Something, I know, of this sort is related In Garrick's life. However, the man came, Wistfully, sadly, and it put him out, Although he went on steadily, but faster. There were some maladies he'd read about Which seemed, at first, most difficult to master; They looked intractable at times, no doubt, But all they needed was a little plaster; This was a thing physicians long had pondered, Considered, weighed . . . and then then he wandered. ('Tis so embarrassing to have before you A silent auditor, with candid eyes; and With lips that speak no sentence to restore you, And aspect, generally, of pained surprise; Then, if we add that all these things adore you, Tis really difficult to syllogise :— Of course it mattered not to him a feather, But still he wished . . . they'd not been left together.) "Of one," he said, continuing, "of these The young especially should be suspicious; Seeing no ailment in Hippocrates Could be at once so tedious and capricious: No seeming apple of Hesperides More fatal, deadlier, and more delicious— Pernicious, he should say,-for all its seem ing . . ." It seemed to him he simply was blaspheming. If she had only turned askance, or uttered Word in reply, or trifled with her brooch, Or sighed, or cried, grown petulant, or fluttered, He might (in metaphor) have "called his coach"; Yet still, while patiently he hemmed and stuttered, She wore her look of wondering reproach; (And those who read the "Shakespeare of Ro Know of what stuff a girl's "dynamic glance" is.) "But there was still a cure, the wise insisted, There was no knot so intricately twisted, There was no riddle but at last should be By Love-he meant Philosophy-resolved . . .” The truth is, he was getting quite involved. O sovran Love! how far thy power surpasses Aught that is taught of Logic or the Schools! Here was a man, "far seen" in all the classes, Strengthened of precept, fortified of rules, Mute as the least articulate of asses; Nay, at an age when every passion cools, Conscious of nothing but a sudden yearning Stronger by far than any force of learning! Therefore he changed his tone, flung down his wallet, Described his lot, how pitiable and poor; The hut of mud,-the miserable pallet,The alms solicited from door to door; The scanty fare of bitter bread and sallet, Could she this shame,-this poverty endure? I scarcely think he knew what he was doing, But that last line had quite a touch of wooing. And so she answered him,-those early Greeks She answered him by very simply saying, She could and would:-and said it as one speaks Who takes no course without much careful weighing.. Was this, perchance, the answer that he hoped? It might, or might not be. But they eloped. Sought the free pine-wood and the larger air,The leafy sanctuaries, remote and inner, Where the great heart of nature, beating bare, Receives benignantly both saint and sinner;— Leaving propriety to gasp and stare, And shake its head, like Burleigh, after dinner, From pure incompetence to mar or mend them: They fled and wed;-though, mind, I don't defend them. I don't defend them. "Twas a serious act, We lose the future in the present tenses!) Yet these, maybe, were happy in their lot. Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose; And some, no doubt, for Love's sake have forgot Much that is needful in this world of prose :— Perchance 'twas so with these. But who shall say? Time has long since swept them and theirs away. ✔ THE WATER-CURE A TALE IN THE MANNER OF PRIOR 66 - portentaque Thessala rides?” -HOR. “— Thessalian portents do you flout?” ARDENIO'S fortunes ne'er miscarried CA Until the day CARDENIO married. What then? the Nymph no doubt was young? She was but yet-she had a tongue! Most women have, you seem to say. I grant it—in a different way. 'Twas not that organ half-divine, With which, Dear Friend, your spouse or mine, What time we seek our nightly pillows, Rebukes our easy peccadilloes: 'Twas not so tuneful, so composing; 'Twas louder and less often dozing; At Ombre, Basset, Loo, Quadrille, You heard it resonant and shrill; You heard it rising, rising yet Beyond SELINDA's parroquet; |