He comes, the herald of a noisy world,
With spattered boots, strapped waist, and frozen locks;
News from all nations lumbering at his back.
_The Task, Bk. IV_. W. COWPER.
Trade hardly deems the busy day begun
Till his keen eye along the sheet has run;
The blooming daughter throws her needle by,
And reads her schoolmate's marriage with a sigh;
While the grave mother puts her glasses on,
And gives a tear to some old crony gone.
The preacher, too, his Sunday theme lays down,
To know what last new folly fills the town;
Lively or sad, life's meanest, mightiest things,
The fate of fighting cocks, or fighting kings.
_Curiosity_. C. SPRAGUE.
For evil news rides fast, while good news baits.
_Samson Agonistes_. MILTON.
If there's a hole in a' your coats,
I rede ye tent it:
A chiel's amang ye takin' notes,
And, faith, he'll prent it.
_On Capt. Grose's Peregrinations Through Scotland_.
R. BURNS.
A would-be satirist, a hired buffoon,
A monthly scribbler of some low lampoon.
Condemned to drudge, the meanest of the mean,
And furbish falsehoods for a magazine.
_English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_. LORD BYRON.
To serve thy generation, this thy fate:
"Written in water," swiftly fades thy name;
But he who loves his kind does, first and late,
A work too great for fame.
_The Journalist_. MRS. M. CLEMMER A. HUDSON.
This folio of four pages, happy work!
Which not e'en critics criticise; that holds
Inquisitive attention while I read,
* * * * *
What is it but a map of busy life,
Its fluctuations and its vast concerns?
'Tis pleasant, through the loop-holes of retreat,
To peep at such a world,--to see the stir
Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd.
* * * * *
While fancy, like the finger of a clock.
Runs the great circuit, and is still at home.
_Winter Evening: The Task, Bk. IV_. W. COWPER.
Here shall the Press the People's right maintain,
Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain;
Here Patriot Truth her glorious precepts draw,
Pledged to Religion, Liberty, and Law.
_Motto of Salem (Mass.) Register_. J. STORY.