"LAUGH AND GET FAT!"

Lack we motives to laugh? Are not all things, any thing, every thing, to be laughed at? And if nothing were to be seen, felt, heard, or understood, we would laugh at it too!

Merry Beggars.

I.

THERE's nothing here on earth deserves
Half of the thought we waste about it,
And thinking but destroys the nerves,
When we could do so well without it:
If folks would let the world go round,
And pay their tithes, and eat their dinners,
Such doleful looks would not be found,

To frighten us poor laughing sinners.

Never sigh when you can sing,
But laugh, like me, at every thing!

II.

One plagues himself about the sun,

And puzzles on, through every weather,
What time he'll rise,-how long he'll run,
And when he'll leave us altogether:

Now matters it a pebble-stone,

Whether he shines at six or seven?

If they don't leave the sun alone,

At last they'll plague him out of Heaven!

Never sigh when you can sing,

But laugh, like me, at every thing!

III.

Another spins from out his brains

Fine cobwebs, to amuse his neighbours, And gets, for all his toils and pains,

Reviewed, and laughed at for his labours:

Fame is his star! and fame is sweet;

And praise is pleasanter than honey,

I write at just so much a sheet,

And Messrs. Longman pay the money!

Never sigh when you can sing,
But laugh, like me, at every thing!

IV.

My brother gave his heart away

To Mercandotti, when he met her,
She married Mr. Ball one day-
He's gone to Sweden to forget her!
I had a charmer, too-and sighed,

And raved all day and night about her;
She caught a cold, Poor thing! and died,

And I-am just as fat without her!
Never sigh when you can sing,
But laugh, like me, at every thing!

V.

For tears are vastly pretty things,
But make one very thin and taper;
And sighs are music's sweetest strings,
But sound most beautiful-on paper!
"Thought" is the Sage's brightest star,
Her gems alone are worth his finding;
But as I'm not particular,

Please God! I'll keep on

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never-minding."

Never sigh when you can sing,
But laugh, like me, at every thing!

VI.

Oh! in this troubled world of ours,
A laughter-mine's a glorious treasure;

And separating thorns from flowers,

Is half a pain and half a pleasure:

And why be grave instead of gay?

Why feel a-thirst while folks are quaffing ?-

Oh! trust me, whatsoe'er they say,

There's nothing half so good as laughing! Never sigh when you can sing,

But laugh, like me, at every thing!

Β.

LINES

SUGGESTED BY THE SIGHT OF A BEAUTIFUL STATUE
OF A DEAD CHILD.

I.

I saw thee in thy beauty! bright phantom of the past;

I saw thee for a moment-'t was the first time and the

last;

And though years since then have glided by of mingled

bliss and care,

I never have forgotten thee, thou fairest of the fair!

II.

I saw thee in thy beauty! thou wert graceful as the

fawn,

When, in very wantonness of glee, it sports upon the

lawn;

I saw thee seek the mirror, and when it met thy sight,
The very air was musical with thy burst of wild delight!

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III.

I saw thee in thy beauty! with thy sister by thy side —
She a lily of the valley, thou a rose in all its pride!
I looked upon thy mother, there was triumph in her eyes,
And I trembled for her happiness, for grief had made me
wise!

IV.

I saw thee in thy beauty! with one hand among her

curls,

The other, with no gentle grasp, had seized a string of

pearls ;

She felt the pretty trespass, and she chid thee though

she smiled,

And I knew not which was lovelier, the mother or the child.

V.

I saw thee in thy beauty! and a tear came to mine eye, As I pressed thy rosy cheek to mine, and thought even thou could'st die!

Thy home was like a summer bower, by thy joyous presence made,

But I only saw the sunshine, and I felt alone the shade!

VI.

I SEE THEE in thy beauty! for there thou seem'st to lie In slumber resting peacefully; but, oh! the change of eye,

That still, serenity of brow, those lips that breathe no

more,

Proclaim thee but a mockery fair of what thou wert of yore.