rth!
I would not be Jove, the cloud-compelling,
Though he offer'd me Juno and Venus both
In exchange for one smile of my fairy Ellen!

A BACHELOR'S COMPLAINT.

They 're stepping off, the friends I knew,
They 're going one by one;
They 're taking wives to tame their lives,
Their jovial days are done;
I can't get one old crony now
To join me in a spree;
They've all grown grave, domestic men,
They look askance on me.

I hate to see them sober'd down,
The merry boys and true,
I hate to hear them sneering now
At pictures fancy drew;
I care not for their married cheer,
Their puddings and their soups,
And middle-aged relations round,
In formidable groups.

And though their wife perchance may have
A comely sort of face,
And at the table's upper end
Conduct herself with grace,
I hate the prim reserve that reigns,
The caution and the state,
I hate to see my friend grow vain
Of furniture and plate.

Oh, give me back the days again,
When we have wander'd free,
And stole the dew from every flower,
The fruit from every tree;
The friends I loved they will not come,
They've all deserted me;
They sit at home and toast their toes,
Look stupid and sip tea.

Alas! alas! for years gone by,
And for the friends I've lost;
When no warm feeling of the heart
Was chill'd by early frost.
If these be Hymen's vaunted joys,
I'd have him shun my door,
Unless he quench his torch, and live
Henceforth a bachelor.

WILLIAM BENNET.

William Bennet was born on the 29th September, 1802, in the parish of
Glencairn, and county of Dumfries. He first wrote verses while
apprenticed to a mechanic in a neighbouring parish. In his nineteenth
year he published a volume of poems, which excited some attention, and
led to his connexion with the newspaper press. He became a regular
contributor to the _Dumfries Courier_, edited by the ingenious John
M'Diarmid; and in 1825 and the following year conducted the _Dumfries
Magazine_, in which appeared many interesting articles from his pen. In
December 1826, he became editor of the _Glasgow Free Press_, which
supported the liberal cause during the whole of the Reform Bill
struggle. Along with Sir Daniel Sandford, he afterwards withdrew from
the Whig party, and established