[ 424 ] [OCT. 



SATAN AND HIS SATELLITES. 



Not by Robert Montgomery. 



One from the critics will my name defend, 

 And more abusive calls himself my friend." 



POPE. 



THE Devil was sitting .before a fire, 



That blazed at least ten thousand times higher 



Than thine, oh ! London, that played such tricks 



In sixteen hundred and sixty-six ; 



And whenever the flame began to fail, 



He rose and stirred it with his tail. 



He rang for coffee, and took a cup, 



From the crater whereof kept curling up 



A steam as dark as the densest cloud 



That wraps the moon in a midnight shroud ; 



And then, as he scented the fragrant vapours, 



He called for the morning and evening papers. 



And he read the list of cares and crimes 



Spread thickly over a double " Times/' 



Which he held with his finger and thumb, as though 



The ' ' Times" were a duodecimo ; 



But rapture burst on all his senses, 



When he came to the " Accidents and Offences !" 



And turning then to the " List of Books," 



He read it through with exulting looks ; 



For many there were that he longed to see 



On the shelves of his Family Library. 



And he said " I'll subscribe if they're not too dear 



They'll encourage the March of Ignorance here." 



His eyes, like flambeaux in a fog, 



Ran flaming all over the catalogue, 



Till they found a something that made him pause ; 



And he grasped the paper with eager claws, 



As he read, amidst columns of cant arid flummery, 



" Satan, a Poem, by Robert Montgomery." 



The Devil mused" Tis odd," quoth he, 



" Such fools should be throwing their squibs at me ! 



Is this the return they mean to shew 



For giving them malice, and wives, and woe, 



And envy and hatred, fresh from hell, 



On which they all feed and flourish so well ? 



" I gave them law, by which they may 



Ruin each other in half a day ; 



And murder and war still drawing a line 



That heroes might dazzle, and judges dine j 



And superstition and strange disease, 



That saints and physicians might earn their fees. 





