/ 
 
 / 
 
 THE MCtIAR 
 
 A POEM. 
 
 by 
 
 ALFEED MITCHELL. 
 
 *♦ Good workmen nevtr quarrel with iheir tools." — By^ron, 
 
 RICHMOND, VA. 
 
 1855-6. 
 
 c.. 
 
' I 
 
 THE 
 
 RAGIAD:: 
 
 A POETICAL DISCOURSE ON RAGS; 
 
 WITH 
 
 OCCASIONAL SPLASHES 
 AT 
 
 MEN AND THINas: 
 IN TWO PARTS. 
 
 RICHMOND: 
 
 S>£:CEMB£R 1855. 
 

 '¥3 3^7 
 
 ^f 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 The following poem is presented to the public for 
 their perusal. Though its subject is not at all popular, 
 it must be admitted it is one of great importance. It is 
 not understood by persons who are in the habit of look- 
 ing on the surface of things ; and hence they cannot be 
 expected to look beyond the prejudices of previously 
 conceived opinions in relation to those who gather rags, 
 though by the industry and self-sacrifice of these heroic 
 people, (I say heroic, for they brave all the consequences 
 of the aforesaid prejudices!) are obtained the very paper 
 on which is served up that intellectual feast which is so 
 important to the constitution and habits of so many of 
 us, as well as that which wraps the sugar that quali- 
 fies-their dear tea ! Children may be excused for re- 
 proaching the poor ragman with the uncivil epithet of 
 " Ragamuffin ;" (for these may not know the import of 
 their language any farther than they are mouth-pieces 
 of their seniors;) but for old persons to give themselves 
 to such contemptible manifestations of their prejudices, 
 as have been evinced of late, on certain occasions, within 
 this city, towards persons who serve paper-makers with 
 rags, neither argues good taste nor good sense ; though 
 some of these, no doubt, think themselves possessed of 
 all the learning of the schools, without having looked 
 within a book ; and justified in reflecting upon persons of 
 this class, from the polish their own minds manifest in 
 contradistinction to what they suppose a ragman ought 
 
to be possessed of. It is unnecessary to say anything 
 more on this head in this place. I will just say it is 
 only intended a part of this poem shall go before the 
 public at this time ; and, with their approbation, the rest 
 at another time. As I propose to be the champion of 
 whatever is honest — and whatever is honest is always 
 profitable, no matter how opposed it may be to our 
 false pride, so it coincides with our natural or unbiased 
 ideas of justice or right,— I have thought proper to de- 
 fend, on the one hand, in this style, those who have been 
 ridiculed, on the other, in a less polite and rational 
 
 manner. 
 
 The Author. 
 
THE EAGIAD: 
 
 A POETICAL DISCOURSE ON RAGS : 
 
 With occasional flasi^s at men and things. 
 
 I'N TWO PARTa^ 
 
 FA'RT I. 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 AwAKEj O Muse ! and tune my sportive pen, 
 To sing the praise of rags — if not of men I 
 The theme is vulgar, I will quite admit — 
 But let that pass — there is a humor in it. 
 I '11 rattle on, as if at work or play, 
 Though rhymes are things that stubbornly obey! 
 But little qaring whom they suit or fit — 
 I have my whim, if they should show no wit. 
 Thus my Pegasus, be he weak or strong, 
 Will often hint at right nor spare the wrong. 
 So here's for verse — I '11 publish through the town, 
 Nor care a farthing if I swim or drown! 
 
AN APOSTROPHE TO RAGS. 
 
 O rags ! ye are indeed most useful things ! 
 Your praise from Mexico to England rings ! 
 For printing paper springs alone from ye ! 
 Ye graceless vagrants that we hate to see! 
 
 IRONICAL. 
 
 None own their rags — the beggar holds his nose, 
 And with contemptuous toss he onward goes! 
 Pair milliners will lay them snugly by, 
 But, when in public, will the name decry ! 
 And milliners, you knowjfhave nice clean rags, 
 All pack'd away in two'to twelve pound bags ! 
 While some fair ladies of a higher class. 
 May sell their lags-^such rags will always pass — 
 But yet they befekon you to their back door. 
 Where less conspicuously they strew the floor ! 
 
 DEFERENTIAL* 
 
 If these disown such rags— what must we say 
 Of all those rags that lazards throw away^ — 
 Those dirty vagrants of a dunghill's pile. 
 That lounging ragmen have pronounced as vile ! 
 But be consol'd, ye pliant useful things, 
 Your prototypes have cloth'd the proudest kings j 
 And after serving them in their attire. 
 Have served the statesman to record his ire ! 
 
 PALPABLE, 
 
 And country folk, whene'er they come to town. 
 Feel proud when rigg'd in homespun coat or gown 1 
 
*rhe king, wheu in his royal robes array'd, 
 •Feels more exalted by their finer grade ; 
 And when bedeck'd with diadem or crown, 
 Feels just such pride as may puff up a clown ! 
 The dandy views his ruffles, and feels proud 
 As some gay peacock in. a jackdaw crowd ! 
 The ambling maiden feels a two-fold grace, 
 When tripping through the streets in Brussels lace j 
 And ugly people have a great desire 
 To strike beholders with their gay attire : 
 And hence they rally with phylacteries on, 
 To syllable themselves sublimely born, 
 And claim from thence a more exclusive right 
 To 'clipse the worthy in the public sight ! 
 
 EXPLANATORY. 
 
 Who are the worthy 7— let it here be said 
 Not him who claims^ but he who earns his bread! 
 Whether he gather rags, or plough or sow 
 A public benefit therefrom will flow : 
 For rags when cast aside as useless trash, 
 Are bought by ragmen and turn'd into cash ; 
 And they who buy from these, grind them to paste, 
 Whence springs all paper that may suit your taste : 
 Else rags might be the dunghill's rightful spoil, 
 And thus curtail that useful field of toil ! 
 
 PERSONAL. 
 
 HoW mach do printers owe to paper-mills ! 
 How mtich the world to printers and their quills! 
 When Homer sung and strung his tuneful lyre, 
 There was no printer to record his fire J-^ 
 
8 
 
 No type and press to give the bard due scope — 
 
 But, thanks to printing ! have his works from Pope ! 
 
 The wars of Troy had mov'd the bard to song, 
 
 Bold, grand and full he pours his notes along I 
 
 And in their cadence lives a pathos too. 
 
 Which some may imitate, but none outdo ! 
 
 And Byron, in a verse of matchless mould, 
 
 Cloth'd Harold with a grandeur all high-soul'd. 
 
 Except what sprung from Komer's master-lyre, 
 
 You find no poem that will more inspire ! 
 
 The Grecian bard relied upon a pen 
 
 To give his poems to the sons of men I 
 
 And no reward he eiaim'd in those pure days, 
 
 In thus communicating his grand lays : 
 
 "[The British bard had printers at his will. 
 
 And when he chose could tax their plastic skill I 
 
 But all would dwindle were it not for rags, 
 
 And printers be a set of useless vags : 
 
 Authors, editors and types be mute. 
 
 Till something else were fashion'd that might suit. 
 
 Perhaps the telegraph might fill the void, 
 
 Through public criers, to be so employ'd 1 
 
 Which few could use to any great extent, 
 
 And none without incuring discontent. 
 
 CONCILIATORY. 
 
 So rags are a conservative, as seen; 
 And ragmen useful, though denounced as mean 
 I bow subserviently to ye, O rags ! 
 Before your potency there nothing flags ! 
 There flows from ye a most redundant stream 
 Of literature, o'erflow'ng many a ream I 
 
But yet refreshing many a sterile soil, 
 
 With classic vigor, that repays our toil ! 
 
 But notwithstanding these most grand results, 
 
 Both rags and ragmen meet with sovie insults ! 
 
 But be ye thank'd, ye much-neglected things ! 
 
 Ye can't be missed so long as ye have wings ? 
 
 And be consol'd, ye rag-collecting few. 
 
 Your toils deserve our thanks, which is your due ! 
 
 COMPLIMENTART. 
 
 And now to ladies fair, or dandies fine,— 
 That love, like butterflies, to flare and shine,— 
 I pay my court to you, with my respects, 
 Particularly to the female sex ! 
 For from you springs redundancy of rags, 
 That find their way to serving-men or hags; 
 And when worn out by this incessant race. 
 They come, through ragmen, to the proper place ! 
 How pleasant silks of glossy hue to see. 
 And cloths that rouse a dandy's ecstasy ! 
 Like butterflies with wings of varied die. 
 That tempt some youth in warm pursuit to fly ! 
 But silk won't answer to make paper from. 
 And woollen rags, till lately, were but scum ! 
 But these are not the kind that are in use, 
 Your royal printing paper to produce ; 
 For Linen only serves that useful end, 
 Connected with kind Cotton as its friend ! 
 Thus all the diff''rent grades of paper spring. 
 From such old rags as I have sung or sing! 
 Therefore, there can be nothing more sublime, 
 Than rags— at least they are so in their prime ! 
 
30 
 
 SATIRICAL. 
 
 This fact the pleasure-loving throng must own, 
 On hyperbolean wings they oft are borne ! 
 The fair trip forth in bonnets, black or white, 
 With waving plumes that touch an anchorite: 
 And dandies chatter with lascivious glee, 
 When harnessed in that gear they like to see ! 
 E'en-snobs and tinkers, licensed from their shops, 
 Strut forth, on Sundays, in the garb of fops! 
 And dip and swagger with an ugly pace, 
 Seized with the mania of Sir Coxcomb's grace ! 
 The dandy with his rattan flails his boots, 
 As, with a gesture, he the action suits : 
 From his loose tongue his ready gossip flows, 
 While from its nook his pocket 'kerchief shoivs. 
 His coat, his pantaloons, his waistcoat too. 
 The very tip of fashion, black or blue : 
 His ruffles, plaited by a handy maid, 
 Are 'neath a velvet waistcoat gently laid. 
 Surmounted by a pin of shining gold, 
 Which throws a lustre o'er each snowy fold; 
 And when, with grace, he has his hands unglov'd, 
 He shows two idols — by himself beloved 1 
 His scented fingers taper to their points, 
 Without a wrinkle to distort their joints; 
 And these with rings are set ofi", to entice 
 Those lovely eyes that Hke to see things nice ; 
 The while a hat that suits a graceful broW, 
 By one such hand is lifted with a bow'! 
 
 O Rags ! how many oflices ye fill ! 
 
 Would that ye had the tongue of whip-poor-will, 
 
 That ye might tell the prides of heart that rise, 
 When gazed upon by Vanity's vain eyes ; 
 
11 
 
 And sing the uses ye are made to serve, 
 With all the sweetness of the turtle-dove ! 
 The very paper whereon now I write, 
 Were rags, perchance, that would disgust the sight ; 
 And ere transform'd to serve their present use, 
 Had cloth'd the back of some fastidious goose 1 
 Your gilt-edged paper makes a fairer show, 
 And serves the purpose of a foppish beau: 
 It once was linen of the finest flax, 
 And serv'd a maiden, fairest of her sex : 
 Was look'd upon with pleasure and delight, 
 And was a close companion day and night ! 
 When too unfit to claim her ardent care. 
 It found its way to some less favored fair — 
 Descended thence an humbler sphere to fill, 
 And thence, through ragmen, to a paper-mill. 
 
 The " Whig," " Dispatch," and other papers rise, 
 To greet each morn your ever-longing eyes: 
 'Tis pleasant, sure, to sit us down at night, 
 And read the doings each may bring to light ! 
 Both in political and local news 
 These several papers teem — so pick and choose : 
 If pure Democracy invite your taste, 
 There's the " Enquirer," urging your embrace, 
 That led your Democrats in times of yore. 
 And to lead you — is ready at your door ! 
 And if Dame Whiggery woo you to her side, 
 There is the " Whig" — a paper of some pride ; 
 Whose thundering columns you commence at nine, 
 Which, if you finish, you will scarcely dine! 
 Not that their attic or their wit enchants 
 But their great length will all your time enhance! 
 
12 
 
 In all your schools of politics, you learn 
 Some weighty truths, no matter how they turn; 
 And each upon the other acts as guard, 
 So the State's int'rests may be unimpaired. 
 
 If these be irksome, — after you have dined, 
 
 In the " Dispatch" a " dessert" you may find !; 
 
 A souvenir that cools their lava down,. 
 
 When, from surfeit in politics,, they groan !. 
 
 But first, of politicians take a view, 
 
 See how they pull the " wire," apply the " screw" ! 
 
 From stumps your sylvan Ciceroes proclaim 
 
 Their own great merits, in a windy strain,. 
 
 And spin their fustian to such rustic ears. 
 
 That all they say cannot be heard for " cheers"! 
 
 But when they fulminate in public print. 
 
 Each speech goes through the Editorial Mint; 
 
 Andy as old coins that have h^Gn melted o'er,. 
 
 Receive a' gloss they scarcely knew before!" 
 
 And there they venture a rhetoric key, 
 
 Which- with originals will not agree ! 
 
 But some Demosthenes in word and grace; 
 
 May here spring up to claim a public place. 
 
 The wily politician takes a hand. 
 
 The cards his schemes, his tablB all the land; 
 
 He " shutiifes" up the pack, and " cuts" and "deals," 
 
 The voters " trumps," to whom he then appeals; 
 
 And when install'd in place, he pushes on. 
 
 With small regard for them unmix'd with scorn ! 
 
 If just and virtuous men should find a place, 
 
 All throw their "hands" up and pronounce it— base; 
 
 Then settle down on some mischievous plot. 
 
 To prove their rivals things— that they are not. 
 
13 
 
 This is political : Now let us trace, 
 
 Thro' the " Dispatch," those scenes of man's disgrace : 
 
 [ A paper, by the bye, of sterling note, 
 
 And, as its columns please^ will onward float : 
 
 Instructive, useful, entertaining, witty. 
 
 Its harvest field is this expanding city. ] 
 
 We look the " Local" head, and find in brief, 
 
 The hist'ry of the drunkard and the thief; 
 
 Those swagg'ring rowdies, of a ceaseless strife, 
 
 Whose maudlin follies eke a bitter life.; 
 
 And those whose envy bids them pluck and steal, 
 
 Might better their conditions with less zeal. 
 
 Where is their pride *? Are all their virtues gone 7 
 
 Long wilher'd by the£ery eye of scorn? 
 What think they, when their names are thus array'd, 
 Are they not shock'd,and of themselves afraid'? 
 Do they not doubt tiieir own intrinsic worth, 
 When thus they wander from their prides of birth? 
 Or are their consoienoes all sear'd and scorch'd ? 
 Their hearts encased in brass, their minds debauch'd'J 
 Their very feelings dead — existence numb'd — 
 Their souls to Degradation quite succumb'd ? 
 
 Awake, ye sleepers! if not now too late, 
 And rouse yourselves from this lethargic state \ 
 Renew the innocence you thus have lost : 
 Mate an amendment in your lives the cost j 
 And sink in Lethe all your past misdeeds^ 
 Time heals the wounds of him who inly bleeds I 
 
 Let not ray words fall on a senseless ear, 
 But let them ring a warning, deep and clear ; 
 And he who reads them, may he pause and think, 
 Ere he disports upon Destruction's brink : 
 And if in Folly he, perchance, has slipp'd, 
 Retrace his steps, in Virtue be equipp'd ; 
 Resume a steady, grave and sober course, 
 Which, with the public, has its wonted force; 
 Then all your misdeeds will be buried deep, 
 In dark Oblivion's unremember'd sleep; 
 No more to haunt you with their chilling shade, 
 Without your act— your own debasing aid ! 
 
u 
 
 Your politicians, too, may learn to curb 
 
 Those evil passions that our peace disturb ! 
 
 All can't be right— some surely must be wrong, 
 
 Though all their arguments appear quite strong ! 
 
 One seized, at times, with irony and wit, 
 
 Would mitigate his soul in one grand fit; — 
 
 Discharge upon his foe his gather'd ire, 
 
 Contain'd within a speech of many a quire ; 
 
 So fill the public ear with his appeals, 
 
 It ekes his fire and like resentment feels ! 
 
 Another launches forth with equal skill, 
 
 And rings his accents wilh prostrating thrill j 
 
 Or dives and dabbles in some muddy pool, 
 
 To torture thence some exculpating rule : 
 
 Some editorial flourish, here or there. 
 
 From Whig or Democrat, I do not care ! 
 
 By which he would support his shaken fame, 
 
 And prop the honors of his public name ! 
 
 And where, dear people, all this lime are youl 
 
 With these Drawcansars— at a " barbacue"1 
 
 Or else in forums of ihe State impal'd, 
 
 Where all this thunder would have less avail'd. 
 
 'Tis irksome, surely, in a public throng. 
 
 To listen to a speech, though rich and strong; 
 
 If there 's no dinner to be had — ahead, 
 
 To make their speech seem classic, they well read: 
 
 No smiling goblets, to proclaim the wine 
 
 T' be had before and after we shall dine ! 
 
 This is by way of comment, as I soar-— 
 As swells my verse with Helleconic lore, 
 And whether it be RAGS, or MEN, or THINGS, 
 My Muse is mistress — and can use her stings. 
 
15 
 
 ACROSTIC APOSTROPHIC. 
 
 A 11-glorious Being 1 from thy viewless sphere, 
 
 L ook down on us, the creatures of thy care : 
 
 F orgive the errors from example sprung ; 
 
 R estore our peace, when by those errors wrung : 
 
 E ncircle us by Thy prevailing love, 
 
 D oom'd to the ills that hover from above. 
 
 M ost glorious Being ! viewless and unknown, 
 I n Thee we live, and move, and breathe alone : 
 T hen, from Thy Vastness, kindly view our faults, 
 C ontracted here, forgotten in our vaults ! 
 H ope, like the dove of Noah, hovers o*er 
 E xpectancy, from this sin-deluged shore : 
 L ulled by her sweet complacency of voice, 
 L ! from our souls we hail her, and rejoice ! 
 
TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 Richmond, with all its diversified scenery, within and 
 around its suburbs, has failed to call forth the inspired bard, 
 armed with Pallasian lore, and touched with the fire Apollo 
 rarely lends to a favored few, to change the dull monotony 
 of prosaic life into a fairy scene of unimaginable ecstacy. 
 
 Prose is as a wild and rugged wood, without order, and un- 
 diversified with hill and dale, dull with monotony, and 
 gloomy with its shade. 
 
 Poetry is as a beautiful grove, spread with a rich and 
 
 lively green, interspersed with roaring cataracts and gently 
 
 murmuring streams ; with singing birds, unfading flowers, 
 
 and sparkling pebbles with varied hue; and all enchante"d 
 
 With an all-pervading spirit. 
 
 A. MITCHELL. 
 Richmond^ Fa., 1856. 
 
Z. ^^f^<^^ 
 
 5SBB 
 
 J-^ <■ ■ I'll I fiiJ f 
 
 THE 
 
 HAGIAD. 
 
 A POEM. 
 
 gy 
 
 ALi^REt) MItCHEliL 
 
 t. BAILIE, PHINTEK. 
 
 RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. 
 
 185G. 
 
SYNOPSIS OF THE DISCOURSE. 
 
 I. The poem opens with an apostrophe to the Muse, and 
 
 an impUed desire to escape a similar category with 
 the doggerel emanations of some over-rated modern 
 pretenders. It decorates a beauty in all the charms 
 «f dress, and sends her forth admiring and admired ; 
 and shews that the vestment, on which her pride had 
 heen fixed, loses at last its pristine charm, like old 
 friends in adversity, and, like them, handed down 
 to burlesque and ridicule — to the maids of her 
 household, who, with imitative pride, sport through 
 the sti-eets, as gay in their own eyes as their mistress 
 ^-as in hers ; and, also, when these last shall have 
 been disgusted (after having disgusted) with par- 
 ading their gaudy equipage, they are handed down 
 to others of a lesser grade, whose pride is kindled 
 for the time being at what to them seems so gay and 
 i)eautiful ; but now falling suddenly into the " sere 
 and yellow leaf" of old age, these last soon make a 
 Kiore congenial disposition of what was once held so 
 sacred. The ragman, like Abaddon, is destined to 
 win, let them be iailed by whatever name Vanity 
 may suggest. 
 
 II. It next shows the complete burlesque exhibited in our 
 
 thoroughfares by negroes, and their desire to obviate 
 the contrast which nature has determined shajl be a 
 line of distinction, as irrevocable as the daily appear- 
 ance of light and darkness, by a resert to every 
 device within their reach, which but sets the deformity 
 they so much deplore in a nearer view. And, also, 
 shews, where means are at the disposal of the sable 
 race, their great desire to compete, on a larger scale, 
 with the fashionable world, in the most ricficulous and 
 amusing comparisons ; — that men, whose interests point 
 them to mere dollars and cents, are blind to all colors; 
 and, though they inly chuckle, with a volume of rare 
 conceits suffused through their minds, at the time they 
 are catering to the vanity of these f(x-lorn actors 
 cannot suppress the consciousness of the ill-timed 
 service. The tailor's page, disgusted with the empti- 
 
Sl'NOPSlgj 
 
 iiess of the assumed grace of his Fable patrori, 
 suppresses a smile, but encoui'ages his vanity by- 
 inviting him to renew his call, and then wends his 
 way home. On his way, he finds many thronging the 
 thoroughfares — all uneasy in their minds, alike when 
 with nothing to do as with more than the short space 
 of life demands. These, too, supply the ragman and 
 the papei'-maker, and speculators in the article, with 
 increment, as certain as Beelzebub will reap the field 
 his agents shall sow. 
 
 III. It next shows that many are brought to rags by a too 
 great indulgence in those follies which none of the 
 wise regard and none of the foolish reward, in any 
 other manner than as a passive spectacle, admired, 
 objected to, or repudiated. 
 
 IV. It next discourses on the inordinate desire for place, 
 through the insatiable thirst for its emolument. 
 
 V. It shows the ragman as a useful agent in the field of hi3 
 
 labours, contending with pride and arrogance in all 
 the sickening forms of anti-christian display ; and he, 
 as victorious in his humble department as unwittingly 
 the means of supplying many sources of profit, pecu- 
 niary and literary. 
 
 VI. And last. It shows the gaudy dandy, possessed of 
 ample means, blessed with friends, generous and libe- 
 ral in himself, brought to rags and disgrace, an J 
 almost to suicide ; but declining this last alternative, 
 resolves to live, treads the beaten paths of men- 
 dicity and vice, and, remembering his foiuner state, 
 scorns the aliens that have been wafted by Mammon 
 to an eminence unsuitable to their anti-patrician 
 tempers ; and hence, having a classic mind to supply 
 his loss of fortune, is elevated (though degraded in 
 one sense) to an eminence sublime in comparison 
 with those who have nothing but glittering vehicles, 
 fashionable dress, castles and fine furniture to recom- 
 mend them. But he forgets himself and mingles 
 with depravity in many shapes, until his fine clothes 
 are threadbare, and he, in the end, soliloquizes on 
 their departed offices. 
 
THE RAGIAD. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Plain truths, O Muse ! befit a modern pen, 
 When its appeals are made ta sober men : 
 Not those all gitidy with the lust of gain, 
 Nor those preeminently proud in vain ; 
 But those who in themselves can trace defect. 
 And yield to others what themselves expect: 
 A heart-felt leniency, sublimely born, 
 Too chaste to censure, and too just to scorn. 
 And since, O Muse ! thy will is to inspire. 
 And touch thy fav'rites with thy sacred fire, 
 
 ! may no puling strain my Lyre debase. 
 Thus consecrated by thy Delphic grace. 
 
 My theme was rags, and of their use I sung : 
 From what had flatter'd pride had paper sprung ! 
 New from the loom, with gaudy dies array'd, 
 
 1 proved them idols of each pretty maid : 
 Old and defaced, by service or neglect, 
 They were detested by the female sex. 
 
 Gay through the town the gladden'd beauty wends, 
 From whose fair form the costly shawl depends ; 
 Her small white hands with golden rings array'd,. 
 And tasty bonnet, with its plumy shade 
 
8 THE RAGIAD. 
 
 All waving to the breeze, that gently blows 
 And woos her cheeks to emulate the rose : 
 Her small white feet, with gaiters softly grac'd, 
 And silken belt around her person plac'd ; 
 While from a nook, her golden watch suspends 
 Its lavish chain, that o'er her girdle wends, 
 And from her temples wind her glossy curls, 
 The praise of men, the envy of the girls. 
 Now this fair she, thus gay and thus attir'd. 
 Steps forth, the while, the idol most admired : 
 She on her garments looks with keen- delight, 
 Their fashion wins and entertains her sight; 
 Her nodding plumage stirs her maiden pride, 
 Her golden watch and chain adorn her side; 
 Her hand uplifted,- studded with rich: rings. 
 Attracts the light and borrowed lustre flings; 
 She glides along with soft and winning air, 
 Rich necklace grace her neck, and gems her hair j- 
 Her figur'd shawl hangs negligently grand ; 
 Her hair environed by a golden band; 
 tier glossy curls now tremble in the breeze, 
 And all, united, never fail to please. 
 The linen, cambric, muslin, and the gauze. 
 That grace her person, have their destin'd pause r 
 When rent or blemish shall their beauty mar, 
 They're thrown aside with supercilious air ; 
 tier maids or servants share these parts of dress,. 
 And, feeling flatter'd, now their thanks express.' 
 The sable maidens then their mistress ape, 
 In gaudy flounces each disguise their shape ; 
 The rich embroidery, white as driven' snow,: 
 Upbraids the ebon cheek that will not glow ;■ 
 And costly silks, that rustle as they go. 
 Attract observance that distastes the show^ 
 
THE E.AGIAD. 
 
 9 
 
 Their black and horny hands gold rings display, 
 And ruffles on their wrists, confess them gay; 
 Artistic curls o'er ebon cheeks depend, 
 The cast-ofF tresses of their Saxon friend ; 
 Their glitt'ring feathers from their bonnets glare 
 (Wave in the breeze, as church-ward they repair,) 
 Eclipse their sable compeers, and demean 
 The less conspicuous in the gaudy scene. 
 Distended gaiters their huge feet adorn, 
 Such as their peerless mistress once had worn 
 Soft silken hose, that graced a fairer leg, 
 Are now disfigured by a brawny hag 5 
 And mantelets, that girded sacred waists, 
 On sable maidens fit with much distaste ; 
 And ear-rings, dangling from their punctur'd 4ars, 
 Expose these maidens to derisive jeers: 
 Yet view'd as ladies of unrivall'd charms. 
 By negro dandies, who disport in swarms : 
 Flock tlirough the streets with supercilious air, 
 And boldly venture where their masters dare: 
 These ape superior graces, and confound 
 Just words of sense with words of labor'd sound : 
 Disguise good manners in grotesque parade. 
 And end with burlesque all they thus invade, ^ 
 The graceful wave of hand, the courteous bow, 
 The mild benignity that lights the brow. 
 Among civilians known, and oft express'd. 
 In easy blandishments, to those address'd. 
 Are counterfeited by the sable race. 
 With pompous gestures unallied with grace. 
 These sable gentlemen and dusky maids, 
 Crowd all our thoroughfares and promenades: 
 The Afric now assumes the Saxon pride, 
 The male and female these extremes divide : 
 
10 THE RAGIAD. 
 
 The mistress imitated by her maid, 
 The master by ihe gallant of the jade ! 
 Those shawls now wora by gentlemen of state, 
 (Although not always by the wise or great,) 
 As- badges to express patrician birth, 
 Or else as tokens of their civil worth, 
 Each dusky fop with impudence assumes, 
 Like some vile negress lavish of perfumes ; — 
 Thus rend'ring void, through such usurp'd abuse, 
 This civil requisite of late in use ! 
 
 Loud laughs the negro in a gaudy dress. 
 
 Elated by the metamorphosis : 
 
 First, then, to screen his contumelious wool, 
 
 O'er^is huge head a pliant wig he'd pull; 
 
 That done, in vain he'd try to change his skin, 
 
 (The changeless impress of Ham's fatal sin. 
 
 The ebon die that mingles with his blood, 
 
 Dates its first impulse from the Noean flood,) 
 
 And shun the fiat of recorded fate, 
 
 That fix'd his destiny in ev'ry state ! 
 
 Man cannot free him — to himself a slave: 
 
 Laws will not shield him from a curse so grave. 
 
 Bu , as he never can his skin elude. 
 
 His vile complexion is, therefore, endur'd; 
 
 And his small inteliecis are task'd in vain. 
 
 To mitigate the all-upbraiding stain ! 
 
 Hence, where influenced by example's spell. 
 
 His meagre soul with far-fetched fancies swell: 
 
 Drinks in the spirit of the glitt'ring crowd. 
 
 And, filled from thence with gas, is madly proud. 
 
 Now, aping his superiors, he assumes 
 
 Airs foreign to himself, and suitless plumes. 
 
THE RAGIAD. 11 
 
 The wig arrang'd upon his giddy head, 
 
 Conceal'd its native growth, which was his dread ! 
 
 The glossy locks now o'er his shoulders glide, 
 
 And rouse the dormant energies of pride. 
 
 He next proceeds to win, by dint of dress, 
 
 An elevation which the vain confess : 
 
 Forth to a tailor he at once proceeds, 
 
 (Who, wiihhis shears in hand, all custom heeds,) 
 
 And has his nieasnre taken for a coat, 
 
 Whose fashion shall atte:st tha wearer's note : 
 
 This finished, by the tailor's ready skilij 
 
 According to the sable dandy's will. 
 
 Is now examined with consummate car6, 
 
 To see that all its parts to taste adhere. 
 
 The tailor, conscious of his plastic art. 
 
 Provokes the vanity that sways the heart, 
 
 And bids the garment make its own appeal, 
 
 With speechless eloquence that dandies feel ; 
 
 His sable customer with pleasure Views 
 
 The costly vesture, with its gloss profuse, 
 
 And at the tailor's sanction, tries it on. 
 
 To see if aught is wanting ere 'tis worn. 
 
 He now confesses, with an eye of pride. 
 
 The exultations that in taste reside, 
 
 And bids his tailor send his coat and bill,* 
 
 Directly to his house on Shockoe Hill ! 
 
 He takes his leave with supercilious bow, 
 
 The tailor following with distended brow, 
 
 In much amaze at such a raree-show. 
 
 Forever prating like the noisy crow ; 
 
 With Saxon hair and anli-Saxon skin. 
 
 And nose depressed, and elongated chin: 
 
 Large eyes, diffusing forth a sickly glare, 
 
 From orbs demented in an idiot stare: 
 
 *His account. 
 
1^ THE RAGIAD. 
 
 Broad mouth, redeemed by teeth of purest white, 
 
 And lips too thick to close, compress'd and tight; 
 
 Huge feet, that flounder in an awkward gait, 
 
 And legs too spare to prop his pond'rous weight; 
 
 Long arms that to and fro incessant wave, 
 
 And innate vices tending to deprave ! 
 
 The tailor's boy, now on his errand sent, 
 
 O'fer Shockoe Hill Ms hasty steps are bent, 
 
 In quest of one w"ho lives in such a row. 
 
 On sufch a street with title on his door. 
 
 The boy, accustomed to such jaunts before, 
 
 Soon finds the house, though hidden and obscure: 
 
 The gate, Upon the street, he passes through. 
 
 Ascends the porch, a bell attracts his view ; 
 
 His hand upon the silver handle laid, 
 
 'Tis gently drawn, the surauions then dbey'd : 
 
 A giddy negress to the door repairs, 
 
 Wiih iightsonie li§art, unscath'd by daily cares : 
 
 The yielding lock the cunning key obeys. 
 
 As through the wards, with force, it winds or plays: 
 
 The door, upon its hinges, waving in. 
 
 The maid and urchin at each other grin ; 
 
 Some courtesies e::tchang'd, his business nam'd, 
 
 (In double-dealing, like his master, fani'd,) 
 
 The maid conducts him to the hall direct, 
 
 Where showy mirrors all its parts reflect. 
 
 Now, from his seat, with philosophic pride, 
 
 The sable dandy casts a glance aside. 
 
 " Come hither boy, (he said,) make known your will ; 
 
 Have you the coat I order'd, and the bill 1 
 
 Let's see that label, on the collar pinn'd ! " 
 
 (The boy display'd the coat, and archly grinned ]) 
 
 " Ah 1 good ; 'tis my address. Now let me see 
 
 If its proportions and my bulk agree:" 
 
THE RAGIAD; 
 
 And this he said, as from his back he drew 
 The olden garment and put on the new.) 
 "They do: an admirable fit indeed! 
 Your master has my thanks, the us«al meed j 
 So faithful to his trust, in this respect, 
 I scarcely in his bill can fraud suspect; 
 Which, as he chose to sign, I now will pay^ 
 And thus rtiy obligation sweep away I" 
 
 So spiake the daridyi ere tie left iiie hall, 
 His shadow trembling on the rairror'd \ira\\i 
 And forth he strode in quest of wretched gold,' 
 A tyrant that th? world has long coritrordt 
 He paid hl^ bill ^^ilH kDigHity air and grace, 
 The surlshine of the heart illunies his face ; 
 He puts the! evidence of debt away, 
 Like gcjod accountants who but once will pay! 
 The grinning urchin seeks his master's shop, 
 Waves an adieu, and leaves the gaudy fop : 
 With hat in hand, departing from th i hallj 
 He urg'd the dandy to renew his cslUj 
 As courtier-like, he twirled his pliant flat, 
 Skillful to please aild oVerstock'd with chat. 
 The street is gained, his active limbs he plies, 
 And to his master's shop, delighted flies. 
 From Clay to Marshall, now he sweeps along, 
 And joins, in Broad*.Street, the incessant throng: 
 Some wand'ring idly, little else to do. 
 And some too busy, airy dreams in view *, 
 So bent on gaining, what will scarce repay 
 The self-denial of each arduous day : 
 The idle, in extremes of folly lost — 
 The ardent, missing what they prize the most ; 
 
 1^ 
 
14 THE RAGIAD. 
 
 Instead of seeking In a raedium walk, 
 
 The hoped-for joys of which they fondly talk, 
 
 All idly they diverge to what inthralls, 
 
 Or bow to Mammon, who but few installs. 
 
 Supinely one, unheeding public gaze, 
 
 Disports through life, disdaining blame or praise; 
 
 Weds airy Indolence, and makes his life 
 
 "The fmitfal field ©f inauspicious strife ; 
 
 Another, with insatiate thirst for 7nm-e, 
 
 Woos every wave that wafts to Fortune's shore: 
 
 Tries every scheme that may advance his hopes, 
 
 Now in the light, arid now in darkness gropes : 
 
 Now flushed with prospects, sanguine of his prize. 
 
 And now oppressed wiih gloomy reveries: 
 
 Through the dull day, in irksome sufi'rance bound, 
 
 And through the night depressed by sleep unsound; 
 
 Care-worn and bafHed, as his prospects fade, 
 
 Sighs forth his soul, till wasted to a shade : 
 
 Sunfe to despondency, he bails the wave, 
 
 Tbat wafls from life to the sequesterM grave : 
 
 Or else, when flushed with hope, and borne along, 
 
 Feels, in himself, indomitably strong } 
 
 Saps ev^ry sosrce, propitious of success ; 
 
 Bars from his soal the whispers of distress; 
 
 Mounts on Ambition '^s ever-eager wings, 
 
 And dares- the utmost Opposition brings ; 
 
 Contests, undaunted, each despoiling foe, 
 
 And wins or loses either weal or woe 1 
 
 If prospects brighten, unabashed he stands, 
 
 His pride determines as his hope expands, 
 
 And naught can stay him in his mad career, 
 
 But that sad portal that attends the bier. 
 
THE RAGIAD. 15 
 
 Wild, through the town, the office-hunter bends, 
 His frantic steps, in quest of votes or fdends : 
 Each petty perch invites its fiock of crows. 
 From wkose load tong kcb more noise than music 
 
 fiows': 
 ^he hoped-for pereh is far above the ground— • 
 What all desire to reach, but one has found I 
 Each noisy crow puts in his plea for place. 
 And to attain his end all means embrace : 
 They lash each other with ikeir ciam'rous tongttes. 
 Supply their want of brains with vigorous lungs i 
 Afar we view the tumult and the strife, 
 Opposing civil death to civil life ; 
 Amidst the flock of crows the clans now glance, 
 And name the fav'rite that they would advance ; 
 Their sev'ral friends with readiness bestow, 
 Their grains of corn on each palarv'ring crow. 
 At night, the grains of corn in heaps are plac'd ^ 
 Within each heap, are chosen names embrac'd; 
 The grains of corn that now compose each heap 
 The scribes have counted, and a record keep : 
 Next day, if need be, they prolong the sport, 
 And scour the suburbs to obtain a vote: 
 Loud exaltations by the crows are made. 
 O'er every grain of corn the clans parade: 
 The highest perch, some lucky crow attains. 
 From the possession of more num'rous grains ; 
 Then other perches, nearer to the ground, 
 By other crows, with like success, are found. 
 These happy roasts are in a lofiy oak, 
 To which this flock of crows^ with rapture, look: 
 Its spreading boughs attract t:heir longing eyes, 
 And hence their efforts and desire to rise: 
 
16 TXIP RAGUBf 
 
 Its trembling leaves e^itail a fond delight^ 
 
 Shades in the day an4 gladdens in the night ; 
 
 Secures their nests and brood from prowling harii>, 
 
 Tljat ^hrjeateng in full naany a direful form ; 
 
 Where, from its bowers, they, at times, alight 
 
 Jn fruitful fields, e:?panding pn their ^ight ; 
 
 Spar over fields of jiewly planted maize, 
 
 And pldck the gl-aii) that in its furrow lays j 
 
 Jn loud harangues o'er stacl^cj of whei^l debate^ 
 
 Apd pn the grain, their empty stomachs sajle : 
 
 With u§ual cunning, previoijsly purvey 
 
 Yfee gfjound they woiild invajde, frpnj ?onje t^igji tree, 
 
 Th$f0 reconnoitre, with a r^nger'5 skill, 
 
 To sjceat or jSsrret ,oijt the lu^-king ill : 
 
 Wherg danger tbreatens, spread their ready wings, 
 
 In act to fiy from all that danger brings ; 
 
 But where peace beckons, circling in their flight, 
 
 They seem to soar away, but soon alight ! 
 
 The victors* no\v ijiie vo^iye spoils assail, 
 
 The yaunted forfeitiire of ib^ose that fail : 
 
 Loud rings the welkin with their glad huzzas, 
 
 Each chosen crow the victor- clans applause ! 
 
 Long roars the revel through the startled n.ight, 
 
 And bacchai^alian rjsels coijclijde the rite ! 
 
 And s^nce, O Muse ! 'tis thus that thou would'st scan 
 The yarying passions of that riddle, mar^ 
 O may'st thy sa.cred Iprch illume my soul, 
 And give its issues to my pen's control ! 
 
 The rosy damsel, elegantly dressed. 
 My Muse has summon'd, and her charms? £onfess'd . 
 
 * Parti?an crows, 
 
THE KAGIAP. 17 
 
 '.Chance eighteen summers haye those charms 
 
 malur'd, 
 Her name is now enroU'd in Beauty's code ; 
 She glides along, the focus of all e5'es ; 
 Her equipage, for fashion, takes the prize : 
 Her cheeks, in sooth, with blooming roses vie • 
 •The diamond's lustre pales before her eye : 
 Her graceful mouth each rosy lip reveals, 
 Which, when disparted, make their fond appeals : 
 Small tap'ring fingers, henna-tinctur'd nails, 
 Ingrafted fairly, each a charm entails : 
 Small feet and ankles, gracid with silken hose, 
 The first in gaiters, half the last discJose : 
 A forehead smooth, with no distended front; 
 Less high than broad, more rounding and less blunt; 
 Where wit may sport and playful fancy dwell. 
 Those faries of the mind's pellucid cell! 
 Then all this grace and comeliness must be 
 Deck'd in the robes on which her tastes agree. 
 When time shall soil the ensigns of her pride, 
 For more conspicuous they are thrown aside, 
 Then, that which once adorn'd this lovely maid, 
 Descends to rags, through ev'ry lessening grade ; 
 And hence this beauty serves a useful end, 
 To yield the impetus these rags attend! 
 When from her person they at first are thrown, 
 In their descent with honors they are borne: 
 First, from her hands her maids receive the prize, 
 With gratitude that sparkles from their eyes: 
 When these, her sable maideps, shall deface 
 Their pristine comeliness and glossy grace, 
 They, like their mistress, with less haughty air, 
 Cast forth their garments to more humble fair. 
 
 \ 
 
i8 THE RAGIAt). 
 
 In these, elate with pride, they now disport. 
 And then, to humbler friends, their rags devote. 
 These tear to tatters all the sacred things, 
 'Till lo! a ragman, and the welkin rings ! 
 Prone from his back a dirty sack extends. 
 Who, to its growing bulk, with skill attends : 
 His cry is^ Rags! — a doleful cry indeed — 
 But ears, however nice, the cry will heed ! 
 With pipe in mouthy much taken with his trade, 
 He seeks a house, its premises invade: 
 Its mistress, then, consigns him to her maid ! 
 The maid, delighted, trips away in haste, 
 To gather up her rags, much prized tho' base. 
 Meantime, she bids him wait within the yard, 
 'Till her return (a mandate no ways hard i) 
 Now here and there, with limely haste she sweeps, 
 And culls the cotton from the dusty heaps; 
 Shakes, and divests them of abhorrent dust, 
 For fear the ragman might express disgust. 
 This done, she ties them up and issues forth, 
 That he may weigh them, and pronounce tlie.ijr 
 
 worth. 
 With business tact he lays each bundle bare, 
 And scans their contents with prudential care; 
 Then, with his scales,* he ascertains their weight, 
 Himself and maid, alternate, in debate, 
 'Till both concur in what the one may state. 
 Their value told, he pays the maid the cash, 
 And in his bag he puts the dirty trash ! 
 Meantime, the mistress of the mansion calls, 
 Her seryant-girl within her stately walls. 
 Obedient to her call, the servant flies — 
 The mistress, on her servant, rolls her eyes: 
 
 * Patent balances used by collectors of rags. 
 
YitE RAGIAD. 
 
 IS 
 
 •The maid inquiring her supreme desite, 
 Responds to what her mistress would inspire. 
 First, in obedience to her mistress' will, 
 She bids the unquiet Knight of Rags be still! 
 Who, full as patient to endure fatigue 
 As he is competent to foil intrigue, 
 Weighs, in his mind, each misadventure's rise, 
 That shifts from him the speculative prize, 
 And, with a moral fortitude, his own. 
 Enjoys, when gain'd, what lost, he will not moan ! 
 Knows well to nerve his soul against caprice. 
 That springs, anon, to sap the heart-felt peace ; 
 Baffles that paltry whisper of dispraise, 
 That follows the detractor's dubious gaze, 
 And turns the red dilating eye of scorn 
 Back on his breast, where be has much to mourn 1 
 Meantime, the lady and her servant-maid, 
 • Had sought a closet where her rags were laid ; 
 There, stow'd away in sweetly scented bagsj 
 Were seen the long accumulating rags; 
 Forth, where they hung, the servant took them 
 
 down, 
 And bore them, proudly^ to the mult'ring clown ; 
 The clown receiv'd them with a practised smilej 
 The cunning artifice of faithless guile : 
 The maid not noticing nor smiles nor frowns, 
 Look'd oh all ragmen as a sort of clowns ; 
 And, hdnce, not sensitive about his looks. 
 No more than ladies of their greasy cooks ! 
 The ragman, in return, look'd back on tlies^j 
 i!^s on a savoury dish of lamb and peas ; 
 On which he \*^oiild, with all his heart, have din'd^ 
 Could he theif ladyships have but inclin'd ! 
 
lid.) 
 
 ^0 THE RAGUe. 
 
 But now the rags before his eyes were sphad, 
 
 And he was cat'ring for his daily bread ; 
 
 Clean, bleach'd and soft/ they entertain'd his sight 
 
 With speculations, pregnant of delight. 
 
 He viewed their quality, reserv'd and shy. 
 
 So as to seem unwilling now to buy j 
 
 But inly flattered with the glowing prize/ 
 
 That rose before his speculating ej'^es, 
 
 He search'd the bags with his accustorti'd skill,- 
 
 For linen, premium'd at the Franklin mill! 
 
 There was abundance sprinkled through the bags, 
 
 Together with the best of cotton rags ! 
 
 Agreeing with her ladyship and maid, 
 
 He drew his scales forth, and the rags he weigh' 
 
 Then took them hence when he the cash had pai 
 
 As Samson did, with Gaza's pond'rous gate, 
 
 So reel'd the Knight of Rags beneath their weighty 
 
 He bears them, onward, through the public streets^^. 
 
 The laughing stock of ev'ry fool he meets j 
 
 Safe, at his humble home, arriv'd at last, 
 
 Forth, on the floor, the irksome rags are cast : 
 
 He seats himself in contemplative mood, 
 
 The while his wife prepares his homely food j 
 
 When this is ready, with accustom'd care, 
 
 She sets her table, and spreads out the fare : 
 
 Meantime, the mind of her affianced lordj 
 
 Was busy contemplating scenes abroad ; 
 
 Throughout the realms of rags his fancy stray'dy 
 
 The adverse and ihe favor'd state survey'd; 
 
 Traced to their causes, all the dire effects, 
 
 That tend to madden those they daily vex : 
 
 Thus one, whose father leaves him land and slave's! 
 
 Devotes to frolic what (s spar'd by knaves. 
 
THE RAGiAfi. 21 
 
 He goes to college while his parent lives, 
 
 And all his energies to learning gives. 
 
 A start so promising, the sire infers, 
 
 Would lead to glory in maiurer years ; 
 
 Alas ! for him, his watchful sire is dead, 
 
 And time entangles life's delinquent thread. 
 
 A fair estate descends into his hands, 
 
 And lust, unbridled, eschews curbing bands ; 
 
 Hence, on the wings of Folly, he is borne, 
 
 Till destitution bids its minion moan ! 
 
 His Sabbaths, in gay buggies, were beguil'd ; 
 
 Usurers at the coxcomb inly smil'd: 
 
 Away, his heedless steps he turns, nor stays, 
 
 A gaudy flutt'rer in the public gaze : 
 
 Away, all heedless and entranc'd, he goes, 
 
 The fated victim of a host of woes ! 
 
 He draws his income, and the money wastes 
 
 In scenes of folly "that the young embrace : 
 
 Forgetful of his accaderaie fame, 
 
 He sinks, supinely, in the lap of shame ! 
 
 As zealous, now, in that which leaves him base. 
 
 As once desirous of the schoolman's grace. 
 
 First, with gay dress, he emulates the fop. 
 
 Whose mania, settled, interdicts a stop ; 
 
 Plays to the fool with every gaudy sign. 
 
 And wastes his substance through bis zeal to shine •' 
 
 Now, mortgages his fruitful fields assail. 
 
 His negroes, seized by sheriffs, are in jail : 
 
 The first with growing interests may respire, 
 
 The last the auctioneer will sell or hire. 
 
 And, finally, they both are swept away,. 
 
 By usury, through its omnific sway ! 
 
5S^ THE RAGIAi). 
 
 Prone in tke diist, the victim of his pride, 
 Now rolls his baleful eyes from side to side ; 
 No friend st^ps forth to pledge the tirhely aid, 
 And stay the spoiler thai may thtis invade • 
 No potent arm its wafting influence lends — 
 The want of money robs its of our friends ! 
 Now sunk, remorseful, to his low ^stale^ 
 The fallen ddndy ekecrates his fate. 
 Thus cast to poverty, and self-debased, 
 He sinks still deeper, and is more disgraced ! 
 His now unbridled lusts, in arms, conspire 
 To stifle in his soul each just desire : 
 Disdainful Infamy, through ev'ry form, 
 Impels its victim, by a direful storm : 
 Within his ears incessant hisses ring, 
 Upbraidings here, and there a witless fling. 
 The vulgar herd their feelings now express, 
 And taunt the dandy on his fading dress; 
 He, not divested quite of moral worth. 
 Contemns them as he would the worms of earth ; 
 Makes no reply to all their buzzing stir — 
 The sound falls harmless on his heedless'ear ; 
 While the}'-, attributing his silence more 
 To conscious shame, reflected from his woe. 
 Now " lay the flattering unction" to each soul, 
 And on each other eyes confluent roll ! 
 The giddy junto he surveys with scorn. 
 An impulse of sublime contempt alone ; 
 Looks in each eye, (the index of the heart,) 
 To trace their conduct to its vulgar start ! 
 He knowing these, but these unknowing him, ) 
 I'he first sees deeper than the wat'ry phlegm, > 
 The last upon the surface always skim ! 3 
 
THE RAGIAD. 23 
 
 But this, the province of superior mind, 
 The vulgar herd, unfeeling, cannot find ; 
 And, though inflated with its sembling shade, 
 They fail to imitate what God has made ! 
 Superior parts but make the object bright, 
 On which blind prejudice aspires to light 5 
 She, like that bird* that soars above its prey, 
 Guides more by scent than wisdom's mental ray. 
 While from her breast expectorations flow. 
 That taint the fairest things that earth can show ! 
 
 The mind that soars, preeminent, in fame. 
 Sublimely threads the crooked paths of shame ; 
 Looks from mendicity to Mammon's shore, 
 Unenvious of the wretch that thence may soar. 
 One gifted with bright parts, of tow 'ring mind. 
 Has seldom with these parts all tact combined : 
 Superior intellects, in trade, inthrall — 
 As fancy soars, unpinion'd trade must fall. 
 Ambitious intellect invades the skies, 
 And plucks the fruit that sordid avarice flies. 
 Gold, or its purpose, bears a plastic charm, 
 That wins to its shrine th' calculating swarm ^ 
 For this, through all the lonely hours of night, 
 They bend their intellects and trim their light j 
 No sound awakens from their golden dreams, 
 Though gold through labyrinths of labour gleams J 
 These are true poets of the Midian school, 
 Whose muses bend not to poetic rule. 
 But like their prototype, their fancies range, 
 On that per cent, that sparkles from Exchange ! 
 Like him,t they turn their moments into gold. 
 Their minds inspire as their muse unfold, 
 And what they grasp, they manage, too, to hold! 
 
 * The carrioa crow. t Midas' 
 
21 
 
 THE RAGIAD. 
 
 These speculating bards, deserve some praise, 
 In thus condensing Midas' golden rays ; 
 Their heaps out sparkle other poets' wit* 
 Which have absorb'd full fifty years to get ; 
 The heaps obtain'd, demand mankind's applause, 
 Gains hosts of friends, and e>n perverts the laws; 
 The poet's verse but wins and charms a few, 
 And these are such as Mammon never knew ! 
 Let prospects fail, and Fortune's minion lose 
 The grand emprise, whose shadow he pursues, 
 Nonpluss'd or batlled, for relief he Hies, 
 To "ardent spirits," and thus slowly dies ; 
 Or, if more sudden he would reach his end, 
 He calls, more frantic, on a surer friend. 
 But if, less hasty, with a wasting drug, 
 He fear'd to take the lite he would not hug; 
 Or, rather, shock'd with all the sudden modes 
 Of taking life, that cunning now affords; 
 He should conclude to buffet future fate. 
 And face the poverty the rich must hate, 
 Hemm'd and huddled with the meager poor, 
 He enters now on what he spurn'd before ! 
 His former friends neglect him in the street, 
 Who, with gay parties, was the first to treat. 
 The fallen master of a former fame, 
 . Now waives, at will, his once patrician claim. 
 And sinks, abash'il, among the skulking herd, 
 As much remember'd as he is revei'd ! 
 Now rags, perspective, flutter in his eyes. 
 And all his innate pride, indormant, lies. 
 Now lewdly famous with a lewder crew, 
 (Flati'rers less than those whom once he knew,) 
 
TTIE RAG IAD. ''I'O 
 
 ss'dr \ 
 
 He glides, at wilt, the oracle conCess'd, 
 Amidst a rabble, like himself; distress 
 Anoh he's ftatter'd, and anon depress'd 
 Want, like a spectre of the gloomy night, 
 With frightftrl semblance rises on his sight : 
 His clothes are threadbare, from incessant use y 
 His linen tainted vriih tobacco juice, : 
 The first dilemma, he could not avoid 7 
 The last, in sooth, he neCid not have emfrtoy'd : 
 His clothes descended from his former stale ;* 
 His mode of chewing, eschewed by the great : 
 The first, though many, were n^w worn and rent; 
 The last a cud that art, not nature, meant ! 
 Now, in adversity, and all forlorn, 
 His clothes to ribbands, from their age, arc torn ;' 
 The upper bathos execrates the low'r, 
 Superior vice affects superior show j 
 ThroCigh each decade, from eminence, he fell. 
 Each inch in vice had cost in pride an clL ; 
 And last, he held companionship with rags, 
 And thus soliloquis'd the flaunting Vags; t 
 
 " O dear companions of my better days ! 
 Your steadfastness deserves my warmest praise ! 
 Now worn and wasted by absorbing time, 
 Ye are mementos of my days of prime! 
 And fond adherents in my sadden'd hours, 
 I'fide was your germ and lethargy your flow'rs ! 
 iVhen fresh and new, you were admir'd, and thence 
 1 took you as my solace and defence; 
 Though marr'd and blemish'd, I respect you still,. 
 And shall, so long as I control my will! 
 You, like a poem from the poet's pen, 
 
 * Opulence. t Vagabonds, 
 
26 THE RAGIAD. 
 
 Have sparkled in the eyes of gentlemen ; 
 And with an eloqaence unknown in books, 
 Won that applause which is convey'd in looks ! 
 Once, sheathed in ye, I eked a sage's fame, 
 'Till rust and blemish sunk you into shame ; 
 And sooth to say, the mass proclaims as great. 
 The man whose equipage denotes his stale ; 
 Whose gleamy beaver shields a wooden head, 
 And golden watch-chain sports a ruby red : 
 With polished boots, ft were a sin to soil, 
 And curls ambrosial, blessed with scent'd oil ; 
 A dashing waistcoat, figured rich and deep. 
 From whose gay folds his gayer ruffles peep, 
 And sparkling pin, a winning lustre lends. 
 Which takes the plume among his gaudy friends ; 
 A coat, whose fi^nish, makes a tailor stare, ■% 
 And pantaloons of velvet, soft and fair, > 
 
 And other requisites— to a cigar ! ! / 
 
 This I was once, and would become again, 
 For dress, alone, supplies the want of brain." 
 
LIST OP CRITICISMS ON THE RAGIAD. 
 
 The Editor of the Dail.y National American qC 
 April 3d, thus critically ani-mad-verts : 
 
 "'The Ragiad'— This is the title of a diminu^ 
 live little volume of verses, the whole constituting 
 "A Poena by Alfred Mitchell," and published by 
 the author in this city, TJie matter and manner of 
 the * Pome' are not only original in themselves, but 
 have been treated in that n^aniier by the accomplish-: 
 ed author. The pamphlet, enveloped as it is in a 
 neat ' yellow kiver/ niust prove a great ac[,ditioi\ io 
 any library." 
 
 This is a lengthy respiration from a shallow 
 fraught. 
 
 The Editor of the Dispatch comments in a 
 shower of 
 
 The Whi^ was too busy digesting Governor 
 Wise's letter on "gizzard-foot and negro toes," to 
 attend to such small fry. 
 
 The Enq,uirer, like a watchful guardian of 
 Democracx-, was so intent on having justice done 
 that high functionary, to wit, the Governor, by 
 calling an " Indignation Meeting," that he entirely 
 overlooked the courtesy of a line. 
 
 The Editor of the Anti-Republican, so utterly 
 scorns everything in the shape of rags, notwith- 
 standing these are the wings on which he soars into 
 office, that a commentary on that subject is equal 
 
LIST OF CraTICISMS ON THE EAGIAJE). 
 
 to a dose of calomel and jalap. " Remember the 
 pit from which thou \rert digged— the hole of the 
 rock out of which thou wert taken!" 
 
 Mrs. Partington expatiates at large, in her usual 
 extra-extravagant style, and concludes by sending 
 me a bale of the article on which the book for the 
 most part treats, labelled " this is the ^^ Rag-Iadd.^^ 
 (Ragiad.) 
 
 The Editor of the Blue Gizzard, being rather 
 bilious, says all poets should be puffed with a pair 
 of bellows, and have a bell man at his heels to keep 
 time with his rhymes. 
 
 The Author of the Ragiad thinks it not indel- 
 icate to put in a word among this host of worthies. 
 He thinks the book does not come up to Pope. 
 But he will temper the vein of his Muse to a higher 
 key, when, in verse, he intends to celebrate some 
 very strange things. 
 
 The Third Book of the PtAGiAD, which is the 
 most caustic and severe, will be issued as soon aa 
 this (the Second) shall have been as iRuccessful as 
 the First. 
 
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 "^ *JL^ * * ^ Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
 
 % ^ ^<i^ *<CC\Sl Treatment Date: Sept. 2009 
 
 . -* , *> '^ ^''^w^ A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 
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 PreservationTechnologies 
 
 111 Thomson Park Drive 
 Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
 (724) 779-2111 
 
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