I fear much, lest some meaning, which may have crept into my verses should prove destructive of that exquisite simplicity at which I aim; however, what scholar is not inferior to the master? FAIR women win the hearts of men, It has been so, the Lord knows when- Then your mother, child, did wrong. (The last verse is omitted, not because it is too long, but because it is too broad.) From The British Press. March 3, 1813. :0: WHAT WOMEN MAKE OF MAN. I HEARD her singing lively notes, In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts To her fair face had nature linked Soft blushes would, in that sweet hour, Bright couples round me danced and played, My outstretched hands caught hold her arm, And drew her to my side. I told my love, confessed her charm ; The maiden quick replied "Here comes my husband;" then she went; The maiden even ran ! Have I not reason to lament What maidens make of man! :0: WM. E. DOUBLEDAY. He tells me that the sky above Is bluer far and brighter Than that which spans the isle we love ; Gay flowers along the margin float Of brilliant plume but tuneless throat, When shall I breathe that purer air? Fair chance of being summoned there. More musical than new Adare And Tennyson's meek Lady Clare Had not my Muse such gems to spare She would not waste a double share There is not unity of theme I grant it, in these stanzas, The subjects as far sundered seeni As Kensington and Kansas. 'Twere better if in graceful round My thoughts could move-but arrah ! What can a poet do who's bound To close each verse with Yarra? And notice here our rhythmic chords Nor do they force two little words But now, at last, we must give o'er Like those we've hitherto impressed, But how link these with Yarra ? My trickling thread of metre wells So mountain streamlet swells and swells But now my harp as mute must grow W. L. This imitation of Wordsworth's poems, Yarrow Unvisited, Yarrow Visited, and Yarrow Revisited, appeared originally in The Month, May and June, 1872. The allusion in the first verse is to J. J. Callanan, an Irish poet, who wrote Gougaune Barra, which is inserted in Bell's Standard Elocutionist. (Belfast, 1874) p. 436. -:0: A SONNET ON THE SONNET. It cheered mild Spenser, called from Faery-land To struggle through daik ways; and when a damp WILLIAM WORDSWORTH TRANSLATION BY M. DE ST. BEUVE. NE ris point des sonnets, ô critique moqueur ; Camoens de son exil abrège la longueur, Spenser, s'en revenant de l'ile des féeries, AN AMERICAN PARODY. SCORN not the meerschaum. Housewives, you have croaked The Muse with glowing pipe, and Thackeray joked Hawthorne with this hath cheered his solitude; Puffed the Virginian or Havana leaf; BULL IN THE PRINTING OFFICE. A Wordsworthian Sonnet. OH! BULL, strong labourer, much enduring beast, In growing heap, írom thy poor brethren fleeced. How woulds't thou crush, and toss, and rend, and gore, For the sad trash that issues from the same. If they would print no other works than mine, Of audience few and unfit I complain, Bull won't believe in Southey's verse and mine. All who bid Wordsworth rise for Byron to make room. Cruikshank's Comic Almanack. 1846. BILLY ROUTING. A Lyrical Ballad. FIT subject for heroic story, I sing a youth of noble fame; Of gallant Billy Routing's name! This poem, written in imitation of Wordsworth, consists of thirteen verses. It will be found in Vol. I. Miscellanies by W. Maginn, London. Sampson, Low and Co. 1885. In the same Volume will be found a rather dull imitation of Wordsworth's Excursion, entitled The Kail Pot, which originally appeared in Blackwood's Magazine for May, 1821, as did also the following much more clever parody: BILLY BLINN. I KNEW a man that died for love, His name, I ween, was Billy Blinn ; His back was hump'd, his hair was grey, And, on a sultry summer day, We found him floating in the linn. Once as we stood before his door Smoking, and wondering who should pass, Then trundling past him in a cart Came Susan Foy, she won his heart, She was a gallant lass. And Billy Blinn conceal'd the flame That burn'd, and scorch'd his very blood; But often was he heard to sigh, And with his sleeve he wiped his eye, In a dejected mood. A party of recruiters came To wile our cottars, man and boy; Their coats were red, their cuffs were blue, And boldly, without more ado, Off with the troop went Susan Foy ! When poor old Billy heard the news, He tore his hairs so thin and grey; Ohon, oh me !-alas a-day!" It could not last--this inward strife; And saunter'd here and there. At length, 'twas on a moonlight eve, The skies were blue, the winds were still; He wander'd from his wretched hut, He look'd upon the lovely moon, He look'd upon the twinkling stars; "How peaceful all is there," he said, 'No noisy tumult there is bred, And no intestine wars." But misery overcame his heart, For all was waste and war within; We found him when the morning sun Oh reckless woman, Susan Foy, To leave the poor, old, loving man, And with a soldier, young and gay, Thus harlot-like to run away To India or Japan. It winds about like any hare; And then it takes as straight a course As on a turnpike road a horse, Or through the air an arrow. The trees that grow upon the shore, But ever to be growing. The impulses of air and sky Have reared their stately stems so high, And shake their sides with merry glee- Fix'd are their feet in solid earth, But visitings of deeper birth Have reached their roots below. There's little Will, a five year's child— To look on eyes so fair and wild. He hath conversed with sun and shower, As fresh and gay as them. That dance upon their slender stem. And I have said, my little Will, A thing beyond the world's control A living vegetable soul,— No human sorrow fearing. It were a blessed sight to see And live three times as long. This parody was written by Miss Catherine Maria Fanshawe, and is included in her "Literary Remains," published in 1876 by B. M. Pickering, London. In a foot note to the parody it is stated that a distinguished lady friend, and admirer, of Wordsworth thought it beautiful and was surprised that he had never shown it to her. The same little volume contains an "Ode in imitation of Gray," in which the following lines occur relating to the purchase of a lady's hat : THE milliner officious pours Of hats and caps her ready stores, The unbought elegance of spring; Some wide, disclose the full round face, Some shadowy, lend a modest grace And stretch their sheltering wing. Here early blooms the summer rose ; Here ribbons wreathe fantastic bows; Swan-like, and as her feathers light And let it wear the graceful dress Ah! frugal wish; ah! pleasing thought; For sorrow never comes too late,— And t'other day it was my luck And listened to his outcries. Epistles round about his frame Formed quite a pretty border; Tossed here and there the missives lay In most admired disorder. His waiscoat all unbuttoned gaped, For one as unconfined of waist You might have searched wide London. But though poor Ralph no more was pitched Still suffered pain. I ne'er before So swells sometimes a huge balloon D. Lambert had been beaten by This bloated lord of letters! "What's wrong?" I asked the groaning wretch. "Say, have you 'growed' like Topsy? Is poison lurking in your veins ? Ör is your ailment dropsy?" "It's Manners' tip that's laid me low," This answer did Ralph mutter. "I'm busting, sir, with cups o' tea, And plates o' bread-and-butter!" Funny Folks. December, 1885. :0: THE POETS AT TEA. Such is the title of a series of short clever parodies which appeared in The Cambridge Fortnightly (Feb. 7, 1888). This bright little magazine is published by Mr. Octavus Tomson, 16, King's Parade, Cambridge. Four verses are here omitted, but the titles are given : Macaulay, who made it. POUR, varlet, pour the water, The water steaming hot! A spoonful for each man of us, We shall not drink from amber, With port at thirty-six ; Whiter than snow the crystals Grown sweet 'neath tropic fires, More rich the herb of China's field, The pasture-lands more fragrance yield For ever let Britannia wield The tea-pot of her sires! Tennyson, who took it hot. Swinburne, who let it get cold. Cowper, who thoroughly enjoyed it. Browning, who treated it allegorically. What a world of rapturous thought its fragrance brings to me! Oh, from out the silver cells How it smells! Keeping tune, tune, tune, tune To the tintinabulation of the spoon. Boils its spout off with desire, With a desperate desire And a crystalline endeavour Now, now to sit or never, On the top of the pale-faced moon, But he always came home to tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, Tea to the n-1th, Rossetti, who took six cups of it. The lilies lie in my lady's bower, (O weary mother, drive the cows to roost) She took the porcelain in her hand, Burns, who liked it adulterated. For, gin I tak the first, I'm fou, Mix a' thegither. |