ON THE

BURNING OF LORD MANSFIELD'S LIBRARY,

TOGETHER WITH HIS MSS.

BY THE MOB, IN THE MONTH OF JUNE, 1780.

So then the Vandals of our isle,

Sworn foes to sense and law,
Have burnt to dust a nobler pile
Than ever Roman saw!

And Murray sighs o'er Pope and Swift,
And many a treasure more,
The well-judged purchase and the gift
That graced his letter'd store.

Their pages mangled, burnt, and torn,

The loss was his alone;

But ages yet to come shall mourn
The burning of his own.

ON THE SAME.

WHEN wit and genius meet their doom
In all devouring flame,
They tell us of the fate of Rome,
And bid us fear the same.

O'er Murray's loss the Muses wept,
They felt the rude alarm,

Yet bless'd the guardian care that kept
His sacred head from harm.

There memory, like the bee that's fed
From Flora's balmy store,

The quintessence of all he read
Had treasured up before.

The lawless herd, with fury blind

Have done him cruel wrong;

The flowers are gone,—but still we find

The honey on his tongue.

THE LOVE OF THE WORLD REPROVED;

OR,

HYPOCRISY DETECTED'.

THUS says the prophet of the Turk;
Good mussulman, abstain from pork!
There is a part in every swine

No friend or follower of mine
May taste, whate'er his inclination,
On pain of excommunication.

i In a letter to Mr. Thornton, (March 13, 1779, which has been printed in the Congregational Magazine, and which I am obliged to Mr. Blackburne for communicating to me,) Mr. Newton says, "you may perhaps remember the tale of the Mahometan Hog, which I once sent to Mrs. Thornton, Mr. Cowper lately versified it, and I reserve the other side to transmit you a copy. He did it in about an hour; it gives a proof that his faculties are no ways hurt by his long illness, and likewise that the taste and turn of his mind are still the same.

included in brackets are an addition of mine." lines from v. 9 to 14.

The six lines They are the

Has the well known American expression of "going the whole hog" originated from this story?

Such Mahomet's mysterious charge,
And thus he left the point at large.
Had he the sinful part express'd,
They might with safety eat the rest;
But for one piece they thought it hard
From the whole hog to be debarr'd,
And set their wit at work to find
What joint the prophet had in mind.
Much controversy straight arose,
These choose the back, the belly those;
By some 'tis confidently said

He meant not to forbid the head,
While others at that doctrine rail,
And piously prefer the tail.

Thus, conscience freed from every clog,
Mahometans eat up the hog.

You laugh!-'tis well,-the tale applied May make you laugh on t'other side. Renounce the world, the preacher cries ;We do, a multitude replies.

While one as innocent regards

A snug and friendly game at cards;

And one, whatever you may say,

Can see no evil in a play;

Some love a concert or a race,

And others, shooting and the chase.

Reviled and loved, renounced and follow'd,
Thus bit by bit the world is swallow'd;
Each thinks his neighbour makes too free,
Yet likes a slice as well as he,

With sophistry their sauce they sweeten,
Till quite from tail to snout 'tis eaten.

THE LILY AND THE ROSE.

THE nymph must lose her female friend
If more admired than she,-
But where will fierce contention end
If flowers can disagree?

Within the garden's peaceful scene
Appear'd two lovely foes,
Aspiring to the rank of queen,
The Lily and the Rose.

The Rose soon redden'd into rage,
And swelling with disdain,
Appeal'd to many a poet's page
To prove her right to reign.

The Lily's height bespoke command,
A fair imperial flower,

She seem'd design'd for Flora's hand,
The sceptre of her power.

This civil bickering and debate
The goddess chanced to hear,
And flew to save, ere yet too late,
The pride of the parterre.

Yours is, she said, the nobler hue,

And

yours

the statelier mien,

And till a third surpasses you,

Let each be deem'd a queen.

Thus soothed and reconciled, each seeks

The fairest British fair,

The seat of empire is her cheeks,

They reign united there.

IDEM LATINE REDDITUM.

HEU inimicitias quoties parit æmula forma,
Quam raro pulchræ, pulchra placere potest!
Sed fines ultrà solitos discordia tendit,
Cum flores ipsos bilis et ira movent.
Hortus ubi dulces præbet tacitosque recessûs,
Se rapit in partes gens animosa duas,
Hic sibi regales Amaryllis candida cultûs,
Illic purpureo vindicat ore Rosa.

Ira Rosam et meritis quæsita superbia tangunt,
Multaque ferventi vix cohibenda sinû,

Dum sibi fautorum ciet undique nomina vatûm,
Jusque suum, multo carmine fulta, probat.

Altior emicat illa, et celso vertice nutat,

Ceu flores inter non habitura parem,
Fastiditque alios, et nata videtur in usûs

Imperii, sceptrum, Flora quod ipsa gerat.
Nec Dea non sensit civilis murmura rixæ,
Cui curæ est pictas pandere ruris opes.
Deliciasque suas nunquam non prompta tueri,
Dum licet et locus est, ut tueatur, adest.

Et tibi forma datur procerior omnibus, inquit,
Et tibi, principibus qui solet esse, color,
Et donec vincat quædam formosior ambas,
Et tibi reginæ nomen, et esto tibi.

His ubi sedatus furor est, petit utraque nympham
Qualem inter Veneres Anglia sola parit;

Hanc penes imperium est, nihil optant amplius, hujus
Regnant in nitidis, et sine lite, genis.