LINES ON A LIFE-BELT.
(After Waller's "On a Girdle.")
["According to the evidence of the only two witnesses who sailed with her, no Life-belts were forthcoming, when the Life-belts might have given many of those on board a last chance of life."—The "Times" on the Inquiry into the Wreck of the "Roumania."]
Shipwrecked Passenger loquitur:—
That which would give me ease of mind,
And hope of life, I cannot find.
No monarch but would give his crown
For a Life-belt, when ships go down.
It would relieve extremest fear,
That circlet light, that cork-lined sphere;
But in dark nooks below above,
The careless crew such trifles shove!
A narrow compass, and yet there
Dwells safety, but for want of care.
Give me the Belt, which can't be found,
And I might live, who must be drowned!
A certain noble Lord was supposed to have somewhat disparaged one of his horses on sale by describing him as "a Whistler." James McNeill, "of that ilk," was of opinion that this description, supposing the animal to have been "a genuine Whistler," ought to have increased its value considerably.