And much he loathed the patriot's snort, And much he scorned the placeman's shuffle, And cut the fiercest quarrels short, With " Patience, gentlemen, and shuffle." For full ten years his pointer, Speed, Had couched beneath his master's table; For twice ten years his old white steed Had fattened in his master's stable Old Quince averred, upon his troth, They were the ugliest beasts in Devon ; And none knew why he fed them both, With his own hands, six days in seven. Whene'er they heard his ring or knock, Quicker than thought, the village slatterns Flung down the novel, smoothed the frock, Adine was studying baker's bills; Louisa looked the queen of knitters; Jane happened to be hemming frills; And Bell, by chance, was making fritters. But all was vain; and while decay Came like a tranquil moonlight o'er him, And found him gouty still, and gay, With no fair nurse to bless or bore him ; His rugged smile, and easy chair, His dread of matrimonial lectures, His wig, his stick, his powdered hair, Some sages thought the stars above Had crazed him with excess of knowledge; Some heard he had been crossed in love, Did nothing, great or small, without him, That there was something odd about him! I found him at threescore and ten, A single man, but bent quite double, Sickness was coming on him then, To take him from a world of trouble He prosed of sliding down the hill, Discovered he grew older daily ; One frosty day he made his will— The next he sent for Dr. Bailey! And so he lived-and so he died;— Tell her I hugged her rosy chain While life was flickering in the socket: And say, that when I call again, I'll bring a license in my pocket. "I've left my house and grounds to Fag(I hope his master's shoes will suit him ;) And I've bequeathed to you my nag, To feed him for my sake—or shoot him. The Vicar's wife will take old Fox She'll find him an uncommon mouser; And let her husband have my box, My Bible, and my Assmanshauser. "Whether I ought to die or not My doctors cannot quite determine; It's only clear that I shall rot, And be, like Priam, food for vermin. My debts are paid;-but Nature's debt Almost escaped my recollection! Tom! we shall meet again; and yet I cannot leave you my direction !" III. THE BELLE OF THE BALL. YEARS-years ago-ere yet my dreams Had been of being wise and witty; Ere I had done with writing themes, Or yawn'd o'er this infernal Chitty; Years, years ago, while all my joys In short, while I was yet a boy, I fell in love with Laura Lilly. I saw her at a country ball; There when the sound of flute and fiddle Gave signal sweet in that old hall, Of hands across and down the middle, Hers was the subtlest spell by far Of all that sets young hearts romancing: She was our queen, our rose, our star ; And when she danced-oh, heaven, her dancing! Dark was her hair, her hand was white; Her voice was exquisitely tender, |