Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 3).djvu/231

 Weeks I wait, months I wait, years all in vain I wait,
 * Ei Du mein lieber first fee, when wilt thou appear?

The soldier and sailor they dash on and splash on,
 * And, sure of their pay, scour the land and the sea;

But we peak and pine here, and long, long years pass on
 * Before our eyes blink at our first guinea fee.

Give a fee, &c.

The Church is an Eden of violets and roses,
 * The Bishop its Adam from drudgery free;

The big burly priest on his soft down reposes,
 * While we still must fag on, and cry, "Give a fee!'

Give a fee, &c.

The quack he sells wholesale his pills universal,
 * And straight waxes richer than sagest M.D.,

But we still must con o'er the same dull rehearsal,
 * And leave one or two old stagers for to pocket the fee!

Give a fee, &c.

Some men who can worship the star that's ascendant,
 * One speech from the hustings whips up to the sky;

But I, who in all things am most independent—
 * Except in my purse—in the mud here I lie.

Give a fee, &c.

Here sit I, all frozen; my youth's glowing visions
 * See-saw, like a Chinese Joss, or a Turkish Cadi.

I seek for no learning beyond the Decisions,
 * And my soul's proud ideal is a bright guinea fee.

Give a fee, &c.

My cheeks they are yellow, my hair it is grey, sir;
 * Mine eyes are deep sunk in my head, as you see;

I feel life's sear Autumn when scarce past its May, sir,
 * And still I am waiting my first guinea fee!

Give a fee! give a fee! give a fee! O force me no longer to cry, "Give a fee!"


 * 1834.

"Finally," he said, "at the age of thirty, I found my talents for the bar were small, so I gave it up. In 1841 I was appointed to the newly-formed chair of Latin Literature in Marischal College, Aberdeen." The world knows his work and his successful efforts to better the condition of his fellow-creatures too well for the subject to call for lengthy remark here. His books are extensively read, the two which have had the largest sale being "Self-Culture" and "Life of Burns." His metrical translation of Goethe's "Faust" was done in four months; his "Homer and the Iliad," which occasioned much research, took altogether ten years to complete, but was only worked at as a summer recreation. One of the triumphs of his life was that of founding the Celtic Chair in the University of Edinburgh. Here is the story:—