✔ THE METAMORPHOSIS

• On s'enrichit quand on dort.”

SCENE. A high stone Seat in an Alley of clipped

Lime-trees.

THE ABBÉ TIRILI.

MONSIEUR L'ÉTOILE

THE ABBÉ (writing).

HIS shepherdess Dorine adored_"

"THIS

What rhyme is next? Implored?—ignored? Poured?-soared?-afford? That facile Dunce, L'ÉTOILE, would cap the line at once.

"Twill come in time. Meanwhile, suppose We take a meditative doze.

(Sleeps. By and by his paper falls.)

M. L'ÉTOILE (approaching from the back).

Some one before me.

Monsieur the Scholar?

What! 'tis you,

Sleeping too!

(Picks up the fluttering paper.)

More "Tales," of course One can't refuse

To chase so fugitive a Muse!

Verses are public, too, that fly
"Cum privilegio"-Zephyri !
(Reads.)

Insane!

"CLITANDER AND DORINE."
He fancies he's a LA FONTAINE !
"In early Days, the Gods, we find,
Paid private Visits to Mankind ;-
At least, authentic Records say so
In Publius Ovidius Naso."
(Three names for one.

This passes all. "Tis "furiously" classical!)

"No doubt their Purpose oft would be Some Nodus dignus Vindice';

'On dit,' not less, these earthward Tours

Were mostly Matters of Amours.

And Woe to him whose luckless Flame
Impeded that Olympic Game;

Ere he could say an 'Ave' o'er,
They changed him—like a Louis-d'or.”
("Aves," and current coinage! O!-
O shade of NICOLAS BOILEAU!)
"Bird, Beast, or River he became :
With Women it was much the same.
In Ovid Case to Case succeeds;
But Names the Reader never reads."
(That is, Monsieur the Abbé feels
His quantities are out at heels!)

Suffice it that, for this our Tale,

There dwelt in a Thessalian Vale,

Of Tales like this the frequent Scene,

A Shepherdess, by name Dorine.

Trim Waist, ripe Lips, bright Eyes, had she;In short, the whole Artillery.

Her Beauty made some local Stir ;-
Men marked it. So did Jupiter.
This Shepherdess Dorine adored.

Implored, ignored, and soared, and poured— (He's scrawled them here!)

His fable on his second leaf.

(Writes.)

We'll sum in brief

There, they shall know who 'twas that wrote:-"L'ÉTOILE'S is but a mock-bird's note."

THE ABBÉ (waking).

[Exit.

Implored's the word, I think. But where,-
Where is my paper? Ah! 'tis there!

Eh! what?

(Reads.)

THE METAMORPHOSIS
(not in Ovid).

"The Shepherdess Dorine adored
The Shepherd-Boy Clitander;
But Jove himself, Olympus' Lord,
The Shepherdess Dorine adored.
Our Abbe's Aid the Pair Implored;--
And changed to Goose and Gander;
The Shepherdess Dorine adored
The Shepherd-Boy Clitander !"

L'ÉTOILE,-by all the Muses!

Peste!

He's off, post-haste, to tell the rest.
No matter. Laugh, Sir Dunce, to-day;
Next time 'twill be my turn to play.

ป

THE SONG OUT OF SEASON

"Point de culte sans mystère."

SCENE.-A Corridor in a Château, with Busts and

Venice chandeliers.

MONSIEUR L'ÉTOILE

Two VOICES.

M. L'ÉTOILE (carrying a Rose).

THIS is the place. MUTINE said here.

"Through the Mancini room, and near

The fifth Venetian chandelier. .

The fifth? She knew there were but four;Still, here's the busto of the Moor.

(Humming.)

Tra-la, tra-la! If BIJOU wake,

He'll bark, no doubt, and spoil my shake!
I'll tap, I think. One can't mistake;

This surely is the door.

(Sings softly.)

"When Jove, the Skies' Director,

First saw you sleep of yore,

He cried aloud for Nectar,

"The Nectar quickly pour,-
The Nectar, Hebe, pour!'"

(No sound. I'll tap once more.)

(Sings again.)

"Then came the Sire Apollo,
He passed you where you lay;
'Come, Dian, rise and follow
The dappled Hart to slay,-
The rapid Hart to slay.""
(A rustling within.)

(Coquette! She heard before.)

(Sings again.)

"And urchin Cupid after
Beside the Pillow curled,
He whispered you with Laughter,
'Awake and witch the World,—
O Venus, witch the World!'"

(Now comes the last. 'Tis scarcely worse,
I think, than Monsieur l'ABBÉ's verse.)
"So waken, waken, waken,

O You, whom we adore;
Where Gods can be mistaken,
Mere Mortals must be more,
Poor Mortals must be more!"

(That merits an encore.)

"So waken, waken, waken!
O YOU, whom we adore!"