_Verses on Shipmoney._--
"A coppy of certaine Verses dispersed in and about London in febr.
1634 in ye 10th year of ye Raigne of ye King Charls occasioned by
ye eager prosecucon of Shipmoney, and Imprisonm'ts therefore.
"The Cittie Cofers abounding with Treasure,
Can pay this ship Tribute, and doe poor men pleasure
To save that Pelfe: the more is the pitty,
The Grey Cloaks divide it and yet tax the Citty.
A p'sent there being small occasion for Gold
Hast thether Collectors, 'tis time it were tould
And taken from such citty Asses:
Mony whom sly Proiects easily passes,
And speedily conveyt to Court
Wher they to see it will make sport,
And set out Shipps from Puddle dock
To scoure ye seas. A pretty mock
"If that this ship Tribute be not speedily paid
Pycrust Lord Maior saith in Newgate you shall be laid,
Wher you shall see rogues, theeves, and vile knaves,
Yet none so bad as are Tributarie Slaves.
"If men like Pycrust could make so great gain
As xx'ty in ye hundred to Irish mens paine
For moneys lent, some reason ther were,
To pay this ship Tribute w'thout wit or feare.
"O crewell hard Pycrust though pay all men must
This crewell hard Tribute cause thou art uniust
And favourest this Project, when laid in thy grave
All good men will say then: Parkhurst was a knave.
"Finis." (From a MS. at Oxford.)
_Columbus's Bust, &c. at Havanna._--In case you do not happen to possess
a correct copy of the inscription on Columbus's bust and tablet in the
cathedral at Havanna, I send you one, and my translation of it, for the
benefit of those who may not make out the force and beauty of the
"éloge."
"O restos e imagen del grande Colon,
Mil siglos durad guardados en la urna,
Y en la remembranza de nuestra nacion!"
"O remains and image of the great Columbus,
[ages]
For a thousand centuries rest ye securely in this urn,
And in the remembrance of our nation."
The bust is a mean and ill-executed one; although a late "lady"
authoress _has_ a different opinion of its merits. It is stiff and
wooden-looking, and, still worse, the right cheek, and _side of the head
too_, are comparatively _flattened_. Within it, built into the wall, are
the "restos," the dust and bones, in the urn. Beneath the epitaph is a
date of "1822"--the year, I presume, of the bust being "set up." It
stands abreast of the altar, and on the right hand, the head of the bust
being about six feet from the ground. I visited the interesting spot
only a few days ago, as soon as possible after my landing, for the first
time, in that truly noble city the Havana (or, in the Spanish, Habana).