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Up rose the Reverend Doctor Brown;

Up rose the Doctor's 〃winsome marrow〃;

The lady laid her knitting down;

Her husband clasped his ponderous Barrow;

Whate'er the stranger's caste or creed;

Pundit or papist; saint or sinner;

He found a stable for his steed;

And welcome for himself; and dinner。



If; when he reached his journey's end;

And warmed himself in court or college;

He had not gained an honest friend;

And twenty curious scraps of knowledge; …

If he departed as he came;

With no new light on love or liquor; …

Good sooth; the traveller was to blame;

And not the Vicarage; nor the Vicar。



His talk was like a stream which runs

With rapid change from rocks to roses;

It slipped from politics to puns;

It passed from Mahomet to Moses;

Beginning with the laws which keep

The planets in their radiant courses;

And ending with some precept deep

For dressing eels or shoeing horses。



He was a shrewd and sound divine;

Of loud Dissent the mortal terror;

And when; by dint of page and line;

He 'stablished Truth; or startled Error;

The Baptist found him far too deep;

The Deist sighed with saving sorrow;

And the lean Levite went to sleep

And dreamed of tasting pork to…morrow。



His sermon never said or showed

That Earth is foul; that Heaven is gracious;

Without refreshment on the road

From Jerome; or from Athanasius;

And sure a righteous zeal inspired

The hand and head that penned and planned them;

For all who understood; admired;

And some who did not understand them。



He wrote; too; in a quiet way;

Small treatises; and smaller verses;

And sage remarks on chalk and clay;

And hints to noble lords and nurses;

True histories of last year's ghost;

Lines to a ringlet or a turban;

And trifles to the Morning Post;

And nothings for Sylvanus Urban。



He did not think all mischief fair;

Although he had a knack of joking;

He did not make himself a bear;

Although he had a taste for smoking;

And when religious sects ran mad;

He held; in spite of all his learning;

That if a man's belief is bad;

It will not be improved by burning。



And he was kind; and loved to sit

In the low hut or garnished cottage;

And praise the farmer's homely wit;

And share the widow's homelier pottage。

At his approach complaint grew mild;

And when his hand unbarred the shutter;

The clammy lips of Fever smiled

The welcome which they could not utter。



He always had a tale for me

Of Julius Caesar or of Venus;

From him I learned the rule of three;

Cat's…cradle; leap…frog; and Quae genus。

I used to singe his powdered wig;

To steal the staff he put such trust in;

And make the puppy dance a jig

When he began to quote Augustine。



Alack; the change!  In vain I look

For haunts in which my boyhood trifled;

The level lawn; the trickling brook;

The trees I climbed; the beds I rifled。

The church is larger than before;

You reach it by a carriage entry:

It holds three hundred people more;

And pews are fitted up for gentry。



Sit in the Vicar's seat; you'll hear

The doctrine of a gentle Johnian;

Whose hand is white; whose voice is clear;

Whose phrase is very Ciceronian。

Where is the old man laid?  Look down;

And construe on the slab before you:

〃Hic jacet Gulielmus Brown;

Vir nulla non donandus lauru。〃



Winthrop Mackworth Praed '1802…1839'





THE BELLE OF THE BALL…ROOM



Years; years ago; ere yet my dreams

Had been of being wise or witty;

Ere I had done with writing themes;

Or yawned o'er this infernal Chitty; …

Years; years ago; while all my joy

Were in my fowling…piece and filly;

In short; while I was yet a boy;

I fell in love with Laura Lilly。



I saw her at the County Ball;

There; when the sounds 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 then she danced; … oh; heaven; her dancing!



Dark was her hair; her hand was white;

Her voice was exquisitely tender;

Her eyes were full of liquid light;

I never saw a waist so slender;

Her every look; her every smile;

Shot right and left a score of arrows;

I thought 'twas Venus from her isle;

And wondered where she'd left her sparrows。



She talked of politics or prayers; …

Of Southey's prose; or Wordsworth's sonnets;

Of danglers or of dancing bears;

Of battles; or the last new bonnets;

By candle…light; at twelve o'clock;

To me it mattered not a tittle;

If those bright lips had quoted Locke;

I might have thought they murmured Little。



Through sunny May; through sultry June;

I loved her with a love eternal;

I spoke her praises to the moon;

I wrote them to the Sunday Journal。 

My mother laughed; I soon found out

That ancient ladies have no feeling:

My father frowned; but how should gout

See any happiness in kneeling?



She was the daughter of a dean;

Rich; fat; and rather apoplectic;

She had one brother just thirteen;

Whose color was extremely hectic;

Her grandmother; for many a year;

Had fed the parish with her bounty;

Her second cousin was a peer;

And lord…lieutenant of the county。



But titles and the three…per…cents;

And mortgages; and great relations;

And India bonds; and tithes and rents;

Oh; what are they to love's sensations?

Black eyes; fair forehead; clustering locks; …

Such wealth; such honors; Cupid chooses;

He cares as little for the stocks;

As Baron Rothschild for the Muses。



She sketched; the vale; the wood; the beach;

Grew lovelier from her pencil's shading;

She botanized; I envied each

Young blossom in her boudoir fading:

She warbled Handel; it was grand; …

She made the Catilina jealous;

She touched the organ; I could stand

For hours and hours to blow the bellows。



She kept an album; too; at home;

Well filled with all an album's glories;

Paintings of butterflies and Rome;

Patterns for trimmings; Persian stories;

Soft songs to Julia's cockatoo;

Fierce odes to famine and to slaughter;

And autographs of Prince Leboo;

And recipes for elder…water。



And she was flattered; worshipped; bored;

Her steps were watched; her dress was noted;

Her poodle…dog was quite adored;

Her sayings were extremely quoted。

She laughed; and every heart was glad;

As if the taxes were abolished;

She frowned; and every took was sad;

As if the opera were demolished。



She smiled on many just for fun; …

I knew that there was nothing in it;

I was the first; the only one

Her heart had thought of for a minute。

I knew it; for she told me so;

In phrase which was divinely moulded;

She wrote a charming hand; and oh;

How sweetly all her notes were folded!



Our love was like most other loves; …

A little glow; a little shiver;

A rosebud and a pair of gloves;

And 〃Fly Not Yet;〃 upon the river;

Some jealousy of some one's heir;

Some hopes of dying broken…hearted;

A miniature; a lock of hair;

The usual vows; … and then we parted。



We parted: months and years rolled by;

We met again four summers after。

Our parting was all sob and sigh; …

Our meeting was all mirth and laughter;

For; in my heart's most secret cell;

There had been many other lodgers;

And she was not the ball…room's belle;

But only Mrs。 … Something … Rogers。



Winthrop Mackworth Praed '1802…1839'





THE FINE OLD ENGLISH GENTLEMAN



I'll sing you a good old song;

Made by a good old pate;

Of a fine old English gentleman

Who had an old estate;

And who kept up his old mansion

At a bountiful old rate;

With a good old porter to relieve

The old poor at his gate;

Like a fine old English gentleman

All of the olden time。



His hall so old was hung around

With pikes and guns and bows;

And swords; and good old bucklers;

That had stood some tough old blows;

'Twas there 〃his worship〃 held his state

In doublet and trunk hose;

And quaffed his cup of good old sack;

To warm his good old nose;

Like a fine old English gentleman

All of the olden time。



When winter's cold brought frost and snow;

He opened house to all;

And though threescore and ten his years;

He featly led the ball;

Nor was the houseless wanderer

E'er driven from his hall;

For while he feasted all the great;

He ne'er forgot the small;

Like a fine old English gentleman

All of the olden time。



But time; though old; is strong in flight;

And years rolled swiftly by;

And Autumn's falling leaves proclaimed

This good old man must die!

He laid him down right tranquilly;

Gave up life's latest sigh;

And mournful stillness reigned around;

And tears bedewed each eye;

For this fine old English gentleman

All of the olden time。



Now surely this is better far

Than all the new parade

Of theaters and fancy balls;

〃At home〃 and masquerade:

And much more economical;

For all his bills were paid;

Then leave your new vagaries quite;

And take up the old trade

Of a fine old English gentleman;

All of the olden time。



Unknown





A TERNARIE OF LITTLES; UPON A PIPKIN OF JELLY SENT TO A LADY



A Little Saint best fits a little Shrine;

A little Prop best fits a little Vine;

As my small Cruse best fits my little Wine。



A little Seed best fits a little Soil;

A little Trade best fits a little Toil;

As my small Jar best fits my little Oil。



A little Bin best fits a little Bread;

A little Garland fits a little Head;

As my small Stuff best fits my little Shed。



A little Hearth best fits a little Fire;

A little Chapel fits a little Quire;

As my small Bell best fits my little Spire。



A little Stream best fits a little Boat;

A little Lead best fits a little Float;

As my small Pipe best fits my little Note。



A little Meat best fits a little Belly;

As sweetly; lady; give me leave to tel

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