Is good, at four score, for the liver?
I shiver, young man, father William replied,
Because, with your mirth bubbling o’er,
You slipped lumps of ice down the nape of my neck,
But I’m blowed if I stand any more!
O. P. Q. Philander Smiff, Esq., in his remarks on the Weather.
The Cause of Truth.
(Few are aware that Southey’s beautiful and much lauded Poem of “Old Father William,” is copied almost verbatim from an old American ballad. Far be it from us to comment upon the fact, but truth compels us to remark that a more barefaced piece of plagiarism has never come under our notice. In order to convince the public of the veracity of our statements, we subjoin the original ballad as found by us in an old MS. entitled “Wild Cat Warblings.”)
“You air old, Father William, an elderly cuss,