. Carols of Cockayne. s knees, or patellae, were it seemd above all inexpressibly painful To notice the efforts he made to conceal—By a tone partly nervous and partly disdainful— The fact of his looking so shabby-genteel. 74 CAROLS OF COCKAYNE. How is business ? I askd him;— and what are you doing To tell you the truth I decidedly hadA belief that the trade he had last been pursuing (Whatever its nature) had gone to the reply was a sigh :—it was little good urging The questions afresh, for I could not but feelThat he saw not a prospect of ever emerging Above the dead-level of
. Carols of Cockayne. s knees, or patellae, were it seemd above all inexpressibly painful To notice the efforts he made to conceal—By a tone partly nervous and partly disdainful— The fact of his looking so shabby-genteel. 74 CAROLS OF COCKAYNE. How is business ? I askd him;— and what are you doing To tell you the truth I decidedly hadA belief that the trade he had last been pursuing (Whatever its nature) had gone to the reply was a sigh :—it was little good urging The questions afresh, for I could not but feelThat he saw not a prospect of ever emerging Above the dead-level of shabby-genteel. When we parted I sunk into gloomy reflection— A state of the mind that I hate, by the way—And I gave my Brown-studies a moral direction— Though, put into poetry, morals dont the truth I evolved, if I quite recollectit : Frail Fortune one day, by a turn of the wheel,May despatch you or me, sir, when least we expect it, To march in the ranks of the shabby-genteel. 75 CUPIDS HE waits with Cupid at thewing—The transformation is ap-proaching •—She gives the god, poor littlething,Some final hints by way of soon the merry motleyclown—Most purely practical ofjokers—Will bring the pit and gallerydownWith petty larcenies andpokers. No Venus—anything but Fancy, howsoever flighty. 76 CAROLS OF COCKAYNE. Transform the mother of this bratTo aught resembling Aphrodite ? No Venus, but the daily sport Of common cares and vulgar trials ; No monarch of a Paphian court—Her court is in the Seven Dials. She taught young Love to play the part-To bend the bow and aim the arrows Those arms will never pierce a it be a Cockney sparrows. Alas, the Truthful never wooedThe Beautiful to fashion Cupid : But, in some sympathetic mood,Perhaps the Ugly wooed the Stupid. Is Cupid nervous ? Not a bit; Love seeks no mortal , boxes, gallery, and pit May hiss or cheer the looks anx
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Keywords: ., bookauthorleighhen, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1874
