Ungrateful Gratitude.—There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.—Dr. Johnson.
Double Acrostic.
Dissatisfied with their appointed lot,
These both aspir'd to seem what they were not;
Foil'd in their schemes, they recognis'd, too late,
The folly of attempts to shake the state.
The first became, t' avoid a harsher doom,
A menial, baser than the lowest groom;
The second paid a far more heavy tax;
Tried and condemn'd, he perished by the axe.
1. So fair and flatt'ring, and so bright of hue,
Will it betray us? or will it be true?
2. Friend of two great philosophers, this youth
Boasted himself yet more, the friend of truth.
Throughout a long career he strove to scan
The wondrous working of great Nature's plan,
And taught his pupils, strolling at their ease,
'Neath pleasant shelter of umbrageous trees.
3. The glorious witness to the living faith,
In tortures passing unto life through death.
4. How many bow'd their heads to meet this thing!
Priest, warrior, noble, princess, e'en a king.
5. The good old man, whose tender, loving heart,
Unfitted him to act the sterner part
Of curbing his rebellious children's will;
His mild reproof they disregarded, till
There fell the doom that had been prophesied,
And in one day the sons and father died.
6. Oft melted and then pour'd into a mould,
Translucent and inodorous when cold,
Useful, abundant, and of little cost,
Mis-spelt, miscall'd by those who use me most.
7. A butcher's son, who rose to eminence
In legal circles by his clear good sense;
For public service he was made a peer,
And held the woolsack twice for many a year.