respect for his dignity: he was "dressed in green and gold," or the Greek says, even in purple and gold! Was ever any thing more magnificent? Could a monarch have chosen more beautiful colours? But the bear seems, from his utter contempt of all external decorations, to have been pretty much of the Cynic persuasion. He tears his jacket! He tramples on the purple and gold like any Diogenes! And the keeper begins to abuse him; for what else could he expect after such a transgression? However, a person of his consequence was not to be slighted with impunity, and of this danger the keeper (whom, as nothing is said of his character, we may conjecture to be much the same as keepers usually are, surly, but kept in order by a proper awe of the superior corporeal powers of the bear) seems to have had a just idea. He begins rather in a flattering and humble strain of expostulation, and only gently hints at the enormous expense which he is put to, to support the dignity of "Mr. Bear." But, carried away by the impetuosity of his temper, he goes to such lengths as to make an ill-timed threat of short commons, and concludes with a most touching appeal to his moral feelings-"How can you behave so ill?" And here we must for a time divert our readers' attention from the English, to express our unfeigned and unbounded astonishment at the Greek. In the second stanza, and the fourth line, he will observe the word Erongos, used in the sense of "Tailor." Now, we have looked over Lexicons and Thesauri of all sorts and sizes, and cannot even find such a word in the language, and the only relation which the Greek word seems here to bear to the English, is in a strong resemblance between that and the name of an eminent tailor of the present day : and how the author of this piece could possibly have known any thing of a tailor who flourished many years afterwards, we are at a loss to conceive. Nothing short of prophetical inspiration could have prompted this effusion; unless, indeed, as a learned friend suggests, an ancestor of the above-mentioned gentleman then exercised the same lucrative functions as those which his descendant at this moment embellishes, and had attained the same eminence in his art, as it would be an insult to the bear's taste to suppose for a moment that he, dressed as he was in green and gold, would stoop to employ a second-rate tradesman. We would certainly advise Mr. Stultz to make a most diligent inquiry on the subject, as he would by that means establish for himself a most noble genealogy, and if, through means of the keeper's untimely fate (dî talem avertite casum!) the bill was left undischarged, Mr. Stultz would, I should think, be in justice entitled to the amount of the bill, which was certainly a very large one, from the descendants of the keeper, or in case of his being unable to trace them, from those of the bear. We have wandered too far from our subject; we beg pardon, and return to it again. We concluded our last criticisms with some remarks on the keeper's illtimed rashness; ill-timed indeed it was, for the insult of shortening his diet was too great for so high-spirited an animal, and one who had such a lofty sense of honour, to pocket. He was wound up to the highest pitch of indignation, and at once throwing off all shackles of pity and moderation, he takes vengeance in the most summary and decisive way, by cracking the unfortunate keeper's pericranium between his jaws, and then, in a style of bitter triumph, which Homer or Virgil would have given their ears to have attained, apostrophizes the body "A fig for your tailor, "No bills are paid by the dead." This strong sarcastic exclamation finishes the poem; à spice of humour is thrown into it, to take off, in some measure, the melancholy which the tragical exit of the keeper must leave on every feeling mind; and the sublime and consoling truth of "No bills are paid by the dead,” assures us of at least one advantage which the keeper gains by being thus soon dismissed from the stage. THE WOES OF ERIN. When in old Eblana's bay, Frown'd o'er the foaming surge below, Loudly, on the ev'ning gale, Were borne the minstrel's notes of wail; And floated o'er the wave his song, Prophetic of his country's wrong. "Erin, on thy sacred shore, Yes, so it is, the fates decree Has pierc'd the gloomy veil of night, Low shall be Eblana's walls, PROTEUS AND JOHN BULL. A DIALOGUE. Proteus. Dear Mr. Bull, I rejoice to see the reformation which has taken place in your demeanour; you are quite an altered man; you have polished off all that * The cruelties committed by the army of Cromwell will immediately pre. sent themselves to the mind. brusquerie, as my pupils, the French, say, which used to be your characteristic, and are really becoming worthy to be enrolled in the number of my votaries. Bull. Then I am to consider that I am indebted to you for this valuable reformation; forsooth, that as I was formerly as steadfast as a rock, so I am now as changeable as a weather-cock. Beware, good master Proteus, lest I find means to confine your boasted mutability; there are in England stocks and bonds, out of which you may find it difficult to slip, though you should even change yourself into an eel. Proteus. Surely I misunderstand you; for nothing is more completely under my dominion than what you have mentioned what is more variable, more fluctuating than the Stocks? what more changeable in its nature and its value than Chili and Colombian Bonds? Bull. Positively, Mr. Proteus, you are enough to make a man hang himself for pure vexation. Proteus. If your inclination runs that way, I can change myself into a tree for your accommodation. Bull. The most useful change you can make is, to give up changing at all, and to become a steady kind of divinity, such as your friend Janus, who has eyes before and behind, that he may never be obliged to turn his head round. Proteus. I am much obliged to you for the hint, but must decline taking it, in consideration of the great sacrifice I have made, in leaving my post of Head Keeper of the Sea-Calves, for the express purpose of taking care of those upon land. Bull. What insolence is this? do you call the English, calves? o 2 |