She thus maintains divided sway VERSES Supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk, during his solitary abode in the island of Juan Fernandez. I AM monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute; That sages have seen in thy face? I am out of humanity's reach, I must finish my journey alone, Society, friendship, and love, In the ways of religion and truth, Religion! what treasure untold Ye winds, that have made me your sport, Convey to this desolate shore Some cordial endearing report . Of a land I shall visit no more. My friends, do they now and then send A wish or a thought after me? O tell me I yet have a friend, Though a friend I am never to see. How fleet is a glance of the mind! Compared with the speed of its flight, The tempest itself lags behind, And the swift-winged arrows of light. When I think of my own native land, Soon hurries me back to despair. But the seafowl is gone to her nest, And mercy, encouraging thought! ON OBSERVING SOME NAMES OF LITTLE NOTE RECORDED IN THE BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA. OH, fond attempt to give a deathless lot And dark oblivion soon absorbs them all. VOL. I. P So when a child, as playful children use, Has burnt to tinder a stale last year's news, The flame extinct, he views the roving fireThere goes my lady, and there goes the squire, There goes the parson, oh illustrious spark! And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk ! REPORT OF AN ADJUDGED CASE, NOT TO BE FOUND IN ANY OF THE BOOKS. BETWEEN Nose and Eyes a strange contest arose, So Tongue was the lawyer, and argued the cause With a great deal of skill, and a wig full of learning; While chief baron Ear sat to balance the laws, So famed for his talent in nicely discerning. In behalf of the Nose it will quickly appear, And your lordship, he said, will undoubtedly find That the Nose has had spectacles always in wear, Which amounts to possession time out of mind. Then holding the spectacles up to the courtYour lordship observes they are made with a straddle, As wide as the ridge of the Nose is; in short, Design'd to sit close to it, just like a saddle. 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), 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! |