She was the daughter of a Dean,
Rich, fat, and rather apoplectic;
She had one brother, just thirteen,
Whose colour was extremely hectic;
Her grandmother for many a year
Had fed the parish with her bounty;
Her second cousin was a peer,
And Lord Lieutenant of the County.
But titles, and the three per cents,

And mortgages, and great relations,
And India bonds, and tithes, and rents,
Oh, what are they to love's sensations?
Black eyes, fair forehead, clustering locks -
Such wealth, such honours, Cupid chooses;
He cares as little for the Stocks,

As Baron Rothschild for the Muses.

She sketched; the vale, the wood, the beach, Grew lovelier from her pencil's shading: She botanised; I envied each

Young blossom in her boudoir fading: She warbled Handel; it was grand;

23

31

40

48

56

FOR AN

PROLOGUE

72

80

88

96

104

AMATEUR PERFORMANCE OF "THE HONEYMOON"

"We want" the Duchess said to me to-day, "We want, fair sir, a prologue for our play.

A charming play to show a charming robe in.

"A prologue!" I made answer; "if you need one, In every street and square your Grace may read one."

"Cruel Papa! don't talk about Sir Harry!" So Araminta lisped; - "I'll never marry;

I loathe all men; such unromantic creatures! The coarsest tastes, and ah! the coarsest features! Betty! the salts! I'm sick with mere vexa

tion,

II

To hear them called the Lords of the Creation:

They swear fierce oaths, they seldom say their

prayers;

And then, they shed no tears, — unfeeling

But lo! where Laura, with a frenzied air,
Seeks her kind cousin in her pony chair,
And, in a mournful voice, by thick sobs broke
Cries, "Yes, dear Anne! the favours are bespoke,
I am to have him; - so my friends decided;
The stars knew quite as much of it as I did!
You know him, love; he is so like a mummy:·
I wonder whether diamonds will become me!
He talks of nothing but the price of stocks;
However, I'm to have my opera box