brilliant appearance in public, secure them from: accidents, resemble the talons of an eagle..
Towards the natives of Africa the Angolans are very hospitable, but to Christians they will not give a night's lodging, nor do they willingly permit them to enter their country; to avoid which, they carry the merchandize to be exchanged to the Portugueze, and bring back what they purchase. The Portugueze factories of Loanda and Gambaba are also obliged to send envoys twice a year to the king, at his residence called Manpango, to appease him in some degree, as he will not suffer so many of his subjects to be kidnapped and enslaved. But should an alliance, that has been projected, be formed between this prince and the king of Mataman, the Portugueze may, in all probability, be treated in this country as they were at Japan.
[The Proprietors flatter themselves that this improvement in their Work will prove a source of much interest and entertainment to their Young Readers.]
CONTAIN many gallons of drink;
Yet I often am held to the lip;
Scarce Goliah could lift me, you'd think;
And yet I can hold but a sip.
From the top of your house I descend;
And under the pavement I crawl;
I furnish whole cities with drink;
Yet seldom they see me at all.
I often am found in a cellar;
I often am seen on a table;
I travel by sea many leagues;
To move I am wholly unable.
Sweet tunes I've been famous for whistling;
Your wants I full often supply;
In the Exchequer I'm very well known;
I start, and I burst, and I die.
YE wits say what I am, and whence I came!
You'll then allow I'm not unknown to fame.
Like many more of sublunary race,
From terra firma I my birth can trace;
Yet I'm not only to one source confin'd,
But of various subtle parts combin'd;
Composed of fossil and metallic ore,
And partly form'd from vegetable store :
Tho' I'm as fragile as the frozen snow,
I'm as elastic as the archer's bow:
In a deep dungeon I am brought to light,
And phoenix like from ashes rise more bright:
My beauteous form is often wrought so fair,
With every sparkling gem it may compare,
In colour vying with each vivid hue,
The bow of Iris e'er extends to view:
Yet do I oft so flark and dismal seem,
I scarcely can admit the noontide beam:
My shining plumes adorn the youthful fair,
By waving graceful o'er their auburn hair.
I'm solid or I'm fluid, as you please,
And change from each to each with greatest ease.
Through me you oft behold the lapse of time,
As pleased you ramble in each vary'd clime.
Tho' prophets have so long been out of date,
I good or bad foretell, as sure as fate:
In necromantic art seem to deal,
And things far distant to your view reveal:
A giant to a dwarf can also change,
And vice-versa, as the world I range.
Now all these wond'rous mysteries to clear,
And under mask no longer to appear,
Ye who have conn'd o'er every tedious line,
In me behold "the human face divine.
IN wealth I abound;. in water I stand;
As a fencer I'm valued all over the land;
At Venice I'm famous; by farmers I'm priz'd;
Respected by law, yet by huntsmen despised;
Consternation and ruin ensue when I break;
And the beasts of the forest advantage on't takę.
I INHABIT a forest; I dwell in a city;
For mischief I'm famous, and reckon it witty;
The watch I assail; dogs are my sworn foes;
My powers of cleansing the laundress well knows.
A WONDERFUL subject, fair ladies, I treat,
A prophet surprising, an oracle great;
Not the wandering Jew on his journey so long;
No impostor my hero, no fiction my song.
Tho' honest his birth, his sire he ne'er knew,
And milk from the breast of his mother ne'er drew;
Bare-headed he travels, and, like the grey-friars,
Marches barefoot along, without fear of the briars.
In the nursery often no doubt you have heard
The wonderful tale of the cruel Blue Beard,
(Let no one the legend so simple disown,
Squire Colman hath told it to babies full-grown,
And on wicker-work elephant, Abomelique
Hath diverted the lovers of pantomime trick),
My hero, of aspect so fierce and so dread,
Exhibits a beard that is perfectly red.
Then his garment of colours so various is made,
'Twould baffle the art of the fancy-dress trade;
Neither spun, wove, nor knit, is his raiment so fine,
Nor of silk, hair, nor linen its texture divine.
Strong liquors with more than Mahometan care
He abstains from, his diet is simple and spare:
No teeth has our prophet, and yet he will eat
The hardest of crusts, and think it a treat.
In glittering riches he never takes pleasure,
But looks with contempt upon jewels and treasure.
Cincinnatus of old, in his straw-cover'd home,
Disdair'd the proud tables of delicate Rome:
And our hero, without hesitation the least,
Will dine in a barn, and refuse a king's feast.
Without sword or staff all his travels are made,
Yet he of his enemies is not afraid.
The abuse of the wicked he patiently bears,
And as for religion, lets all men keep theirs;
Yet, as far as is now of his character known,
Like many of his professors, has none of his own;
In all my researches I never did learn
That the grave inquisition could force him to turn:
Indeed it appears that the Papists befriend him;
With Protestants, tortures full often attend him.
When, fatigued with the toils of the day, he repairs
To his chamber so gloomy, no taper he bears,
And, despising all luxury, rests not his head
On the pillow so downy, his limbs on the bed;
But, erect on his feet, or reclined on the ground,
No dreams e'er disturb him, his slumbers are sound,
When the voice of his prophecy echoes around,
The children of men are aroused by the sound;
And, as if he infallible was as the Pope,
On a sudden their doors and their windows they ope.
If mankind to the pattern he sets would attend,
He might prove to reforming their manners a friend;
Since he's known for a powerful reprover of wrong.
Be sober like him, and existence prolong.
Consider his age: with Noah he dwelt,
In the wonderful ark which the patriarch built
He's a stranger to Hebrew, and Latin and Greck,
And none of the languages living can speak;
Yet is well understood by every nation,
When with voice so alarming he makes proclamation.
In French as a singer this prophet's set down;
At the sound of his music there's stir in a town.
To Rome's proto bishop he once preach'd a sermon,
Drew tears from his eyes, and made him determine
No more to pretend to infallible knowledge,
Tho' reckon'd the head of Rome's holy college.
HORNS tho' I wear, in yonder sky
Astronomers have plac'd me high;
The seeds of cruelty I nourish;
And 'mongst Hibernia's children flourish.
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