With stern and anxious glance gazed back upon Gabor. I beheld his features As I see yours-but yours they were not, though Gabor. [Interrupting him.] Nay, but hear me to the end! Betrayed by you and him (for now I saw The victim of your guilt; and my first thought That morning—either in address or force. I turned and fled-i' the dark: chance rather than What vengeance and suspicion might have prompted; Sieg. And yet I had horrid dreams! and such brief sleep, Then stars had not gone down when I awoke. Why didst thou spare me? And now my dream is out! Gabor. 'Tis not my fault, I dreamt of my If I have read it.—Well, I fled and hid me— father You sought me and have found me-now you know Sieg. [After a pause.] Indeed! Gabor. Is it revenge or justice which inspires Your meditation? Sieg. Neither. I was weighing The value of your secret. Gabor. You shall know it At once ;- -When you were poor, and I, though poor, As might have envied mine, I offered you My purse-you would not share it :-I'll be franker Sieg. Yes. Gabor. Not quite. You think me venal, and scarce true : 'Tis no less true, however, that my fortunes Have made me both at present. You shall aid me; I would have aided you-and also have Been somewhat damaged in my name to save Yours and your son's. Weigh well what I have said. BYRON. 323 HUMOROUS PIECES. ADDRESS TO AN EGYPTIAN MUMMY. Extracted, by permission of Henry Colburn, Esq., from the late HORACE SMITH'S " Gaieties and Gravities." AND thou hast walked about (how strange a story!) Speak for thou long enough hast acted dummy,- Not like thin ghosts or disembodied creatures, Tell us, for doubtless thou canst recollect, To whom should we assign the Sphinx's fame ? Was Cheops or Cephrenes architect, Of either pyramid that bears his name? Is Pompey's Pillar really a misnomer? Had Thebes a hundred gates, as sung by Homer? Perhaps thou wert a mason, and forbidden By oath, to tell the mysteries of thy trade; Then say what secret melody was hidden In Memnon's statue, which at sun-rise played? Perhaps thou wert a priest, and hast been dealing In human blood, and horrors past revealing. Perchance that very hand, now pinioned flat, Or doffed thine own to let Queen Dido pass, I need not ask thee if that hand, when armed, Long after thy primeval race was run. Thou couldst develop, if that withered tongue Still silent, incommunicative elf! Art sworn to secresy? then keep thy vows; But prythee tell us something of thyself, Reveal the secrets of thy prison-house! Since in the world of spirits thou hast slumbered, What thou hast seen, what strange adventures numbered? Since first thy form was in this box extended, We have, above-ground, seen some strange mutations; The Roman empire has begun and ended, New worlds have risen-we have lost old nationsAnd countless kings have into dust been humbled, While not a fragment of thy flesh has crumbled. Didst thou not hear the pother o'er thy head, And shook the pyramids with fear and wonder, If the tomb's secrets may not be confessed, A heart has throbbed beneath that leathern breast, Have children climbed those knees, and kissed that face? What was thy name and station, age and race? Statue of flesh-Immortal of the dead! Posthumous man, who quitt'st thy narrow bed, Why should this worthless tegument endure, If its undying guest be lost for ever? O let us keep the soul embalmed and pure In living virtue; that, when both must sever, Although corruption may our frame consume, The immortal spirit in the skies may bloom! HORACE SMITH. THERE BULLUM v. BOATUM. were two farmers; farmer A. and farmer B. Farmer A. was seised or possessed of a bull; farmer B. was seised or possessed of a ferry-boat. Now the owner of the ferry-boat, having made his boat fast to a post on shore, with a piece of hay, twisted rope-fashion, or, as we say, vulgo vocato, a hayband; after he had made his boat fast to a post on shore (as it was very natural for a hungry man to do), he went up town to dinner: farmer A.'s bull (as it was very natural for a hungry bull to do), came down town to look for a dinner; and observing, discovering, seeing, and spying out, some turnips in the bottom of the ferryboat, the bull scrambled into the ferry-boat-he ate up the turnips, and, to make an end of his meal, fell to work upon the hayband. The boat, being eaten from its moorings, floated down the river with the bull in it: it struck against a rock, beat a hole in the bottom of the boat, and tossed |