I cannot ev'n in death resign
The festal joys that once were mine,
When Harmony pursu'd my ways,
And Bacchus listened to my lays.
Oh! if delight could charm no more,
If all the goblet's bliss were o'er,
When fate had once our doom decreed,
Then dying would be death indeed :
Nor could I think, unblest by wine,
Divinity itself divine!

Του αυτού, εις τον αυτον.

Ευδείς εν φθιμενοισιν, Ανακρέον, εσθλα ποιησας
ευδει δ ̓ ἡ γλυκερη νυκτίλαλος κιθαρα,

ένδει και Σμέρδις, το Ποθών εαρ,

συ

μελίσδων

βαρβιτ', ανεκρούου νεκταρ εναρμόνιον.

ηΐθεου γαρ Έρωτος εφυς σκοπος· ες δε σε μουνον

τόξα τε και σκολιας ειχεν ἑκηβολιας.

Ar length thy golden hours have wing'd their flight, And drowsy death that eyelid steepeth;

Thy harp, that whisper'd through each lingering night
Now mutely in oblivion sleepeth!

She too, for whom that harp profusely shed
The purest nectar of its numbers,

She, the young spring of thy desires, has fled,
And with her blest Anacreon slumbers!

Farewell! thou hadst a pulse for every dart
That Love could scatter from his quiver;
And every woman found in thee a heart,
Which thou, with all thy soul, could'st give her

I might remedy the thinness of my ranks, by conjuring up a few dead and forgotten ephemerons to fill them.

Such are the motives and accidents that led to the present publication; and as this is the first time my Muse has ever ventured out of the go-cart of a Newspaper, though I feel all a parent's delight at seeing little Miss go alone, I am also not without a parent's anxiety, lest an unlucky fall should be the consequence of the experiment; and I need not point out the many living instances there are, of Muses that have suffered severely in their heads, from taking too early and rashly to their feet. Besides, a Book is so very different a thing from a Newspaper!-in the former, your doggerel, without either company or shelter, must stand shivering in the middle of a bleak white page by itself; whereas, in the latter, it is comfortably backed by advertisements, and has sometimes even a speech of Mr St-ph-n's, or something equally warm, for a chauffe-pie; so that, in general, the very reverse of " laudatur et alget" is its destiny.

Ambition, however, must run some risks, and I shall be very well satisfied if the reception of these few Letters should have the effect of sending me to the Post-Bag for more.

LETTER I.

FROM THE PR-NC-SS CHE OF WS TO THE LADY
B-RB-A A-SHL-Y."

My dear Lady Bab, you'll be shock'd, I'm afraid,
When you hear the sad rumpus your ponies have made;
Since the time of horse-consuls (now long out of date)
No nags ever made such a stir in the state!

Lord Eld-n first heard-and as instantly pray'd he

To God and his King-that a Popish young lady

(For though you've bright eyes and twelve thousand a year, It is still but too true you're a Papist, my dear)

Had insidiously sent, by a tall Irish groom,

Two priest-ridden ponies, just landed from Rome,

And so full, little rogues, of pontifical tricks,

That the dome of St Paul's was scarce safe from their kicks

Off at once to papa, in a flurry, he flies-

For papa always does what these statesmen advise,

On condition that they'll be, in turn, so polite

As, in no case whate'er, to advise him too right-

66

Pretty doings are here, Sir (he angrily cries,

While by dint of dark eyebrows he strives to look wise), ""Tis a scheme of the Romanists,

This young lady, who is a Roman Catholic, has lately made a present of some beautiful ponies to the Pr-nc-ss

To ride over your most Royal Highness roughshod-
Excuse, Sir, my tears-they're from loyalty's scource--
Bad enough 'twas for Troy to be sack'd by a horse,
But for us to be ruin'd by ponies still worse!"
Quick a Council is call'd-the whole Cabinet sits-
The Archbishops declare, frighten'd out of their wits,
That if vile Popish ponies should eat at my manger.
From that awful moment the Church is in danger!
As, give them but stabling, and shortly no stalls
Will suit their proud stomachs but.those at St Paul's.
The Docter and he, the devout Man of Leather,
V-ns-tt-t, now laying their saint-heads together,
Declare that these skittish young a-bominations
Are clearly foretold in chap. vi. Revelations
Nay, they verily think they could point out the one
Which the Doctor's friend Death was to canter upon!
Lord H-rr-by, hoping that no one imputes
To the Court any fancy to persecute brutes,
Protests, on the word of himself and his cronies,
That had these said creatures been asses, not ponies,
The Court would have started no sort of objection,
As asses were, there, always sure of protection.

"If the Pr-nc-ss will keep them (says Lord C-stl-r--gh)-
To make them quite harmless the only true way,
Is (as certain Chief-Justices do with their wives)
To flog them within half an inch of their lives-

If they've any bad Irish blood lurking about,

This (he knew by experience) would soon draw it out."
Or-if this be thought cruel-his Lordship proposes
"The new Veto snaffle to bind down their noses-

A pretty contrivance, made out of old chains,

Which appears to indulge, while it doubly restrains; Which, however high-mettled, their gamesomeness checks (Adds his Lordship humanely), or else breaks their necks!"

This proposal receiv'd pretty general applause

From the statesmen around-and the neck-breaking clause Had a vigour about it, which soon reconcil'd

Even Eld-n himself to a measure so mild.

So the snaffles, my dear, were agreed to nem. con.
And my Lord C-stl-r-gh, having so often shone
In the fettering line, is to buckle them on.

I shall drive to your door in these Vetos some day,
But, at present, adieu!—I must hurry away
To go see my Mamma, as I'm suffer'd to meet her
For just half an hour by the Qu-n's best repeater.