Ho! my buck, said I, have I beat you out? Swallower of paving-stones, have you now met harder stuff? Devourer of zinc and ink-bottles, of wheel-barrows and wig-blocks, have you here found a block surpassing all? He stopped on hearing me, for he is really a very sensible insect, or, as my friend George Caleb Beale says, a mighty cute cratur; and, by his dejected motions, appeared to reason with me for tasking him too hard. I therefore took back the essay, and it is still to be seen unhurt in the archives of the Cork P. and L. Society. But what is all this to Mr Fogarty's poem? Nothing, I confess; but it is not every day I have an opportunity of writing for Blackwood's Magazine, and I may be excused for making the best of my time. As for the spider, I have put him on low diet of late, feeding him only with garbage. Among other trash, I gave him a London Magazine the other day to eat, but it went near killing him. He has been vomiting ever since, the dose was so nauseous; and what he principally throws up is their Cockney table-talk, and Weathercock's waggery. I am digressing again, for in fact the spider goes between me and my sleep. Do not tell Mr Brand I have written to you about it, as I have a fine article on the subject for him. Entre nous, he pays shabbily; sixpence a page is no pay for original science. All I have to say to you about Mr F.'s poem, is to beg that you will print it with all sort of accuracy. The reading public of this city are highly delighted with it. I remain, Sir, your obedient servant. Cork, Nov. 1, 1820. H. P. S. Our friend D desired me to ask you, why you did not answer the letter forwarded by him to you some weeks ago.* * We did receive a hoax, signed "the holder of two respectable and responsible situations;" and we take this opportunity of requesting, that the wags of Cork will keep their humbugging to themselves, and not put us to the expense of paying postage for their jokes. Indeed we are astonished that so respectable a man as our able correspondent, who, we half suspect, may be our own old friend, Mr Holt, meddles in these matters (I ask them all, from sixty to sixteen, From cheek of wrinkles to the cheek of bloom ;) 2. "Good-morrow, Dan! from yon high mountain's peak, But tell me first, what brought you here, my man." 66 3. "O Sir," says Dan, " I left my home, an' please ye, I drank raw brandy, and was bother'd quite ; 4. "It is apparent," quoth the Eagle strait, "That you've been fuddled, Dan, and more's the shame, To see a decent man of forty-eight, Stagger along, and lose the road he came; Upon my word, 'twere well to let you wait, And bring your neighbours to behold your shame; For of all vices on the earth, I think The worst consists in appetite for drink. 5. "I knew you once, Dan, when you'd shrink aghast, And for your sins inflict the wholesome flogging; 6. "However, as this bog is very wide, And you are still an honest sort of chap- * Keep good look out, and shun the treach'rous nap, 7. Dan listen'd as all culprits mostly do, More to the comfort than the good advice; And after sobbing forth a sigh or two, Told his kind friend "he'd mount him in a trice, * A cannister, or any other appendage tied to a dog's tail, is called in Ireland a Coss. Whether the word is pure English or not, I have not now time to enquire; Dr E. D. Clarke seems to think it is Latin, as he has observed it, he says, very frequently after peoples names in inscriptions, as IMP. CAESAR COS. This is a learned and plausible conjecture, and nearly as probable as Mr Galiffe's proof of the derivation of the language of Rome from that of Russia. If he would promise, that in case he flew Too quick -a pause-" Old Nick would oft entice With him, (though Dan) no step to-night will fly." 8. But when around the bog he cast a glance, His home and fire, keen hunger and slow death, He sickens, trembles, and pants hard for breath. 9. The Eagle, with a look of high disdain, Rustled his pinions loudly for the flight, 10. He groan'd assent. The bird stoop'd down in haste, His foot upon a master-feather placed, Mounted with care, and straigthen'd out his toes Clung close his knees, and heartily embraced The bird's proud neck, e'er he to flight arose; He soared aloft-let good or ill betide. 11. Up, up into the sky, a glorious flight, In many an airy whirl the Eagle sped- With which the bird his sail-broad pinions spread, Which all around the silver moon-beams shed; 12. "I've often heard of spirits in the air," Quoth Dan, "but now I find 'tis all a lie; Devil a drop can I see any where, To wet my lips that grow so hard and dry ; Your journey now is over, if you'll fly 13. "Away, away, my steed and I," so sung Could fly with so much vigour or such speed; Poor Daniel's Jude and dunghill fade from view. + Vid. Ariosto. By the way, Ariosto's description of Astolpho's journey to the moon contains many unauthentic particulars, as I shall probably mention hereafter. 14. "Oh! stop, my Lord," (he thought it best be mild) Or home, or DAISY, I'll ne'er visit more; 15. But answer came there none. The Eagle seemed Of such a journey. Here Dan gave a sigh ; 16. Still on they fled; and creature on the way, 17. (You'll find his flight described in Peter Bell, Published by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, I own I like that poem passing well, Though by your wits 'tis laughed at and cried down. Cheer up, Great Poet, loud thy fame will swell, When thy detractors' names shall be unknown, When all forgotten is the tiny crew, Who quiz thee in the Edinburgh Review.) 18. Oh! what a view! how noble is the sight! Beneath them stretch'd the broad and rock girt bay, Of thousand stars, soon far behind them lay. 29. Soon earth, and sea, and mountain high were gone, And Dan still wept his sad mishaps aloud; * Whiddy, a handsome island in Bantry Bay. + Hungry-hill, a most unpoetical, though not inappropriate name, for a high hill in he south of the county of Cork. Charles Fort. A map of the country (as recommended by Sir Walter Scott in his Lady of the Lake) would greatly assist the understanding of the exact bearing of the dif erent places commemorated in this flight. It would appear that the road to the moon, rom Bantry, in the Eagle's opinion, lay over Kinsale. And higher as they fled, still brighter shone 20. And well they may, as all around was light As tho' to be a sun each star was given; And steady course,-(to one he counted seven 21. And here I'll take upon me to cut short Unwilling patience; suffice it to mention, He reached THE MOON, his limit of ascension; 22. "And who the devil asked you, was it I, 23. "Stretch out your hand and throw your leg astride, I sorely want to rest my weary side, Demur another second and your lost;" Dan cursed him in his heart, but strait complied, And looked much like (astronomers may snarl) 24. He straddled as I said, and clasped it hard, In momentary terror of a fall, While the malicious bird, to fly prepared, Quoth he, "stay there until your brains are aired, Cursing and praying very piteously; Away he fled along the fields of air, Down tow'rds the regions of the western sky, Where thunder clouds were gathering; tho' elsewhere The sky was cloudless. Daniel saw him fly So Pliny, lib. 2. c. 55. Solam e volucribus aquilam fulma haud percutit; quæ hoc armigera hujus teli fingitur. And again, lib. 10. cap. 3. Negant unquam solar hanc alitem fulmine examinatam: ideo armieram Jovis consuetudo judicavit. I ai happy to add the testimony of Daniel O'Rourke to that of Pliny. |