A DAY. IN CHIT-CHAT VERSE, TO DR. ****** WHO INQUIRED HOW I PASSED MY TIME. So much one day is like another, It might be taken for its brother. Ar six o'clock I raise the head, Toss the warm cov'ring off the bed, My hat put on, I quit the door, * An only and tenderly-loved daughter, and who fully deserves the utmost that parental affection can bestow:-accomplished, ingenious, and amiable. His only son, the prototype of his father's industry, pursuing the same regular track with equal success. For For life to melancholy tends Were we to live without our friends: Nay, if to solitude we give, How can we then be said to live? Thoughts of the pen are now laid by, On paper only cast an eye. * "Twill suit you, Sir, to buy this lot, "The best and cheapest sort we've got.' "Nay, Sir, it will my warehouse fill." "Rot it, take all-pay when you will." The glasses, newspapers, and I late Let's see what Statesmen are contriving, My joyous breakfast comes at last in, Nought now remains (the floor well trod) But burn my shins, or take a nod, * See the Veteran's Memoin Till gloves are on, hat o'er the eye, * 'Tis striking five*, and so good bye.” The bulky town recedes from view, When Aston steeple strikes the eye One mile walk'd o'er, the trav'ller sees To furnish me with peace Which ne'er gave anxious thought or sigh Hid from the world, from care, from din, Here I, with truth it may be said, Bring back to view a thousand years. • Every afternoon at this hour he returns on foot, in all weathers, to his house on Bennet's-hill, more than two miles from Birmingham, which, however, he still walks with ease, though now in his 83d year. Advert to the Memoir. Now in heroic verse we'll state, At that sound when I pass the gate Not grac'd with three, but with one head; The birds my little grove retain, I e'er withheld a crumb of bread. *the Muse engage, Who in my service see old age: They hear my voice, they make no stand, But take the bread from master's hand; * They have drawn me often to the happy villa, and are treated as kind tho’humble friends. The whole of these passages relates literal facts. Perceiving Perceiving an exhausted store, I meet my servants growing old, Puss cocks her tail, begins to crawl, But what the pleasure can surpass When my girl sees me through the glass? Rises to meet me, while the joy Takes full possession of her eye. Where is the man that could look glum Lies in the storehouse of her mind *. Now garden, converse, book, or pen, Tea, supper, music, please till ten; When the bell rings " to bring a light," I mount, and burrow for the night. Of blessings can I wish for more? They amply satisfy fourscore. This too is a literal truth. Thus |