Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

Or Two of them. Forthwith Despair-
More keen that one of these was rotten-
Moved me to seek some forest lair

Where I might hide and dwell forgotten,
Attired in skins, by berries stained,

Absolved from brushes and ablution;But, ere my sylvan haunt was gained, Fate gave me up to execution.

I saw it all but now. The grin

That gnarled old Gardener Sandy's features;

My father, scholar-like and thin,

Unroused, the tenderest of creatures;

I saw-ah me--I saw again

My dear and deprecating mother; And then, remembering the cane, Regretted that I'd left the Other.

TU QUOQUE.

AN IDYLL IN THE CONSERVATORY.

" -romprons-nous,

Ou ne romprons-nous pas ?”

LE DÉPIT AMOUREUX.

NELLIE.

F I were you, when ladies at the play, sir,

IF

Beckon and nod, a melodrama through,

I would not turn abstractedly away, sir,

If I were you!

FRANK.

If I were you, when persons I affected,
Wait for three hours to take me down to Kew,
I would, at least, pretend I recollected,

If I were you!

NELLIE.

If I were you, when ladies are so lavish,

Sir, as to keep me every waltz but two,

I would not dance with odious Miss M'Tavish
If I were you!

FRANK.

If I were you, who vow you cannot suffer

Whiff of the best,-the mildest "honey-dew," I would not dance with smoke-consuming Puffer, If I were you!

NELLIE.

If I were you, I would not, sir, be bitter,
Even to write the "Cynical Review" ;—

FRANK.

No, I should doubtless find flirtation fitter,

If I were you!

NELLIE.

Really! You would? Why, Frank, you're quite delightful,

Hot as Othello, and as black of hue;
Borrow my fan. I would not look so frightful,
If I were you!

FRANK.

"It is the cause." I mean your chaperon is

Bringing some well-curled juvenile. Adieu !

[blocks in formation]

spare that

poor Adonis,

If I were you!

NELLIE.

Go, if you will. At once! And by express, sir!
Where shall it be? To China-or Peru?
Go. I should leave inquirers my address, sir,
If I were you!

FRANK.

No, I remain. To stay and fight a duel

Seems, on the whole, the proper thing to doAh, you are strong,—I would not then be cruel, If I were you!

NELLIE.

One does not like one's feelings to be doubted,—

FRANK.

One does not like one's friends to misconstrue,—

NELLIE.

If I confess that I a wee-bit pouted ?—

FRANK.

I should admit that I was piqué, too.

NELLIE.

Ask me to dance.

I'd say no more about it,

If I were you!

[Waltz-Exeunt.

I

A DIALOGUE FROM PLATO.

"Le temps le mieux employé est celui qu'on perd."

CLAUDE TIllier.

"D"read" three hours. Both notes and text

Were fast a mist becoming;

In bounced a vagrant bee, perplexed,

And filled the room with humming,

Then out.

The casement's leafage sways,

And, parted light, discloses

Miss Di., with hat and book,

-a maze

Of muslin mixed with roses.

"You 're reading Greek?" "I am-and you?" "O, mine's a mere romancer!"

"So Plato is." "Then read him-do;

And I'll read mine in answer."

I read.

My Plato (Plato, too,—

That wisdom thus should harden !)

Declares blue eyes look doubly blue

Beneath a Dolly Varden.""

[ocr errors]
« AnkstesnisTęsti »