APPENDIX I FRACTIONS [1823-1833] No. 1. TRAGEDY OF THE NIGHT-MOTH Magna ausus 'Tis placid midnight, stars are keeping But see! a wandering Night-moth enters, With awe she views the candle blazing; To moth-savante with rapture gazing, Or Fount whence Life and Motion streams. What passions in her small heart whirling, She darts, and-puff!—the moth is dead The sullen flame, for her scarce sparkling, Her bright grey form that spread so slimly, Her silky cloak that lay so trimly, Last moment here, now gone forever, Poor moth! near weeping I lament thee, Short speck of boundless Space was needed But syren hopes from out thy dwelling Enticed thee, bade thee earth explore,- Poor moth! thy fate my own resembles Like thee, with common lot contented, But Nature's majesty unveiling What seem'd her wildest, grandest charms, Eternal Truth and Beauty hailing, Like thee, I rushed into her arms. What gained we, little moth? Thy ashes, And thoughts like these, for soul that dashes No. 2. CUI BONO What is hope? A smiling rainbow What is Life? A thawing iceboard Vainly strives, and fights, and frets; No. 3. FOUR FABLES I Once upon a time, a man, somewhat in drink belike, raised a dreadful outcry at the corner of the market-place. "That the world was all turned topsy-turvy; that the men and cattle were all walking with their feet uppermost; that the houses and earth at large (if they did not mind it) would fall into the sky; in short, that unless prompt means were taken, things in general were on the high road to the Devil." As the people only laughed at him, he cried the louder and more vehemently; nay, at last, began objuring, foaming, imprecating; when a good-natured auditor, going up, took the orator by the haunches, and softly inverting his position, set him down-on his feet. The which upon perceiving, his mind was staggered not a little. "Ha! deuce take it!" cried he, rubbing his eyes, "so it was not the world that was hanging by its feet, then, but I that was standing on my head!" Censor, Castigator morum, Radical Reformer, by whatever name thou art called! have a care; especially if thou art getting loud! PILPAY JUNIOR. II "Gentlemen," said a conjuror, one fine starry evening, "these heavens are a deceptio visûs; what you call stars are nothing but fiery motes in the air. Wait a little, I will clear them off, and show you how the matter is." Whereupon the artist produced a long syringe of great force; and, stooping over the neighbouring puddle, filled it with mud and dirty water, which he then squirted with might and main against the zenith. The wiser of the company unfurled their umbrellas; but most part, looking up in triumph, cried, "Down with delusion! It is an age of science! Have we not tallow-lights, then?" Here the mud and dirty water fell, and bespattered and beplastered these simple persons, and even put out the eyes of several, so that they never saw the stars any more. Enlightened Utilitarian! art thou aware that this patent logic-mill of thine, which grindeth with such a clatter, is but a mill? P. J. III "It is I that support this household," said a hen one day to herself ; "the master cannot breakfast without an egg, for he is dyspeptical and would die, and it is I that lay it. And here is this ugly poodle, doing nothing earthly, and gets thrice the victual I do, and is caressed all day! By the Cock of Minerva, they shall give me a double portion of oats, or they have eaten their last egg!" But much as she cackled and creaked, the scullion would not give her an extra grain; whereupon, in dudgeon, she hid her next egg in the dunghill, and did nothing but cackle and creak all day. The scullion suffered her for a week, then (by order) drew her neck, and purchased other eggs at sixpence the dozen. Man! why frettest thou and whinest thou? This blockhead is happier than thou, and still a blockhead?—Ah, sure enough, thy wages are too low! Wilt thou strike work with Providence, then, and force him to 'an alternative'? Believe it, he will do without thee: il n'y a point d'homme nécessaire. "" 66 IV P. J. "What is the use of thee, thou gnarled sapling?" said a young larchtree to a young oak. "I grow three feet in a year, thou scarcely as many inches, I am straight and taper as a reed, thou straggling and twisted as a loosened withe.' And thy duration," answered the oak, "is some third part of man's life, and I am appointed to flourish for a thousand years. Thou art felled and sawed into paling, where thou rottest and art burned after a single summer; of me are fashioned battleships, and I carry mariners and heroes into unknown seas." The richer a nature, the harder and slower its development. Two boys were once of a class in the Edinburgh grammar-school: John ever trim, precise and dux; Walter ever slovenly, confused and dolt. In due time John became Bailie John of Hunter - square, and Walter became Sir Walter Scott of the Universe. The quickest and completest of all vegetables is the cabbage. No. 4. THE SOWER'S SONG Now hands to seedsheet, boys, We step and we cast; old Time's on wing; P. J. |