——:o:——

THE LAST SHILLING.

As pensive one night in my garret I sate,

My last shilling produced on the table,

That adventurer, cried I, might a history relate,

If to think and to speak it were able.

Whether fancy or magic ’twas played me the freak,

The face seemed with life to be filling;

And cried, instantly speaking, or seeming to speak,

“Pay attention to me, thy last shilling!”