ON

GRAY'S CELEBRATED ELEG

1 IN A

COUNTRY CHURCH-YARD.

"Thou, that with ale, or ler liquors,
"Didst inspire Withers, Pryne, and Vickars,
"And forc'd them, tho' it was in spite
"Of nature and their stars, to write;
Assist me but this onc I 'mplore,
"And I will trouble thee no more."

Hudibras, Canto 1st, P. 1st, Line 645.

EDINBURGH:

PRINTED BY STEVENSON AND CO.

ΤΟ

FRANCIS HORNER, Esq. M. P.

THE FOLLOWING POETICAL JEU D'ESPRIT

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,

AS A SMALL MARK OF ESTEEM AND REGARD,

BY

THE AUTHOR.

7

PARODY.

THE bell now tolls, soon after dawn of day,
The lawyer herd wind slowly up the street,
The macer court-ward plods his weary way,
Anxious, in haste, each learned judge to meet.

And soon the bustling scene delights the sight,
In yonder gorgeous and stupendous hall,
While eager macers call, with all their might,
The busy lawyers from each judge's roll.

Ere long, from yonder velvet-mantled chair,
The angry judge does to the bar complain,
Of counsel who, by ways and means unfair,
Molest his potent and judicial reign.

Beneath yon fretted roof that rafters shade,
Where lie huge deeds in many mouldering heaps,
Each, in its narrow cell, far too long laid,
Many a dusty process often sleeps.*

An action is said to be asleep if not called in court for year and