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VII.

Speeches-which once in college chapels told
The author's vanity to vainer fools-

Sonnets-whose fire made Petrarchs love seem cold,
And Odes which spurned indignantly at rules-
Novels which (luckily) ere published died,
And tragedies that slumber by their side,

VIII.

I watch her at her devastating work,

And rushing visions of the past throng o'er me; Reversing the old fable of the Stork,

The offspring which my youthful fancies bore me, Bear not their parent up on filial wing,

But prey upon the vitals whence they spring.

IX.

There lie they-in one indiscriminate mass
Neglected, not forgot, for on the heart
Their record is graved deeply; and thus pass,
And thus will pass-till life and thought depart,
Fading and vanishing, the joys of youth,
Its hopes of constancy, its dreams of truth.

X.

But self-love then again is gratified,

That my lot's but an 18mo. epitome

Of the great folio of all human pride;

And that the world has never been a whit to me

Or to my merits blind, more than to others

Whose infant muse each critic monthly smothers.

XI.

It surely is encouraging to vanity

That this sad fate falls not alone on me, That thousands have experienced this insanity, This yearning after fame, this thirst to be Named with the glorious-only to be foiledHave dream'd, and woke to find their hearts despoil'd.

XII.

This is meant for philosophy-though I

Will in the reader's ear a moment whisper,

That though on paper it shows plausibly,

There's not a ten year old girl who can lisp her

First elements of feeling, but knows better

And would despise such thoughts-would fashion let her. XIII.

For in our early days, when life is new,

And the warm tears of feeling fondly gush
To meet, with answering sympathies, the true
Confiding feelings which to meet them rush;
When hearts to meet young hearts rejoicing leap,
Smiles give back smiles and tears make others weep,

XIV.

The pangs of others but augment our pain
As every joy of their's adds zest to ours.
Soon comes the world's experience to restrain

The kindly feelings which the young heart pours
For others' griefs-and with shut hearts we learn

To

weep o'er our own woes, nor mourn when others mourne

XV.

But though the fountains of the heart are froze
By fashion-art-experience of ill-

Treachery of friends-the thousand griefs that close
The soul 'gainst perfect confidence, and fill
Its thoughts with chilling doubts and cold distrust,
The fears we would not entertain, but must;

XVI.

Still it is mere indifference which ensues,

Not hate-our sympathies are checked and changed, But are not quite reversed-our hearts refuse

To be from their young thoughts so wide estrangedThe fount of feeling may be chilled-and blackDried up or poisoned—but it ne'er rolls back.

XVII.

And so I think upon reflection that

It does not make my case a pin the better, That other's hopes have oft been prisoned at

The self same gaol-where I remain a debtor, Owing so much to Heaven for gifts, and yet Cannot refuse the gifts-nor pay the debt.

XVIII.

But all this is digressive, and is meant to
Display my talent for the serious vein;
If there should be occasion to give vent to
Such feelings in the course of this my strain,
I beg the public will take this example
As, of my wholesale pathos, a small sample.

XIX.

The point which I digressed from. I believe,
Was that I am an author of variety,
(Unpublished) but for that you need not grieve,
As I intend to benefit society,

(God willing and the publishers) by showing
In what I now shall tell them, things worth knowing.

XX.

I said that I began to feel the passion

Of scribbling on me-and in all such cases,

As my rule is to balk no inclination,

I mount my pegasus to try his paces. Under the spur of this poetic rabies, Onward he goes-extremum capiat scabies.

XXI.

I will translate-in charity to those

Who cannot construe Latin-this last phrase.
We have a saying blunt enough, Heav'n knows,
Exactly answering to what Horace says;
The learned choose the Latin as refined most,
'Tis plainly rendered Devil take the hindmost."
XXII.

Shrink not fair reader-nothing here is meant
Your apprehensive modesty to flurry-
A common rude expression-it gives vent

To impatient feeling when we're in a hurry,
And, scampering onward in a headlong race,
We cannot stop to pick and choose our phrase.
XXIII.

And here it simply means, I'm in such haste
I cannot stop to think of what's behind;
Of time and patience 'twere a grievous waste,
Did I deliberate much and oft to find

More polished modes of speech or rhymes more proper→→→
So let them stand-I do not care a copper.

XXIX.

And if I should be voted in minority

On this important question, I can plead

I had the courtly Horace's authority,

Which will weigh something; we the learned, indeed,
Are always pleased, when we can get to back us
An apt quotation from the polished Flaccus.

XXV.

After these flourishing preliminaries,

I think I'll state what 'tis that I intend

The purport and the aim of these vagaries

What they discourse of, and when they shall end.
The short truth is-in unobtrusive rhymes

I will narrate a tale of my own times.

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XXVIII.

At present this appears the patent way
Of settling national affairs-a few
Dictate. and thousands must perforce obey.

Caucus commands, and thousands rush to do-
Caucus is silent-and there's not a man
Dares stir until he hears from the divan.

XXIX.

It's an exceedingly convenient mode

For those who choose to govern, but not quite
So pleasant for the ruled-they bear the load
Unlike old Esop's, heavier with each bite.

The few retain, themselves, the loaves and fishes—
And leave the many lumbered with the dishes.

XXX.

This was once very fashionable-but

It is now getting rather out of fashion-
Yet till the election's over, I must put
The town 'neath my poetical dictation.
I sit alone in caucus-you must wait
A month or two until I nominate.

GENERAL LAFAYETTE.

“The style in which General La Fayette has been received in America shows how little essential difference there is between republican and monarchical honours. The same flattery; the same pomp; the same ceremony; the same parade; but more servility and infinitely more of burlesque self importance."

The foregoing pitiful effusion of spleen is extracted from the London Courier, of September 14th. The whole article is written in the spirit of vindictive chagrin, and betrays, in every line, the workings of a jealous and restless malevolence. In short, it is precisely the thing we anticipated; and we should have been much disappointed, if the gall of these creatures of the ministry had not been moved by a spectacle, which, as long as it lasts, will be 'wormwood and aloes' to the palates of the pandars of legitimacy. The attempt to conceal their vexation beneath a rueful risus sardonicus is truly deplorable, and compels us to believe that their sufferings are too serious to be laughed at; for perhaps it is ungenerous in freemen to rejoice in the torments even of the enemies of liberty. In the mean time, let us see to what extent the rites of republican honours can be said to resemble the pageants of the slaves and adherents of a monarch.

The arrival of General Lafayette in America has given rise to the most singular display of natural feeling that the world has ever witnessed. That a private and unpretending

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citizen, unadorned with the dazzling appendages of wealth or of elevated station, unaccompanied by the 'pomp and circumstance' of political or military influence, should thus become the object of a nation's hospitality, and the theme of innumerable tongues, is one of those extraordinary events which are now and then developed to the notice of the world, to furnish matter of abundant inquiry to the curious philosopher, and subject for joy and exultation to the lover of mankind. The nature of the national enthusiasm, now in full operation from one end of the union to the other, is, perhaps, without its parallel in history, We do not mean to say, that the extent and the amount of the popular excitement, the noise and the bustle, the parade and the pageantry, the trappings and the suits' of counterfeited homage, have not been far and frequently surpassed. These may be commanded. 'The autocrat whose arm wields the powerful machinery of despotism, holds the lever that forces down the knees and extorts the exclamatious of millions of miserable puppets; but nothing but the folly of a tyrant can confound the forms of gratitude or the shows of love, with that spontaneous exhibition of a people's affections, which cannot, by its very constitution, be purchased or enforced. Not all the armies of confederated Europe can compel a single heart to throb with joy in the presence of an arbitrary tyrant; nor can all the wealth of Golconda or Peru bribe the eyes of a freeman or a slave, to shed a tear of affection at the approach of the proudest of the sovereigns of Europe.

There have been, doubtless, occasions, in which as genuine and as generous demonstrations of public feeling have evinced the sincerity of a people's thankfulness, or the warmth of their regard. But in all these instances, it will be found, either that the tumult of popular applause has followed close upon the achievement that created it, and subsided shortly after into absolute indifference, or else that this object has been gained by the sacrifice of national humanity or justice, and secured by administering largely to the meanest appetites of a sensual and ignorant populace. In the honours we are now conferring on our guest, the circumstances are so different from those which give rise to the commoner developments of popular excitement, as to render the phenomenon unique in the history of political events. Nearly half a century has elapsed since our friend became entitled to our gratitude, and we are now returning our acknowledgements for benefits conferred, (although all of us partake of their results) at a time when but

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