in which, I thought, he might take a share; but no such thing. Will took his stand before her, straddling like a Colossus, with his hands in his pockets, and an air of the most profound attention; nor did he pretend to open his lips for some time, until, upon some lively sally of hers, he electrified the whole company with a most intolerable burst of laughter. What was to be done with such an incorrigible fellow ?-to add to my distress, the first word he spoke was to tell miss Sparkle that something she said reminded him of a circumstance that happened to him in China;— and at it he went, in the true traveller styledescribed the chinese mode of eating rice with chop-sticks;-entered into a long eulogium on the succulent qualities of boiled bird's nests; and I made my escape at the very moment when he was on the point of squatting down on the floor, to show how the little chinese Joshes sit crosslegged,

TO THE LADIES.

FROM THE MILL OF

PINDAR COCKLOFT, ESQ.

Though jogging down the hill of life,
Without the comfort of a wife;

And though I ne'er a helpmate chose,
To stock my house and mend my hose;
With care my person to adorn,

And spruce me up on Sunday morn ;-
Still do I love the gentle sex,

And still with cares my brain perplex
To keep the fair ones of the age
Unsullied as the spotless page;
All pure, all simple, all refined,
The sweetest solace of mankind.

I hate the loose insidious jest
To beauties modest ear addrest,

And hold that frowns should never fail
To check each smooth, but fulsome tale:
But he whose impious pen should dare
Invade the morals of the fair;

To taint that purity divine

Which should each female heart enshrine;
Though soft his vitious strains should swell,
As those which erst from Gabriel fell,
Should yet be held aloft to shame,
And foul dishonor shade his name.

Judge then, my friends, of my surprise,
The ire that kindled in my eyes,
When I relate, that t'other day
I went a morning call to pay,

On two young nieces; just come down
To take the polish of the town:
By which I mean no more or less
Than a la francaise to undress;
To whirl the modest waltz' rounds,
Taught by Duport for snug ten pounds.
To thump and thunder through a song,
Play fortes soft and dolce's strong;
Exhibit loud piano feats,

Caught from that crotchet-hero, Meetz:
To drive the rose bloom from the face,

And fix the lily in its place;

To doff the white, and in its stead
To bounce about in brazen red.
While in the parlor I delay'd,

Till they their persons had array'd,

A dapper volume caught my eye,
That on the window chanced to lie
A book's a friend-I always choose
To turn its pages and peruse :-
It proved those poems known to fame
For praising every cyprian dame ;-
The bantlings of a dapper youth,
Renown'd for gratitude and truth;
A little pest, hight TOMMY MOORE,
Who hopp'd and skipp'd our country o'er ;
Who sipp'd our tea and lived on sops,
Revell'd on syllabubs and slops,

And when his brain, of cobweb fine,
Was fuddled with five drops of wine,
Would all his puny loves rehearse,
And many a maid debauch-in verse.
Surprised to meet in open view,
A book of such lascivious hue,
I chid my nieces-but they say,
Tis all the passion of the day ;-
That many a fashionable belle
Will with enraptured accents dwell
On the sweet morceau she has found
In this delicious, curst, compound!

Soft do the tinkling numbers roll,
And lure to vice the unthinking soul;
They tempt by softest sounds away,
They lead entranced the heart astray;
And satan's doctrine sweetly sing,
As with a seraph's heavenly string.

Such sounds, so good, old Homer sung,
Once warbled from the siren's tongue ;-
Sweet melting tones were heard to pour
Along Ausonia's sun-gilt shore ;-
Seductive strains in æther float,

And every wild deceitful note
That could the yielding heart assail,
Were wafted on the breathing gale ;-
And every gentle accent bland

To tempt Ulysses to their strand.

And can it be this book so base,

Is laid on every window-case?
Oh! fair ones, if you will profane

Those breasts were heaven itself should reign;

And throw those pure recesses wide,

Where peace and virtue should reside;
To let the holy pile admit

A guest unhallowed and unfit;

Pray, like the frail ones of the night,

Who hide their wanderings from the light,

So let your errors secret be,

And hide, at least, your fault from me :

Seek some bye corner to explore

The smooth polluted pages o'er :
There drink the insidious poison in,
There slily nurse your souls for sin :
And while that purity you blight
Which stamps you messengers of light,
And sap those mounds the gods bestow,
To keep you spotless here below;