"To do like Perch--procure a pint of laudanum?" inquired Toney. "Not at all," said the Professor. "Upon arriving at my homestead I ate a very hearty dinner; for I was hungry and had a wolfish appetite; after which I immediately went into the arms of Morpheus. I did not wake until next morning, when, as I stood before a mirror making my toilet, I perceived that the bald patch on my head was considerably enlarged. A fit of melancholy and poetry came upon me, and resulted in the production of some verses, which, with your permission, I will repeat." "Do so," said Toney. "By all means!" said Seddon. "It is a simple little ballad," said the Professor, "in which I endeavored to mingle as much pathos as did Goldsmith in his Hermit. Its recitation has often drawn tears from very obdurate individuals, and, gentlemen, I now notify you to produce your pocket-handkerchiefs." The Professor then recited the following stanzas: The gentle spring is breathing Its fragrance all around, Rich with the scent of flow'rets That blossom o'er the ground; As if the glorious rainbow, When thunders rolled on high, Had parted into fragments And fallen from the sky, And scattered o'er the meadows, And through the orchards green, Its variegated colors To beautify the scene; The while, on golden winglets, The humming-bird so gay, Moves with a fairy motion, And rifles sweets away: So rich his purple plumage, So beautiful his crest, 'Tis to the eye of fancy As if some amethyst, Carved into a bright jewel All gloriously to deck, With its surpassing splendors, Some lovely lady's neck, Hath felt the life-blood flowing From a mysterious spring, And fled a gaudy truant Upon a golden wing, Filled with a fairy spirit To sport upon the air, With never-tiring pinions Among the flow'rets fair. Adown the sloping mountain, Where wave the ceders green, And ever-verdant laurel In blooming clusters seen, Leaps the wild, flashing streamlet With a loud shout of mirth, As though some mine of silver, Deep buried in the earth, By hidden fires were melted Within its gloomy caves, And from its dark cell bursting, With its translucent waves, Now sparkles in the sunbeam, Now hid by ivy's shade, Till o'er a steep ledge pouring, It forms a wild cascade, Where, dashed into bright fragments, It glitters in the beam, And with its brilliant colors Unto the eye doth seem, That showers of liquid rubies, And molten gems of gold, With sapphire and with amber, In mingling waves are rolled