dict them, because they are merely personal, whereas the others in some degree concern the reader.

You will oblige me by complying with my request of contradiction. I assure you that I know nothing of the works in question; and have the honour to be (as the correspondents to magazines say) "your constant reader," and very obedient humble servant, Venice, June 1819. BYRON.

TO LORD BYRON.

BARD of ungentle wayward mood,
'Tis said of you, when in the lap,
The nurse, to tempt you to your food,
Would squeeze a lemon in your pap.

At vinegar how danced your eyes,
Before your lips or words could utter ;
And oft the dame, to hush your cries,
Strew'd wormwood on your bread and butter.

And when in childhood's frolic hour,
You'd have a garland for your hair,
The nettle bloom'd a chosen flower,
And native thistle flourish'd there:

For sugar plumbs you ne'er did pine;
Your teeth no sweetmeats ever hurt;
The sloe's juice was your favourite wine,
And bitter almonds your desert.

Mustard, however strong the sort is,
Could draw no moisture from your eye;
Nor gall, nor even aqua-fortis,

Could ever set your face awry.

Soon caught the bitter, sharp, and sour, d I

And all their various power combin'd,

Produced CHILDE HAROLD and the GIAOUR.

PETITION OF THE YOUNG LADIES TO DR. MOYSE, LATE LECTURER ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF

How much your lectures we admire;
How at your eloquence we wonder,
When you explain the cause of thunder,
Of lightning and of electricity,
With so much plainness and simplicity
The origin of rocks and mountains,
Of seas and rivers, lakes and fountains;
Of rain and hail, and frost and snow, ......
And all the storms and wind that blow;
Besides a hundred wonders more,

Of which we never heard before...

But now, dear Doctor, not to flatter, There is a most important matter, .:

A matter which you never touch ongelatan Ilona, shush A matter which our thoughts run much on,

A subject, if we right conjecture,

That well deserves a long, long lecture,
Which all the ladies would approve ;
The Natural History of Love!

Deny us not, dear Doctor Moyse!
O list to our entreating voice!
Tell us why our poor tender hearts
So easily admit Love's darts;

Teach us the marks of Love's beginning;
What makes us think a beau so winning,
What makes us think a coxcomb witty,
A black coat wise, a red coat-pretty !
Why we believe such horrid lies,
That we are angels from the skies,
Our teeth like pearl, our cheeks like roses,
Our eyes like stars-such charming noses!
Explain our dreams, awake and sleeping,
Explain our blushing, laughing, weeping.
Teach us, dear Doctor, if you can,
To humble that proud creature, Man
To turn the wise ones into fools,
The proud and insolent to tools;
To make them all run, helter skelter,
Their necks-into the marriage halter:
Then leave us to ourselves with these,
We'll turn and rule them as we please.
Dear Doctor, if you grant our wishes,lina Tell

;

We promise you-five hundred kisses ;

And, rather than the affair be blundered,.
We'll give you-six score to the hundred !

ANONYMOUS.

THE PRETENDED POWER OF WITCHCRAFT OVER THE WINDS.

ONE of the vain and groundless pretensions of the ancient professors of sorcery and witchcraft was, that they could raise, controul, and dispose of the winds. Thus Medea says,

Ventos abigoque vocoque.

Ov. Met. vii.

The witches in Macbeth converse to the same effect:

1st. Witch. A sailor's wife had chesnuts in her lap,

And mouncht, and mouncht, and mouncht; give me, quoth I.

Aroint thee, witch!-the rump-fed ronyon cries.

Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tyger :

But in a sieve I'll thither sail,

And like a rat without a tail,

I'll do I'll do-and l'll do.

2d. Witch. I'll give thee a wind.

1st. Witch. Thou art kind.

3d. Witch. And I another.

1st. Witch. I myself have all the other,

And the very points they blow,
All the quarters that they know
I' th' shipman's card.

Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tost.

Act 1. Sc. 3.

The fourth verse is an heroic of ten syllables, as appears from the three preceding ones; wherefore it ought to be reformed,

Her husband's t' Aleppo, master o' the Tyger,

T' Aleppo, is the same as to Aleppo gone; and somebody that did not relish the ellipsis, hath wrongfully inserted gone. Thus, above, you have the like ellipsis, for the sake of the metre, give me, for give me some; but what is most material in this case, the verb of motion is very often omitted in such phrases,

Come, we'll to sleep.

Buck. I'll to the king.

Brand. You shall to the Tower.

King. Let him on.

Macb. II. 5.

Macb. II. 6.

Macb. III. 5.

Henry VIII. 1. See also King Lear, I. II. III.

In short, the brevity of dialogue and conversation has produced a thousand examples of this ellipsis, not only in this, but others also of our stage authors. It is very common in other writers likewise.

The three next verses consist of eight syllables, and therefore we should read,

I'll do and I'll do--and I'll do.