GLEANINGS FROM A WRITING-DESK. I SAW THEE-TIME'S RUDE HAND HAD DIMMED. "I'll not leave thee, thou lone one."-MOORE. I. I SAW thee-Time's rude hand had dimmed the lines that Beauty traced; And Fortune's frowns and blighting Grief thy rosy prime effaced; But, though the noon-day beams that played around thy brow were set, Like clouds at eve, thy looks retained a tender lustre yet. II. We spoke I found thee more than all even Fancy e'er designed, In feelings gentle, pure in taste, in sentiment refined- III. And art thou, like the wanderer wrecked upon his lonely isle, With none to weep when thou wouldst weep or gladden at thy smile? And shall that Eden heart, where Love might build his sweetest shrine, Be left amid a dreary world in solitude to pine? IV. Oh no! there is one faithful bosom warmly beats for thee! The cold neglect which thou hast felt endears thee more to me; For, though in summer hours of bliss the heart is lured to roam, 'Tis winter's chilling blasts that serve to bind us most to home. July 7th, 1829. THE DEFEAT OF SISERA. .... "The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord.. and the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaän, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord; for he (Sisera) had 900 chariots of iron, and 20 years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel. ... And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host. And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, . . . . until they had destroyed Jabin, king of Canaän." JUDGES, chap. iv. v. 1, 2, 3, 15, 23, 24. I. STRIKE ! strike the loud harp to the praise of the Lord, II. O'er Tabor's wide plains, on Megiddo's green banks, III. When the shrieks of the night-tempest, echoing around, Through the hundred dark caves of the mountain resound; "Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, "Go and draw toward Mount Tabor?" "The kings came and fought. by the waters of Megiddo." Judges iv. 6 and 9. .... Hast thou seen the blue lightning, flash darting on flash? Hast thou heard the deep thunder, crash bursting on crash? IV. As brightly the Canaanites' helmets and shields, When his chariots to combat with Israel advanced. V. But where are the helmets, and where are the shields, VI. Their splendour is dimmed in the blood of the slain- The mother of Sisera looks out on high From the halls of her palace, for evening is nigh; And the wine-cup is brimmed, and the bright torches burn, And the banquet is piled, for the chieftain's return. VIII. She cries to her maidens," Why comes not my son? IX. She saith in her heart, yea, her wise maidens say,— And maketh the daughters of Beauty his prize!"s 1"Then fought the kings of Canaän in Taanach. river of Kishon swept them away." Judges, v. 19, 21. The 2 "The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the X. But Sisera's mother shall view him no more; XI. And the owl and the raven are flapping their wings; And their death-song is heard in the chambers of kings; For the sword of the Lord and of Israel lowers O'er Sisera's palace, and Jabin's proud towers. Nov. 13th, 1831. EPIGRAM. On the weeping and laughing philosophers. Que vois-je? la discorde au milieu de ces sages? Ces mêmes vanités font rire Democrite. RACINE. 66 "If we look," says Racine, "to the lives of the wise, What opposite maxims we find!— Here sad Heraclītus despondingly cries, While Democritus laughs at mankind!" But, as long as my stay in this planet extends, With one, may I weep for my suffering friends, wheels of his chariots?' Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself,-Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey? to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours meet for the necks of them that take the spoil. "—Judges v. 28, 29, 30. THE TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. A SONG. AIR-"A captain bold of Halifax once lived in country quarters." I. We live in times when ev'ry fool has plans to mend the nation; We've bibles, paper-banks1 and rules for checking population; But, though of humbugs now-a-days we've such a grand variety, The primest of all humbugs is-the Temperance Society. Oh! what a gag is the Temperance Society! Oh! what a gag is the Temperance Society!" II. The leader of this holy hoax is Mr. Justice ********, Whom something, at Dungarvan, that I need not tell, was stampt on,3 But, wasn't it a shame for Dan to give such notoriety Oh! what a gag is the Temperance Society! III. The rack-renting landlord, who in abundance riots, Oh! what a gag is the Temperance Society! An allusion to the rage for banking speculations, and to the stopping of the Agricultural Bank, in Dublin, about the time those lines were written. 2 If the happy bucks, or "decided enemies of care," amongst whom this song may be sung, shall be in due spirits, or wine, or spirits of wine, or wine and spirits, then "oh! what a gag," &c., may be repeated in a full chorus of roaring glory.—Note of the Author for the Critics and the Saints. 3 See the "stolen or strayed" epistles, of a semi-official, semi-Galwagian description, that were intended "to make Dungarvan shake," but only contributed to drum the Grey ministry out of power to the tune of "The rogues' march." |