But when with mine in competition plac'd,
How low his powers, his genius sink debas'd.
Has not my genius shone with peerless ray,
And o'er Ohio pour'd the blaze of day?
Have not my writings spread abroad my name,
And bards* consign'd me to immortal fame ?
Then shall John Woods with me presume to vie,
The brightest star that decks the western sky?
But though John Woods may no improvement want,
Though lack his wit, his knowledge though but scant,
Yet why should he, to upper rooms be sent,
Ere older lamps their feeble rays have spent ?—
For 'tis, I deem, but fair that each awhile
However dry his wick, or poor his oil,

Should have his turn to light his torch-wood fire,
To smoak his time out, and in funk expire.
This maxim oft revolving in my mind,

<< Ne'er where they're known, do prophets honot find,"

Full twenty years ago, to try my luck,
I Philadelphia's beauteous walks forsook,
Convinc'd that there I never could obtain,
"A post of honor, or a post of gain"-
Resolv'd to quit the social haunts of men,
And seek the bear's retreat, the satyr's den,

*See Echo No. VII. Concluding thoughts on the Indian War, by H. H. Brackenridge

Left each attachment Penn's fair city shews,
Its yellow fever, and its crowded stews,

Left its fair dames, with all their winning charms,
And clasp'd an ocher'd beauty in my arms;
For tho' with Wilson, Dickinson, and Chew,
Great as I was, the contest vain I knew,
Yet in my breast I felt a lively hope,
That with a simple Indian I could cope,
And in some future day by them be sent
To Congress, Powaw, or to Parliament.
But what astonishment, what deep surprise,
Possess'd my soul, to see John Woods arise,
This Bedford county youth, whom t'other day
No mortal knew, now strut across my way!
O shame, disgrace, to be thus strangely foil'd,
When I for days, for months, for years have toil'd,
Spent all my vigour, all my prowess flown,
My wit exhausted, and my wisdom gone !
And this by one, who ne'er reclin'd his head,
Midst piles of learning upon learning spread; †
Where Philadelphia's dome attracts the eyes,
And Bingham's Franklin seems to threat the skies.

When o'er these western hills my footsteps ran, Driven by stern Justice from the haunts of man, Close at my heels, the fatal bailiff trode,

And far before me stretch'd the land of Nod.*

+ Mr. B- --e is stated to have been in the habit of frequently indulging himself in a nap, with a folio or quarto for his pillow, in the City Library of Philadelphia.

* Kentucky.

Dark o'er me wav'd the hemlock's frightful shade,
And at my elbow gleam'd the savage blade;
While the gaunt wolf amid the shades of night,
Prowl'd by the pallid moon's uncertain light;
In quest of carnage roam'd the rugged bear,
The panther's hideous yell assail'd my ear;
And the brown bittern's dismal clang was heard,
Join'd with the shriekings of the funeral bird;
And every leaf that rustled on the heath,
Seem'd the dread harbinger of instant death-
When lo! an object of terrific size,

By the faint glimmering caught my wondering eyes;
Exalted high in air, amid the wood,

This strange phenomenon suspended stood,
Fix'd on a lofty tree's far spreading bough,
And gloom'd with deeper dye the shades below.
Chill horror nail'd me to the shuddering ground,
Froze my heart's blood, my jaws distended bound,
Cold sweat my limbs bedew'd, my nerveless tongue,
Stretch'd at its length, adown my bosom hung.
Swift through my mind each fearful image pac'd,
Hell seem'd to hover o'er the howling waste;
Some shaggy beast of awful size was there,
Some mighty scalp was floating in the air,
Some Indian Giant, as Goliah big,

Had hung on high his mighty perriwig;

Great Mammoth here, perchance his levee keeps,
And not remote, amid his courtiers sleeps ;

What being else so large a wig could wear,
Who else could carry such a load of hair?
And who but him, his burthen'd skull to ease,
For barber's block could use the tallest trees?
All petrified with fear, aghast, amaz'd,
On this dread object rivetted I gaz'd—
I saw, methought, the dreaded monster nigh,
Wild fury sparkling in his brutal eye,
Already felt myself within his paws,
And saw the inside of his hideous jaws :
When lo! that moment, to relieve my pain,
And save from dread insanity my brain,
A Crow, like that to old Elijah sent,

When to his boarding-house (the woods) he went,
With cawing hoarse, from off the branches flew,
And straight discover'd to my raptur'd view,
So clear my stupid eyes the truth could see,
A Crow's nest built upon a hemlock-tree.

To avoid offence, how'er, I'll not deny
Where e'er you find him, John's a prodigy,
A rara avis running on so fast,

No one imagines where he'll stop at last.
To me 'tis clear, without some good advice,
He'll outgrow Pittsburgh steeple in a trice.
And what is strange methinks, and also wrong,
John knows, as well as I, his legs are long,
And if he does not shortly catch a fall,
Colossus like, he'll straddle o'er us all.