2. From my infancy, I have been led to consider my sister as a being of a more elevated rank. I was suffered to grow up without the least instruction, while nothing was spared in her education. She had masters to teach her writing, drawing, music, and other accomplishments; but if I, by chance, touched a pencil, a pen, or a needle, I was bitterly rebuked; and more than once I have been beaten for being awkward, and wanting a graceful manner. It is true, my sister associated me with her, upon some occasions; but she always made a point of taking the lead, calling upon me only from necessity, or to figure by her side.

3. But conceive not, sirs, that my complaints are instigated merely by vanity. No; my uneasiness is occasioned by an object much more serious. It is the practice in our family, that the whole business of providing for its subsistence falls upon my sister and myself. If any indisposition should attack my sister, (and I mention it in confidence upon this occasion, that she is subject to the gout, the rheumatism, and cramp, without making mention of other accidents), what would be the fate of our poor family! Must not the regret of our parents be excessive, at having placed so great a difference between sisters who are perfectly equal? Alas! we must perish from distress; for it would not be in my power even to scrawl a suppliant petition, having been obliged to employ the hand of another in transcribing the request which I have now the honor to prefer you.

4. Condescend, sirs, to make my parents sensible of the injustice of an exclusive tenderness, and of the necessity of distributing their care and affection among all their children, equally.

I am, with profound respect,

Sirs, your obedient servant,

THE LEFT HAND.

FRANKLIN.

LESSON CIV.04

ADDRESS TO A MUMMY.

Ir was the custom of the ancient Egyptians to embalm their dead, and to preserve the form and perfect appearance of each limb, even to the fingers and toes, by winding around them narrow strips of linen, prepared in a manner which is not now known. Bodies have been preserved in this manner for a period of more than two thousand years, and are, to this day, found in great numbers in ancient sepulchers. Some of these have been brought to England, and other parts of Europe, and to America. Bodies thus preserved are called Mummies, and it was one of these, brought by the celebrated traveler Belzoni, and placed in a museum at London, which gave rise to this poem.

1. AND thou hast walked about, (how strange a story!)
In Thebes's streets, three thousand years ago,

When the Memnonium was in all its glory,
And time had not begun to overthrow
Those temples, palaces, and piles +stupendous,
Of which the very ruins are tremendous.

2. Speak! for thou long enough hast acted +Dummy,
Thou hast a tongue, come, let us hear its tune;
Thou 'rt standing on thy legs, above ground, Mummy!
Revisiting the glimpses of the moon,

Not like thin ghosts or disembodied creatures,

But with thy bones, and flesh, and limbs, and features.

3. Tell us, for doubtless thou canst recollect,

To whom should we assign the sphynx's fame?
Was Cheops or Cephrenes architect

Of either pyramid that bears his name?
Is Pompey's pillar really a misnomer?
Had Thebes a hundred gates, as sung by Homer?

4. Perhaps thou wert a Mason, and forbidden

By oath to tell the mysteries of thy trade, Then say, what secret melody was hidden

In Memnon's statue that at sunrise played? Perhaps thou wert a priest; if so, my struggles Are vain; Egyptian priests ne'er owned their *juggles.

5. Perchance that very hand, now pinioned flat,

Has hob-or-nobb'd with Pharaoh, glass to glass;

Or dropped a halfpenny in Homer's hat,

Ordoffed thine own, to let Queen Dido pass, Or held, by Solomon's own invitation,

A torch at the great Temple's dedication.

6. I need not ask thee if that hand, when armed,

Has any Roman soldier +mauled and knuckled;
embalmed,

For thou wert dead, and buried, and

Ere Romulus and Remus had been suckled:

Antiquity appears to have begun,

Long after thy +primeval race was run.

7. Since first thy form was in this box extended,

We have, above ground, seen some strange mutations;

The Roman empire has begun and ended;

New worlds have risen; we have lost old nations;
And countless kings have into dust been humbled,
While not a fragment of thy flesh has crumbled.

8. Didst thou not hear the *pother o'er thy head,
When the great Persian conqueror, Cambyses,
March'd armies o'er thy tomb with thundering tread,
O'erthrew Osiris,* Orus,* Apis,* Isis,*
And shook the pyramids with fear and wonder,
When the gigantic Memnon fell asunder?

These were Egyptian deities.

9. If the tomb's secrets may not be confessed,
The nature of thy private life unfold:

A heart has throbb'd beneath that leathern breast,
And tears adown that dusky cheek have rolled:
Have children climb'd those knees, and kissed that face?
What was thy name and station, age and race?

10. Statue of flesh! immortal of the dead!

Imperishable type of tevanescence!
+Posthumous man, who quitt'st thy narrow bed,

And standest undecayed within our presence!
Thou wilt hear nothing till the judgment morning,
When the great trump shall thrill thee with its warning.
11. Why should this worthless + tegument endure,
If its undying guest be lost forever?
O let us keep the soul embalmed and pure

In living virtue; that, when both must sever,
Although corruption may our frame consume,
Th' immortal spirit in the skies may bloom.

ANONYMOUS.

LESSON CV./s

PAPER; A CONVERSATIONAL PLEASANTRY.
1 SOME wit of old-such wits of old there were,
Whose hints show'd meaning, whose allusions, care,—
By one brave stroke, to mark all human kind,
Call'd clear, blank paper, ev'ry infant mind;
Where, still, as opening sense her dictates wrote,
Fair virtue put a seal, or vice, a blot.

The thought was happy, pertinent, and true;
Methinks a genius might the plan pursue.

2. I, (can you pardon my presumption?) I,
No wit, no genius, yet, for once, will try.
Various the paper, various wants produce;
The wants of fashion, elegance, and use.
Men are as various; and, if right I scan,
Each sort of paper represents some man.
3. Pray, note the fop, half powder, and half lace;
Nice, as a band-box were his dwelling place;
He's the gilt-paper, which, apart you store,
And lock from vulgar hands in the scrutoir.
4. Mechanics, servants, farmers, and so forth,
Are copy-paper, of inferior worth;

Less prized, more useful, for your desk decreed;
Free to all pens, and prompt at ev'ry need.

5. The wretch whom avarice bids to pinch and spare,
Starve, cheat and pilfer, to enrich an heir,

Is coarse brown paper, such as peddlers choose
To wrap up wares, which better men will use.
6. Take next the miser's contrast, who destroys
Health, fame, and fortune, in a round of joys;
Will any paper match him? Yes, throughout;
He's a true sinking-paper, past all doubt.

7. The retail politician's anxious thought

Deems this side always right, and that, stark naught;
He foams with censure; with applause he raves;
A dupe to rumors, and a tool of knaves;

He'll want no type, his weakness to proclaim,
While such a thing as foolscap has a name.

8. The hasty gentleman, whose blood runs high,
Who picks a quarrel, if you step awry,

+

Who can't a jest, a hint, or look endure;
What is he? What? Touch-paper, to be sure.
9. What are our poets, take them as they fall,
Good, bad, rich, poor, much read, not read at all?
They, and their works, in the same class you'll find;
They are the mere waste-paper of mankind.

10. Observe the maiden! innocently sweet;
She's fair, white-paper, an unsullied sheet;
On which the happy man whom fate ordains,
May write his name, and take her for his pains
11. One instance more, and only one, I'll bring;
"T is the great man, who scorns a little thing;
Whose thoughts, whose deeds, whose
Form'd on the feelings of his heart alone.
True, genuine, royal-paper, is his breast;
Of all the kinds most precious, purest, best.

maxims are his own,

FRANKLIN.

LESSON CVI.106

ANECDOTE OF THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.

A raughable story was circulated during the administration of the old Duke of Newcastle, and retailed to the public in various forms. This nobleman, with many good points, was remarkable for being profuse of his promises on all occasions, and valued himself particularly, on being able to anticipate the words, or the wants of the various persons who attended his levees, before they uttered a word. This sometimes led him into ridiculous embarrassments; and it was this proneness to lavish promises, which gave occasion for the anecdote I am going to relate.

+

1. Ar the election of a certain borough in Cornwall, where the opposite interests were almost equally poised, a single vote was of the highest importance. This object, the Duke by well applied

argument and personal application, at length attained; and the gentleman he recommended, gained the election. In the warmth of gratitude, his grace poured forth acknowledgments and promises without ceasing, on the fortunate possessor of the casting vote; called him his best and dearest friend; protested, that he should consider himself as forever indebted to him; that he would serve him by night or by day.

+

2. The Cornish voter, who was an honest fellow, and would not have thought himself entitled to any reward, but for such a torrent of acknowledgments, thanked the Duke for his kindness, and told him, "The supervisor of excise was old and infirm, and if he would have the goodness to recommend his son-in-law to the commissioners, in case of the old man's death, he should think himself and his family bound to render his grace every assistance in his power, on any future occasion." "My dear friend, why do you ask for such a trifling employment?" exclaimed his grace, your relative shall have it, the moment the place is vacant, if you will but call my attention to it." "But how shall I get admitted to you, my lord? for in London, I understand, it is a very difficult. business to get a sight of you great folks, though you are so kind and complaisant to us, in the country." "The instant

66

the man dies," replied the Duke, "set out, post-haste, for London; drive directly to my house, and be it by night or by day, thunder at the door; I will leave word with my porter, to show you up stairs directly; and the employment shall be disposed of according to your wishes."

3. The parties separated; the Duke drove to a friend's house in the neighborhood, without a wish or desire to see his new acquaintance till that day seven years; but the memory of a Cornish elector, not being burdened with such a variety of objects, was more retentive. The supervisor died a few months after, and the Duke's humble friend, relying on the word of a peer, was conveyed to London post-haste, and ascended with alacrity the steps of that nobleman's palace.

+

+

4. The reader should be informed, that just at this time, no less a person than the King of Spain was expected hourly to depart; an event in which the minister of Great Britain was particularly concerned; and the Duke of Newcastle, on the very night that the proprietor of the decisive vote arrived at his door, had sat up anxiously expecting dispatches from Madrid. Wearied by official business and agitated spirits, he retired to rest, having previously given particular instructions to his porter not to go to bed, as he expected, every minute, a messenger with advices of the greatest importance, and desired he might be shown up stairs, the moment of his arrival.