Picture 3."The faithful groom the pawing steed attends,
The maudlin Cyclops all oblique ascends;
But ere the lambent flames consume the town
The Cid unhorsed, like Bacchus, topples down." [Page 21].
"Wherefore, Sir Hawk, must I, thy victim, die?"
"Peace," quoth the Hawk, "thou art less strong than I."
Grimly an Eagle viewed the state of matters,
Swoops on Sir Hawk, and tears his flesh to tatters:
"Release me, King, and doom me not to die;"
The Eagle said, "thou art less strong than I."
A bullet whistled at the victor's word,
And pierced the bosom of the lordly bird;
"Ah, tyrant!" shrieked he, "wherefore must I die?"
The Sportsman said, "thou art less strong than I."
And thus the world to might becomes the dower,
While justice yields before remorseless power.
Picture 4."He blew a warlike trump
And marched to conquest—conquest of a pump."
[Page 23].
When distant ages rise to view our times,
Whate'er betide our silv'ry flowing rhymes,
The brave we sing—Bœotian of the East
Will still survive to spread the mimic feast.
'Tis said in fables that Silenus old
To Midas lent the fatal gift of gold;
But Terminus, the god of rogues, has giv'n
Our hero gold unbless'd of man or heav'n.
'Mid all the tyrants of our age and clime,
He stands alone in infamy and crime;
Not e'en Thersites of the cunning tribe,
Gloried in guile like him we now describe.
Born of a race where thrift, with iron rod,
Taught punic faith and mocked the laws of God;
Where stern oppression held her impious reign,
And mild dissent was death with torturous pain;
His youth drank in the lessons of his race,[See picture 8]
Which stamp'd their impress on his hideous face.