To Thetford then, our sport being done, In honour of the fair: And as the merry chorus rise, THE WHALE. On Tuesday, November 5th 1816, was found off the buoy of the Rough near Harwich a dead Whale, and on the following day it was towed into the harbour. This aquatic prize was made by Jobson and Baker, of Ipswich, in company with a vessel belonging to Colchester: and as it was found beyond the jurisdictional limits of any port, it was of course the sole property of the captors. On Thursday, it was towed up the Orwell, as high as Dunham Reach, which could not have been affected but for the spring tides. On Friday, the operation of cutting up commenced; and as from the circumstances in which it was found, it was in a very fair state, the produce, it is supposed, was con + Richard Gardiner Esq. the eldest son of the Rev. John Gardiner, LL. D. Rector of great Massingham and Brunsted, in Norfolk, and Perpetual Curate of St. Gregory and St. Giles, in the City of Norwich. See " Memoirs of the Life and writings, Prose and Verse, of Richard Gardiner, Esq. alias Dick Merry-Fellow, of serious and facetious Memory! London, 1782," 8vo. John Shadwell, of Buxton Lodge, near Thetford, Esq. siderableIt is conjectured from 300£ to 500£. It was a female; and its length was from 68 to 70 feet; and the diameter of its body about 18. Its sides were striped, or rather ribbed, so that in floating up the river, it resembled a clinker-built vessel, bottom upwards. The animal was supposed to have met with some accident, as it was materially injured on the back. Vast numbers of people, almost the whole population of Ipswich, men, women and children, assembled on the Shore on Thursday to behold this immense native of the ocean; but in standing to the leeward of the carcase, the stench was almost intolerably offensive. RELIEVED are our tongues from a formal routine Of remarks on the weather, and "how have you "been ;" How kind was the wind, and how lucky the sail, That brought to our coast this astonishing WHALE. What scandal and slander are chas'd by this creature From tea table chat, where the dullest in feature Attentively listens to ev'ry strange tale, That is told of the different parts of this WHALE. Old books, full of dust, from the shelves taken down, Are read by the knowing ones all o'er the town; But they find no description of stench in the gale, That blows o'er the ooze from this putrified WHALE. Yet pieces, as relicks, for years will be shewn, Some say 'tis a young one, at most but half grown, Others think from its size it has young of its own; But wander'd from home, in our seas to regale, 'Till death clos'd its errors-unfortunate WHALE. But be this as it may-each beholder no doubt, |