O ye that hanker after boons that others idle by,-- The battered things that please the soul, though they may vex the eye,-- The silver plate and crockery all sanctified with grime, The oaken stuff that has defied the tooth of envious Time, The musty tomes, the speckled prints, the mildewed bills of play, And other costly relics of malodorous decay,-- Ye only can appreciate what agony was mine When I was broke in London in the fall of '89. When, in the course of natural things, I go to my reward, Let no imposing epitaph my martyrdoms record; Neither in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, nor any classic tongue, Let my ten thousand triumphs over human griefs be sung; But in plain Anglo-Saxon--that he may know who seeks What agonizing pangs I've had while on the hunt for freaks-- Let there be writ upon the slab that marks my grave this line: "Deceased was broke in London in the fall of '89." CORSICAN LULLABY. BAMBINO in his cradle slept; And by his side his grandam grim Bent down and smiled upon the child, And sung this lullaby to him,-- This "ninna and anninia": "When thou art older, thou shalt mind To traverse countries far and wide, And thou shalt go where roses blow And balmy waters singing glide-- So ninna and anninia! "And thou shalt wear, trimmed up in points, A famous jacket edged in red, And, more than that, a peaked hat, All decked in gold, upon thy head-- Ah! ninna and anninia! "Then shalt thou carry gun and knife. Nor shall the soldiers bully thee; Perchance, beset by wrong or debt, A mighty bandit thou shalt be-- So ninna and anninia! "No woman yet of our proud race Lived to her fourteenth year unwed; The brazen churl that eyed a girl Bought her the ring or paid his head-- So ninna and anninia! "But once came spies (I know the thieves!) And brought disaster to our race; God heard us when our fifteen men Were hanged within the market-place-- But ninna and anninia! "Good men they were, my babe, and true,-- Right worthy fellows all, and strong; Live thou and be for them and me Avenger of that deadly wrong-- So ninna and anninia!" THE CLINK OF THE ICE.