I will not dwell upon ragouts or roasts, C. Which, like a creed, ne'er says all it intends, But, full of cunning as Ulysses' whistle, When he allured poor Dolon :-you had better Take care what you reply to such a letter. CVI. Witness the lands which 'flow'd with milk and Then there were billiards; cards, too, but no honey,' Held out unto the hungry Israelites : To this we have added since the love of money, The only sort of pleasure which requites. Youth fades, and leaves our days no longer We tire of mistresses and parasites; [sunny; But oh, ambrosial cash! Ah, who would lose thee? dice ; Save in the clubs, no man of honour plays ;Boats when 'twas water, skating when 'twas ice, And the hard frost destroy'd the scenting And angling, too, that solitary vice, [days; Whatever Izaak Walton sings or says: The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb, in his gullet Should have a hook, and a small trout to pull it.' CVII. When evening came the banquet and the wine; The conversazione; the duet, Attuned by voices more or less divine (My heart or head aches with the memory yet). The four Miss Rawbolds in a glee would shine: But the two youngest loved more to be set Down to the harp, because to music's charms They added graceful necks, white hands and arms. CVIII. Sometimes a dance (though rarely on field days, For then the gentlemen were rather tired) Display'd some sylph-like figures in its maze : Then there was small-talk ready when required; Flirtation-but decorous; the mere praise Of charms that should or should not be admired. The hunters fought their fox-hunt o'er again, CIX. The politicians, in a nook apart, Discuss'd the world, and settled all the spheres: The wits watch'd every loophole for their art, To introduce a bon-mot, head and ears. Small is the rest of those who would be smart : A moment's good thing may have cost them years It would have taught him humanity at least. This sentimental savage, whom it is a mode to quote (amongst the novelists), to show their sympathy for innocent sports and old songs, teaches how to sew up frogs, and break their legs by way of experiment, in addition to the art of angling, the cruelmay talk about the beauties of nature, but the angler merely lest, the coldest, and the stupidest of pretended sports. They thinks of his dish of fish; he has no leisure to take his eyes from off the streams, and a single bite is worth to him more than all the scenery around. Besides, some fish bite best on a rainy day. The whale, the shark, and the tunny fishery have somewhat of noble and perilous in them; even net-fishing, trawling, &c., are more humane and useful; but angling! No angler can be a good man. One of the best men I ever knew-as humane, delicateminded, generous, and excellent a creature as any in the world-was an angler: true, he angled with painted flies, and would have been incapable of the extravagances of 1. Walton.' The above addition was made by a friend in reading over the MS.- Audi alteram partem. I leave it to counterbalance my own observation. 'Tis said-indeed, a general complaintThat no one has succeeded in describing Of course with some reserve and slight restriction, For too much truth at first sight ne'er attracts; XIV. Love, war, a tempest-surely there's variety; A slight glance thrown on men of every station. Some say that authors only snatch, by bribing The porter, some slight scandals strange and quaint, To furnish matter for their moral gibing; And that their books have but one style in com mon My lady's prattle, filter'd through her woman. XX. But this can't well be true just now; for writers XXXII. A fox-hunt to a foreigner is strange : The wilds, as doth an Arab turn'd avenger; XXXIII. And now in this new field, with some applause, And never craned,* and made but few faux pas, Of hunting-for the sagest youth is frail: XXXIV. But, on the whole, to general admiration He acquitted both himself and horse: the squires Marvell'd at merit of another nation; XXXVII. But, light and airy, stood on the alert, And smiling but in secret--cunning rogue! XXXVIII. And then he danced-all foreigners excel He danced without theatrical pretence; XXXIX. Chaste were his steps, each kept within due bound, And elegance was sprinkled o'er his figure. Life swift Camilla, he scarce skimm'd the ground, And rather held in than put forth his vigour ; The boors cried, 'Dang it, who'd have thought And then he had an ear for music's sound," it?'-Sires, The Nestors of the sporting generation, Which might defy a crotchet critic's rigour : Such classic pas-sans flaws-set off our hero, Swore praises, and recall'd their former fires: He glanced like a personified Bolero ; The huntsman's self relented to a grin, XXXV. Such were his trophies-not of spear and shield, Yet I must own-although in this I yield He thought at heart, like courtly Chesterfield, XL. Or like a flying Hour before Aurora, In Guido's famous fresco, which alone Remnant were there of the old world's sole The tout ensemble of his movements wore a Who, after a long chase o'er hills, dales, Of bards and prosers, words are void of colour. bushes, And what not, though he rode beyond all price, XXXVI. He also had a quality uncommon Who wake in winter ere the cock can summon When her soft, liquid words run on apace, Craning. To crane' is, or was, an expression used to denote a gentleman stretching out his neck over a hedge to look before he leaped,'-a pause in his vaulting ambition' which in the field doth occasion some delay and execration in those who may be immediately behind the equestrian sceptic. Sir, if you don't choose to take the lead, let ine,' was a phrase which generally sent the aspirant on again; and to good pur pose: for though the horse and rider might fall, they minde a gap, through which, and over him and his steed, the field might follow, ↑ See his Letters to his Son. XLI. No marvel then he was a favourite: A full-grown Cupid, very much admired; XLII. She was a fine and somewhat full-blown blonde, For several winters in the grand, grand monde. Her late performance had been a dead set |