IV.

By Swift, by Machiavel, by Rochefoucault,
By Fenelon, by Luther, and by Plato ;
By Tillotson, and Wesley, and Rousseau,
Who knew this life was not worth a potato.
"Tis not their fault, nor mine, if this be so-
For my part, I pretend not to be Cato,
Nor even Diogenes.-We live and die,
But which is best, you know no more than I.

V.

Socrates said, our only knowledge was

"To know that nothing could be known;" a pleasant Science enough, which levels to an ass

Each Man of Wisdom, future, past, or present. Newton (that Proverb of the Mind), alas!

Declared, with all his grand discoveries recent, That he himself felt only "like a youth "Picking up shells by the great Ocean-Truth."

VOL. XIV.

4

VI.

Ecclesiastes said, that all is Vanity

Most modern preachers say the same, or show it By their examples of true Christianity;

In short, all know, or very soon may know it. And in this scene of all-confess'd inanity,

By saint, by sage, by preacher, and by poet, Must I restrain me, through the fear of strife, From holding up the Nothingness of life?

VII.

Dogs, or Men! (for I flatter you in saying
That ye are dogs-your betters far) ye may
Read, or read not, what I am now essaying
To show ye what ye are in
As little as the moon stops for the baying

every way.

Of wolves, will the bright Muse withdraw one ray From out her skies;-then howl your idle wrath! While she still silvers o'er your gloomy path.

VIII.

"Fierce loves and faithless wars"-I am not sure
If this be the right reading-'tis no matter;
The fact's about the same, I am secure ;-
I sing them both, and am about to batter
A town which did a famous siege endure,
And was beleaguer'd both by land and water
By Suvaroff, or anglicè Suwarrow,

Who loved blood as an Alderman loves marrow.

IX.

The fortress is call'd Ismail, and is placed
Upon the Danube's left branch and left bank,

With buildings in the oriental taste,

But still a fortress of the foremost rank, Or was, at least, unless 'tis since defaced,

Which with your conquerors is a common prank : It stands some eighty versts from the high sea, And measures round of toises thousands three.

X.

Within the extent of this fortification

A borough is comprised, along the height
Upon the left, which, from its loftier station,
Commands the city, and upon its site

A Greek had raised around this elevation
A quantity of palisades upright,

So placed as to impede the fire of those
Who held the place, and to assist the foe's.

XI.

This circumstance may serve to give a notion Of the high talents of this new Vauban : But the town ditch below was deep as ocean,

The rampart higher than you'd wish to hang: But then there was a great want of precaution (Prithee, excuse this engineering slang), Nor work advanced, nor cover'd way was there, To hint at least "Here is no thoroughfare."

XII.

But a stone bastion, with a narrow gorge,
And walls as thick as most sculls born as yet;
Two batteries, cap-à-pée, as our St. George,
Case-mated one, and t'other " a barbette,"
Of Danube's bank took formidable charge;
While two-and-twenty cannon, duly set,
Rose over the town's right side, in bristling tier,
Forty feet high, upon a cavalier.

XIII.

But from the river the town's open quite,
Because the Turks could never be persuaded

A Russian vessel e'er would heave in sight;
And such their creed was, till they were invaded,
When it grew rather late to set things right.

But as the Danube could not well be waded,
They look'd upon the Muscovite flotilla,

And only shouted, "Alla!" and " Bis Millah!"