صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

APOSTROPHE TO SLEEP.

417

Sir C. I wish you joy of your appointment. You may now distill water for the shop from the laurels you gǎther in the field.

Oll. Water for-Oh! laurel-water. He! he!

Come, that's věry well—very well, indeed! Thank you, good sir-I owe you one! Why, I fancy fame will follow, when the poison of a small' mistake I made has ceased to operate.

Sir C. A mistake!

Oll. Having to attend Lady Kitty Carbuncle, on a grand field-day, I clapped a pint bottle of her ladyship's diet-drink into one of my holsters, intending to proceed to the patient, after the exercise was over. I reached the martial ground, and jalaped-galloped, I mean-wheeled, and flourished, with great éclat; but when the word "Fire!" was given, meaning to pull out my pistol, in a deuce of a hurry, I presented, neck foremost, the diet-drink of Lady Kitty Carbuncle; and the medicine being, unfortunately, fermented by the jolting of my horse, it forced out the cork, with a prodigious pop, full in the face of my gallant commander.

Sir C. Ha! ha! ha! A mistake, indeed.

Oll. Rather awkward !-But, Sir Charles, excuse me-your servant! I must march-patients impatient. You take? Sir C. Oh, yes; and so will they, I fancy, before you've done with them.

Oll. Ha! physic-certainly! quìn'tida, scammony, gambōge. sir; I owe you one!

Salts, rhubarb, senna, coloGood, good! thank you, good [They go out at opposite sides.

COLMAN.

1.

W

180. APOSTROPHE TO SLEEP.3

How many thousands of my poorest subjects
HOW

Are at this hour asleep! O Sleep, O gentle Sleep,
Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,

That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down,
And steep my senses in forgetfulness!

1 Eclat (à klå'), applause; striking effect.-2 Gamboge (gam bỏj').— The following is an apostrophe of King Henry IV.1 Nurse (nårs).

[graphic]

Why rather, Sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee,

And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber
Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,
Under the canopies of costly state,

And lull'd with sounds of sweetest melody?
O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile,
In loathsome beds; and leav'st the kingly couch,
A watch-case, or a common 'larum-bell?

2. Wilt thou, upon the high and giddy mast,'
Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude,2 imperious surge,3
And in the visitation of the winds,

Who take the ruffian' billows by the top,

6

Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them
With deaf'ning clamors in the slippery clouds,
That, with the hurly, death itself awakes;-
Canst thou, O partial Sleep! give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude;
And, in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a king? Then, happy low, lie down!
Uneasy lies the head that wears' a crown.

SHAKSPEARE.

1.

181. A POET'S PARTING THOUGHT.

WHEN

WHEN I beneath the cold red earth am sleeping,
Life's fever o'er,

Will there for me be any bright eye weeping

That I'm no more?

Will there be any heart still memory keeping
Of heretofore?

2. When the great winds, through leafless forests rushing,
Sad music make;-

Måst.-2 Rude (rod).-3 Surge (serj).-4 Ruffian (růf' yan).- Curling (kerl'ing). Hurly (her'ly), a tumult.- Wears (warz).

8

[blocks in formation]

THE PAUPER'S DEATH-BED.

419

When the swollen streams, o'er crag and gully gushing,
Like full hearts break,-

Will there then one, whose heart despair is crushing,
Mourn for my sake?

3. When the bright sun upon that spot is shining,
With purest ray,

And the small flowers, their buds and blossoms twining,
Burst through that clay,—

Will there be one still on that spot repining

Lost hopes all day?

4. When no star twinkles with its

On that low mound,

[blocks in formation]

And wintry storms have, with their ruins hōary,
Its loneness crown'd,

Will there be then one, versed in misery's story,
Pacing it round?—

5. It may be so; but this is selfish sorrōw
To ask such meed,-

A weakness and a wickedness to borrow,
From hearts that bleed,

The wailings of to-day for what to-morrow
Shall never need.

6. Lay me then gently in my nărrōw dwelling,
Thou gentle heart;

And though thy bosom should with grief be swelling,
Let no tear start:

It were in vain,—for time has long been knelling—

SAD ONE, DEPART!

182. THE PAUPER'S DEATH-BED.

1. READ softly,-bow the head,

TREAD

In reverent silence bow;

No passing-bell doth toll,-
Yet an immortal soul

Is passing now.

MOTHERWELL.

2. Stränger, however great,

With hōly reverence bow;— There's one in that poor shed,—

One by that paltry bed,—

Greater than thou.

3. Beneath that beggar's roof,

Lo! death doth keep his state;
Enter, no crowds attend;
Enter, no guards defend
This palace gate.

4. That pavement, damp and cold,
No smiling courtiers tread;

One silent woman stands,
Lifting, with meager hands,
A dying head.

5. No mingling voices sound,-
An infant wail alone;

A sob suppress'd,-again
That short, deep gasp, and then
The parting groan.

6. Oh, change!-oh, wondrous change!—
Burst are the prison bars,—
This moment, there, so low,
So agonized, and now
Beyond the stars!

7. Oh, change!-stupendous change!

There lies the soulless clod;

The Sun eternal breaks,—
The new immortal wakes,-

Wakes with his God!

CAROLINE BOWLES SOUTHEY.

183. WARREN'S ADDRESS.

1. TAND! the ground's your own, my braves—

STAND

Will ye give it up to slaves?

Will ye look for greener graves?

Hope ye mercy still?

SPARTACUS TO THE GLADIATORS AT CAPUA.

What's the mercy despots feel?

Hear it in that battle peal!
Read it on yon bristling steel!
Ask it, ye who will.

2. Fear ye foes who kill for hire?
Will ye to your homes retire?
Look behind you! they're a-fire!
And before you, see

Who have done it! From the vale
On they come! and will ye quail ?—
Leaden rain and iron hail

Let their welcome be !

3. In the God of battles trust!
Die we may-and die we must;
But, oh, where can dust to dust

Be consign'd so well,

As where heaven its dews shall shed
On the martyr'd patriot's bed,

And the rocks shall raise their head,

Of his deeds to tell?

REV. JOHN PIERPONT.

421

[ocr errors]

184. SPARTACUS TO THE GLADIATORS AT Capua.

had been a day of triumph in Căpuä.' Len'tulus, returning with victorious eagles, had amused the populace with the sports of the amphitheater to an extent hitherto unknown even in that luxurious city. The shouts of revelry had died away; the roar of the lion had ceased; the last loiterer had retired from the banquet; and the lights in the palace of the victor were extinguished.

2. The moon, piercing the tissue of fleecy clouds, silvered

1 Cåp'u a, a fortified city of Naples. It was built out of the ruins of ancient Capua, the city here referred to, the remains of which, about two miles E., include a gate, and portions of a large amphitheater.-2 Luxurious (lug zu' re ůs), delighting in the pleasures of the table; devoted to to pleasure.

« السابقةمتابعة »