"Shook him!-how?" Bolus stammer'd out. "We jolted him about." "Zounds! shake a patient, man-a shake won't do." "Twould make the patient worse." "It did so, sir-and so a third we tried.” “Well, and what then?"—" Then, sir, my master died!" IX.-LODGINGS FOR SINGLE GENTLEMEN. WHO has e'er been in London, that overgrown place, Will Waddle, whose temper was studious and lonely, He enter❜d his rooms, and to bed he retreated; Next night 'twas the same! and the next! and the next! In six months his acquaintance began much to doubt him; "I have lost many pounds—make me well—there's a guinea.” The doctor look'd wise :—" A slow fever," he said; Prescribed sudorifics-and going to bed. Sudorifics in bed," exclaim'd Will," are humbugs! I've enough of them there, without paying for drugs!" Will kick'd out the doctor; but, when ill indeed, "Look ye, landlord, I think," argued Will with a grin, That with honest intentions you first took me in: But from the first night—and to say it I'm bold I've been so very hot, that I'm sure I've caught cold!" Quoth the landlord,—“ Till now, I ne'er had a dispute; "The oven!!!" says Will.—Says the host, "Why this passion? Will paid for his rooms:-cried the host, with a sneer, "Well, I see you have been going away half a year." Friend, we can't well agree; yet no quarrel," Will said; But I'd rather not perish, while you make your bread." X.-ADDRESS TO THE MUMMY IN BELZONI'S EXHIBITION. AND thou hast walk'd about (how strange a story!) In Thebes's streets three thousand years ago, When the Memnonium was in all its glory, And time had not begun to overthrow Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous, Of which the very ruins are tremendous. Speak! for thou long enough hast acted dummy, Thou hast a tongue-come let us hear its tune; Thou'rt standing on thy legs, above ground, Mummy! Revisiting the glimpses of the moon, Not like thin ghosts or disembodied creatures. But with thy bones and flesh, and limbs and features. -for doubtless thou canst recollect— Tell us To whom should we assign the Sphinx's fame? Was Cheops or Cephrenes architect Of either pyramid that bears his name? Is Pompey's pillar really a misnomer? Had Thebes a hundred gates, as sung by Homer? Perchance that very hand, now pinion'd flat, Has hob-a-nobb'd with Pharaoh glass to glass; Or doff'd thine own to let Queen Dido pass, I need not ask thee if that hand, when arm'd, Long after thy primeval race was run. Since first thy form was in this box extended, We have, above ground, seen some strange mutations; The Roman empire has begun and ended, New worlds have risen-we have lost old nations, And countless kings have into dust been humbled, While not a fragment of thy flesh has crumbled. Didst thou not hear the pother o'er thy head, When the great Persian conqueror, Cambyses, And shook the Pyramids with fear and wonder, If the tomb's secrets may not be confess'd, The nature of thy private life unfold :- And tears adown that dusty cheek have roll'd :Have children climb'd those knees and kiss'd that face? What was thy name and station, age and race? Statue of flesh-immortal of the dead! Posthumous man, who quitt'st thy narrow bed, Why should this worthless tegument endure, In living virtue, that when both must sever, XI. THE WELL OF ST. KEYNE. A WELL there is in the west country, An oak and an elm tree stand beside, A traveller came to the well of St. Keyne, For from cock-crow he had been travelling, And there was not a cloud in the sky. He drank of the water so cool and clear, And he sat down upon the bank, There came a man from the neighbouring town, At the well to fill his pail; On the well-side he rested it, And he bade the stranger hail. "Now, art thou a bachelor, stranger ?" quoth he; 'For an if thou hast a wife, The happiest draught thou hast drank this day, That ever thou didst in thy life. "Or has thy good woman, if one thou hast, Ever here in Cornwall been? For an if she have, I'll venture my life, She has drank of the Well of St. Keyne." "I have left a good woman who never was here," The stranger he made reply; "But that my draught should be better for that, I pray you answer me why." "St. Keyne," quoth the Cornishman, " many a time Drank of this crystal well; And before the angel summon'd her, "If the husband of this gifted well A happy man henceforth is he, For he shall be master for life. "But if the wife should drink of it first, The stranger stoop'd to the well of St. Keyne, |