Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1822-05-04
POETRY.

Egypt, has made more discoveries IN the re-
mains ofantquity in that extraordinary region,
than any, and perhaps all, other modern adj
venturers. Many curios,ies Of great value
have been removed by him to England, and
exhibited there for the qualification of the
British public. Among other things in the
collection, is a very ancient mummy, which has
excited the attention OF at least one poetcal
genius, who has published the following little
poem on the subject, which, for merit, in its
own peculiar way, We have rarely seen equal
led. ". 7. Davy .4dp.
ADDRESS TO THE MUMMY AT BEL
zONPS EXHIBITION.
The following lines are from the pen of a
master. We never recolect to have met
with any thing in the same strain that pleas
cd us SO much. Liverpool .Nerc,oy.
And thou hast. walk'd about chow strange a
story
In 1hebe's streets, three thousand years ago,
When the Memnonium was in all its glory;
And time had not begun TO overthrow
Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous,
vi which the very ruins are tremendous.
Speak for thou long enough hast acted Dunn
my:
Thou hast a tongue-come let us hear its
tone;
Ihou'rt standing on thy legs above ground,
Mummy
Revisitmg the gtinpses Of the moon,
Not like thin ghosts or dsembodied creatures,
but with thy bones and flesh, and limbs and
features.
Tell us-for doubtless thou canst recollcct,
10 whom should We assign the Sphynx's
fame;
Was Cheops or Cephrenes architect
OF either Pyramid that bears his name
Is Pompey's Pillar really misnomer'
Had Thebes hundred gates, as sung by Ho-
mer!
Perhaps thou vert Mason, and forbidden
BY oath to tell the mysteries of thy trade
linen say, what secret melody was hidden
In Meinnon's statue, which at sunrise play
edl
Perhaps thou vert Priest; ifso. nv struggles
ARE vain, for p.iestcraft never owns its iugples.
Ferchance that very hand, now pinion'd fat,
has hob-a-nob'd with Pharoah's, glass to
glass;
Or dropp'd ha'penny in Homer's hat;
or don d thine own to let Queen Dido pass;
Or held, by Solomor's own invitation.
"A torch at the great Temples dedication.
need not ask thee II that hand, when ar,urd
Has any Roman soldier maud aud nuckled.
For thou vert dead, and buried, anil embalm'd,
Ere Romulus and Rem,Is had bce, sucked !.
Antiquity appears to have begun,
Long after thy primeval race was run.
Thou coud'st develop, If that wither'd tongue
Night tell us what those siphtless orbs have
seen,
How the world look'd when it was fresh and
young,
And the great deMge still had left it green
Or was it then SO old that History's pages
Contaih'd no record of its early ages'
Still silent, iIcommunica.ivc elf
Art sworn to secrecy? then keep thv VOWS
but prithee tellus something ofthvseif
Reveal the secrets of thy prison house;
Since i'll the world of spirits thou hast SUM.
ber'd
What hast thou seen-what strange adycu.
lures NUMBERED
Since first thy form was in this box extended,
We above ground have seen some strange
mutations:
The Roman empire has begun and ended,
New worlds have risen-we have lost old
And countless kings have into dust been hum.
While not fragment of thy flesh has crum-
bled.
Didst thou not hearAhe pother DER thy head
When the great Psssian conq'ror Candy ses
March'd armieso'er tly tomb, with thund'ring
o'erthrew Osiris, ON Apis, Isis,
And shook the Pyramids with fear and wonder,
When the gigantic Memnon fell ssunder1
If the tomb's secrets may not be confessed,
The nature of thy private life unfold
A heart has throbb'd beneath that leathcrn
breast,
roll'd,
Have children climb'd those knees, and kiss'd
that face
What was thy name and station, age and race /!
Statue of flesh-Immortal of the dead
fmperishable type Of evancscence
Posthumous man, who quit'st thy narrow bed,
And s,andcst undecayed within our presence !!
Thou wilt hear nothing till the judgement
morning,
When the great trump shall thrill thee with
its warning.
Why should this worthless tegument endure,
II its undying guest be lost for ever'
O! let us keen the soul embalm'd and pure
In living virtue. thatwhen both must sever,
Although corruption may ourframe consume,
Th'immortal spirit in the skies may bloom.
-ce0Oeec~
MIR. RANDOLPH'S VALEDICTORY.
TO the Fyeehoiders Of Charlotte, Buck