldier's fare."

Scott.

1 And thou hast walk'd about (how strange a story!) In Thebes's streets three thousand years ago, When the Memnonium was in all its glory,

And time had not begun to overthrow
Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous,
Of which the very ruins are tremendous.

2 Speak! for thou long enough hast acted Dummy,
Thou hast a tongue-come let us hear its tune:
Thou'rt standing on thy legs, above ground, Mummy!
Revisiting the glimpses of the moon,

Not like thin ghosts or disembodied creatures,
But with thy bones and flesh, and limbs and features.

3 Tell us for doubtless thou canst recollect,

To whom should we assign the sphinx's fame ?
Was Cheops or Cephrenes architect

Of either Pyramid that bears his name? Is Pompey's pillar really a misnomer?

Had Thebes a hundred gates, as sung by Homer?

4 Perhaps thou wert a Mason, and forbidden By oath to tell the mysteries of thy trade, Then say what secret melody was hidden

In Memnon's statue which at sunrise played? Perhaps thou wert a Priest-if so, my struggles Are vain ;-Egyptian priests ne'er owned their juggles. 5 Perchance that very hand, now pinioned flat,

Has hob-a-nobb'd with Pharaoh glass to glass ;
Or dropped a halfpenny in Homer's hat,

Or doffed thine own to let Queen Dido pass,
Or held, by Solomon's own invitation,
A torch at the great Temple's dedication.

6 I need not ask thee if that hand, when armed,
Has any Roman soldier mauled and knuckled,
For thou wert dead, and buried, and embalmed,
Ere Romulus and Remus had been suckled :—
Antiquity appears to have begun

Long after thy primeval race was run.

7 Since first thy form was in this box extended,

We have, above ground, seen some strange mutations; The Roman empire has begun and ended;

New worlds have risen-we have lost old nations, And countless kings have into dust been humbled, While not a fragment of thy flesh has crumbled.

8 Didst thou not hear the pother o'er thy head
When the great Persian conqueror, Cambyses,
March'd armies o'er thy tomb with thundering tread,
O'erthrew Osiris, Orus, Apis, Isis,

And shook the Pyramids with fear and wonder,
When the gigantic Memnon fell asunder?

9 If the tomb's secrets may not be confessed,
The nature of thy private life unfold :-

A heart has throbb'd beneath that leathern breast,
And tears adown that dusky cheek have rolled:

Have children climb'd those knees, and kissed that face?
What was thy name and station, age and race?

10 Statue of flesh-immortal of the dead!
Imperishable type of evanescence!

Posthumous man, who quitt'st thy narrow bed, And standest undecayed within our presence, Thou wilt hear nothing till the Judgment morning, When the great trump shall thrill thee with its warning. 11 Why should this worthless tegument endure, If its undying guest be lost for ever?

5

10

15

20

O let us keep the soul embalmed and pure
In living virtue; that when both must sever,
Although corruption may our frame consume,
Th' immortal spirit in the skies may bloom.

Iago. My noble lord

Oth. What dost thou say, Iago?

Iago. Did Michael Cassio, when you wooed my Lady, Know of your love?

Oth. He did from first to last: why dost thou ask?
Lago. But for a satisfaction of my thought,

No farther harm.

Oth. Why of thy thought, Iago?

Iago. I did not think he'd been acquainted with it.
Oth. O yes, and went between us very oft.
Iago. Indeed!

Oth. Indeed! ay, indeed. Discern'st thou aught in
that?

Is he not honest ?

Iago. Honest, my lord?

Oth. Honest! ay, honest.

Iago. My lord, for aught I know.

Oth. What dost thou think?

Iago. Think, my lord!

Oth. Think! my lord! Why, thou echo'st me,
As if there were some monster in thy thought

Too hideous to be shown. Thou dost mean something;

I heard thee say but now, "thou lik'dst not that,”-
When Cassio left my wife. What didst not like?

25 And when I told thee, he was of my counsel,

In my whole course of wooing, thou criedst, " Indeed!"
And didst contract and purse thy brow together,
As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain
Some horrible conceit. If thou dost love me,

30 Show me thy thought.

Iago. My lord, you know I love you.

Oth. I think thou dost :

And, for I know, thou art full of love and honesty, And weigh'st thy words before thou giv'st them breath, 35 Therefore these stops of thine fright me the more : For such things, in a false, disloyal knave,

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45

Are tricks of custom; but in a man that's just,
They're cold dilations working from the heart,
That passion cannot rule.

Iago. For Michael Cassio,

I dare be sworn, I think that he is honest.
Oth. I think so too.

Iago. Men should be what they seem;

Or, those that be not, would they might seem knaves.
Oth. Certain, men should be what they seem.

I

Iago. Why, then I think Cassio's an honest man.
Oth. Nay, yet there's more in this:

pray thee speak to me as to thy thinkings;

As thou dost ruminate; and give thy worst of thoughts 50 The worst of words.

Iago. Good, my lord, pardon me ;

Though I am bound to every act of duty,

I am not bound to that all slaves are free to.
Utter my thoughts!—Why, say, they're vile and false;
55 As where's that place, whereinto foul things
Sometimes intrude not? Who has a breast so pure
But some uncleanly apprehensions

Keep leets and law-days, and in sessions sit
With meditations lawful?

Shakspeare.