The Sun.
London, England, 1822-06-06 00:00:00

POETRY.

From a Weekly Periodical Paper now publishing in Glasgow,
called

" THE PROTESTANT."
AN OLD STORY VERSIFIED.

A careful shepherd had a flock
Of thriving sheep—.his only stock :
Their pasture he with walls surrounded.
As wolves throughout the land abounded.
Great were his pains, his labour long,
To make the barrier high and strong ;
Yet often, as he went to sleep,
The wolves broke in and slew the sheep.
At last he finds his work complete,
No entrance left but at the gate ;
His flock protected and at peace,
Began to flourish and increase :
Till, full of years and honest pride
At his success—the shepherd died.
A son succeeded, mild and kind,
Of liberal and gentle mind,
Who wish'd, indeed, to save the sheep,
And yet the wolves in humour keep.
Him the submissive brutes petition
To pity their forlorn condition •
Of their primeval rights denuded,
And from the pasturage excluded,
They vow'd, they swore, their alter'd mind
To sheep had long become so kind,
They would'n't put a tooth or foot on
The choicest, fattest leg of mutton.
Their ancestors, they all confessed,
Of harsher notions were possessed ;
Had often broke the shepherd's wall,
And made the sheep in thousands fall ;
Spread and death and desolation round,
And stain'd with blood the blushing ground.
But they, kind souls, had other kidneys,
As noble as Sir Philip Sidney's.
Mild as Melancthon, they would keep
And help to feed this flock of sheep.
The shepherd, fearing such a trial,
'Was resolute in his denial ;
Till, byfalse friends extremely puzzled,
He let the wolves in strongly muzzled.
Pared from each foot was ev'ry claw,
And twenty straps bound up each jaw :
Each wolf was forced an oath to pass,
He would eat nothing there but grass.
The wall was levelled, and the meeting
'Twixt wolves and sheep was graced with greeting :
One would suppose, through all the plain
The golden age was come again ;
Sheep join'd with wolf hard names to call
The builders of the levell'd wall.
A few bold watchmen dared to cry
Against this frightful novelty,
And said it soon would come to pass,
That wolves would think all flesh is grass,
And, in their plenitude of power,
The silly feeble sheep devour.
These warnings all are given in vain,
Within the fold the wolves remain:
,The watchmen meet contempt and hate,
As " born two hundred years too late ;"
Vile bigots, who, for private ends,
Would disunite the new-made friends.
Meantime, the claws which had been cut
Grew strong and sharp on every foot ;
Some of the straps are old and worn,
And others from the muzzle torn :
Slender and few those that remain
Give tenfold discontent and pain;
Till, as an useless, galling " brand,"
`They're all drawn off with gentle hand.
Then starts the shepherd from his sleep,
Resolv'd to save the trembling sheep;
Suspicion chews, and late takes care
New straps and muzzles to prepare. •
But vain is all precaution now,
The grim wolf knits his horrid brow ;
The muzzle he rejects with sdorn—
'And on that melancholy morn
Destruction rages through the fold,
The sheep are slaughtered, young and old.
In vain for help the shepherd cries,
Amidst his butcher'd flock he dies,
And curses, in his hapless fall,
THE DAY HE MOVED ISIS FATHER'S WALL.
Sat Sapienti Verbum.

A street in Townbridge has been waggishly
named Heavenly-street, from seven persons of the
name of Angel,-two of the name of Church, four
of the name of Parsons, and one of the name of
Clerke) residing in it.