1829.] C 375 3 : 



ODE TO AN EXALTED PEUSONAyE. 



I. 



A\''hile others sing of wars and loves. 



Suns, moons, and zephyrs, meads and groves — 



Fit Tales for satire's Tub, 

 I'll change the theme by way of glee. 

 And chaunt an honest stave to thee. 



Much injured Beelzebub ! 



II.- 



By thee the world is kept alive, 

 Grave bishops fatten, lawyers thrive. 



Spring lions find their feeders : 

 For had we not Old Nick to maul. 

 No parsons should we need at all. 



Quack scribes nor special pleaders. 



III. 

 For me, I candidly confess, 

 I've oft invoked him in distress, 



'Mid feast, and fast, and revel ; 

 And evermore I'll hate suspend. 

 For I have never known a friend. 

 Except 'twas in the Devil ! 



IV. 



How oft, oh Nick ! my boyhood's sleep 

 Was scared, while dreams at midnight deep 



Pourtrayed thine awful scowl ; 

 ' Thy big black eyes and swinging tail 



Brushed dimly by, like twilight's veil — 



Lord, how I used to howl ! 



V. 



Tongs — poker — shovel — in the grate — 

 Ay, e'en the bed-post would create 



My visionary throes ; 

 Behind the door I saw thee peep. 

 Then take a most astounding leap, 

 * And tweak me by the nose. 



VI. 



Well — well — those times are past, no more 

 Thy goblin form shall burst the door, 



A helpless child to scan ; 

 My mind enlarged, such terrors quick 

 Have fled, and now I think thee, Nick, 



A perfect gentleman. 



VII. 



They tell me that a pair of horns 

 Branching and bright thy pate adorns — 



So said old Doctor Dick* — 

 An awkward fact, which proves to mc 

 (Excuse this blunt sincerity) 



I'hat thou art married, Nick ! 



VIII. 



They say, too, that thine elfin crew. 

 Are ever — ever on the hue 



And cry to tempt a sinner ; 

 That barristers you tempt with fees, 

 ' Young widows with a Hercules, 



And poets with a dinner. 



" An iiificiiioud iion-conformist, who, in the year nXi, wrote :i Treatise on Genealogy, 

 in wliich he proved Satan to be related by marriage to Mahomet. 



