Whose piety is love, whose love Tho' close as 't were their souls' embrace, Is not of earth but from above Like two fair mirrors face to face, Whose light from one to the other thrown, Is heaven's reflection, not their ownShould we e'er meet with aught so pure, So perfect here, we may be sure 'Tis ZARAPH and his bride we see ; And call young lovers round to view The pilgrim pair as they pursue Their pathway towards eternity. RHYMES ON THE ROAD, EXTRACTED FROM THE JOURNAL OF A TRAVELLING MEMBER OF THE POCO-CURANTE SOCIETY, 1819. THE greater part of the following Rhymes were written or composed in an old calêche, for the purpose of beguiling the ennui of solitary travelling; and as verses, made by a gentleman in his sleep, have been lately called “a psychological curiosity," it is to be hoped that verses, composed by a gentleman to keep himself awake, may be honored with some appellation equally Greek. RHYMES ON THE ROAD. INTRODUCTORY RHYMES. Different Attitudes in which Authors compose. -Bayes, Henry Stevens, Herodotus, etc.Writing in Bed― in the Fields.- Plato and Sir Richard Blackmore. - Fiddling with Gloves and Twigs. Madame de Staël.Rhyming on the Road, in an old Calèche. WHAT various attitudes and ways And tricks we authors have in writing! While some write sitting, some like BAYES Usually stand while they 're inditing. Poets there are who wear the floor out, Measuring a line at every stride; While some like HENRY STEPHENS pour out Rhymes by the dozen while they ride.1 HERODOTUS wrote most in bed; And RICHERAND, a French physician, Declares the clock-work of the head Goes best in that reclined position. If you consult MONTAIGNE2 and PLINY on The subject, 't is their joint opinion That Thought its richest harvest yields Abroad among the woods and fields, That bards who deal in small retail At home may at their counters stop; But that the grove, the hill, the vale, Are Poesy's true wholesale shop. And verily I think they 're right For many a time on summer evés, Just at that closing hour of light, When, like an Eastern Prince, who For distant war his Haram bowers, 1 pleraque sua carmina equitans composuit. PARAVICIN. Singular. 2" Mes peniées dorment, si je les assis."MONTAIGNE. animus eorum qui in aperto aere ambulant attollitur. PLINY. There was a hero 'mong the Danes, Who wrote, we 're told, mid all the pains And horrors of exenteration, Nine charming odes, which, if you'll look, You'll find preserved with a translation By BARTHOLINUS in his book.1 In short 't were endless to recite When beaus and belles are round them prating; Some when they dress for dinner find Their muse and valet both in waiting And manage at the self-same time To adjust a neckcloth and a rhyme. |