"I' th' name o' his clory and his crace,

"Arkyle's creat Tuke, tepart this place!"
The vapour now exhausted quite,

Sinks viewless, 'midst the shades of night;
"Aha!” cries DONALD, "noo I see

"The Tuke's the best ane o' the three !!!"

A POOR MAN'S PETITION

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, AND HONOURABLE, THE GOVERNORS, AND DEPUTY GOVERNORS OF THE

COUNTY OF DOWN.

"Weariness

"Can snore upon the flint, when resty sloth

"Finds the down pillow hard."

SHAKESPEARE.

MUCH HONOUR'D SIRS,

With due submission,

I lay before you this petition

And when you have well weigh'd my case,

I hope you will my name erase,

Out of your list, before the ballot,

Or draught, or what you please to call it.

The reason why I thus intrude,

"Tis said poor fellows you exclude ; If so, then well may I be free,

God knows I'm poor as poor can be.

I durst not venture to appear,

That day allow'd complaints to hear; For, in my present ragged plight,

I am a most unseemly sight,

Unqualified to meet the view

Of lords and gentlemen like you :

But, waving the excuse of dress,

I cannot bear to see distress;

Nor hear the poor man's piteous groan,

His woes remind me of my own.

What pangs to me it would have cost,

Had I beheld the motly host,
Where penury, disease, and pain,

Were all assembled to complain;
Wretches like me, in tatter'd rags;
Sprains, rheumatisms, broken legs;

Ears inaccessible to sound,

And eyes in utter darkness bound;

Scurvy, scrofula, epilepsy,

Consumption pale, and bursting dropsy;

With all the life-embittering clan

That persecute the race of man.

Where such calamities appear,

Who could refuse to drop a tear?
Even Satan, man's invet'rate foe,
Might melt at such a scene of woe.
So choosing to avoid the sight,

I borrow'd pen and ink to write,
A faithful list of all that's mine-
Which underneath I will subjoin :-
First, then, I never learn'd a trade,

But daily wield a flail or spade,
Endeav'ring to preserve in life,

Six naked children and a wife.
My mansion is a clay-built cot,

My whole domain a garden plot

For these, each annual first of May

Full thirty shillings I must pay:

Ye who in stately domes reside,

Th' abodes of luxury and pride,

May deem it false when I assert,
My house would scarcely load a cart;

So little straw defends its roof,

Against the rain it is not proof

But all its failings to declare,

Would waste more time than I can spare

So, with your leave, I will begin

To tell what it contains within :

A spade, by wearing much abus'd,

A spinning-wheel, but little us'd;
Three stools, one larger than the rest

Qur table when we have a guest:
A basket variously employ'd,

Tho' nearly by old age destroy'd,

It holds potatoes raw, or boil'd,

And serves to rock our youngest child :

A leaky tub, a pot unsound,

With iron hoop encircled round;
A jug, in which we daily bring,
Our humble bev'rage from the spring.
In order, on a shelf of stone,

(For chest, or cupboard here is none) A dish, and three old plates are plac'd;

Three noggins, much by time defac'd ;

A

mug, from which the ear is parted; An old knife, by its haft deserted;

Two tea-cups, one of which is crack'd;

Three saucers, each with some defect;

A tea-pot, but the lid is lost;

A beechen bowl, but so emboss'd

With clasps, it can't be understood,

Whether of iron made or wood.

And in a corner by the wall,

We have a bed which cannot fall,

But let not this create surprise-
Securely on the ground it lies;