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But when friends drop around us in life's weary waning,

The grief, Queen of Numbers, thou canst not

assuage;

Nor the gradual estrangement of those yet remain

ing,

The languor of pain, and the chillness of age.

'Twas thou that once taught me, in accents bewailing,

To sing how a warrior lay stretch'd on the plain, And a maiden hung o'er him with aid unavailing,

And held to his lips the cold goblet in vain; As vain thy enchantments, O Queen of wild Numbers,

To a bard when the reign of his fancy is o'er, And the quick pulse of feeling in apathy slumbersFarewell, then—Enchantress ;-I meet thee no

more.

THE BANNATYNE CLUB.1

I.

ASSIST me, ye friend of Old Books and Old Wine,
To sing in the praises of sage Bannatyne,
Who left such a treasure of old Scottish lore
As enables each age to print one volume more.
One volume more, my friends, one volume

more,

We'll ransack old Banny for one volume

more.

II.

And first, Allan Ramsay, was eager to glean
From Bannatyne's Hortus his bright Evergreen;
Two light little volumes (intended for four)
Still leave us the task to print one volume more.
One volume more, &c.

III.

His ways were not ours, for he cared not a pin How much he left out, or how much he put in ; The truth of the reading he thought was a bore, So this accurate age calls for one volume more. One volume more, &c.

1 [Sir Walter Scott was the first President of the Club, and wrote these verses for the anniversary dinner of March, 1823.]

IV.

Correct and sagacious, then came my Lord Hailes,
And weigh'd every letter in critical scales,

But left out some brief words, which the prudish
abhor,

And castrated Banny in one volume more.

One volume more, my friends, one volume

more;

We'll restore Banny's manhood in one volume

more.

V.

John Pinkerton next, and I'm truly concern'd
I can't call that worthy so candid as learn'd;
He rail'd at the plaid and blasphemed the clay-

more,

And set Scots by the ears in his one volume more.
One volume more, my friends, one volume

more,

Celt and Goth shall be pleased with one

volume more.

VI.

As bitter as gall, and as sharp as a razor,
And feeding on herbs as a Nebuchadnezzar;1
His diet too acid, his temper too sour,

Little Ritson came out with his two volumes more.2

1 [In accordance with his own regimen, Mr. Ritson pub-
lished a volume entitled, "An Essay on Abstinence from
Animal Food as a Moral Duty. 1802."]

2 [See an account of the Metrical Antiquarian Researches

But one volume, my friends, one volume more,
We'll dine on roast-beef and print one volume

more.

VII.

2

The stout Gothic yeditur, next on the roll,1
With his beard like a brush and as black as a coal;
And honest Greysteel that was true to the core,
Lent their hearts and their hands each to one
volume more.

One volume more, &c.

VIII.

Since by these single champions what wonders were done,

What may not be achieved by our Thirty and One? Law, Gospel, and Commerce, we count in our corps, And the Trade and the Press join for one volume

more.

One volume more, &c.

of Pinkerton, Ritson, and Herd, &c., in the introductory Remarks on Popular Poetry prefixed to the first volume of the Border Minstrelsy.]

1 [James Sibbald, editor of Scottish Poetry, &c. "The Yeditur," was the name given him by the late Lord Eldin, then Mr. John Clerk, advocate. The description of him here is very accurate.]

2 [David Herd, editor of Songs and Historical Ballads. 2 vols. He was called Greysteel by his intimates, from having been long in unsuccessful quest of the romance of that name.]

IX.

Ancient libels and contraband books, I assure ye, We'll print as secure from Exchequer or Jury; Then hear your Committee and let them count o'er The Chiels they intend in their three volumes more. Three volumes more, &c.

X.

They'll produce you King Jamie, the sapient and Sext,

And the Rob of Dumblane and her Bishops come

next;

One tome miscellaneous they'll add to your store, Resolving next year to print four volumes more. Four volumes more, my friends, four volumes

more;

Pay down your subscriptions for four volumes

more.

[This club was instituted in the year 1822, for the publication or reprint of rare and curious works connected with the history and antiquities of Scotland. It consisted, at first, of a very few members,-gradually extended to one hundred, at which number it has now made a final pause. They assume the name of the Bannatyne Club from George Bannatyne, of whom little is known beyond that prodigious effort which produced his present honours, and is, perhaps, one of the most singular instances of its kind which the literature of any country exhibits. His labours as an amanuensis were undertaken during the time of pestilence, in 1568. The dread of infection had induced him to retire into solitude, and under such circumstances he had the energy to form and execute the plan of saving the literature of the whole nation; and,

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