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Again, would your lordship a moment suppose
('Tis a case that has happen'd and may be again)
That the visage or countenance had not a Nose,
Pray who would or who could wear spectacles
then?

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.
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.
So his lordship decreed, with a grave solemn tone,
Decisive and clear, without one if or but,-
That whenever the Nose put his spectacles on,
By daylight or candlelight-Eyes should be shut.

ON THE

BURNING OF LORD MANSFIELD'S LIBRARY,

TOGETHER WITH HIS MSS.

BY THE MOB, IN THE MONTH OF JUNE, 1780.

So then the Vandals of our isle,
Sworn foes to sense and law,
Have burnt to dust a nobler pile
Than ever Roman saw !

And Murray sighs o'er Pope and Swift,
And many a treasure more,

The well-judged purchase and the gift
That graced his letter'd store.

Their pages mangled, burnt, and torn,
The loss was his alone;

But ages yet to come shall mourn
The burning of his own.

ON THE SAME.

WHEN wit and genius meet their doom
In all devouring flame,

They tell us of the fate of Rome,
And bid us fear the same.

O'er Murray's loss the Muses wept,
They felt the rude alarm,

Yet bless'd the guardian care that kept
His sacred head from harm.

There memory, like the bee that's fed
From Flora's balmy store,
The quintessence of all he read
Had treasured up before.

The lawless herd, with fury blind,

Have done him cruel wrong;

The flowers are gone,-but still we find
The honey on his tongue.

THE LOVE OF THE WORLD REPROVED;

OR

HYPOCRISY DETECTED.*

THUS says the prophet of the Turk;
Good mussulman, abstain from pork!
There is a part in every swine
No friend or follower of mine
May taste, whate'er his inclination,
On pain of excommunication.
Such Mahomet's mysterious charge,
And thus he left the point at large.
Had he the sinful part express'd,
They might with safety eat the rest;

*In a letter to Mr. Thornton, (March 13, 1779, which has been printed in the Congregational Magazine, and which I am obliged to Mr. Blackburne for communicating to me,) Mr. Newton says, “You may perhaps remember the tale of the Mahometan Hog, which I once sent to Mrs. Thornton; Mr. Cowper lately versified it, and I reserve the other side to transmit you a copy. He did it in about an hour; it gives a proof that his faculties are noways hurt by his long illness, and likewise that the taste and turn of his mind are still the same. The six lines included in brackets are an addition of mine." They are the lines from v. 9 to 14.

Has the well-known American expression of "going the whole hog" originated from this story?

But for one piece they thought it hard
From the whole hog to be debarr'd,
And set their wit at work to find
What joint the prophet had in mind.
Much controversy straight arose,
These choose the back, the belly those;
By some 't is confidently said
He meant not to forbid the head,
While others at that doctrine rail,
And piously prefer the tail.

Thus, conscience freed from every clog,
Mahometans eat up the hog.

You laugh!-'t is well,-the tale applied
May make you laugh on t'other side.
Renounce the world, the preacher cries ;-
We do, a multitude replies.

While one as innocent regards

A snug and friendly game at cards;
And one, whatever you may say,
Can see no evil in a play;

Some love a concert or a race,

And others, shooting and the chase.

Reviled and loved, renounced and follow'd,
Thus bit by bit the world is swallow'd;
Each thinks his neighbour makes too free,
Yet likes a slice as well as he,

With sophistry their sauce they sweeten,
Till quite from tail to snout 't is eaten.

THE NIGHTINGALE AND GLOW-WORM.

A NIGHTINGALE that all day long
Had cheer'd the village with his song,
Nor yet at eve his note suspended,
Nor yet when eventide was ended,
Began to feel, as well he might,
The keen demands of appetite;
When looking eagerly around,
He spied, far off upon the ground,

S

A something shining in the dark,
And knew the Glow-worm by his spark;
So stooping down from hawthorn top,
He thought to put him in his crop ;
The worm, aware of his intent,
Harangued him thus right eloquent.-
"Did you admire my lamp," quoth he,
"As much as I your minstrelsy,
You would abhor to do me wrong,
As much as I to spoil your song;
For 't was the self-same power divine
Taught you to sing, and me to shine,
That you with music, I with light,
Might beautify and cheer the night."
The songster heard his short oration,
And warbling out his approbation,
Released him, as my story tells,
And found a supper some where else.
Hence jarring sectaries may learn
Their real interest to discern:

That brother should not war with brother,
And worry and devour each other,

But sing and shine by sweet consent,
Till life's poor transient night is spent,
Respecting in each other's case

The gifts of nature and of grace.

Those Christians best deserve the name,

Who studiously make peace their aim;
Peace, both the duty and the prize
Of him that creeps and him that flies.

ON A GOLDFINCH

STARVED TO DEATH IN HIS CAGE.

TIME was when I was free as air,
The thistle's downy seed my fare,
My drink the morning dew;
I perch'd at will on every spray,
My form genteel, my plumage gay,
My strains for ever new.

But gaudy plumage, sprightly strain,
And form genteel were all in vain

And of a transient date,

For caught and caged and starved to death, In dying sighs my little breath

Soon pass'd the wiry grate.

Thanks, gentle swain, for all my woes,
And thanks for this effectual close,
And cure of every ill!

More cruelty could none express,
And I, if you had shown me less,
Had been your prisoner still.

THE PINE APPLE AND THE BEE.
THE Pine Apples in triple row
Were basking hot and all in blow,
A Bee of most discerning taste
Perceived the fragrance as he pass'd;
On eager wing the spoiler came,
And search'd for crannies in the frame,
Urged his attempt on every side,
To every pane his trunk applied,
But still in vain, the frame was tight
And only pervious to the light.
Thus having wasted half the day,
He trimm'd his flight another way.
Methinks, I said, in thee I find
The sin and madness of mankind;
To joys forbidden man aspires,
Consumes his soul with vain desires;
Folly the spring of his pursuit,
And disappointment all the fruit.
While Cynthio ogles as she passes

The nymph between two chariot glasses,

She is the Pine Apple, and he

The silly unsuccessful Bee.

The maid who views with pensive air

The show-glass fraught with glittering ware,

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