 | Poems |  |
147
“A LOCAL HABITATION AND A NAME.”
... “NESCIO QUID NUGARUM.”
[_]
Many years since, there appeared a humorous little piece of Thomas Hood's (I think) which has suggested these lines, and of which they are meant as a continuation. The gems of mirthfulness with which it was interspersed, have mostly escaped my recollection —one of them was a recommendation that infants should all be consigned
“To Lapland or to Brest.”I cannot find the verses in any recent edition of his writings, and for this reason there may be some accidental coincidence of Names —if there is, I am sure that his pleasant shade will forgive the unintentional plagiary.
How happy this ungrateful race,
Since Nature hath assigned
Some 'special and congenial place
To each of all mankind!
Since Nature hath assigned
Some 'special and congenial place
To each of all mankind!
148
In Africa ('tis told by Park
Who had explored it fully)
Our sable brethren long have held
The ancient realm of Woolli.
Who had explored it fully)
Our sable brethren long have held
The ancient realm of Woolli.
To Chippaway let woodmen wend,
Or dwell in Ashantee—
And counsel “learned i' the law” may spend
Their lives in Trikeri.
Or dwell in Ashantee—
And counsel “learned i' the law” may spend
Their lives in Trikeri.
Let wandering folk proceed to Rome,
To scan its classic features,
And view, beneath his proudest dome,
The great Nave of St. Peter's.
To scan its classic features,
And view, beneath his proudest dome,
The great Nave of St. Peter's.
The luckless tradesman's I. O. U.
May be allowed to stand over—
But they, whose bets are falling due,
Must straight proceed to Andover.
May be allowed to stand over—
149
Must straight proceed to Andover.
The beggar's state, full well we know,
Is Hungary or Chili—
And flats and fools of course should go
To Greenland or to Scilly.
Is Hungary or Chili—
And flats and fools of course should go
To Greenland or to Scilly.
The Great, (on “Fortune's cap” high stuck now
May little fear undoing—
Yet some, who deem themselves in Lucknow,
Are on the road to Rouen.
May little fear undoing—
Yet some, who deem themselves in Lucknow,
Are on the road to Rouen.
Let men of anger seek Cape Wrath,
Where they may rave and rant on—
Th' inquisitive to Pekin go
And hypocrites to Canton.
Where they may rave and rant on—
Th' inquisitive to Pekin go
And hypocrites to Canton.
1841.
| Poems | |