The Portland daily press., 1879-02-08

IHE aery ChalmerS, OF MISSISSIPPI, has
been practising with dumb-bells. Mr.. Bragg
will govern himself accordingly.
Yorick's Drawer
-Yorick this week must take as motto fol
the Drawer these words of MCntaigne
"Here is a nosegay of culled flowers, to
which l have brought nothing of my own
but the thread that ties them.'
-Iser's query as to the authorship Of s'He
comes, the herald of a noisy world" is an.
swered by two correspondents of the Draw.
er, j. a., writing from Saco, says Iser "wi
fiud the lines in Cowper's description of an
Eoglish postman of his time, in the opening
of the fourth book of the Task. j. Fl. adds
"If Iser has not read this Poem, a careful
reading will affold him rich tfeat-it teens
with perfect gems of thought, often quoted
such as, The cup that cheers but no,
inebriates, o for Lodge in some vast
wilderness, Lands intersected by a mar
row firth abhor each other, Mountains
interposed makes enemies of nations, &C.,
&c. john Glpin's Ride, another of Cowper's
poems, used to read when I was young.
with great pleasure. 1t is full of genuine
humor. Aud, by the way, the books from
which we used to draw much of our inspira-
tion, when I was young, were, Thomson's
Seasons, Young's Night Thoughts, Cowper's
Task, Milton's Paradise Lost, Pope's Es.
say on Man; books, think, too much ne
elected in these days"
Number Twenty" gives the fifth, sixth
and seventh lines of the fourth book of the
Task;
"He comes, the herald of noisy world,
Witn ,spattef'd boots, strapp'd waist and frozen
News from all nations numbering at his back.
and says the eighteen or twenty lines follow
ing are good enough for a reprint.
History repeats itself, and we who have
just got our heads above the flood of ire.
deemable paper money, can easily enter in.
to the spirit of the following lines, found
written in 1S4O, on the back of a bank-note
Best of thy kind, fain would keep thee longer,
At least, till specie circulates again,
But then alas! necessities grow stronger.
And thou must 60, my credit to sustain,
Go on, and like the minister of mercy
Still clorh the naked, and The hungry feed.
Though men abuse and slaader while they use thee.
Mind not their rudnsss nor their insults heed
l send thee forth as Noah sent the raven,
Return not III hard money may be found,
But thou shall always have welcome given
While the shinplaster deluge RACES round.
Our Lady of Good Help writes: "The
borders OF the debatable, If not forbidden,
ground of puns is invaded by the poets. The
Romance literature, from which much of our
modern technique Of verse is derived, abounds
in plays upon words. In Dante's stately
Sestine they appear be it understood, they
are not of comic intention, but repetition of
the same word with different meaning. I'm
the rondeaux aud triolets Of the moderns.
Theodore de Banvile aud his compeers, deli.
cate puns are permitted. Aud lastly, curl.
Gus support to the practice OF plays on words
in poetry comes from the japanese, who. il
is said, having no rhyme, assonance, allitera.
tion or accent in their verse, prize the pun
highly. Perhaps the only excuse for this
trait in verse is the dellcacy of perception
that is reouired to prevent i, from hocon,;,o
vulgar and absurd"
Here follows a rondeau as ax.mrlo n,
the fourth page will be found the translation
from Dante, in which it is, however, impossi
b,e to transer the nlav rnon word. ;n,o IT,
rsb without breaking the essential rn,o =
tho sost;no form
RoNDEAU.
The knight arose, in ancient days, with light,
And SO Jared forth to fad foe to fight;
Des'rlsrs M anu tiaers ' .S %e' la mailed melee
And nrovs on ,cbanss with I hul,s sp and ,..,. 49,
might.
The olden knight struck hardy blow, 10 robt
Foul wronss-aud we no whit less boldly smite
Frauds that our counsels darken, as though on da.
Inc n'gnt arose.
With tinkling mandolin sang the minstrel knight;
To-day the busy Journa ist must write
nus no"aea@ =, ,s"s0 Oas &c 9, so. s"esus
pennv line The poet would reouite.
The knight, rose!
I'm nraisinp the blondes an Eoolisb n,,o.
zine poipts out that in manv districts q
France blonde is a SYNONYM for beue T,
Berri the villagers saw of Young man ur,
roir So blonde. even though the "blonden i
dark as midnight. They have the expressio,
too. aller en- blonde, to 60 a-wooing. All O
which will prove to the brunette: the shock
ing taste of the people of Berri. A recer
illustration of the prejudice still existin,
in some minds against the brunette is foup,
in the caution published the other dav il
| Boston papers: "The public are aoai,
| warned against giving money to ladv will
| dark ewes, clear complexion and p,easin,
| manners"
The Mistress of Tononos o.nt,;hn,o. =,
| - ,..sa,.,: es .vn''iou'0' ="