* * * * *
"'With all the fury of a tempest torn,
With execrations horrible to hear,
By all the wrath of disappointment borne,
The cards, their garments, hair, the losers tear.'
"The winner's unfeeling composure is described in another verse, and
"'Now dissipation reigns in varied forms
Now riot in the bowl the senses steeps,
Whilst nature's child, secure from passion's storms,
With tranquil mind in sweet oblivion sleeps.'
"It is to be hoped, for the honour of the ladies and gentlemen of old Quebec, that 'Asmodeus' was under the malign influence of envy, hatred and all uncharitableness when he wrote those cynical verses. If he wrote the truth we cannot be too thankful that the Chloes and Cleoras are dead and buried.
"Who was Miss Hannah MacCulloch? She was a young lady once; and, if we may believe her panegyrist, was a beauty in her day. The acrostic in her honor is anonymous, and occasion is taken in the course of it to almost mention some other young ladies by the way of making a climax of her charms. The poet seems to have been inspired by indignation at the insinuations of 'Asmodeus,' for he begins thus.
"'Muses, how oft does Satire's vengeful gall
Invoke your powers to aid its bitter sting,'
and then he prefers his own claims to the favor of the Nine
"'Sure you will rather listen to my call,
Since beauty and Quebec's fair nymphs I sing'
"It seems his petition was heard, for he forthwith begins his
laudation: