Glad they survey their labours o'er,
And hail them to their native skies;
Attend their passage to the shore,
And with their mounting spirits rise.
Britain may mourn her Patriot dead,
And pour her sorrows o'er his dust:
But streaming eyes, and drooping head,
Ill suit those guardians of the just.
Parents may shed a tender tear,
And friends indulge a parting groan;
If these in mimic form appear,
Such pious grief becomes the stone.
But if the wounded marble bear
Celestial forms to grace the urn,
Let triumph in their eyes appear,
Nor dare to make an angel mourn.
Salem Register, 1819.
Varieties.
Origin of the word Dun.—Dunny, in the provincial dialect of ſeveral countries, ſignifies deaf: to dun, then, perhaps may mean, to deafen with importunate demands. Some derive it from the word donnez, which ſignifies give; but the true original meaning of the word owes its birth to one Joe Dun, a famous bailiff of the town of Lincoln, ſo extremely active and ſo dexterous in his buſineſs, that it became a proverb, when a man refuſed to pay, "Why do you not dun him?" that is, Why do not you ſet Dun to arreſt him?—Hence it became a cant-word, and is now as old as ſince the days of Henry VII. Dun was alſo the general name of hangman, before that of Jack-ketch.
And preſently a halter got,
Made of the beſt ſtrong hempen tear,
And e'er a cat could lick her ear,
Had tied it up with as much art,
As Dun himſelf could do for 's heart.
Cotton's Virgil Tra. Book iv.