--Solis ad ortus Vanescit fumus. LUCAN. Blest leaf! whose aromatic gales dispense To Templars modesty, to parsons sense: So raptured priests, at famed Dodona's shrine, Drank inspiration from the steam divine. Poison that cures, a vapour that affords Content, more solid than the smile of lords: Rest to the weary, to the hungry food, The last kind refuge of the wise and good. Inspired by thee, dull cits adjust the scale Of Europe's peace, when other statesmen fail. By thee protected, and thy sister, beer, Poets rejoice, nor think the bailiff near. Nor less the critic owns thy genial aid, While supperless he plies the piddling trade. What though to love and soft delights a foe, By ladies hated, hated by the beau, Yet social freedom, long to courts unknown, Fair health, fair truth, and virtue are thy own. Come to thy poet, come with healing wings, And let me taste thee unexcised by kings. IMITATION OF SWIFT. Ex fumo dare lucem.--HOR. Boy! bring an ounce of Freeman's best, And bid the vicar be my guest: Let all be placed in manner due, A pot wherein to spit or spew, And London Journal, and Free-Briton, Of use to light a pipe or * * * * * * * This village, unmolested yet By troopers, shall be my retreat: Who cannot flatter, bribe, betray; Who cannot write or vote for * * * Far from the vermin of the town, Here let me rather live, my own, Doze o'er a pipe, whose vapour bland In sweet oblivion lulls the land; Of all which at Vienna passes, As ignorant as * * Brass is: And scorning rascals to caress, Extol the days of good Queen Bess, When first tobacco blessed our isle, Then think of other queens--and smile. Come, jovial pipe, and bring along Midnight revelry and song; The merry catch, the madrigal, That echoes sweet in City Hall; The parson's pun, the smutty tale Of country justice o'er his ale. I ask not what the French are doing, Or Spain, to compass Britain's ruin: Britons, if undone, can go Where tobacco loves to grow. WILLIAM OLDYS. Oldys was born in 1696, and died in 1761. He was a very diligent collector of antiquarian materials, and the author of a Life of Raleigh. He was intimate with Captain Grose, Burns' friend, who used to rally him on his inordinate thirst for ale, although, if we believe Burns, it was paralleled by Grose's liking for port. The following Anacreontic is characteristic:-- SONG, OCCASIONED BY A FLY DRINKING OUT OF A CUP OF ALE. Busy, curious, thirsty fly, Drink with me, and drink as I; Freely welcome to my cup, Couldst thou sip and sip it up. Make the most of life you may-- Life is short, and wears away. Both alike are, mine and thine, Hastening quick to their decline: Thine's a summer, mine no more, Though repeated to threescore; Threescore summers, when they're gone, Will appear as short as one. ROBERT LLOYD.