Perchance that very hand, now pinion'd flat, Or doff'd thine own to let Queen Dido pass, I need not ask thee if that hand, when arm'd, Long after thy primeval race was run. Thou couldst develop, if that wither'd tongue Might tell us what those sightless orbs have seen, How the world look'd when it was fresh and young, And the great Deluge still had left it green; Or was it then so old, that History's pages Contain'd no record of its early ages! lent communicative elf! range mu old nations, And countless kings have into dust been humbled, While not a fragment of thy flesh has crumbled. Didst thou not hear the pother o'er thy head, When the great Persian conqueror, Cambyses, March'd armies o'er thy tomb with thundering tread, O'erthrew Osiris, Orus, Apis, Isis, And shook the Pyramids with fear and wonder, If the tomb's secrets may not be confess'd, A heart has throbb'd beneath that leathern breast, face ? What was thy name and station, age and race? Statue of flesh-Immortal of the dead! Posthumous man, who quitt'st thy narrow bed, Why should this worthless tegument endure, HORACE SMITH. 157 The Answer of the Egyptian Mummy. CHILD of the latter days, thy words have broken Three thousand tedious years have roll'd away. Unswathed at length, I "stand at ease ye, List, then, oh! list, while I unfold my story. before Thebes was my birth-place-an unrivall❜d city, Oh! I could read you quite a Theban lecture, But then you would not have me throw discredit THE ILIAD-true it is I never read it, But heard it read when I was very young; An old blind minstrel, for a trifling profit, Recited parts-I think the author of it. All that I know about the town of HOMER Is, that they scarce would own him in his dayWere glad, too, when he proudly turn'd a roamer, Because by this they saved their parish-pay. His townsmen would have been ashamed to flout him, Had they foreseen the fuss since made about One blunder I can fairly set at rest, He says that men were once more big and bony Than now, which is a bouncer at the best ; I'll just refer you to our friend Belzoni, Near seven feet high! in sooth, a lofty figure! Now look at me, and tell me am I bigger? Not half the size: but then I'm sadly dwindled; Three thousand years with that embalming glue, Have made a serious difference, and have swindled My face of all its beauty-there were few Egyptian youths more gay,-behold the sequel. Nay, smile not, you and I may soon be equal! For this lean hand did one day hurl the lance This heart hath throbb'd at tales of love and woe, These shreds of raven hair once set the fashion, This wither'd form inspired the tender passion. In vain! the skilful hand and feelings warm, All bow'd at once to death's mysterious will, Who seal'd me up where mummies sound are sleeping, In cere-cloth, and in tolerable keeping. Where cows and monkeys squat in rich brocade, And well-dress'd crocodiles in painted cases, Rats, bats, and owls, and cats in masquerade, With scarlet flounces and with varnish'd faces; Men, birds, brutes, reptiles, fish-all cramm'd together With ladies that might pass for well-tann'd leather. Where Rameses and Sabacon lie down, And splendid Psammis in his hide of crust; Princes and heroes, men of high renown, Who in their day kick'd up a mighty dust,Their swarthy Mummies kick'd up dust in num bers, When huge Belzoni came to scare their slumbers. Who'd think these rusty hams of mine were seated Ay, gas-lights! mock me not; we men of yore Were versed in all the knowledge you can mention; Who hath not heard of Egypt's peerless lore? Her patient toil? acuteness of invention? Survey the proofs-our Pyramids are thriving,Old Memnon still looks young, and I'm surviving. A land in arts and sciences prolific, On blocks gigantic building up her fame! Crowded with signs, and letters hieroglyphic, Temples and obelisks her skill proclaim! Yet though her art and toil unearthly seem, Those blocks were brought on RAIL-ROADS and by STEAM! |