"Tell, tell your grief, attentive will I stay,
Though time is precious, and I want some tea."
_Shepherd_. A body might think frae thae rhymes, that Pop had been
an Eerishman.
* * * * *
"MERRY ENGLAND."
The people of England, we fear, have at last forfeited the proud title
of "merry," to distinguish them from other and less happy, because more
serious, nations; for now they sadden at amusement, and sicken and turn
pale at a jest; so entirely have they forfeited it, that an ingenious
critic cannot believe they ever possessed it; and has set himself
accordingly to prove, that, in the old English, _merrie_ does not
mean merry, but sorrowful, or heart-broken, or some such
thing.--_Edin. Rev._
* * * * *