• And thou hast walked about (how strange a story!
      In Thebes’s streets three thousand years ago,
    When the Memnonium was in all its glory,
      And time had not begun to overthrow
    Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous,
    Of which the very ruins are tremendous.

    Speak! for thou long enough hast acted dummy;
      Thou hast a tongue,—come,...

  • My curse upon thy venomed stang,
    That shoots my tortured gums alang;
    An’ through my lugs gies mony a twang,
            Wi’ gnawing vengeance!
    Tearing my nerves wi’ bitter pang,
            Like racking engines.

    When fevers burn, or ague freezes,
    Rheumatics gnaw, or cholic squeezes;
    Our neighbor’s sympathy may ease us,
            ...