Two twins we are, and, let it not surprise,
Alike in every feature, shape, and size:
We're square, or round, of brass or iron made,
Sometimes of wood, yet useful found in trade;
But, to conclude, for all our daily pains,
We by the neck are often hung in chains.
A Pair of Scales.
I was before the world began,
And shall forever last;
Ere father Adam was a man,
Or out of Eden cast.
Your youthful moments I attend,
And mitigate your grief;
The industrious peasant I befriend,
To pris'ners give relief.
Make much of me if you are wise,
And use me while you may,
For you will lose me in a trice.
As I for no man stay.
Time.
The ancients represented time by the figure of a man, with broad wings, spread out, as denoting its flight, or that time is ever on the wing. In one hand he held an hour-glass, to show that as the sand, so our time is constantly running; and in the other, a scythe, to let us know that time, like the scythe, levels all. He is represented with only one lock of hair before, the remainder of his head being bald, to show that we must take him by the forelock, when it presents, lest when it be past, we find our disappointment, and as the back part of the head is bare, so our time is no more.