The Petition of An Old Uninhabited House in Penzance to its Master in Town With Hints to the Author of John Bull, A Comedy. To which is added an Appendix. Embellished with a View of the Old House. Second Edition [by C. V. Le Grice] |
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SONNET |
 | The Petition of An Old Uninhabited House in Penzance to its Master in Town |  |
40
SONNET
(Written November, 1814,)
TO AN OLD NEWS ROOM AT PENZANCE, Established A.D. 1799.
Hail to thy walls, Old Room.-While through the world
The Demon of destruction has unfurled
His bloody banners, 'mid the death-fraught storm
Shelter'd in thy recess, secure and warm,
Three lustres we have pass'd; and here have known
No other grief, and heard no other moan
Than tales of mourning move. The scene is o'er;—
And He, chief Actor in the deeds of blood, a poor
Self-banish'd Exile. As in the Scenic glass
We, safe Spectators, saw the Drama pass,—
The curtain fall.—And what doth Time prepare?
Calm halcyon days, or shall the wild waves beat
With renovated rage?—Whatever share
Of Life be ours, be ours the same Retreat.
The Demon of destruction has unfurled
His bloody banners, 'mid the death-fraught storm
Shelter'd in thy recess, secure and warm,
Three lustres we have pass'd; and here have known
No other grief, and heard no other moan
Than tales of mourning move. The scene is o'er;—
And He, chief Actor in the deeds of blood, a poor
Self-banish'd Exile. As in the Scenic glass
We, safe Spectators, saw the Drama pass,—
The curtain fall.—And what doth Time prepare?
Calm halcyon days, or shall the wild waves beat
With renovated rage?—Whatever share
Of Life be ours, be ours the same Retreat.
AN ORIGINAL MEMBER.
41
[_]
At the Hotel near the Land's End the Landlord had provided a Book intended as an Album, and had placed the following address to his Guests in a conspicuous part of his Dining Room.—We have selected one specimen from the many which are inserted, some of them very pleasing: but sorry are we to relate that the Book has been woefully abused, and is any thing but an Album.
Hunc tu Romane cavetoHic niger est.
A new Book is provided, Editio purgata in usum Musarum, with the following locally appropriate motto “husteron proteron” for a translation of which Ecce Signum!—
| The Petition of An Old Uninhabited House in Penzance to its Master in Town | |