CONSISTING OF NUMEROUS

ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS,

IN

Verse and Prose,

THE

FRIENDLY CONTRIBUTIONS OF VARIOUS WRITERS;

PRINCIPALLY INTENDED AS

ILLUSTRATIONS

OF

THIRTY COPPER-PLATES,

DESIGNED AND ETCHED

BY R. DAGLEY,

AUTHOR OF "SELECT GEMS FROM THE ANTIQUE," &c.

VOL. II.

FROM THE SECOND LONDON EDITION,

WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS.

Boston :

CHARLES EWER, No. 141, WASHINGTON STREET.

DUTTON AND WENTWORTH-PRINTERS.

1828.

THE LAST BOTTLE.

AN' if it be the last bottle, Death is quite welcome; for then life hath run to the very dregs and lees, and there is nothing more in it which can be called enjoyment. Ah, whither have ye sped, ye jovial Hours, which on bright-winged glasses, far different from yon sandy remembrancer, floated away so blissfully; as the bird poised high in air, the trouble of the ascent over, glides without effort or motion, through the brilliant pleasures of yielding space. How ye sparkled and ran on, like gay creatures of the element gifted with more than magic powers. Beautiful and slight ephemera, fragile as you seemed, what mighty loads of cares did you easily bear off in your aerial flight! Ponderous debts which might weigh nations down; the griefs of many loves, enough to drown a world; the falsehoods of friends, the malice of enemies; anxieties, fears, troubles, sorrows-all vanished as drinking ye proceeded in your mistic dance! I picture ye in my