Then staves for muskets they forsook,
And shot the freemen down;
Right royally their banners shook
As Grant rode through the town.
Hail, final triumph of our cause!
Hail, chief of mute renown!
Grim Magistrate of Silent Laws,
A-riding freedom down!
Quintessence.
“To produce these spicy paragraphs, which have been unsuccessfully imitated by every newspaper in the State, requires the combined efforts of five able-bodied persons associated on the editorial staff of this journal.”—New York Herald.
Sir Muscle speaks, and nations bend the ear:
“Hark ye these Notes-our
wit quintuple hear;
Five able-bodied editors combine
Their strength prodigious
in each laboured line!”
O wondrous vintner! hopeless
seemed the task
To bung these drainings in
a single cask;
The riddle’s read-five
leathern skins contain
The working juice, and scarcely
feel the strain.
Saviours of Rome! will wonders
never cease?
A ballad cackled by five tuneful
geese!
Upon one Rosinante five stout
knights
Ride fiercely into visionary
fights!
A cap and bells five sturdy
fools adorn,
Five porkers battle for a
grain of corn,
Five donkeys squeeze into
a narrow stall,
Five tumble-bugs propel a
single ball!
Resurgam.
Dawns dread and red the fateful
morn—
Lo, Resurrection’s Day
is born!
The striding sea no longer
strides,
No longer knows the trick
of tides;
The land is breathless, winds
relent,
All nature waits the dread
event.
From wassail rising rather
late,
Awarding Jove arrives in state;
O’er yawning graves
looks many a league,
Then yawns himself from sheer
fatigue.
Lifting its finger to the
sky,
A marble shaft arrests his
eye—
This epitaph, in pompous pride,
Engraven on its polished side:
“Perfection of Creation’s
plan,
Here resteth Universal Man,
Who virtues, segregated wide,
Collated, classed, and codified,
Reduced to practice, taught,
explained,
And strict morality maintained.
Anticipating death, his pelf
He
lavished on this monolith;
Because
he leaves nor kin nor kith
He rears this tribute to himself,
That Virtue’s fame may
never cease.
Hic jacet-let him rest in
peace!”
With sober eye Jove scanned
the shaft,
Then turned away and lightly
laughed
“Poor Man! since I have
careless been
In keeping books to note thy
sin,
And thou hast left upon the
earth
This faithful record of thy
worth,
Thy final prayer shall now
be heard:
Of
life I’ll not renew thy lease,
But take thee at thy carven
word,
And
let thee rest in solemn peace!”