Or sting us like a Tantalizer,1

(The note will make the reader wiser,) And set us all a dancing like St. Witus!

"Temper! No wonder that the creature had A temper so uncommon bad!

She's just confessed to Doctor Griper That being out of Rum, and like denials, Which always was prodigious trials,—

Because she couldn't pay the piper,

She went one day, she did, to Master's wials,
And drunk the spirit as preserved the Wiper!"

THE CAPTAIN'S COW.

A ROMANCE OF THE IRON age.

"Water, water everywhere,

But not a drop to drink."-COLERIDGE.

T is a jolly Mariner

As ever knew the billows' stir,

Or battled with the gale;

His face is brown, his hair is black,

And down his broad gigantic back
There hangs a platted tail.

In clusters, as he rolls along,
His tarry mates around him throng,
Who know his budget well;
Betwixt Canton and Trinidad
No Sea-Romancer ever had

Such wondrous tales to tell!

Against the mast he leans a-slope,
And thence upon a coil of rope

Slides down his pitchy "starn;"

Heaves up a lusty hem or two,
And then at once without ado
Begins to spin his yarn :—
1 Tarantula.

"As from Jamaica we did come, Laden with sugar, fruit and rum, It blew a heavy gale:

A storm that scar'd the oldest men

For three long days and nights, and then The wind began to fail.

"Still less and less, till on the mast

The sails began to flap at last,

The breezes blew so soft;

Just only now and then a puff,
Till soon there was not wind enough
To stir the vane aloft.

No, not a cat's paw anywhere: Hold up your finger in the air

You couldn't feel a breath

For why, in yonder storm that burst,
The wind that blew so hard at first
Had blown itself to death.

"No cloud aloft to throw a shade;
No distant breezy ripple made
The ocean dark below.

No cheering sign of any kind;
The more we whistled for the wind
The more it did not blow.

"The hands were idle, one and all;
No sail to reef against a squall;
No wheel, no steering now!
Nothing to do for man or mate,
But chew their cuds and ruminate,
Just like the Captain's Cow.

"Day after day, day after day,
Becalm'd the Jolly Planter lay,

As if she had been moor'd:
The sea below, the sky a-top
Fierce blazing down, and not a drop
Of water left aboard!

"Day after day, day after day, Becalm'd the Jolly Planter lay,

As still as any log;

The Parching seamen stood about,
Each with his tongue a-lolling out,
And panting like a dog-

"A dog half mad with summer heat And running up and down the street, By thirst quite overcome;

And not a drop in all the ship

To moisten cracking tongue and lip,
Except Jamaica rum!

"The very poultry in the coop
Began to pine away and droop-
The cock was first to go;

And glad we were on all our parts,
He used to damp our very hearts
With such a ropy crow.

"But worst it was, we did allow,
To look upon the Captain's Cow,
That daily seemed to shrink:
Deprived of water hard or soft,
For, though we tried her oft and oft,
The brine she wouldn't drink :

"But only turn'd her bloodshot eye,
And muzzle up towards the sky,
And gave a moan of pain,

A sort of hollow moan and sad,
As if some brutish thought she had
To pray to heav'n for rain;

"And sometimes with a steadfast stare

Kept looking at the empty air,

As if she saw beyond,

Some meadow in her native land,

Where formerly she used to stand

A-cooling in the pond.

"If I had only had a drink Of water then, I almost think

She would have had the half:

But as for John the Carpenter,
He couldn't more have pitied her
If he had been her calf.

"So soft of heart he was and kind
To any creature lame, or blind,
Unfortunate, or dumb:

Whereby he made a sort of vow,
In sympathising with the Cow,
To give her half his rum ;—

"An oath from which he never swerved, For surely as the rum was serv'd

He shared the cheering dram; And kindly gave one half at least, Or more, to the complaining beast, Who took it like a lamb.

"At last with overclouding skies
A breeze again began to rise,
That stiffen'd to a gale:

Steady, steady, and strong it blew ;
And were not we a joyous crew,
As on the Jolly Planter flew
Beneath a press of sail !

66 Swiftly the Jolly Planter flew,
And were not we a joyous crew,
At last to sight the land!

A glee there was on every brow,
That like a Christian soul the Cow
Appear'd to understand.

"And was not she a mad-like thing
To land again and taste the spring,
Instead of fiery glass:

About the verdant meads to scour,
And snuff the honey'd cowslip flower,
And crop the juicy grass!

"Whereby she grew as plump and hale
As any beast that wears a tail,

Her skin as sleek as silk;

And through all parts of England now
Is grown a very famous Cow,
By giving Rum-and-Milk!"

THE DOVES AND THE CROWS.

OME all ye sable little girls and boys,

Ye coal-black Brothers-Sooty Sisters, come!
With kitty-katties make a joyful noise;

With snaky-snekies, and the Eboe drum !
From this day forth your freedom is your own:
Play, Sambo, play,—and, Obadiah, groan !

Ye vocal Blackbirds, bring your native pipes,
Your own Moor's Melodies, ye niggers, bring;
To celebrate the fall of chains and stripes,

Sing "Possum up a gum-tree,"―roar and sing!
From this day forth your freedom is your own:
Chaunt, Sambo, chaunt,—and, Obadiah, groan!

Bring all your woolly pickaninnies dear

Bring John Canoe and all his jolly gang: Stretch ev'ry blubber-mouth from ear to ear, And let the driver in his whip go hang! From this day forth your freedom is your own: Grin, Sambo, grin,—and, Obadiah, groan!

Your working garb indignantly renounce ;
Discard your slops in honour of the day-
Come all in frill, and furbelow, and flounce,

Come all as fine as Chimney Sweeps in May-
From this day forth your freedom is your own:
Dress, Sambo, dress,-and, Obadiah, groan I

Come, join together in the dewy dance,

With melting maids in steamy mazes go; Humanity delights to see you prance,