Yea, me and what I am,
And shall be at the gray hour when
My cheek begins to clam.

Note.--"The Regent Street beauty, Miss Verrey, the Swiss
confectioner's daughter, whose personal attractions have been so
mischievously exaggerated, died of fever on Monday evening, brought
on by the annoyance she had been for some time subject to."--London
paper, October 1828.



THE COLLECTOR CLEANS HIS PICTURE



Fili hominis, ecce ego tollo a te desiderabile oculorum tuorom in
plaga.--EZECH. xxiv. 16.

How I remember cleaning that strange picture!
I had been deep in duty for my sick neighbour -
His besides my own--over several Sundays,
Often, too, in the week; so with parish pressures,
Baptisms, burials, doctorings, conjugal counsel -
All the whatnots asked of a rural parson -
Faith, I was well-nigh broken, should have been fully
Saving for one small secret relaxation,
One that in mounting manhood had grown my hobby.

This was to delve at whiles for easel-lumber,