Page images
PDF
EPUB

AINSWORTH'S MAGAZINE.

A NEW AND REVISED EDITION

OF

RIGHTON:

An Historical Romance,

BY W. HARRISON AINSWORTH, ESQ.,

IS COMMENCED IN THE JANUARY NUMBER

OF

AINSWORTH'S MAGAZINE.

ILLUSTRATED BY HABLOT K. BROWNE.

THE ROMANCE WILL BE CONTINUED IN SUCCEEDING NUMBERS UNTIL ITS COMPLETION IN THE MAGAZINE.

CHAPMAN AND HALL, 186, STRAND.

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

GAINS LOST AND LOSSES GAINED.

BY HORACE SMITH, ESQ.

WISE is the Millionaire, who, while
He basks in Fortune's golden smile,

Accounts her wealth a burthen,
Distrusts so false and blind a guide,
And dines off plate with no more pride,
Than if his ware were earthen.

Still wiser he, who, losing all,

Can philosophically fall,

And resolutely nerve his

Mind to meet his alter'd fate,

Dining off delf with zest as great,
As from his silver service.

The storm-toss'd mariner, who flings.
His cargo overboard, and brings
To port his lighten'd vessel,

With pity views the laden barque,

Still doom'd, amid the tempest dark,
With winds and waves to wrestle.

Thus may the ruined Merchant, moored
In port, regard the long endured
And desperate exertion

Of him, still floating, all aghast,

Who struggles, but must yield at last,
To shuddering submersion.

Our fears of ill by far exceed

The ill we fear, for croakers feed

On miseries ideal,

Suspense removed, the mind re-acts,

And men, who quailed at fancied facts,
Will boldly face the real.

Jan.-VOL. LXXXII. NO. Cccxxv.

B

The merchant who succumbs to fate,
With honour all inviolate,

In this o'erwhelming crisis,

More honoured from his overthrow,
Resembles the untainted snow,

Which, as it falls, still rises.

Happy! who, losing all his pelf,
Has found that greater prize-himself,

Who, taught that Fortune's chalice
May from his lips be dashed-depends
On those endowments, aims, and ends,
That laugh at all her malice.

Once poorly rich, now richly poor,
Dis-acred man! a harvest sure,

From thine own mind thou reapest,

For all that gives our life its zest,
The pleasures sweetest, dearest, best,
Are evermore the cheapest.

Experience-taught, from rashness free,
Beware! and if the merchant sea

Thy course thou wouldst renew in,
'Twixt Scylla and Charybdis steer,
Nor let gain's Syrens tempt thine ear,
And lure thee to fresh ruin.

Thus, their past errors all atoned,
Our merchant-princes, now unthroned,
May win their former stations,
Building new fortunes, slowly gain'd,
But ne'er o'erthrown, because sustain'd
On solid, sure foundations.

And England's self, in trial's hour,
Rousing her undiminish'd power,
Her giant limbs still plastic,
Shall from the passing pressure rise,
With fresh develop'd energies,
And higher bound elastic.

Yes-spite of all external foes,
Despite the many inward throes

That fiercely have o'erswept her,
All-conquering England, as of old,
With unenfeebled grasp shall hold

Her world-compelling sceptre.

« PreviousContinue »