The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1807-06-11 00:00:00, page 1

THE
WHEELING REPOSITORY.
(Vol. I.) Thursday, 11th June, 1807, (No. 15.)
ORIGIN A L .POE TR 2'.
-1 — i
Literary Fables.
‘Translated from the Spanish of
Thomas De Yriarie,
By an Inhabitant of Wheeling,
FABLE VI.
The Monkey and the Puppet-shoxcer.
A Monkey vers’d in manv a prank,
L<fng ’prenticed to a Mountebank,
One day (his master absent) sends
T’invite a party of his friends,
Whom, soon attending, he intreats
To witness some of his best feats.
And first, by holding in his breath,
H c nicely counterfeited death;
Then, bouncing on the* tighten’d string,
H e nimbly danc’d the pigeon wing ;
N ext, rapidly, as if he flew,
A dangerous somerset lie threw;
Fhen,tumbling from a monstrous height,
He sav’d his bacon Vo* a sleight ;
And, lastly, finish’d their surprise,
By going through the Exercise.
"With these, and many feats like these,
H i* friends the Monkey strove to please,
Wli n one astonishing manoeuvre
Occurr’d to mind, as his chef dVuvre ;
Which was to represent a scene,
With painted glasses on the skreen;
Just as his master oft had shown
fhe magic lantern through the town.
According to his master’s plan,
Pug with a labour’d speech began,
Authoritative, pert, and loud,
I’o fix th’attention of the crowd.
Whilst the crowd listened and admir’d,
Behind the curtain Pug retir’d,
.Making the figures on the glass
Before the dumb spectators pass,
And in a nimble-footed speech,
Explaining and expounding each.
1 h room was dark—(as was most fit)—
But tho’ the listr. rs rack’d their wit,
A id strain’d th ir eyes, they could not
One glimpse or any prodigy; [see
Nor ny strange, nor curious matter,
'Bout will h die Monkey made such clat
Confused, at length,they had begun [ter.
To think that he was making fun,
And now to interrupt him ventured—
When suddenly Pug’s master entered,
Who,when inform’d, laugh’d at the joke,
Then, turning to the Monkey, spoke:
*'■ Since in the lantern there’s no light,
\\ hat means thy clack, thou numscull
[wight r”
Pardon, ye votaries of the muses,
Whose style astounds us and confuses,
It thus I ask why you should be
At war with perspicuity—
As if ye knew not every line
Is lost—where clearness does not shine?
The Happy Man ;
Or the Art of living, in any condition,
with Content.
An Epic Poem, in xxiv Books.
Hook I.-§ 20—25.
20. Think, not, said the princess, that
my brother and myself) who are compa
nions in sorrow, have the like reasons
ior being unhappy. My brother has
been in pursuit of pleasure in the midst
of entertainments, riches, and sensual
indulgence : I have been seeking it by
very different means: yet both of us
have been mocked by destiny; for, after
promising ourselves perfect felicity, we
find ourselves in possession of a deep
rooted melancholy. She spoke, and as
an arrow flies swiftly from a bow which
has been long bent and oppressed, a deep
sigh burst from her heat*t, and a torrent
of tears from her eyes, which she strove
in vain to repress. Nevertheless, after
drying them a little, she proceeded thus:
Let my oppressed heart vent itself at
last in sighs to the rocks and mountains,
in order that they, at least, may be wit
nesses of Sophia’s grief. Ah ! what vi
olence have I not done to my own heart,
in order to appear cheerful in complai
sance to the count /
21. It is little less than two years*
since the crown of Constantinople rest
ed upon my head, and about the same
period has elapsed since it was rudely
9 Sophia was crowned in the year U04.
snatched away without any just cause.
V ithin the space oi twenty-four hours,
Fortune raised me to the Imperial
throne, and dragged me down from it.
Ephemera of empresses, the same sun,
without alighting from his chariot, saw
me a vassal, a sovereign, and again a
vassal. I will relate the event, as it may
not have come to thy knowledge.
22. Thou already knowest what tra
gical transactions happened at Constan
tinople, after the impious Alexis III. to
ascend the throne, shut up in a dungeon
his brother the emperor Isaac Ange
lus H. and put out his eyes ; and how
Alexis IV. surnamed the Youth, son
of the latter and nephew of the for
mer, was obliged to fly, to avoid a mis
fortune similar to that which his father
had suffered. Well ; this persecuted
Alexis, calling to his assistance the
knights of the Crusade, drove away the
intrusive tyrant, and having restored
his blind father Isaac to the throne,
reigned in his name. Ho was a tyrant
in his manners, though he was not so by
any injustice in seizing the sceptre.*—
IIis glory was succeeded hv the discon
tent of the people, who groaned beneath
the galling yoke, which soon became so
insupportable that they sighed for a hap
py occasion to throw it oflf.-^-Ducas A
iexis V called Murtzulphus,f profited by
this opportunity. To succeed in his de
praved and dark designs, and seeing in
my husband Nicolas Canabus virtue*
more worthy of a throne than the blood
of Alexis was, he persuaded the people
—•(ah ! false man ! yet thy crime brought
upon thee its just punishment^)—I say
he persuaded the people that they would
render themselves happy by tearing the
* Alexis Angelin Cotnenus, not withftancling
what has been faid, was fo flagitious ap to de
ftroy the city of Conftantinople ; yet Voltaire
fpeakt favourably of him, and condemns thole
of the crufade for dethroning him
t He was called Murlzulpbus. from his large
ey- brows, which fell over his eyes.
J Af‘er reigning a few months, his eyes were
pu out by order of his fither In law, Alexis f
and he loft hi« life by being thrown from the
top of Thcodofms's column, in the vear