Such civil broils are my delight,

Though some folks can't endure them,
Who say the mob are mad outright,

And that a rope must cure them.
A rope! I wish we patriots had

Such strings for all who need 'em-
What! hang a man for going mad

Then farewell British freedom!

ON OBSERVING SOME NAMES OF LITTLE NOTE

RECORDED IN THE BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA.
Oa, fond attempt to give a deathless lot
To names ignoble, born to be forgot!
In vain, recorded in historic page,
They court the notice of a future age :
Those twinkling tiny lustres of the land
Drop one by one from Fame's neglecting hand
Lethæan gulfs receive them as they fall,
And dark oblivion soon absorbs them all

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 fire-
There 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,

The spectacles set them unhappily wrong
The point in dispute was, as all the world knows,

To which the said spectacles ought to belong.
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.

H2

178 LORI) MANSFIELD'S LIBRARY. 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 court

Your lordship observes they are made with stradAs wide as the ridge of the Nose is ; in short, (ale,

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 woald, or who could wear spectacles then! On the whole it appears, and my argument shews,

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 butThat 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 XONTH 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 Romans 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 Ints alone;
But ages yet to come shall mourn

The burning of his own.

ON THE SAME.

WBEN 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 boney 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 nor 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.

It may be proper to inform the reader, that this piece bu already appeared in print, having found is way, though

with home unnecessary additions by an unknown hand, Into the Lendles Journal, without the author's privity.

180 LADY THROCKNORTON'S BULLFINCH.

Had he the sinful part express'd,
They might with safety

cat the rest ;
But for one piece they thought it hard
From the whole hos 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 'tis 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—'tis 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 mug 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 sweeton,
Till quite from tail to snout 'tis eaten.

ON THE DEATH OP LADY THROCK NORTON'S

BULLFINCH.

Yo nymphs I if e'er your eyes were red
With tears o'er hapless favourites shed,

O share Maria's grief!
Her favourite, even in his cage,
(What will not hunger's cruel rage !)

Assassin'd by a thief.

LADY THROCKMORTON'S BULLFINCH. 181

Where Rhenus strays his vines among,
The egg was laid from which he sprung;

And, though by nature mute,
Or only with a whistle bless-d,
Well taught, he all the sounds express'a

Of flageolet or flute.
The honours of his ebon poll
Were brighter than the sleekest mole;

His bosom of the hue
With which Aurora decks the skies,
When piping winds shall soon arise,

To sweep away the dew.
Above, below, in all the house,
Dire foe alike of bird and mouse,

No cat bad leave to dwell;
And Bully's cage supported stood
On props of smoothest shaven wood,

Large built, and latticed well.
Well-latticed-but the grate, alas!
Not rough with wire of steel or brass,

For Bully's plumage' sake,
But smooth with wands from Ouse's side,
With which, when neatly peel'd and dried,

The swains their baskets make.
Night veil'd the pole, all seem'd secure :
When led by instinct sharp and sure,

Subsistence to provide, A beast forth sallied on the scout, Long back’d, long tail'd, with whisker'd snout

And badger-colour'd hide. He, entering at the study door, Its ample area 'gan t explore;

And something in the wind
Conjectured, sniffing round and round,
Better than all the books he found,

Food chiefly for the mind.
Just then, by adverse fate impress'd,
A dream disturbid poor Bully's rest;