A TEACHER : A STUDENT OF LAW, AND TUTOR. 61 



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ode addressed to him, alluded to his former poetical 

 studies and compositions. He responded (under 

 date of Sept. 18, 1816) in a sort of farewell to the 

 Muses, from which the following is an extract: 



i. 



Many thanks to your Muse, and thanks to your lyre, 



For all the sweet numbers you sing; 

 Again they awaken the long dormant fire, 

 Anew fan the embers about to expire, 



And crown my cold winter with spring. 



2. 



For many a month and many a year, 



Old Time has rolled swiftly away, 

 Since I gave to the Muses a sigh or a tear, 

 Or felt for renown a hope or a fear, 



Or fashioned a rhyme or a lay. 



3. 



The Muses, if ever they deigned me a smile, 



Long since have they bid me adieu, 

 Nor did they consent to " tarry a while," 

 Or list to the jargon of chemical style, 



'Mid odors and noises so new. 



4. 

 No Muse waves her wings where furnaces blaze, 



And gases mephitic exhale; 

 Minerva, indignant, stops not to gaze, 

 Nor Apollo illumes with all-cheering rays 



The cell of the Alchemist pale. 



To this, Mrs. Sigourney rejoined with an address 

 " to a Poet who had written a farewell to the Muses 

 in some very sweet stanzas." A part of this humor- 

 ous expostulation is here given : 



i. 



Oh, bid not the train of Parnassus farewell ! 



Or use not so gentle a strain ; 



For the sweet tones would summon each Muse from her cell, 

 From the murmuring fountain or slumbering dell, 



And bring them in legions again. 



