By which Lord Henry's good taste would | And knew no better in her immorality
go forth in
Than to wax white-for blushes are for
quality.
Its glory, through all ages shining sunny,
For Gothic daring shown in English money.
The Gordian or the Geordi-an knot, whose There were some hunters bold, and cour
Have tied together Commons, Lords, and Whose hounds ne'er err'd, nor grey-)
-hounds deign'd to lurch;
Some deadly shots too, Septembrizers, seen From those who have few resources of
Earliest to rise, and last to quit the search
their own,
Of the poor partridge through his stubble
There were some massy members of the church,
Takers of tithes, and makers of good matches, And several who sung fewer psalms than catches.
There were some country-wags too,—and
alas!
Some exiles from the town, who had been
driven
And only think, or act, or feel with reference
To some small plan of interest or ambition
Both which are limited to no condition.
But "en avant!" The light loves languish o'er Long banquets and too many guests, although
A slight repast makes people love much
Bacchus and Ceres being, as we know,
Even from our grammar upwards, friends
of yore
With vivifying Venus, who doth owe
To these the invention of champagne and
truffles:
To gaze, instead of pavement, upon grass,
And rise at nine in lieu of long eleven.
And lo! upon that day it came to pass,
I sate next that o'erwhelming son of Heaven, Temperance delights her, but long fasting
The very powerful parson, Peter Pith,
The loudest wit I e'er was deafen'd with.
Dully past o'er the dinner of the day;
And Juan took his place, he knew not where.
Confused, in the confusion, and distrait,
And sitting as if nail'd upon his chair;
Though knives and forks clang'd round as
in a fray,
He seem'd unconscious of all passing there,
Till some one, with a groan,express'd a wish
(Unheeded twice) to have a fin of fish.
On which, at the third asking of the banns.
He started; and perceiving smiles around
Broadening to grins, he colour'd more than
And hastily--as nothing can confound
Awise man more than laughter from a dunce,
Inflicted on the dish a deadly wound,
And with such hurry, that ere he could
curb it,
He had paid his neighbour's prayer with
half a turbot.
This was no bad mistake, as it occurr'd,
The supplicator being an amateur;
But others, who were left with scarce a third,
Were angry as they well might, to be sure.
They wonder'd how a young man so absurd
Lord Henry at his table should endure;
And this, and his not knowing how much oats
Had fallen last market, cost his host three
votes.
They little knew, or might have sympa-
thised,
That he the night before had seen a ghost;
A prologue which but slightly harmonised
With the substantial company engross'd
By matter, and so much materialised,
That one scarce knew at what to marvel
Of two things - how (the question rather Though this was most expedient on the whole,
odd is) Such bodies could have souls, or souls such bodies.
But what confused him more than smile
From all the 'squires and 'squiresses around,
Who wonder'd at the abstraction of his air,
Especially as he had been renown'd
For some vivacity among the fair,
And usual-Juan, when he cast a glance
On Adeline while playing her grand role,
Which she went through as though it were
a dance
(Betraying only now and then her soul
By a look scarce perceptibly askance
Of weariness or scorn), began to feel
Some doubt how much of Adeline was real;
Even in the country circle's narrow bound-So well she acted, all and every part
(For little things upon my Lord's estate
Were good small-talk for others still less
great)-
Yet grew a little pale-with what? concern?
know not; but her colour ne'er was high-
Though sometimes faintly flush'd and
always clear
As deep seas in a sunny atmosphere.
By turns-with that vivacious versatility,
Which many people take for want of heart.
They err-'tis merely what is call'd mobility,
A thing of temperament and not of art,
Though seeming so, from its supposed
facility;
And false-though true; for surely they're
sincerest,
Who are strongly acted on by what is nearest.
Though too well bred to quiz men to their
faces,
Her laughing blue eyes with a glance could
seize
But Adeline was occupied by fame
This day; and watching, witching, con-
descending
To the consumers of fish, fowl, and game,
And dignity with courtesy so blending,
As all must blend whose part it is to aim
(Especially as the sixth year is ending)
At their Lord's Son's, or similar connection's
Safe conduct through the rocks of re-elec- However, the day closed, as days must close;
The evening also waned-and coffee came
The ridicules of people in all places-
That honey of your fashionable bees-
And store it up for mischievous enjoyment;
And this at present was her kind employment.
Each carriage was announced, and Ladies | But Juan, sitting silent in his nook,
Observing little in his reverie,
Yet saw this much, which he was glad to see.
And curtsying off, as curtsies country-dame, Retired with most unfashionable bows Their docile esquires also did the same, Delighted with the dinner and their host, But with the Lady Adeline the most.
The ghost at least had done him this much good
In making him as silent as a ghost,
If in the circumstances which ensued
He gain'd esteem where it was worth the
And certainly Aurora had renew'd
In him some feelings he had lately lost
Or harden'd; feelings which, perhaps ideal,
Are so divine, that I must deem them real: —
The love of higher things and better days; The unbounded hope, and heavenly igno
Of what is call'd the world and the world's
The moments when we gather from a glance
Meanwhile sweet Adeline deserved their More joy than from all future pride or
By an impartial indemnification
For all her past exertion and soft phrases,
In a most edifying conversation,
Which turn'd upon their late guests' miens
and faces,
And families, even to the last relation;
Their hideous wives, their horrid selves
and dresses,
And truculent distortion of their tresses.
Which kindle manhood, but can ne'er entrance
The heart in an existence of its own, Of which another's bosom is the zone.
Who would not sigh At aι тav Kv‡egriav! That hath a memory, or that had a heart? Alas! her star must wane like that of Dian; Ray fades on ray, as years on years depart. Anacreon only had the soul to tie an
True, she said little 'twas the rest that Unwithering myrtle round the unblunted
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