Moral Emblems   By: Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

Contents:

NOT I, AND OTHER POEMS

I. Some like drink II. Here, perfect to a wish III. As seamen on the seas IV. The pamphlet here presented

MORAL EMBLEMS: A COLLECTION OF CUTS AND VERSES

I. See how the children in the print II. Reader, your soul upraise to see III. A PEAK IN DARIEN Broad gazing on untrodden lands IV. See in the print how, moved by whim V. Mark, printed on the opposing page

MORAL EMBLEMS: A SECOND COLLECTION OF CUTS AND VERSES

I. With storms a weather, rocks a lee II. The careful angler chose his nook III. The Abbot for a walk went out IV. The frozen peaks he once explored V. Industrious pirate! see him sweep

A MARTIAL ELEGY FOR SOME LEAD SOLDIERS

For certain soldiers lately dead

THE GRAVER AND THE PEN: OR, SCENES FROM NATURE, WITH APPROPRIATE VERSES

I. PROEM Unlike the common run of men II. THE PRECARIOUS MILL Alone above the stream it stands III. THE DISPUTATIOUS PINES The first pine to the second said IV. THE TRAMPS Now long enough had day endured V. THE FOOLHARDY GEOGRAPHER The howling desert miles around VI. THE ANGLER AND THE CLOWN The echoing bridge you here may see

MORAL TALES

I. ROBIN AND BEN: OR, THE PIRATE AND THE APOTHECARY Come, lend me an attentive ear II. THE BUILDER'S DOOM In eighteen twenty Deacon Thin

NOT I, AND OTHER POEMS

Poem: NOT I

Some like drink In a pint pot, Some like to think; Some not.

Strong Dutch cheese, Old Kentucky rye, Some like these; Not I.

Some like Poe, And others like Scott, Some like Mrs. Stowe; Some not.

Some like to laugh, Some like to cry, Some like chaff; Not I.

Poem: II

Here, perfect to a wish, We offer, not a dish, But just the platter: A book that's not a book, A pamphlet in the look But not the matter.

I own in disarray: As to the flowers of May The frosts of Winter; To my poetic rage, The smallness of the page And of the printer.

Poem: III

As seamen on the seas With song and dance descry Adown the morning breeze An islet in the sky: In Araby the dry, As o'er the sandy plain The panting camels cry To smell the coming rain:

So all things over earth A common law obey, And rarity and worth Pass, arm in arm, away; And even so, to day, The printer and the bard, In pressless Davos, pray Their sixpenny reward.

Poem: IV

The pamphlet here presented Was planned and printed by A printer unindented, A bard whom all decry.

The author and the printer, With various kinds of skill, Concocted it in Winter At Davos on the Hill.

They burned the nightly taper; But now the work is ripe Observe the costly paper, Remark the perfect type!

MORAL EMBLEMS I

Poem: I

See how the children in the print Bound on the book to see what's in 't! O, like these pretty babes, may you Seize and APPLY this volume too! And while your eye upon the cuts With harmless ardour opes and shuts, Reader, may your immortal mind To their sage lessons not be blind.

Poem: II

Reader, your soul upraise to see, In yon fair cut designed by me, The pauper by the highwayside Vainly soliciting from pride. Mark how the Beau with easy air Contemns the anxious rustic's prayer, And, casting a disdainful eye, Goes gaily gallivanting by. He from the poor averts his head . . . He will regret it when he's dead.

Poem: III A PEAK IN DARIEN

Broad gazing on untrodden lands, See where adventurous Cortez stands; While in the heavens above his head The Eagle seeks its daily bread. How aptly fact to fact replies: Heroes and eagles, hills and skies. Ye who contemn the fatted slave Look on this emblem, and be brave.

Poem: IV

See in the print how, moved by whim, Trumpeting Jumbo, great and grim, Adjusts his trunk, like a cravat, To noose that individual's hat. The sacred Ibis in the distance Joys to observe his bold resistance.

Poem: V