That should be Brother unto Brother,- To fill the Civic chair, O Lud, I say, Was there no better day To fix on, than November Ninth so shivery The Brazier's brass, Soiling th' Embroiderers and all the Saddlers, Draggling the Curriers, And making Merchant Tailors dirty paddlers: And turning the Distiller To cold without instead of warm within;- Of Wax-chandlers and Weavers, Plastering the Plasterers and spotting Mercers, Hearty November-cursers And showing Cordwainers and dapper Drapers Sadly in want of brushes and of scrapers; Making the Grocer's company not fit For Company a bit; Dying the Dyers with a dingy flood, And leading the Patten-makers, "This is a sorry sight," To quote Macbeth—but oh, it grieves me quite Sitting at open windows catching rheums, With eyes you cannot see above one pair, For city clouds of black and yellow And artificial flowers, rose, leaf, and bud, And grim daffodilies Drooping, but not for drought, O Lud! O Lud! I may as well, while I'm inclined, O Lud! then, with a bitter air, say June, A little French if I may martyr— Do change your day To some time when your Show can really show; Look at your Sweepers, how they shine in May Have it when there's a sun to gild the coach, And sparkle in tiara-bracelet-broochDiamond-or paste—of sister, mother, daughter; When grandeur really may be grand— But if thy Pageant's thus obscured by land- I call, like Blue Beard's wife, to sister Anne, Chewing a saffron bun by way of cud, To keep the fog out of a tender lung, Now Sister Anne, I call to thee, Of course about the bridge you view them rally With many a wherry, sculler, punt, and cutter; Of course you see the Lord Mayor's coach aquatic, And men in scarlet rowing, Like Doge of Venice to the Adriatic; Of course you see all this, O Sister Anne? I only see the edge of Beaufort Wharf, Two little boys are jumping over posts; That's rather like the shadow of a dog, If there be any thing so fine and bright, No banners blow; The show is merely a gallanty-show, But sister Anne, my dear, Although you cannot see, you still may hear? Of course you hear, I'm very sure of that, The "Water parted from the Sea" in C, Or "Where the Bee sucks," set in B; Or Huntsman's chorus from the Freyschutz frightful, Or Handel's Water Music in A flat. Oh music from the water comes delightful! It sounds as no where else it can: You hear it first, In some rich burst, Tenderly dying Away upon the breezes, Sister Anne. "There is no breeze to die on; And all their drums and trumpets, flutes and harps, Like a very muffled double drum, And then a something faintly shrill, Like Bartlemy Fair's old buz at Pentonville. As if from Pedley's Soda Water shop. I'm almost ill with the strong scent of mud, My cough is, more than usual, teasing; ON THE CELEBRATION OF PEACE A BY DORCAS DOVE. ND is it thus ye welcome Peace, From Mouths of forty-pounding Bores? Not so the quiet Queen should come; She asks for no triumphal Arch; No Steeples for their ropy Tongues; Down, Drumsticks, down, She needs no March She wants no Noise of mobbing Throats Why this Parade of scarlet Coats, When War has closed his bloodshot Eye? Returning to Domestic Loves, When War has ceased with all its Ills, No need there is of vulgar Shout, Bells, Cannons, Trumpets, Fife, and Drum, To let us know that Peace is come. Oh mild should be the Signs and meek, Lo! where the Soldier walks, alas! With Scars received on Foreign Grounds; Shall we consume in Coloured Glass The Oil that should be pour'd in Wounds? The bleeding Gaps of War to close, TO MR. ISAAK WALTON, AT MR. MAJOR'S THE BOOKSELLER'S IN FLEET STREET. M R. WALTON, it's harsh to say it, but as a Parent I can't help wishing You'd been hung before you publish'd your book, to set all the young people a fishing! There's my Robert, the trouble I've had with him it surpasses a mortal's bearing, And all thro' those devilish angling works-the Lord forgive me for swearing! |