A Parliament Heel.

“Parliament Heel.”

What satire can be more pointed than the term applied by seamen when desirous of ascertaining the rottenness of a ship’s lower timbers, or detecting her unsoundness, they give her what they call a “Parliament heel.”


On a new-born Child—Sir W. Jones.

On a new-born child.

From the Persian by Sir William Jones.

On Parent knee, a naked new-born child,

Weeping thou sat’st, whilst all around thee smil’d,

So live, that sinking in thy last long sleep,

Pleas’d thou may’st smile, whilst all around thee weep.