LETTER FROM MISS AMELIA JANE MORTIMER, LONDON, TO SIR HENRY CLIFFORD, PARIS. DEAR Harry you owe me letter— I have scarcely been out to a party, But I had such a pain in my forehead, Is the lady in white"-meaning me! I've been once to Lord Dorival's soirees, But the melody died on my tongue; In your last you desire me to mention The news of the court and the town; But there's nothing now worth your attention, They say things are bad in the city, Lady Black has brought out her three daughters, Good figures but timid and shy; Mrs. White's gone to Bath for the waters, And the doctors declare she will die. It's all off 'twixt Miss Brown and Sir Stephen, He found they could never agree; Her temper's so very uneven, I always said how it would be. The Miss Whites are grown very fine creatures, Though they look rather large in a room; Miss Gray is gone off in her features, Miss Green has gone off—with her groom! Lord Littleford's dead, and that noodle His son has succeeded his sire; And her Ladyship's lost the fine poodle, That you and I used to admire. Little Joe is advancing in knowledge, But mamma thinks he studies too hard. I don't like my last new piano, And get pa to buy me a harp. I suppose you can talk like an artist, "You were born," he will say, "Sir, a Briton,' But forgive me so foolish a fear; If I thought you could blame what I've written, I would soon wash it out with a tear! I pray, sir, how like you the ladies, Since you've quitted the land of your birth? I have heard the dark donnas of Cadiz Are the loveliest women on earth. The Italians are lively and witty, But I ne'er could their manners endure; Nor do I think French women pretty, Though they have a most charming tournure! I was told you were flirting at Calais, Yet I must say I wished you at home! I'm arrived at the end of my paper, If I ring for my seal and a taper, Adieu then-dejected and lonely, Till I see you I still shall remain, Addio mio caro-yours only— P. S.-You may buy me a dress like Selina's, For a case of his Eau de Cologne. And whate'er your next letter announces, If the French have left off the deep flounces, |