He did not feel the driver's whip,
Nor the burning heat of day;
For death had illumined the land of sleep,
And his lifeless body lay
A worn-out fetter, that the soul
Had broken and thrown away!
THERE was a time when I could feel
All passion's hopes and fears,
And tell what tongues can ne'er reveal,
By smiles, and sighs, and tears!
The days are gone; no more, no more,
The cruel fates allow;
And though I'm hardly twenty-four,
I'm not a lover now!
Lady, the mist is on my sight;
The chill is on my brow;
My day is night, my bloom is blight-
I'm not a lover now!
I never talk about the clouds,
I laugh at girls and boys;
I'm growing rather fond of crowds,
And very fond of noise :
I never wander forth alone
Upon the mountain's brow;
I weighed, last winter, sixteen stone !
I'm not a lover now!
I never wish to raise a veil,
I never raise a sigh;
I never tell a tender tale,
I never tell a lie;
I cannot kneel as once I did;
I've quite forgot my bow;
I never do as I am bid
I'm not a lover now!
I make strange blunders every day,
If I would be gallant;
Take smiles for wrinkles, black for grey,
And nieces for their aunt :
I fly from folly, though it flows
From lips of loveliest glow;
I don't object to length of nose—
I'm not a lover now!
The Muse's steed is very fleet-
I'd rather ride my mare;
The Poet hunts a quaint conceit
I'd rather hunt a hare;
I've learnt to utter yours and
Instead of thine and thou;
And, oh! I can't endure a Blue-
I'm not a lover now!
I don't encourage idle dreams
Of poison or of ropes;
I cannot dine on airy schemes,
I cannot sup on hopes;
New milk, I own, is very fine,
Just foaming from the cow ;
But yet, I want my pint of wine-
I'm not a lover now!
When Laura sings young hearts away,
I'm deafer than the deep;
When Leonora goes to play,
I sometimes go to sleep;
When Mary draws her white gloves out,
I never dance I vow;
"Too hot to kick one's heels about”-
I'm not a lover now!
I'm busy now with state affairs,
The shipping and the docks;
I ask the price of railroad shares,
I watch the turns of stocks:
And this is life! no verdure blooms
Upon the withered bough.
I save a fortune in perfumes
I'm not a lover now!
I may be, yet, what others are,
A boudoir's babbling fool;
The flattered star of bench or bar,
A party's chief or tool.
Come shower or sunshine, hope or fear,
The palace or the plough,
My heart and lute are broken here-
I'm not a lover now!
Lady, the mist is on my sight,
The chill is on my brow;
My day is night, my bloom is blight—
I'm not a lover now!
A HAPPY bit hame this auld world would be,
If men, when they're here, could make shift to agree,
An' ilk said to his neighbour, in cottage an' ha',
"Come gi'e me your hand-we are brethren a'."
I ken na why ane wi' anither should fight,
When to 'gree would make a' body cosie an' right,
When man meets wi' man, 'tis the best way ava
Το say,
"Gi'e me your hand-we are brethren a'."
My coat is a coarse ane, an' yours may be fine,
And I maun drink water while you may drink wine;
But we baith ha'e a leal heart unspotted to shaw:
Sae gi'e me your hand-we are brethren a'.
The knave ye would scorn, the unfaithfu' deride;
Ye would stand like a rock, wi' the truth on your side;
Sae would I, an' nought else would I value a straw ;
Then gi'e me your hand-we are brethren a'.
Ye would scorn to do falsely by woman or man;
I haud by the right, aye, as well as I can;
We are ane in our joys, our affections an' a';
Come, gi'e me your hand-we are brethren a'.
Your mither has lo'ed you as mithers can lo'e;
An' mine has done for me what mithers can do ;
We are ane, hie an' laigh, an' we shouldna be twa:
Sae gi'e me your hand-we are brethren a'.
We love the same simmer day, sunny and fair;
Hame !-0, how we love it, an' a' that are there!
Frae the pure air o' heaven the same life we draw-
Come, gi'e me your hand--we are brethren a'.
Frail, shakin' auld age will soon come o'er us baith,
An' creepin' alang at his back will be Death ;
Syne into the same mither-yird we will fa' :
Come, gi'e me your hand-WE ARE BRETHREN A'.
SHE put him on a snow-white shroud,
A chaplet on his head;
And gathered early primroses
To scatter o'er the dead.
She laid him in his little grave—
'Twas hard to lay him there,
When spring was putting forth its flowers,
And everything was fair.
She had lost many children-now
The last of them was gone;
And day and night she sat and wept
Beside the funeral stone.
One midnight while her constant tears
Were falling with the dew,
She heard a voice, and lo! her child
Stood by her weeping, too.
His shroud was damp, his face was white.
He said, "I cannot sleep,
Your tears have made my shroud so wet:
Oh, mother, do not weep!"
LODGINGS FOR SINGLE GENTLEMEN.
Oh! love is strong! the mother's heart
Was filled with tender fears;
Oh! love is strong! and for her child
Her grief restrained its tears.
One eve a light shone round her bed,
And there she saw him stand-
Her infant, in his little shroud,
A taper in his hand.
"Lo! mother, see my shroud is dry,
And I can sleep once more!"
And beautiful the parting smile
The little infant wore.
And down within the silent grave
He laid his weary head;
And soon the early violets
Grew o'er his grassy bed.
The mother went her household ways;
Again she knelt in prayer,
And only asked of heaven its aid
Her heavy lot to bear.
LODGINGS FOR SINGLE GENTLEMEN.
WHO has e'er been in London, that overgrown place,
Has seen "Lodgings to Let" stare him full in the face:
Some are good and let dearly, while some, 'tis well known,
Are so dear and so bad they are best let alone.
Will Waddle, whose temper was studious and lonely,
Hired lodgings that took single gentlemen only;
But Will was so fat he appeared like a tun,
Or like two single gentlemen rolled into one.
He entered his room, and to bed he retreated,
But all the night long he felt fevered and heated;
And though heavy to weigh as a score of fat sheep,
He was not by any means heavy to sleep.
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