The gentleman that moves on wires- The music stops,-the lights expire,The dance is o'er,-the crowds retire; And all those smiling cheeks have flown! Away!—the rhymer is alone. Thou, too, the fairest and the best, Thy name he will not, love! unite But thou art gone!-what doth he here i TO JULIO, ON HIS COMING OF AGE. JULIO, while Fancy's tints adorn Count o'er the friends whom erst you knew, When careless boyhood deemed them true,— With whom you wiled the lazy hours Round fond Etona's classic towers, Or strayed beside the learned mud Of ancient Cam's meandering flood; The follies that in them you view, Shall be a source of good to you. With mincing gait, and foreign air, Aptly the manling's tongue, I deem, And hence the motley crowd who e'er Bear Fashion's badge, or wish to bear, From Hockley Hole to Rotten Row, Unite to dub Sir Philip-beau. And such is Fashion's empty fameSquire Robert loathes the very name; The rockets hiss, the bonfires blaze, The peasants gape in still amaze; The field unploughed-the ox unyoked, The farmer's mouth with pudding choked, The sexton's vest of decent brown, The village maiden's Sunday gown, In joyful union seem to say, "Squire Robert is of age to-day." The bumpkins hurry to the Bell, And clam'rous tongues in riot swell; Anger is hot-and so is liquor; They drink confusion to the VicarAnd shout and song from lad and lass, And broken heads-and broken glass, In concert horrible, declare Their loyal reverence for the heir. Right justly may the youthful Squire These transports in his slaves inspire; At every fireside through the place He's welcome as the curate's grace; He tells his story, cracks his joke, And drinks his ale "like other folk;" Fearless he risks that cranium thick At cudgelling and single-stick; And then his stud!-why! far and wide It is the county's chiefest pride! Ah! had his steed no firmer brains Than the mere thing that holds the reins, Grief soon would bid the beer to run Because the Squire's mad race was done, Not less than now it froths away, Because "the Squire's of age to-day." Far different pomp inspired of old The youthful Roman's bosom bold, Soon as a father's honoured hand Gave to his grasp the casque and brand, And off the light prætexta threw, And from his neck the bulla drew, Go forth-and be thy country's son." Such was the hope, the barbarous joy, That nerved to arms the German boy; A flame as ardent, more refined, Shall brightly glow in Julio's mind; But yet I'd rather see thee smile Grimly on war's embattled file, I'd rather see thee wield in strife The German butcher's reckless knife, Thinking thy claims to manhood grow From each pale corse that bleeds below;-I'd rather view thee thus,-than see A modern blockhead rise in thee. |