So into a corner the Devil sneaks, GAFFER GRAY. THOMAS HOLCROFT. Thomas Holcroft, the author of this, was born in London 1744, and was originally a shoemaker with his father. He then became an actor, and finally devoted himself to literary pursuits. He wrote several dramatic pieces, the best known of which is The Road to Ruin. In 1794 he was accused of high treason, having rendered himself obnoxious as a warm advocate of liberal principles on the outbreak of the French Revolution, but was dismissed without a trial. Died 1809. Ho! why dost thou shiver and shake, And why does thy nose look so blue? 'Tis I'm grown very old, And my doublet is not very new, Well-a-day!' Then line thy worn doublet with ale, Gaffer Gray; And warm thy old heart with a glass. 'Nay, but credit I've none, And my money's all gone; Then say how may that come to pass? Well-a-day!' Hie away to the house on the brow, And knock at the jolly priest's door. Against worldly riches, But ne'er gives a mite to the poor, Well-a-day!' The lawyer lives under the hill, Gaffer Gray; Warmly fenced both in back and in front. 'He will fasten his locks, And will threaten the stocks Should he ever more find me in want, The squire has fat beeves and brown ale, Gaffer Gray; And the season will welcome you there. 'His fat beeves and his beer, And his merry new year, Are all for the flush and the fair, Well-a-day!' My keg is but low, I confess, Gaffer Gray; What then? While it lasts, man, we'll live. 'The poor man alone, When he hears the poor moan, Of his morsel a morsel will give, Well-a-day!' WRITTEN AFTER SWIMMING FROM SESTOS TO ABYDOS. LORD BYRON. On the 3d of May 1810, while the 'Salsette' was lying in the Dardanelles, Lieutenant Ekenhead of that frigate and Byron. swam from Abydos to Sestos. Of the exploit, Byron himself wrote:-' The whole distance from the place whence we started to our landing on the other side, including the length we were carried by the current, was computed by those on board the frigate at upwards of four English miles; though the actual breadth is barely one. The rapidity of the current is such that no boat can row directly across, and it may, in some measure, be estimated from the circumstance of the whole distance being accomplished by one of the parties in an hour and five, and by the other in an hour and ten minutes. The water was extremely cold, from the melting of the mountain snows. About three weeks before, in April, we had made an attempt; but having ridden all the way from the Troad the same morning, and the water being of an icy chillness, we found it necessary to postpone the completion till the frigate anchored below the castles, when we swam the straits, as just stated, entering a considerable way above the European, and landing below the Asiatic, fort. Chevalier says that a young Jew swam the same distance for his mistress; and Oliver mentions its having been done by a Neapolitan; but our consul, Tarragona, remembered neither of these circumstances, and tried to dissuade us from the attempt. A number of the "Salsette's" crew were known to have accom. plished a greater distance; and the only thing that surprised me was, that, as doubts had been entertained of the truth of Leander's story, no traveller had ever endeavoured to ascertain its practicability.' IF, in the month of dark December, (What maid will not the tale remember?) H If, when the wintry tempest roar'd, He sped to Hero, nothing loath, For me, degenerate modern wretch, But since he cross'd the rapid tide, To woo-and-Lord knows what beside, 'Twere hard to say who fared the best : Sad mortals! thus the Gods still plague you! He lost his labour, I my jest ; For he was drown'd, and I've the ague. NAHUM FAY ON THE LOSS OF HIS WIFE. 'JUST eighteen years ago this day, Attired in all her best array- My Cara Sposa went astray; By night eloping in a sleigh, With one whose naine begins with J, But wives will sometimes have their way, Then who so obstinate as they? She therefore left my house for aye, Which caused at first some slight dismay : For I consider'd it foul play. Now where she's gone I cannot say, For I've not seen her since the day |