The true bug had been organized with only two antennæ, But the humbug in the copper-plate would have them twice as many.

2. And I thought, like Dr. Faustus, of the emptiness of art, How we take a fragment for the whole, and call the whole a

part,

When I heard a heavy footstep that was loud enough for two, And a man of forty entered, exclaiming, "How d'ye do?"

3. He was not a ghost, my visitor, but solid flesh and bone; He wore a Palo Alto hat; his weight was twenty stone; (It's odd how hats expand their brims as riper years invade, As if, when life had reached its noon, it wanted them for shade!)

4. I lost my focus,-dropped my book,—the bug, who was a flea,

At once exploded, and commenced experiments on me.
They have a certain heartiness that frequently appalls,-
Those medieval gentlemen in semi-lunar smalls!

5. "My boy," he said (colloquial ways, the vast, broadhatted man),

"Come dine with us on Thursday next,-you must, you know you can;

We're going to have a roaring time, with lots of fun and noise, Distinguished guests, et cætera, the Judge, and all the boys."

6. "Not so," I said; "my temporal bones are showing pretty clear

It's time to stop, —just look and see that hair above this ear; My golden days are more than spent; and, what is very

strange,

If these are real silver hairs, I'm getting lots of change.

7. "Besides my prospects- don't you know that people

won't employ

A man that wrongs his manliness by laughing like a boy? And suspect the azure blossom that unfolds upon a shoot, As if wisdom's old potato could not flourish at its root?

8. "It's a very fine reflection, when you're etching out a smile On a copper-plate of faces that would stretch at least a mile, That, what with sneers from enemies, and cheapening shrugs of friends,

It will cost you all the earnings that a month of labor lends !

9. "It's a vastly pleasing prospect, when you're screwing out a laugh,

That your very next year's income is diminished by a half,
And a little boy trips barefoot that Pegasus may go,
And the baby's milk is watered that your Helicon may flow!

10. "No:-the joke has been a good one, but I'm getting fond of quiet,

And I don't like deviations from my customary diet;

So I think I will not go with you to hear the toasts and

speeches,

But stick to old Montgom'ry Place, and have some pig and peaches."

11. The fat man answered:-"Shut your mouth, and hear the genuine creed;

The true essentials of a feast are only fun and feed;

The force that wheels the planets round, delights in spinning

tops,

And that young earthquake t' other day was great at shaking

props.

12. "I tell you what, philosopher, if all the longest heads
That ever knocked their sinciputs in stretching on their beds
Were round one great mahogany, I'd beat those fine old folks
With twenty dishes, twenty fools, and twenty clever jokes!

13. "Why, if Columbus should be there, the company would beg

He'd show that little trick of his of balancing the egg! Milton to Stilton would give in, and Solomon to Salmon, And Roger Bacon be a bore, and Francis Bacon gammon !

14. "And as for all the 'patronage' of all the clowns and boors That squint their little narrow eyes at any freak of yours, Do leave them to your prosier friends,—such fellows ought to die,

When rhubarb is so very scarce and ipecac so high!"

15. And so I come, like Lochinvar, to tread a single meas

ure,

To purchase, with a loaf of bread, a sugar-plum of pleasure, To enter for the cup of glass that's run for after dinner, Which yields a single sparkling draught, then breaks and cuts the winner.

16. Ah, that's the

deira,

way delusion comes,- -a glass of old Ma

A pair of visual diaphragms revolved by Jane or Sarah, And down go vows and promises without the slightest question

If eating words won't compromise the organs of digestion !

17. And yet, among my native shades, beside my nursing

mother,

Where every stranger seems a friend, and every friend a brother,

I feel the old convivial glow (unaided) o'er me stealing,The warm, champagny, old-particular, brandy-punchy feel ing.

18. We're all alike; Vesuvius flings the scoriæ from his

fountain,

But down they come in volleying rain back to the burning mountain;

We leave, like those volcanic stones, our precious Alma Mater, But will keep dropping in again to see the dear old crater.

Questions.

Who are called "medieval gentlemen" by the author? What is meant by "smalls"? By their being "semi-lunar"? Explain the double meaning of "change" in the last line of the sixth stanza. Meaning of "one great mahogany"? Why does he mention Columbus's feat with the egg? Show what he means to assert by mentioning Solomon and Salmon"? What pun in the word "bore"? "gammon"? Explain the allusion to "a pair of visual diaphragms." What were the poet's "native shades"? What is meant by "Alma Mater"? What pun in the word "crater"?

XXV-REPLY TO HAYNE.

D. WEBSTER.

I

1. The eulogium pronounced on the character of the state of South Carolina, by the honorable gentleman, for her Revolutionary and other merits, meets my hearty concurrence. shall not acknowledge that the honorable member goes before me in regard for whatever of distinguished talent or distinguished character, South Carolina has produced. I claim part of the honor; I partake in the pride of her great names. I claim them for countrymen, one and all,—the Laurenses, the Rutledges, the Pinckneys, the Sumpters, the Marions

Americans all-whose fame is no more to be hemmed in by state lines than their talents and patriotism were capable of being circumscribed within the same narrow limits.

2. In their day and generation, they served and honored the country, and the whole country; and their renown is of the treasures of the whole country. Him whose honored name the gentleman himself bears - does he deem me less capable of gratitude for his patriotism, or sympathy for his sufferings, than if his eyes had first opened upon the light in Massachusetts instead of South Carolina? Sir, does he suppose it in his power to exhibit a Carolina name so bright as to produce envy in my bosom? No, Sir; increased gratification and delight, rather.

3. I thank God that, if I am gifted with little of the spirit which is able to raise mortals to the skies, I have yet none, as I trust, of that other spirit, which would drag angels down. When I shall be found, sir, in my place here in the Senate, or elsewhere, to sneer at public merit, because it happens to spring up beyond the little limits of my own state or neighborhood; when I refuse, for any such cause, or for any cause, the homage due to American talent, to elevated patriotism, to sincere devotion to liberty and the country; or if I see an uncommon endowment of Heaven, if I see extraordinary capacity and virtue in any son of the South, and if, moved by local prejudice, or gangrened by state jealousy, I get up here to abate the tithe of a hair from his just character and just fame, —may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!

4. Sir, let me recur to pleasing recollections; let me indulge in refreshing remembrances of the past; let me remind you that, in early times, no states cherished greater harmony, both of principle and feeling, than Massachusetts and South Carolina. Would to God that harmony might again return.