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"LOVE'S LABOUR LOST."

LOVE AND LUNACY.

THE MOON-who does not love the silver moon,

.

In all her fantasies and all her phases?

Whether full-orb'd in the nocturnal noon,

Shining in all the dewdrops on the daisies,
To light the tripping Fairies in their mazes,
Whilst stars are winking at the pranks of Puck;

Or huge and red, as on brown sheaves she gazes; Or new and thin, when coin is turn'd for luck ;—

Who will not say that Dian is a duck?

D

But, oh! how tender, beautiful, and sweet,

When in her silent round, serene, and clear,
By assignation loving fancies meet,

To recompense the pangs of absence drear!
So Ellen, dreaming of Lorenzo, dear,
But distant from the city mapp'd by Mogg,

Still saw his image in that silver sphere,

Plain as the Man with lantern, bush, and dog, j That used to set our ancestors a-gog.

And so she told him in a pretty letter,

That came to hand exactly as Saint Meg's

Was striking ten-eleven had been better;

For then he might have eaten six more eggs,
And both of the bedevill'd turkey-legs,

With relishes from East, West, North, and South,
Draining, beside, the teapot to the dregs;
Whereas a man, whose heart is in his mouth,
Is rather spoilt for hunger and for drouth.

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And so the kidneys, broiling hot, were wasted;
The brawn-it never enter'd in his thought;
The grated Parmesan remain'd untasted;

The potted shrimps were left as they were bought,
The capelings stood as merely good for nought,
The German sausage did not tempt him better,

Whilst Juno, licking her poor lips, was taught There's neither bone nor skin about a letter,

Gristle, nor scalp, that one can give a setter.

Heav'n bless the man who first devis'd a mail!
Heav'n bless that public pile which stands concealing

The Goldsmiths' front with such a solid veil!

Heav'n bless the Master, and Sir Francis Freeling,

The drags, the nags, the leading or the wheeling,
The whips, the guards, the horns, the coats of scarlet,
The boxes, bags, those evening bells a-pealing!

Heav'n bless, in short, each posting thing, and varlet,
That helps a Werter to a sigh from Charlotte.

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