68 poetry.- March l^\ 



The neighbdurs lirst were all surpris'd, 



Then :,crry ai lie past, 

 Then bugh'd his antic ficakito see,. 

 Biitsng^ry grew at last. 



And lo ! an Amazon slept out, 



One WoLSTONECRAFT her name, 



Rrsolv'd to stop his mad career, 

 Whatever chance became. 



An oaken sapling in her hands 



FuU on the foe fte fell, 

 Nor could his coat of rusty steel 



Her vigorous strokes repel. 



When, strange to see ! her conq'ring staff; 



Returning leaves o'ersprc^d, 

 Of which a verdant wreath was wove, 



And bound around her head. 



But heavier ills on Edmund wait, 

 ' , He seeks to 'scnpe in vain, 



For out there rulh'd a fiercer foe. 

 Whose dreaded name was Paine, 



A clttb he bore, whose parent tree 



In western climatcj grows, 

 And woe to him whose haplefs head 



Its strxike In. anger knows. 



As he who once, with strength divine. 

 Earth's monsters cou'd appall, 

 - Who gagg'd old triple Cerberus, 



And cleans'd th' Augean stall ; 



Like him this Eain^. the world did range^ 



Its monsters to subdue, 

 And more than Hercules he fought. 



And more than him he slew. 



This dreadful foe, when Edmund saw. 



He felt his f.iie and sigh'd,. 

 His head received the thunj'ring blow^ — 



He feinted, gasp'd, andJled. 



And now his \^and'ring spectre walks^ 



By night, and eke by day, 

 A warning to the thoughtlcfs crew 



That beauty leads astray. 



