44 Extracts from the Portfolio of a Man of Letters. [Aug. 1, 
£¢ O’ernine vast leagues the unwieldy giant lay, 
66 While the-fierce vulture, fastening on her 
preys ‘ 
&¢ For ever his immortal liver tore, 
«6 His growing entrails gnawed, and drank 
his gore 5 
% Fixed in his heart her seat, and there re- 
“mains ; » 
66 To feast her thirsty beak with everlasting 
pains. 
. & Why. should my tongue Ixion’s woes 
relate, 
« The Lapithe, or bold Pirithoiis’ fate, 
#6 O’er whom the rocks black shade for ever 
‘ spreads, 
4¢ Yn hideous ruin trembling o’er their heads? 
«¢ The feast, prepared in oriental state, 
«¢ The'couch, infgilded pomp, before them wait, 
4¢ While the relentless Fury round them 
va stands, 
é¢ And guards the banquet from their eager 
hands, 
¢¢ And, as they draw the tempting vision near, 
46 Darts forth her flaming torch, and thunders 
in their ear. 
« Here lay, expecting direful torments, 
those 
¢¢ Who held, inlife, their brethren as their foes, 
4¢ Who drove their aged parents from the 
door, 
4& Whose fraud deceived, or force oppress’d 
, the poor, 
46 And that vast tribe, whose selfish harden’d 
breast, 
a 
Extracts from the Port-folio of 
[Communications to this Article are alway 
¢¢ The love-destroying thirst of gold possess’d, 
¢¢ And those who died in foul adultery ta’en, 
‘¢ And those in treacherous arms and base 
. rebellion slain, 
*€ Seek not their various, punishments to 
know, 
“‘ Their different fates, and torturing modes 
of woe. 
6 Some roll for ever the rebounding stone ; 
6 Some on the wheel's eternal motion 
groan. 
*¢ Unhappy Theseus sits in silence there, 
‘¢ For ever sits, upon histocky chair. - 
“© There, the most miserable Phlegyas laid, 
*¢ With warning voice cries loudly through 
the shade, 
«© (A dreadful witness!) Every mortal 
hear ! 
«¢ Learn justice! and the heavenly powers 
revere !” 
6¢ This wretch enslaved his native land for 
gold, 
‘6 By that his country’s honour’d laws were - 
sold. 
<¢ With love incestuous this his daughter 
press’d. 
¢¢ AJl dared some monstrous crime, and what 
they dar’d possess’d. 
s* Not tho’ I had an hundered different 
tongues, 
«¢ An hundred mouths, and adamantine lungs, 
« Could I each various form of guilt and woe 
«¢ By man atchiewd, and heav’n inflicted, 
shew” 
=== 
lan of Letters. 
kfully received. J 
hs 
ALMATEO. 
VERY pretty girl who was blind of 
the right eye, had a brother blind~ 
of the left. Upon these circumstances 
Almateo wrote the following distich. 
* Blande puer! lumen quod habes contede 
sorori; 
Sic tu cecus Amor! sic erit illa Venus. 
Tt is a most elegant thought and would 
not have disgraced the pen of an Ovid or 
a Catullus. 
WHITFIELD. 
This remark is very admirable. When 
some gentlemen blamed Mr. Whitfield 
for having set the hymns which were supg 
in his chapel to profane tunes, he made 
the following smart repartee : Would .you 
wish, gentlemen, that the Devil should 
keep all the good tunes to himself. 
_ __ SIR THOMAS ROBINSON, 
Sir T. R..was @ very tall and thin 
man. He one day asked Lord Chester- 
_ held to»make some verses on him. Lis 
Lordship instantly made the following 
distich: 
Unlike my subject now shall be my song, 
It shall be witty, and it sha’n’t belong. 
FOOTE. 
Foote was extremely happy in repar~ 
tee. Lord Sandwich once said to him, 
“Foote, you will certainly die of some 
bad disorder, or be hanged some day.” 
That, indeed, I may, my Lord, replied 
Foote, if I embrace either your Lord- 
ship’s mistresses, or your Lordsbsp’s prit- 
ciples, 
SOBIESKI, KING OF POLAND. 
When the Turks besieged Vienna, as 
the King of Poland mounted his horse to 
succour that town, his Queen looked him 
in the face, burst into tears, and em- 
braced a young child she had in her 
arms. When the King addressed her 
in the following manner: “ Madam, 
what is the cause of your tears?” She 
answered him, “ Sire, I lament that this 
infunt is not in a state capable of follow- 
ing 
