I tried to laugh, old care to tickle, yet could not "Tickle" touch; And then, alack! I missed my "Mickle," and surely Mickle's much. 66 Hughes"; 'Tis quite enough my griefs to feed, my sorrows to excuse, 66 My life is ebbing fast away; I suffer from these shocks, They still have made me slight returns, and thus my griefs divide; For O! they cured me of my "Burns," and eased my "Akenside." But all I think I shall not say, nor let my anger burn, For, as they never found me "Gay," they have not left me "Sterne." CONTENTMENT. Oliver Wendell Holmes. "Man wants but little here below." Little I ask; my wants are few; I only wish a hut of stone, And close at hand is such a one, Plain food is quite enough for me; Three courses are as good as ten; Thank Heaven for three. Amen! I care not much for gold or land; Give me a mortgage here and there, Some good bank stock,- some note of hand, I only ask that Fortune send A little more than I shall spend For much good or much bad they are debtors But before with their A B C they start, There are things in morals, as well as art, That play a very important part "Impressions before the letters." Dame Education begins the pile, If the Lady's maid or Gossip the Nurse Even thus with little Miss Kilmansegg, Ere her Governess came, or her masters Had "cramm'd" her beforehand, and put her mind Long before her A B and C, They had taught her by heart her L. S. D. And how she was born a great Heiress; Like Her Worship the Lady May-ress. With a book of Leaf Gold for a Primer. The very metal of merit they told, And praised her for being as "good as gold!" They praised her falls, as well as her walk, They praised—how they praised — her very small talk, As if it fell from a Solon; Or the girl who at each pretty phrase let drop A ruby comma, or pearl full-stop, Or an emerald semi-colon. They praised her spirit, and now and then, And when he got raps, and taps, and slaps, They told him how Lords would court that hand, While he rubb'd, poor soul, His carroty poll, That his hair had been pull'd by 66 a Hairess." Such were the lessons from maid and nurse, Giving an appetite so perverse Fresh diet whereon to batten The books to teach the verbs and nouns, Were in crimson silk, with gilt edges; Her Butler, and Enfield, and Entick-in short Look'd like Souvenirs, Keepsakes, and Pledges. Old Johnson shone out in as fine array As he did one night when he went to the play; For Howell and James's Editions. Novels she read to amuse her mind, And a father-in-law so wealthy and grand He could give cheque-mate to Coutts in the Strand; So, along with a ring and posy, He endows the Bride with Golconda off hand, Plays she perused- but she liked the best Of money so ready that right or wrong Then Eastern Tales she loved for the sake And the thousand pieces they put in it- |