368 Slerne and the Duke of Wharton : a Dramatic Scene. QOcx. 



nerves cannot brook the oppressive blight of the north-east ; but that 

 when released from its influence^ I become a new man. 



Sterne. Then, what the universe would fail to accomplish, one atom of 

 it, even I, Laurence Sterne, will alone and quickly achieve ! 



\_Exit Sterne. 



Wharto7i. Whither flies the madman ? — [rising, and looking from the 

 window, through which is seen Sterne, mounted on a ladder, unh/ing the 

 weathercock.) — Ha, ha! — what a tit-bit for caricature! — Don Quixote 

 on the wind-mill — the Devil on the mount ! Ah ! — am I right ? — most 

 truly do I believe that his cursed fingers — 'sdeath ! I see it — have 

 bound the weathercock as pointing to the sunny south ; and with so 

 firm a tether that were Eolus to let loose the four winds of heaven they 

 would fail to move it. Yes, by Heaven, he releases it, and it reverts to 

 the north-east ! Fool that I was to fancy myself so much the better ! 

 If I speak to Yorick, for a month to come, may that d — d weathercock 

 never shift its position ! I feel, and I have felt all the day, unaccount- 

 ably heavy , but that hair-brained parson would seduce Satan himself 

 to forego his quality ! — [_Shnfs the window in a passion — Slerne stands 

 laughing at him upon the ladder. 



H. 



SONNET. 



Naturk will have her way. What boots it then 



To strive against our natural impulses ? 



Those who have thought them gods were less than men. 



But never were there gods such men as these. 



Homer, and Milton, and Demosthenes ! 



Names that shall dazzle with their brightness, when 



Kings and their conquerors shall pass away. 



Even to their own poor nothingness and clay. 



The glitter of a bauble, or a crown. 



The boast of conquest, or the gift of shame — 



Oh I what are they to those who hold a claim 



To an undying and deserved renown : — 



To the bright glory of a starlike name. 



Robed with the light of everlasting fame. R. F. W. 



