The Wheeling repository — Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.], 1807-06-25 00:00:00, page 4

V A R I ET T.
The Harp of Sorrow.
I gave my Harp to Sorrow’s hand,
And she has ruled the chords so long,
Th< y will not speak at my command,
They warble only to her song.
Of dear departed hours,
Too fondly loved to last,
The dew, the breath, the bloom of flowers
That died untimely in the blast;
Ol long, long years of future care,
f 1 ill lingering Nature y ields her breath,
And endless ages ol despair,
Beyond the judgment-day of death—
The weeping Minstrel sings;
And while her numbers flow,
My Spirit trembles through the strings,
And every note is full of woe.
[strain,
Would Gladness move a sprightlier
And wake this wild harp’s clearest
tones ;
The strings, impatient to complain,
Are dumb, or only utter moans.
And yet to soothe the mind
W ith luxury of grief,
The Soul, to suffering all resign’d,
In Sorrow’s musick feels relief.
J hus o er the light Leman Ivre,
'I he winch of dark November stray,
touch the quick nerve of every wire,
And on its nagick pulses play ;
rill all the air around,
Mysterious murmurs fill,
A strange bewildering dream of sound,
Most heavenly sweet—vet mournful
[still.
O natch the Harp from Sorrow's hand,
Hoi’i:! who has been a stranger long :
strike it with sublime command,
And be the Poet’s Life th\ song !.
Of vanish'd troubles sing,
Oi b ars forever fled,
OI il ,v;tr that hear the voice of Spring,
And’ ui t k blossom hum the dead !
Oi contentment, health, repose.,
‘A :\ n< (!• light , while years increase ;
/\nd weary lib’s triumphant elo.e
In some calm sunset hour of peace ;
Oi bliss that reigns above,
Celestial May of Youth,
Unchanging as jr.iiovAii's l«,ve,
And e\ eilasting as his truth ■,
Sing heavenly Hope; and dart thine hand
O’er my frail harp, untoned so long,
That harp shall breathe at thy command,
Immortal sweetness through the song.
Ah ! then this gloom control,
And at thy voice shall start
A new creation in my soul,
And anew Eden in my heart/
Anecdote.
A lady expressing her surprise on
seeing Dr. Parr, at breakfast, cutting
slice after slice of a huge gammon of
Yorkshire bacon; the Doctor, first ta
king a draught of porter, (which with a
pipe, forms constantly a part of his morn
ing repast), replied—“-You w ill not de
ny, madam, that mine is a literary break
fast, when you reflect that I am making
exracts from Bacon.''
It is SWEET 1 It is charming! It is
BEAUTIFUL*
The words sweet, charming and beau
tiful, are of peculiar use- in the sublime
ly vague dialect of sentiment; for bv
having no meaning at all in their appli
cation, they may be made to mean any
thing.
Narcissa had just returned from her
evening ramble, when to !x* sure, she
had had a charming walk, the moon
shone sweetly, and it was a beautiful
night.
Moll bad beat the dog till she had
raised the whole tamily with his bowl
ings. When inquiry was made, what
the difficulty w as, behold ! the saucy
brute had spilled a beautiful pail of swill.
Cxoody A"ruckle, it she could have
walked on three now, halt a- well as she
could once on two, would have taken
(ioody Trott dow n ct liar, to have shown
i her a <• harming barrel of pork.
It was expected the speckled pullet
would lay two eggs a day,because John
ny had built .nveet hen-roost.
A connoisseur, only, could have un
de rstood tlic following :—
Says Ned to Jack, don’t von think this
M iss Snip a charming little toad ? Not
i so very agreeable neither, says Jack.
Von mistake brother, says Ned; she
| dresses sweetly, her form ij charming,
and she sings beautifully.
Strangers sometimes make gross mis
takes.— Monsier had been in the coun
try hut a little time, but by close appli
cation bad acquired a good grammati
cal knovvh dge of our language. He In I,
by his own inquiries, and the assistant
■ oi his instructor, found out that the epi
thct sweet had reference to the smelt ot
taste, charming to something vocal and
beautiful to some visWte object; that it
was therefore proper to sav, a swee*
taste, or a sweet savour, a’ charming
singer, a beautiful prospect, or a beau’
tiful woman.—With all this information
however, he was entirely unacquainted
with the more fashionable application
of these terms ; which alone can apolo
gize for the following blunder :—Hi*
landlady, among other specimens of her
economy, was one clay expatiating on
her frugality in having fatted a hog by
the slops and crumbs of her own saving,
and concluded this panegyrick by de
claring that it was a beautiful hog.—
Monsieur told her that he had been in
the country but a little time, had seen
hut a lew of its curiosities, and that it
would make him v^rv happy to see her
beautiful hog. Upon the approach of
his henelactor to the yard, this paragon
oi ugliness, dissonance and stench, ac
costed her with his usual melody, which
however, at this time, hunger had made
more sonorous than ever. There, Mon
sieur, says Madam, is not this a beauti
ful hog t \\ hy, Madam, says he, with a
little amazement, I have seen hogs look
Very like him before ; do you call him
handsome? But, Monsieur, is it not a
charming hog ? Upon my honour, Ma
dam, he does make a grunt exactly like
our hogs. But say, Monsieur, is it not
a sweet hog ? Sweet/ he may taste very
wc 11, but lie does smell just like our hog.i
in France.
Credulity.
The people in Provence, in France,
were formerly remarkably given to be
lieve and report strange and surprising
tales. About fortv years ago, as the
story goes, one of the inhabitants of the
place went to the famous town ol Tou
lon on business, and reflecting, on his
return, on the disposition ol his country
men to believe anil report strange news,
he thought < fa scheme to surprise them..
Accordingly when men asked for news,
he reported that a tree had just grown
up »n the mouth of the harbour of Tou
lon, so big and strong, w ith branches ex
tending bom side to side, so thick and
diftii ult to be removed, that the royal
navy could neither pass in nor go out of
the harbour,& there was a great probabi
lity ol thu harbour’s being ruined by it.
The reporter being delayed by business
on his journey home, the report got ti
ll ad ot him, and he heard it told so of
u-ti, that he entirely forgot that he waa