XLVI. To the American Flag.-DRAKE and HallecK. WHEN Freedom from her mountain height Majestic monarch of the cloud! Flag of the brave! thy folds shall fly, 1 Ere yet the life-blood, warm and wet, Like shoots of flame on midnight pall! Flag of the seas! on ocean's wave, Flag of the free heart's only home, Where breathes the foe but falls before us, With freedom's soil beneath our feet, And freedom's banner streaming o'er us! XLVII. The Gouty Merchant and the Stranger.-ANONY MOUS. IN Broad street buildings, on a winter night, While t'other held beneath his nose The Public Leger, in whose columns grubbing, He noted all the sales of hops, Ships, shops and slops, Gum, galls and groceries, ginger, gin, And left your door ajar, which I And thought it neighbourly to give you notice." "Ten thousand thanks-how very few get, In time of danger, Such kind attentions from a stranger! Assuredly that fellow's throat is Doomed to a final drop at Newgate. He knows too, the unconscionable elf, That there's no soul at home except myself." "Indeed!" replied the stranger, looking grave "Then he's a double knave: He knows that rogues and thieves by scores Nightly beset unguarded doors; And see how easily might one Even beneath your very nose, And walk off-thus." So said, so done-he made no more remark, But marched off with his prize, XLVIII. The Country Bumpkin and Razor Seller.—WOL COTT. A FELLOW, in a market town, Most musical, cried razors up and down, And offered twelve for eighteen pence; Which certainly seemed wondrous cheap; And, for the money, quite a heap, As every man would buy, with cash and sense. A country bumpkin the great offer heard; Poor Hodge, who suffered by a broad black beard, That seemed a shoe brush stuck beneath his nose; With cheerfulness the eighteen pence he paid, And proudly to himself in whisper said, "This rascal stole the razors, I suppose. "No matter if the fellow be a knave, Provided that the razors shave; K* It certainly will be a monstrous prize." So home the clown with his good fortune went, Smiling, in heart and soul content, And quickly soaped himself to ears and eyes. Being well lathered from a dish or tub, Hodge now began, with grinning pain, to grub, Just like a hedger cutting furze : "Twas a vile razor !-then the rest he triedAll were impostors!"Ah!" Hodge sighed, "I wish my eighteen pence within my purse.' In vain to chase his beard, and bring the graces, He cut and dug, and winched, and stamped, and swore, Brought blood and danced, blasphemed and made wry faces, And cursed each razor's body o'er and o'er. His muzzle, formed of opposition stuff, Firm as a Foxite, would not lose its ruff; So kept it-laughing at the steel and suds. Hodge, in a passion, stretched his angry jaws, Vowing the direst vengeance, with clenched claws, On the vile cheat that sold the goods. "Razors !—a vile, confounded dog- Hodge sought the fellow-found him—and "Perhaps, Master Razor-rogue, to you 'tis fun, That people flay themselves out of their lives : |