I'll merely tell a little tale,

So short, your patience cannot fail.
The famous Countess De Grolèe
Lived in a very wicked way,
Till, at the age of eighty-four,
Sickness compelled her to give o'er.
Her friends, perceiving she was going,
And, as good Catholics, well knowing
Saint Peter will not open Heaven
To those the Church has not forgiven,
Advised her strongly to repent,
And for a famed confessor sent.

The holy man, "with zeal on flame,"
To save her soul, impatient came,
And, as on such occasions fit,

Her friends prepared the room to quit.
"No, no," the witty Countess said,
"You need not leave my dying bed-
I'll tell my sins while all are by,
And yet I'll not disedify.

I have been young and handsome too,
Men said so-I believed 'twas true;
The rest- -so easy 'tis to guess,
It would be useless to confess!"
Thus has it been, dear maid, with me—
I saw I met-I spoke with thee,
And 'tis so easy to be guessed-
I surely need not tell the rest.

February 14th, 1830.

WORDS FOR MUSIC.

I.

COME, let us pass the night gaily away;
Is there not toil enough through the long day?
And leisure's a treasure,

Too glorious to measure,

Then, let us have pleasure,

Whilever we may.

Yes, let us pass the night, &c.

II.

Here, round the festive board, let us unite,
Where Mirth and Harmony sweetly invite ;
Wine streaming, wit beaming,

Bright eyes round us gleaming,
Each moment is teeming

With rapture to-night.

Yes, round the festive board, &c.

Nov. 1st, 1835.

Q

ON AN IMPROVIDENT VOCALIST.

"Vox et præterea nibil."

I.

POOR Tom, alas! too well aware,
That he can sing, now only goes
To balls and dinners, and no care
Upon the means of life bestows.

II.

Ah! Tom, it is a dangerous thing
In such a way the world to please-
For, when the foolish bird would sing,
Remember Tom,-she lost the cheese.'

Jan. 5th, 1837.

"The life of him that dependeth on another man's table is not to be counted for a life: for he polluteth himself with other men's meat, but a wise man well nurtured will beware thereof." Ecclesiasticus, chap. xl. v. 29.

DAVID'S LAMENT OVER SAUL AND JONATHAN. 2 Samuel, chap. i. v. 19-27.

I.

On the high places, Israel, thy beauty and pride
By the shafts of the haughty Philistine have died :'
Long, long, shall thy sorrow the mighty bemoan-
The flower of thy valour and boast of thy throne.

II.

Oh, tell not in Gath how untimely their fate,

Nor, in Ashkelon's streets, their destruction relate— Lest Philistia's proud daughters with triumph should glow,

And exult o'er the fall of their circumcised foe.

1 The introduction of an allusion to the Philistine archers, in the version of this and the viith stanza, is founded upon the sacred historian's statement, in his account of the engagement at Gilboa, in which, after mentioning that "the battle went sore against Saul," it is added, that "the archers hit him, and he was sore wounded of the archers." (1 Samuel xxxi. 3.) And, in 2 Samuel i. 18, it is related that David, after Saul's death, "bade them teach the children of Israel the use of the bow"-no doubt, on the same principle that the kings of Scotland, in the middle ages, endeavoured to promote the practice of archery amongst their subjects, that they might be able to compete with the English, of whose fatal ability in the use of the bow and arrows, Scotland-like the Jews in the case of the Philistines-had experienced such formidable proofs.

III.

Ye hills of Gilboa, ye hills where the shield
Of Saul, once the mighty, is cast on the field!
Without dews or soft showers in bleakness remain ;
For, on you, the anointed of Israel was slain.

IV.

From the blood of the valiant, in victory's track,
The arrows of Jonathan never drew back ;3

In the midst of the charge, where the brave thickest fall,
Whose sword was more red than the sabre of Saul?

V.

Saul and Jonathan, gallant, illustrious pair,

In life, as in death, undivided ye were!

Your speed, was the speed of the eagle's swift flight, Your strength, was the strength of the lion in fight!

? The union of martial, devotional, pathetic, and national feeling, in the original of this stanza, is admirable; and the allusion to the loss of Saul's shield is expressed in the true spirit of a“ warrior bard," who could sympathize with the bold admonition addressed to the young Spartan, on presenting him with his buckler:— “Return with it, or on it!" The elevated regret of the Hebrew poet for that loss presents an honorable contrast to the Epicurean indifference of Horace's "relicta non bene parmula," and the still more shameless, though amusing, impudence of the Greek poet, Archilochus. "I have thrown away мY buckler,” said he, in a fragment of one of his lost works, "but I shall find ANOTHER; and I have saved my LIFE!"

3 The bow of Jonathan turned not back."-AUTHORIZED

VERSION OF THE BIBLE.

"The bow of Jonathan was never held back."--GEDDES'S TRANSLATION.