Well, the country’s a pleasant place, sure enough, for people that’s country born, And useful, no doubt, in a natural way, for growing our grass and our corn. It was kindly meant of my cousin Giles, to write and invite me down, Tho’ as yet all I’ve seen of a pastoral life only makes one […]

My pipe is lit, my grog is mix’d, My curtains drawn and all is snug; Old Puss is in her elbow-chair, And Tray is sitting on the rug. Last night I had a curious dream, Miss Susan Bates was Mistress Mogg– What d’ye think of that, my Cat? What d’ye think of that, my Dog? […]

“Now’s the time and now’s the hour,”–BURNS. “Seven’s the main.”–CROCKFORD. [Note: The exquisite wit and fancy of these verses need not blind us to their touching earnestness. They might well be printed and circulated still in the service of the great cause of Early Closing. The “Knight” mentioned was, of course, the excellent Charles Knight, […]

“A Calendar! a Calendar! look in the Almanac, find out moonshine–find out moonshine!”–Midsummer Night’s Dream. I. The by-gone September, As folks may remember, At least if their memory saves but an ember, One fine afternoon, There went up a Balloon, Which did not return to the Earth very soon. II. For, nearing the sky, At […]

Of all our pains, since man was curst, I mean of body, not the mental, To name the worst, among the worst, The dental sure is transcendental; Some bit of masticating bone, That ought to help to clear a shelf, But lets its proper work alone, And only seems to gnaw itself; In fact, of […]

“Sweet Memory, wafted by thy gentle gale, Oft up the stream of time I turn my sail.”–ROGERS. Come, my Crony, let’s think upon far-away days, And lift up a little Oblivion’s veil; Let’s consider the past with a lingering gaze, Like a peacock whose eyes are inclined to his tail. Aye, come, let us turn […]

[Note: Henrietta: The daughter of Hood’s friend William Harvey, the artist.] When little people go abroad, wherever they may roam, They will not just be treated as they used to be at home; So take a few promiscuous hints, to warn you in advance, Of how a little English girl will perhaps be served in […]

On Hounslow Heath–and close beside the road, As western travellers may oft have seen,– A little house some years ago there stood, A minikin abode; And built like Mr. Birkbeck’s, all of wood: The walls of white, the window-shutters green,– Four wheels it had at North, South, East, and West (Though now at rest), On […]

“Alas! what perils do environ That man who meddles with a siren!”–Hudibrus. [Note: The Mermaid of Margate: Charles Lamb had been reading these verses when he wrote to his friend Dibdin, in June, 1896, and called him “Peter Fin Junior.”] On Margate beach, where the sick one roams, And the sentimental reads; Where the maiden […]

‘Tis strange how like a very dunce, Man–with his bumps upon his sconce, Has lived so long, and yet no knowledge he Has had, till lately, of Phrenology– A science that by simple dint of Head-combing he should find a hint of, When scratching o’er those little poll-hills, The faculties throw up like mole-hills; A […]

Those evening bells, those evening bells, How many a tale their music tells,– Of Yorkshire cakes and crumpets prime, And letters only just in time! The Muffin-boy has passed away, The Postman gone–and I must pay, For down below Deaf Mary dwells, And does not hear those Evening Bells.[A] And so ’twill be when she […]

Oh happy time!–Art’s early days! When o’er each deed, with sweet self-praise, Narcissus-like I hung! When great Rembrandt but little seemed, And such Old Masters all were deemed As nothing to the young! Some scratchy strokes–abrupt and few, So easily and swift I drew, Sufficed for my design; My sketchy, superficial hand Drew solids at […]

It was a merry company, And they were just afloat, When lo! a man, of dwarfish span, Came up and hailed the boat. “Good morrow to ye, gentle folks, And will you let me in? A slender space will serve my case, For I am small and thin.” They saw he was a dwarfish man, […]

“The charge is prepar’d.”–Macheath. If I shoot any more I’ll be shot, For ill-luck seems determined to star me, I have march’d the whole day With a gun,–for no pay– Zounds, I’d better have been in the army! What matters Sir Christopher’s leave; To his manor I’m sorry I came yet! With confidence fraught My […]

“I really take it very kind, This visit, Mrs. Skinner! I have not seen you such an age– (The wretch has come to dinner!) “Your daughters, too, what loves of girls– What heads for painters’ easels! Come here and kiss the infant, dears– (And give it p’rhaps the measles!) “Your charming boys I see are […]

I sawe a Mayd sitte on a Bank, Beguiled by Wooer fayne and fond; And whiles His flatterynge Vowes She drank, Her Nurselynge slipt within a Pond! All Even Tide they Talkde and Kist, For She was Fayre and He was Kinde; The Sunne went down before She wist Another Sonne had sett behinde! With […]

Oh! take, young Seraph, take thy harp, And play to me so cheerily; For grief is dark, and care is sharp, And life wears on so wearily. Oh! take thy harp! Oh! sing as thou wert wont to do, When, all youth’s sunny season long, I sat and listened to thy song, And yet ’twas […]

—-Methought I saw Life swiftly treading over endless space; And, at her foot-print, but a bygone pace, The ocean-past, which, with increasing wave, Swallow’d her steps like a pursuing grave. Sad were my thoughts that anchor’d silently On the dead waters of that passionless sea, Unstirr’d by any touch of living breath: Silence hung over […]

Summer is gone on swallows’ wings, And Earth has buried all her flowers: No more the lark,–the linnet–sings, But Silence sits in faded bowers. There is a shadow on the plain Of Winter ere he comes again,– There is in woods a solemn sound Of hollow warnings whisper’d round, As Echo in her deep recess […]

FROM AN UNROLLED MANUSCRIPT OF APOLLONIUS CURIUS. THE ARGUMENT. Lycus, detained by Circe in her magical dominion, is beloved by a Water Nymph, who, desiring to render him immortal, has recourse to the Sorceress. Circe gives her an incantation to pronounce, which should turn Lycus into a horse; but the horrible effect of the charm […]