tory, at Leominster,
Mass. In one of the earliest numbers of this paper, following the
example of Mr. Biglow, he published his will, which Mr. Paine, the
editor of the Federal Orrery, immediately transferred to his
columns with this introductory note:--"Having, in the second
number of 'Omnium Gatherum' presented to our readers the last will
and testament of Charles Chatterbox, Esq., of witty memory,
wherein the said Charles, now deceased, did lawfully bequeath to
Ch----s Pr----s the celebrated 'Ugly Knife,' to be by him
transmitted, at his college demise, to the next succeeding
candidate; -------- and whereas the said Ch----s Pr----s, on the
21st of June last, departed his aforesaid college life, thereby
leaving to the inheritance of his successor the valuable legacy
which his illustrious friend had bequeathed, as an entailed
estate, to the poets of the university,--we have thought proper to
insert a full, true, and attested copy of the will of the last
deceased heir, in order that the world may be furnished with a
correct genealogy of this renowned _Jack-knife_, whose pedigree
will become as illustrious in after time as the family of the
'ROLLES,' and which will be celebrated by future wits as the most
formidable _weapon_ of modern genius."
That part of the will only is here inserted which refers
particularly to the Knife. It is as follows:--
"I--I say I, now make this will;
Let those whom I assign fulfil.
I give, grant, render, and convey
My goods and chattels thus away;
That _honor of a college life,
That celebrated_ UGLY KNIFE,
Which predecessor SAWNEY[42] orders,
Descending to time's utmost borders,
To _noblest bard_ of _homeliest phiz_,
To have and hold and use, as his,
I now present C----s P----y S----r,[43]
To keep with his poetic lumber,
To scrape his quid, and make a split,
To point his pen for sharpening wit;
And order that he ne'er abuse
Said ugly knife, in dirtier use,
And let said CHARLES, that best of writers,
In prose satiric skilled to bite us,
And equally in verse delight us,
Take special care to keep it clean
From unpoetic hands,--I ween.
And when those walls, the muses' seat,
Said S----r is obliged to quit,
Let some one of APOLLO'S firing,
To such heroic joys aspiring,
Who long has borne a poet's name,
With said Knife cut his way to fame."
See _Buckingham's Reminiscences_, Vol. II. pp. 281, 270.
Tradition asserts that the or
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