O Life! Thou Art A

God Knows, I'm No The Thing I Should Be, Nor Am I Even The Thing I Could Be.

Humid Seal Of Soft Affections, Tend'rest Pledge Of Future Bliss, Dearest Tie Of Young Connections, Love's First Snow-drop, Virgin Kiss.

Apropos, Is Not The Scotch Phrase 'auld Lang Syne' Exceedingly Expressive? I Shall Give You The Verses On The Other Sheet. The Words Of 'auld Lang Syne' Are Good, But The Music Is An Old Air, The Rudiments Of The Modern Tune Of That Name. ... Dare To Be Honest And Fear No Labor. ... Opera Is Where A Man Gets Stabbed In The Back, And Instead Of Dying, He Sings. ... Chords That Vibrate Sweetest Pleasure Thrill The Deepest Notes Of Woe. ... Critics! Those Cut-throat Bandits In The Paths Of Fame.

Then Gently Scan Your Brother Man, Still Gentler Sister Woman; Though They May Gang A Kennin' Wrang, To Step Aside Is Human.

[scottish Songs] Are, I Own, Frequently Wild, & Unreduceable To The More Modern Rules; But On That Very Eccentricity, Perhaps, Depends A Great Part Of Their Effect.