Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1863-01-08
ALTERATION.
No great writer downward from Homer
has scorDed to avail himself Of
capt alliteration's artful aid.''

No great writer downward from Homer
has scorDed to avail himself Of
capt alliteration's artful aid."'
Familiar specimens are M;lton's:
"Will keep from wilderness with ease,
Gas wide as need walk
"Defaced, defiowered and now to death devote"
Well knows to still the wild winds when they
roar,
" And hush the waving woods"
In his qnaint contemporary Quarles we
find the following:
We travel sea and soil; we pry and prcwl:
We progress and We prog from pole o pole -
So whoever has drawn many buckets
from the well of English undefiled will re-
member in Jeremy Taylor, "She shall
strike sore Strokes" and Shakespeare's,
So sweet bar should sunder such soft
triends"-as we'll as the following line,
which cannot be surpassed, sinch not only
all the words but all the syllables allite.
rate,
"Lo lovely lilacs line Lees lonely lane"
Every reader of Browns Mental Phi.
losophy must remember the extracts from
the Latin poem of several hundred hexa
meters, every word in which from first to
last begins with P. Thus it is entitled
Pugna porcoruma per pu6liun Porcium,
Pcetam. During an extensive tour in Eu-
rope, | amused myself in many O great
library by asking for this poem on pigs
and P.s; but never found it except IN the
Ambrosian Library in Milan.
Nowhere perhaps have authors been
| more partial to same-sounGing initials
than in the titles of their works Wit.
ness, Rob Roy, Red Rover, Loves Labor
Lost. Peregrine Pickle, Leverett's Latin
Lexicon, Walkers World of Words, SC.
l am led to these "reminiscences by q
paragraph in recent journal headed
Rich, Racy, Rare," but which seems to
be neither. Most of the words in it be-
gin with the letter r, but with no more
reason than Reading, Writing and Arith.
metic did in the spelling of the peda>
gogue, who was positive he should OBJ.
tain first class certificate from Superin-
tendent Hooker, because be was perfect in
the three R's-namely, Reading, Riting
and Rithmetic.
| add what strikes me as the finest spe>
cimen of ALTERATION extant in any tongue,
and shall be overpaid tor my pains if you,
omnIscient editors-or any OF your read
ers who know still more-will inform me,
and myriad other ignoramuses, who
penned moroccan SO unrivalled in its
way. 1t first met my eye many years
ago in Boston journal, ard has remained
In my memory ever since.
Long, oft, and vainly have 1 asked, and
investigated, who wrote it. Who will
! unveil 10 me this second Junius
THE SIEGE CT BELGRADE.
An Austrian army awfully arrayed
Boldly by battery besiege Belgrade
Cossack commanders canuonading come,
Dealing distractions devastating doom.
Every endeavor engine ers essay,
For fame, for fortune Neutrality-suspicious. fray!
Generals 'ganst generals grapple; Gracious God!
How honors heaven heroic hardihood!
Infurate, indiscrminate in i'll,
Kinsmen kill XII lsmen. kinsmen kindred kill.
LABOR low levels loftiest longest lines,
Men march mid mounds, mid moles, mid murd rous
mines,
Now oisy no1ious numbers notice nought
OF outward obstacles opposing ought;
Poor patriots; partly pun chased, partly pledged
Q ute quaking, quickly quarter, quarter quest.
Reason returns, religious right rebounds,
Suyarrow stops such sanguinary sounds.
Truce to thee Turkey; triumph to thy train
Unjust, unwse, unmerciful Ukraine
Vanish vain victory, vanish victory vain.
Why wish warfare? wherefore welcome were
Yield ye youth, ye yeomen yield your yell.
And all-attractng arms against appeal