ror grew So have I seen (who has not may conceive) A lifeless phantom near a garden placed; So doth it wanton birds of peace bereave, Of sport, of song, of pleasure, of repast: They start, they stare, they wheel, they look aghast. Sad servitude! such comfortless annoy May no bold Briton's riper age e'er taste! Ne superstition clog his dance of joy, Ne vision empty, vain, his native bliss destroy. Near to this dome is found a patch so green On which the tribe their gambols do display, And at the door imprisoning-board is seen, Lest weakly wights of smaller size should stray, Eager, perdie, to bask in sunny day. The noises intermixed which thence resound Do Learning's little tenement betray, Where sits the dame, disguised in look profound, And eyes her fairy throng and turns her wheel around. Her сар, far whiter than the driven snow, Emblem right meet of decency does yield, Her apron dyed in grain, as blue, I trowe, As is the harebell that adorns the field, And in her hand, for sceptre, she does wield Tway birchen sprays with anxious fear entwined, With dark distrust and sad repentance filled, And stedfast hate and sharp affliction joined, And shaped it into rods and tingled at the And fury uncontrolled and chastisement un roar; A country bumpkin the great offer heardPoor Hodge, who suffered by a broad black beard That seemed a shoe-brush stuck beneath his nose; With cheerfulness the eighteen pence he paid, A thousand ways in wanton rings they And proudly to himself in whispers said, run. Heaven shield their short-lived pastimes, I implore! "This rascal stole the razors, I suppose. "No matter if the fellow be a knave, For well may Freedom-erst so dearly Provided that the razors shave; won It certainly will be a monstrous prize." Appear to British elf more gladsome than So home the clown with his good-fortune the sun. Enjoy, poor imps, enjoy your sportive trade, And chase gay flies and cull the fairest flowers; went, Smiling, in heart and soul content, And quickly soaped himself to ears and eyes. For when my bones in grass-green sods Being well lathered from a dish or tub, are laid, For never may ye taste more careless hours Hodge now began with grinning pain to grub Just like a hedger cutting furze; 'Twas a vile razor! Then the rest he "Friend," quoth the razor-man, “I'm not a Vowing the direst vengeance, with clenched To-day, beneath the foeman's frown, claws, On the vile cheat that sold the goods. "Razors! A mean, confounded dog! Not fit to scrape a hog!" He stands in Elgin's place, Ambassador from Britain's crown. And type of all her race. Poor, reckless, rude, low-born, untaught, Bewildered and alone, Hodge sought the fellow, found him, and A heart with English instinct fraught begun : He yet can call his own. Bring cord or axe or flame. Shall England come to shame. "Some Seiks and a private of the Buffs, having remained behind with the grog-carts, fell into the hands of the Chinese. On the next day they were brought before the authorities and ordered to perform kotou. The Seiks obeyed, but Moyse, the English soldier, declared he would. not prostrate himself before any Chinaman alive, and was immediately knocked upon the head and his body thrown upon a dunghill."--China Correspondent of the "London Times." |