If I had Virgil’s judgment, Homer’s fire,
And could with equal rapture strike the lyre,
Could drink as largely of the muse’s spring,
Then would I of sir Ashton’s merits sing.
Look here, look there, above, beneath, around,
Sure great Apollo consecrates the ground.
Here stands a tiger, mighty in his strength,
There crocodiles extend their scaly length:
Subtile, voracious to devour their food,
Savage they look, and seem to pant for blood.
Here shells and fish, and finny dolphins seen,
Display their various colours blue and green.
View there an urn which Roman ashes bore,
And habits once that foreign nations wore.
Birds and wild beasts from Afric’s burning sand,
And curious fossils rang’d in order stand.
Now turn your eyes from them, and quick survey,
Spars, diamonds, crystals, dart a golden ray
View apes in different attitudes appear,
With horns of bucks, and goats, and shamois deer.
Next various kinds of monsters meet the eye;
Dreadful they seem, grim-looking as they lie.
What man is he that does not view with awe
The river-horse that gives the Tigris law?
Dauntless he looks, and, eager to engage,
Lashes his sides, and burns with steady rage.
View where an elephant’s broad bulk appears,
And o’er his head his hollow trunk he rears:
He seems to roar, impatient for the fight,
And stands collected in his utmost might.
Some I have sung, much more my muse could name;
A nobler muse requires sir Ashton’s fame.
I’ve gained my end, if you, good sir, receive
This feeble present, which I freely give.
Your well-known worth, to distant nations told,
Amongst the sons of Fame shall be enroll’d.
T. P.[262]
Kennington, Nov. 8, 1778.
Ticket of Admission to the Leverian Museum.
Ticket of Admission to the Leverian Museum.
Issued by Mr. Parkinson after he obtained it by Lottery.
It seems appropriate and desirable to give the above representation of Mr. Parkinson’s ticket, for there are few who retain the original. Besides—the design is good, and as an engraving it is an ornament.
And—as a memorial of the method adopted by sir Ashton Lever to obtain attention to the means by which he hoped to reimburse himself for his prodigious outlay, and also to enable the public to view the grand prize which the adventure of a guinea might gain, one of his advertisements is annexed from a newspaper of January 28, 1785.